Newbie Programming Interviews/Get a Job Megathread: Fake it 'til you make it

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Cavern of COBOL > Newbie Programming Interviews/Get a Job Megathread: Fake it 'til you make it

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Does anyone here have experience with finding a job in a different country? Getting it without in-person interview seems unlikely, but I can't even apply for a visa without having job offer first. It seems like a closed loop.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2014 13:15

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:52

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Skuto posted:

You apply. You'll get a few telephone/skype interviews, maybe an online coding exercise. Company decides to fly you in and writes a letter for you to give to the embassy. You use that to get your visa.

Are there any companies that are known to be interested in hiring from abroad, or any job listing websites / recruiting companies etc that specialize in this matter?

# ¿ Oct 17, 2014 13:28

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

sim posted:

http://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs?allowsremote=true
http://www.authenticjobs.com/#onlyremote=1
https://weworkremotely.com/

Yes, they are generally US focused, but they are all remote.

I was talking about moving to another country, but remote job might be useful to shore up my finances and experience too, thank you.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2014 18:03

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Is Cracking the Coding Interview considered to be a good book for interview preparation? Also, is whiteboard coding really as prevalent as it says?

# ¿ Oct 18, 2014 18:03

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Akarshi posted:

Yes and yes. On all my onsites I've had to whiteboard code (maybe not actually on a whiteboard, but definitely write down code).

Good to know, thank you.

So. I have about 7 years of working experience with .net, although not in web or enterprise sphere, and that's what seems to be in demand. And I know that it makes my newbie interview questions seem extra dumb, but I've only held two jobs so far (and first started out as internship of sorts), and I never really had to go through job search and interview process "the hard way" until now. I also have extremely low opinion of myself, so now I'm kind of freaking out. And having a 3 year gap in my working history also doesn't help.

Now for the actual question, if I'm applying for a job in an area that I don't have hands on working experience in, is it ok for me to apply for position of a junior developer? I absolutely don't mind lower salary and being bossed around or talked down to, but is it weird to apply for a "junior" position when I'm in my early thirties? Seems like something they'd want to hire recent college grad for.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2014 18:22

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Wait, who the hell is asking for your transcript/diploma with your resume?

# ¿ Nov 23, 2014 20:29

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

scissorman posted:

For example: http://www.google.com/about/careers/students/howtoapply.html

I've heard that about google, but I thought they were atypical.

# ¿ Nov 23, 2014 20:37

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

FamDav posted:

since when was asking a recent grad for a transcript weird?

they've taken the transcript portion off their non-university applications, iirc

I haven't caught that he was a recent grad. Nevermind me then.

# ¿ Nov 23, 2014 20:44

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Makeout Patrol posted:

Does anyone have any advice on what I should be doing to prepare? I have a copy of the book Cracking the Coding Interview and have been doing problems from it on pen and paper, and I'm also going to bone up on the C# and C++ aspects that I felt I was weakest on in the phone interview. If anyone has any other advice, or knows of any sources other than Cracking the Coding Interview for technical or algorithm questions that I could have someone surprise me with in a mock interview, I'd appreciate it.

There's also Elements of Programming Interviews. Can't vouch for it myself since I haven't gotten to it yet, but you can download "light" version from their website.

# ¿ Nov 26, 2014 00:20

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Is there nothing between "Google/Amazon" and "startup"?

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 14:36

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Blotto Skorzany posted:

SMBs. They're unsexy because the pay is usually mediocre (probably comparable to a startup in that it typically ranges from bad to above average, compared to a large software business where the pay typically ranges from average to very good), most folks working in that context are between 30 and 50 and don't post on forums a ton, the 5:01 mindset is prevalent (this isn't a bad thing imo), and often software isn't their product.

What's a 5:01 mindset?

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 15:45

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Blotto Skorzany posted:

Thinking of software as a job and not the entirety of your life. Consistently leaving when the workday is over (hence the "5:01" term) rather than staying late. Not doing work things at home. It started out as a pejorative term used by bloggers and ~code artisans~ but now has a more neutral connotation.

That sounds pretty good actually.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 16:11

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

I think I remember somebody here mentioning Google's questionnaire for programmer self-evaluation, but I can't seem to find the thing. Am I misremembering, or maybe it's called something else? It was something about 1-10 scale of proficiency, with explanation for each rating.

I'm putting together a resume and I'm considering putting some skills onto the list on which I'm shaky/inexperienced, but I'd like to mark them as such. Would rating them with some number be a good idea, or should I say something like "familiar with" or "basic knowledge of"?

# ¿ Dec 16, 2014 21:37

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Mniot posted:

I agree. If you can do whiteboard coding (not checking the Internet constantly) in a language and not totally embarrass yourself, list it on the resume. If you can't do that, leave it off. If you list "C++" and they ask you about it, describe your experience in terms of what you've done: "I did three semester-long projects: <talk about projects>" or "I wrote the IR controller for <x> and all the code was C++ there".

If you say "intermediate" or "beginner", your resume can get tossed because they want an expert. If you say "expert" you had better be the best programmer they've ever met because that is really waving a red cape at the interviewer.

Well, it's not so much languages as it is frameworks and technologies. I'm trying to catch up on asp.net mvc (and associated front-end stuff) and wpf, and I can read some books and do example projects, but I haven't used those at work.

Forgall fucked around with this message at 07:27 on Dec 17, 2014

# ¿ Dec 17, 2014 07:15

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Che Delilas posted:

The way you illustrate your level of skill in a given technology is to list what you've done with it. Do that in your Employment section, have bullet points for each thing you did that uses a technology you want to emphasize. "Designed and developed a club-member information tracking service using C#, WPF and WCF." That hits three major keywords there and it's something any interviewer, phone or in-person, can point to and say, "Can you give me some detail on this?" and determine if you're expert enough that way.

Under your list of skills, those things should be listed as C#, WPF and WCF. Don't put a number on them, don't rate them at all, just put them down if you're prepared to talk about something you did with them. Personal projects count as experience when you're talking about a specific framework or library.

The problem with highlighted is that my experience during my employment was with either outdated technologies (old versions of asp.net webforms, windows forms), or niche ones I don't really want to work with anymore (Unity3D). I don't think can get hired on the strength of those, so I've been reading up on newer frameworks, and I was going to make some small hobby projects to demonstrate my ability to use them (and now I don't even know if I have time for that anymore, because my country is melting down in a horrifying way). But then what, do I just put hobby projects as my entire experience, because it's the only one that's relevant?

# ¿ Dec 17, 2014 09:26

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

viewtyjoe posted:

No one's going to care what version you did unless they specify in big bold letters MVC 5 or something, and the changes from version to version aren't always huge.

Unfortunately, webforms is completely different from MVC, not just a different version of the same.

Che Delilas posted:

Your hobby projects go into an "Independent Projects" section, where you approach it just like you did your employment section (bullet points, accomplishments, languages/technologies you used to get the poo poo done).

Thank you. I'll try to quickly make something with MVC then so I have something to show besides "I've read a book".

# ¿ Dec 17, 2014 11:02

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

ullerrm posted:

I'll echo earlier comments: give examples and link it to stuff you've worked on, rather than assigning numbers.

Thank you, I see the point about that scale. If stuff I worked on was on the web it would be pretty nice, but I last worked on websites about 7 years ago, they are dead or unrecognizable by now, and stuff I was on after that was internal made-to-order software. Maybe I can chat with my former co-workers and see if there are promotional materials made for industry shows or something I could grab.

Edit: There's some information about my last project on the company's website, except it's missing from the English version.

Forgall fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Dec 17, 2014

# ¿ Dec 17, 2014 13:26

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Che Delilas posted:

confidence and expertise

# ¿ Dec 17, 2014 19:34

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Is https://www.testdome.com/ a decent resource to prepare for interviews? If not, what are better alternatives?

# ¿ Jan 31, 2019 15:14

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:52

Forgall: Oct 16, 2012; by Azathoth

Found this pretty neat channel talking about interview problems, helped me understand some stuff on leetcode.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2019 09:56

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Cavern of COBOL > Newbie Programming Interviews/Get a Job Megathread: Fake it 'til you make it