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NovemberMike posted:I'd just say how proficient you are with it. If you're awesome at C# but you've only done basic selects with SQL then say something along the lines of "Advanced knowledge of C#, basic skills at SQL". As long as you're honest there shouldn't be any problems. One thing that really pissed me off at my last university "career day" was when I went to talk to one of the recruiters, she glanced at my resume, and couldn't comprehend that yes, I'd actually been getting paid for actual programming at an actual 8-5 job. It was a similar story with half of the companies I stopped at. "Uh-what? You've been a full time employee during the summers? Why are you at college?"  Why indeed rear end in a top hat? Why indeed?
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Aug 6, 2012 01:49
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Tres Burritos posted:One thing that really pissed me off at my last university "career day" was when I went to talk to one of the recruiters, she glanced at my resume, and couldn't comprehend that yes, I'd actually been getting paid for actual programming at an actual 8-5 job. It was a similar story with half of the companies I stopped at. "Uh-what? You've been a full time employee during the summers? Why are you at college?"
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Aug 6, 2012 02:45
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Hey. I'm an idiot who didn't start looking for jobs until he graduated! Math major/CS minor (3.3/3.4), just graduated in May. On the upside, I live in NYC, so the job market isn't terrible. I'd like it if you guys would yell at me about what I should be doing, because I've got this sneaking suspicion I'm not doing what I should be. I've been applying left and right to everything that's posted on my college's career services site. It's mostly been "thanks, but no thanks, we kept your resume just in case but don't expect anything" from the places that aren't investment banks, and the actual banks go "oh, the job posting said that it's located in NYC but you'll actually be working in Connecticut if we hire you, sorry 'bout that". What do I do to become an great programmer/dev that will get job offers that are actually good? I don't have any internships or personal projects, and as a CS minor I didn't take any classes on architecture, databases, networking, or our large-scale project class. I did take algorithms though, and I get the impression that's about the most important CS course. Right now, I'm working my way through CLRS to improve my algorithms knowledge and trying to pick up Haskell, just because it's interesting. Not exactly sure what else I should be doing, but there's definitely something. Is that something just going "gently caress it" and become a teacher for the time being while improving my coding/CS skill in my free time?
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Aug 6, 2012 11:26
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Funambulist posted:mediocre GPA, no internships, no projects, not even a CS major. Either lace your resume with cocaine or get some personal projects.
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Aug 6, 2012 11:41
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Yeah, personal project's what I thought I'd need most. Does the nature of the project matter all that much or is it more about having evidence you can make a working decent-sized program (ideally with better coding style than a stoned monkey)?
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Aug 6, 2012 11:48
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Funambulist posted:Yeah, personal project's what I thought I'd need most. Does the nature of the project matter all that much or is it more about having evidence you can make a working decent-sized program (ideally with better coding style than a stoned monkey)? At this point you need to show people some evidence that you can program. Optimally you'd write something decent sized, interesting, and in your field.... but for now any code is better than no code.
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Aug 6, 2012 12:04
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Funambulist posted:Yeah, personal project's what I thought I'd need most. Does the nature of the project matter all that much or is it more about having evidence you can make a working decent-sized program (ideally with better coding style than a stoned monkey)? In my experience, personal projects don't mean squat when it comes to hiring. In all my years of doing interviews, I've been asked to talk about my personal projects maybe twice or three times. The rest of the time they only ask me about what I've done at my previous jobs. I usually try to steer the conversation towards my personal projects, because they're easier for me to talk about, but most interviews could care less. For reference I have about 19 repos on my github which includes around 100,00 lines of code I've written over the past half decade.
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Aug 7, 2012 01:15
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how!! posted:In my experience, personal projects don't mean squat when it comes to hiring. In all my years of doing interviews, I've been asked to talk about my personal projects maybe twice or three times. The rest of the time they only ask me about what I've done at my previous jobs. I usually try to steer the conversation towards my personal projects, because they're easier for me to talk about, but most interviews could care less. For reference I have about 19 repos on my github which includes around 100,00 lines of code I've written over the past half decade. I have had the opposite experience. When I interviewed they went straight for my side projects versus my work experience. We generally covered everything on my resume, but the first thing that was talked about were my side projects usually. Maybe it has to do with the type of company you are applying to, and how well tailored your resume is to show off side projects vs work experience? I applied primarily to tech companies / start ups.
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Aug 7, 2012 02:05
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how!! posted:In my experience, personal projects don't mean squat when it comes to hiring. In all my years of doing interviews, I've been asked to talk about my personal projects maybe twice or three times. The rest of the time they only ask me about what I've done at my previous jobs. I usually try to steer the conversation towards my personal projects, because they're easier for me to talk about, but most interviews could care less. For reference I have about 19 repos on my github which includes around 100,00 lines of code I've written over the past half decade. That's because you have previous jobs. For someone who doesn't, personal projects are all they have.
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Aug 7, 2012 03:36
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how!! posted:In my experience, personal projects don't mean squat when it comes to hiring. In all my years of doing interviews, I've been asked to talk about my personal projects maybe twice or three times. The rest of the time they only ask me about what I've done at my previous jobs. I usually try to steer the conversation towards my personal projects, because they're easier for me to talk about, but most interviews could care less. For reference I have about 19 repos on my github which includes around 100,00 lines of code I've written over the past half decade. It depends on the interviewer. Some companies, you interview and know off the top of your head how to answer questions about smart pointers and virtual destructors and you've nailed the tech interview, others will ask you questions about how many marbles can fit in the statue of liberty.
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Aug 7, 2012 03:41
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how!! posted:In my experience, personal projects don't mean squat when it comes to hiring. In all my years of doing interviews, I've been asked to talk about my personal projects maybe twice or three times. The rest of the time they only ask me about what I've done at my previous jobs. I usually try to steer the conversation towards my personal projects, because they're easier for me to talk about, but most interviews could care less. For reference I have about 19 repos on my github which includes around 100,00 lines of code I've written over the past half decade. If you actually looked at resumes and were involved in the hiring process at all instead of playing the precious snowflake and demanding that everybody refactor the entire codebase, you wouldn't have this belief.
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Aug 7, 2012 04:50
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Oh shrughes 
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Aug 7, 2012 05:52
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Blah, just got a phone call with some pre-interview technical questions that I did poorly on. My vocabulary is absolutely atrocious  Any recommended readings to refresh my memory on some more advanced classes like data structures / algorithm analysis? Just the wikipedia page?
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Aug 7, 2012 16:17
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I've started looking for a software or web development position in the Phoenix area recently. I know eBay, PayPal, and GoDaddy are there along with a bunch of smaller tech firms. Does anyone have any recommendations on what I should watch for in job postings? I'm due to graduate this Fall with an MS in Comp Sci and a 3.8 GPA, I've had a 15 month developer internship with a Fortune 50 company, and I'm good with C++/Java/Python/PHP while currently learning .NET 4.0.
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Aug 7, 2012 16:28
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Sab669 posted:Blah, just got a phone call with some pre-interview technical questions that I did poorly on. My vocabulary is absolutely atrocious What do you mean "advanced classes?"
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Aug 7, 2012 16:30
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Sab669 posted:Blah, just got a phone call with some pre-interview technical questions that I did poorly on. My vocabulary is absolutely atrocious http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~vazirani/algorithms.html
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Aug 7, 2012 16:30
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Strong Sauce posted:What do you mean "advanced classes?" Like, as a student, my classes / courses that go over more advanced stuff.
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Aug 7, 2012 16:31
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What are the good freelancing programmer websites? I'm desperate for some work but couldn't take on a full time job at the moment so they seem like a good idea to earn some cash. So far i've signed up on freelancer.com , guru.com and vworker.com . All of them seem very 'pay more money to us and you will get more jobs!' and most of job listings revolve around spam bots. Most of my experience is in python and its the language I'm happiest in.
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Aug 7, 2012 17:39
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Sab669 posted:Blah, just got a phone call with some pre-interview technical questions that I did poorly on. My vocabulary is absolutely atrocious http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4BBB74C7D2A1049C Good lecturer delivering a good course in algorithms & data structures. Get cracking 
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Aug 7, 2012 17:57
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Teabiscuit posted:What are the good freelancing programmer websites? I'm desperate for some work but couldn't take on a full time job at the moment so they seem like a good idea to earn some cash. So far i've signed up on freelancer.com , guru.com and vworker.com . All of them seem very 'pay more money to us and you will get more jobs!' and most of job listings revolve around spam bots. Most of my experience is in python and its the language I'm happiest in. All of the freelance sites I've checked out have had jobs with a crazy amount of work vs little pay. I'm curious if anyone here has had any success along this route in the past, because the posted hourly rates for completed jobs have seemed pretty scary. Maybe the final negotiated rates end up being significantly different than those originally posted?
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Aug 7, 2012 19:00
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I've never tried any freelancing sites myself, but the overwhelming message I've heard is "don't bother" - most of the people looking to hire programmers there are interested in competing on price, and you won't win that war. Have you considered looking for freelancing opportunities in your area? If you do webdev, get a portfolio made up and get appointments at local digital design firms. It doesn't just work for the designers  Alternatively you can also contact local contracting/placement firms for part-time contracts, or just reach out to your contacts (you do have contacts, right?  ) for overflow work. A friend of mine started a nice career 1099ing by convincing some local companies to send some overflow his way - they normally didn't deal with contractors but he set his price right & they needed the extra help.
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Aug 7, 2012 19:50
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Newf posted:http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4BBB74C7D2A1049C A drat shame I have class from 3:00 - 10:40 today  I'll buy some Monsters and stay up listening
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Aug 7, 2012 20:22
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Kim Jong III posted:I've never tried any freelancing sites myself, but the overwhelming message I've heard is "don't bother" - most of the people looking to hire programmers there are interested in competing on price, and you won't win that war. I feel pretty inadequate putting myself out for companies like that. My qualifications are pretty terrible , I have about a years experience total doing coding work that I managed to get while I was doing my BSc, but I dropped out in my final year after repeating it 3 times. 7 Years at university with nothing to show for it but a couple of summer jobs. I know they are underpaid but I'm pretty desperate for anything relevant. I'd rather work as a massively underpaid coder than go back into a retail type job.
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Aug 7, 2012 21:47
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Generally speaking, how strict are companies when they say "a 3.0 or higher" for candidates? I think I've got like a 2.8 or something really lovely.
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Aug 8, 2012 00:04
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Sab669 posted:Generally speaking, how strict are companies when they say "a 3.0 or higher" for candidates? I think I've got like a 2.8 or something really lovely. I had a similarly lovely GPA and I don't think any company even asked me what it was. If they did, they apparently didn't care too much about it because I got offers from everybody. Of course, I applied mostly at banks, insurance companies, and other places around Ohio, so YMMV. Also, this is not an excuse to do lovely in school.
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Aug 8, 2012 00:34
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Not too strict, but it will probably knock you down the list a bit. Make sure you give your in-major GPA if it's higher. Edit: My employer cares about GPA more than most. People on the internet claim you can't get hired here without a 4.0. I had a 3.0. Zhentar fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Aug 8, 2012 |
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Aug 8, 2012 00:51
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I think it depends a lot on where you're applying. I had a mediocre GPA so I've never included it on my resume and I've never been asked about it, not even for my internship while I was still in school.
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Aug 8, 2012 06:14
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Sab669 posted:Generally speaking, how strict are companies when they say "a 3.0 or higher" for candidates? I think I've got like a 2.8 or something really lovely. What about your Computer Science GPA? You could always list your GPA in your major if it is better than your total average.
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Aug 8, 2012 16:48
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No GPA is fine if you have other things like personal projects or an actual job. You probably won't get into Google though.
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Aug 8, 2012 18:42
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Gordon Cole posted:I think it depends a lot on where you're applying. I had a mediocre GPA so I've never included it on my resume and I've never been asked about it, not even for my internship while I was still in school. This is my experience as well. I don't list my GPA at all and no one has ever asked me about it. As long as you have some prior work experience I would just leave it off.
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Aug 8, 2012 19:23
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astr0man posted:This is my experience as well. I don't list my GPA at all and no one has ever asked me about it. As long as you have some prior work experience I would just leave it off. Yea, I've got 2 internships + tutoring experience for the school, so I don't put mine on my resume. If they still directly ask I'll usually say what it is and explain it tends to be on the lower side because for most of my time in school I was working two jobs (which is true). Had someone ask on a phone interview yesterday though Overall I answered all but one of his questions correctly, and kind of poorly but still mostly correctly answered another.
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Aug 9, 2012 14:28
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After losing one job, I took an internship pretty quickly. I think I'm being pretty grossly underpaid and I haven't stopped looking for work. Is that bad? Am I gonna have to explain myself in interviews, and is "I'm being paid $X an hour, where X is pretty much the bare minimum for what people pay interns around here despite the fact that I have a year of work experience including a full-time job" a valid explanation for why I'm already looking to leave?
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Aug 13, 2012 08:04
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it is posted:After losing one job, I took an internship pretty quickly. I think I'm being pretty grossly underpaid and I haven't stopped looking for work. Is that bad? Am I gonna have to explain myself in interviews, and is "I'm being paid $X an hour, where X is pretty much the bare minimum for what people pay interns around here despite the fact that I have a year of work experience including a full-time job" a valid explanation for why I'm already looking to leave? I've never asked or been asked about salary at an internship, and it's quite common for someone to be in an internship and looking for a job for when they graduate. Is there some complication you didn't go into detail on? Maybe you can elaborate on the timeline.
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Aug 13, 2012 12:12
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it is posted:After losing one job, I took an internship pretty quickly. I think I'm being pretty grossly underpaid and I haven't stopped looking for work. Is that bad? Am I gonna have to explain myself in interviews, and is "I'm being paid $X an hour, where X is pretty much the bare minimum for what people pay interns around here despite the fact that I have a year of work experience including a full-time job" a valid explanation for why I'm already looking to leave? I think what you mean is you took an internship whilst you looked for work to keep your skills fresh, no one will ever ask you what you got paid they only care what you want to get paid. I'm confused about GPA, is that not what you get at High School in the US? So why would it matter for going for a developer position?
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Aug 13, 2012 14:14
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Aramoro posted:I'm confused about GPA, is that not what you get at High School in the US? So why would it matter for going for a developer position? GPA is grade point average. Yeah we get one for high school, but what people in the thread are talking about is their college/university GPA. For new hires with no real work experience the only benchmark prospective employers have is your college grades.
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Aug 13, 2012 14:24
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it is posted:After losing one job, I took an internship pretty quickly. I think I'm being pretty grossly underpaid and I haven't stopped looking for work. Is that bad? Am I gonna have to explain myself in interviews, and is "I'm being paid $X an hour, where X is pretty much the bare minimum for what people pay interns around here despite the fact that I have a year of work experience including a full-time job" a valid explanation for why I'm already looking to leave? As the other two said, you'll only be asked what you were paid if you're working with a staffing agency. Just say you know the internship doesn't have a full time position available after the internship program is done for your reason as to why you're looking for other jobs.
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Aug 13, 2012 15:21
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I'm still a student and the people at the internship think I'm working through the school year with an eye towards working for them full-time upon graduation. Also, I started a very short time ago. I've never been asked about salary, but I would be giving that as the answer to the "why are you looking to leave your current job" question rather than the "what are you making" question (which doesn't exist) because my wage is too low for someone with my experience. Also the company doesn't pay its full-timers very well. And it removes that problem where you only find out what a position pays on the offer letter.
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Aug 13, 2012 16:27
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As I wrote on the last page or the page before: Never talk about money until you are at the point where you're pretty sure you're getting the job offer. I guess as a corollary never mention that you're not getting paid enough at your current job. That doesn't sound too good and makes you appear greedy to your prospective employer. I think most people understand interns get paid poo poo. So it's probably better to say something like, "the opportunities at the company for growth and learning aren't what I expected" or something else to that effect. Saying, "They only pay me $15/hr" sounds bad.
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Aug 13, 2012 23:27
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Strong Sauce posted:I guess as a corollary never mention that you're not getting paid enough at your current job. That doesn't sound too good and makes you appear greedy to your prospective employer. This is complete bullshit. We realize the people we are hiring work to get paid, and are concerned about how much they get paid (and we know you're lying if you try to pretend you're not). In fact, the very person responsible for deciding to hire you has likely changed jobs in the past just to get paid more! It is okay to admit that your salary is important to you and you are looking for a job that will give you more money.
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Aug 14, 2012 02:12
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Zhentar posted:This is complete bullshit. We realize the people we are hiring work to get paid, and are concerned about how much they get paid (and we know you're lying if you try to pretend you're not). In fact, the very person responsible for deciding to hire you has likely changed jobs in the past just to get paid more! It is okay to admit that your salary is important to you and you are looking for a job that will give you more money. Everyone has changed jobs for money. I'm guessing a large majority of people looking for new jobs are looking for more money than their current job. My point is that everyone knows money is obviously important, but in interviews you shouldn't use that as your main reason since it sounds like to them, "the only reason I want to join you guys is you guys pay more." Everyone I've talked to in terms of interviewing tells me that from both a "polite" and negotiating POV, you shouldn't talk about money / make money a focus until you've gotten the job offer.
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Aug 14, 2012 02:27
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