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Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Captain Foo posted:

what's your skillset

2.5 years rails-ing 1 year react+redux-ing

typical agile familiarity

fair amount of experience translating feature requests into requirements and implementations

some basic sql knowledge

learned clojure and elixir on the side

bog standard otherwise

still trying to figure out where i want to go in life

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Jimmy Carter
Nov 3, 2005

THIS MOTHERDUCKER
FLIES IN STYLE
Oh snap, I suddenly have an interview coming up for a QA gig.

The team seems really cool and talking to people on the team and others around them, they’re big on actually giving a poo poo about work/life balance. Some people had to be on call over a holiday and the manager legitimately felt bad since he’s been on teams before where that’s the norm, so they’re changing procedures and how they scope things so that doesn’t happen again.

Post your best advice for prepping for interviews as it’s been a very long time since I’ve done one

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Jimmy Carter posted:

Oh snap, I suddenly have an interview coming up for a QA gig.

The team seems really cool and talking to people on the team and others around them, they’re big on actually giving a poo poo about work/life balance. Some people had to be on call over a holiday and the manager legitimately felt bad since he’s been on teams before where that’s the norm, so they’re changing procedures and how they scope things so that doesn’t happen again.

Post your best advice for prepping for interviews as it’s been a very long time since I’ve done one

what kinda company? what kinda size? what do they do?

Sapozhnik
Jan 2, 2005

Nap Ghost
dont work for startups

e: maybe unless ur the ceo

Captain Foo
May 11, 2004

we vibin'
we slidin'
we breathin'
we dyin'

Jimmy Carter posted:

Oh snap, I suddenly have an interview coming up for a QA gig.

The team seems really cool and talking to people on the team and others around them, they’re big on actually giving a poo poo about work/life balance. Some people had to be on call over a holiday and the manager legitimately felt bad since he’s been on teams before where that’s the norm, so they’re changing procedures and how they scope things so that doesn’t happen again.

Post your best advice for prepping for interviews as it’s been a very long time since I’ve done one

make sure you can tell a little story about every line-item on your resume

Schadenboner
Aug 15, 2011

by Shine

Captain Foo posted:

make sure you can tell a little story about every line-item on your resume

Include a dick-pic the way Europeans would include a head-shot.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Pollyanna posted:

2.5 years rails-ing 1 year react+redux-ing

typical agile familiarity

fair amount of experience translating feature requests into requirements and implementations

some basic sql knowledge

learned clojure and elixir on the side

bog standard otherwise

still trying to figure out where i want to go in life

is this a bad skillset

Sapozhnik posted:

dont work for startups

e: maybe unless ur the ceo

+1

Shaggar
Apr 26, 2006

Pollyanna posted:

2.5 years rails-ing 1 year react+redux-ing

typical agile familiarity

fair amount of experience translating feature requests into requirements and implementations

some basic sql knowledge

learned clojure and elixir on the side

bog standard otherwise

still trying to figure out where i want to go in life

you should be able to get entry level dev/qa at a real company pretty easy.

Coffee Jones
Jul 4, 2004

16 bit? Back when we was kids we only got a single bit on Christmas, as a treat
And we had to share it!
scrutinize the job posting, visit the company’s site, see what other jobs they have, see if they’re located in different sites,

as a dev I work with QA often enough and misread specs lead to bad bug reports (nothing like an offshore QA team running a misconfigured build and dropping a hundred bugs onto Jira) so, eh,
“Explain a time you worked with an engineer on a difficult problem.”

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Shaggar posted:

you should be able to get entry level dev/qa at a real company pretty easy.

what is a "real company" in this case? my criteria is "has more than 100 engineers" and "is profitable", no idea if that makes sense

e.g. red hat, wayfair, amazon

Shaggar
Apr 26, 2006
yeah those would be good examples but also consider companies that aren't full on "technology" like healthcare, finance, etc... Huge companies like that can offer better compensation and working conditions, but you're gonna be a tiny cog in a machine.

if you want something inbetween there are your 200 - 1000 employee type businesses that are always starving for talent. at that size you'll be doing way more work, you'll probably be paid less, but you'll have way more control over the company product if that's something that interests you. You wont have to deal with as much startupism at this level, but you'll also still probably need to figure out internal advancement on your own.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


i don't think i'm at the point where i have anything useful to say on the direction of the product, i've only ever really been forced into that role/had to pull weight on it due to lack of manpower/perspective. i don't mind being a tiny cog tbqh, i do care about having regular and stable work with good compensation - i am not an ambitious person

large companies in general are a good bet. startups just aren't my scene. maybe red hat has a use for me

edit: how about places like TripAdvisor, for example? or Wayfair?

Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Feb 16, 2018

Captain Foo
May 11, 2004

we vibin'
we slidin'
we breathin'
we dyin'

Yeah, don't fall into the trap of thinking that only tech companies need devs or other IT staff, every company has some sort of demand for technical people

Shaggar
Apr 26, 2006
if you want on the gravy train finance or healthcare is where its at.

Shaggar
Apr 26, 2006
idk anything about tripadvisor or wayfair, but don't be afraid to interview cause you can always turn them down if you don't think its gonna be a fit.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Captain Foo posted:

Yeah, don't fall into the trap of thinking that only tech companies need devs or other IT staff, every company has some sort of demand for technical people

that is true, though i feel the need to work with software engineers over just an "it department" - i'm not entirely sure why, i think it has to do with growth. maybe im misunderstanding/wrong

Shaggar posted:

if you want on the gravy train finance or healthcare is where its at.

are we talking finance as in hedge funds, or as in money lenders? and healthcare as in "patient interaction and social platform", or EMRs and hospital management systems?

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Shaggar posted:

idk anything about tripadvisor or wayfair, but don't be afraid to interview cause you can always turn them down if you don't think its gonna be a fit.

i'm more worried about whether they'll give me even a passing glance

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


also, what would you say is the typical time-to-new-job for an engineer? starting from unemployment i mean

Sapozhnik
Jan 2, 2005

Nap Ghost
re: work/life balance in companies whose main product is something other than software: on the one hand yes on the other hand enjoy being reminded every day that you are a cost center and being paid accordingly

Shaggar
Apr 26, 2006

Pollyanna posted:

that is true, though i feel the need to work with software engineers over just an "it department" - i'm not entirely sure why, i think it has to do with growth. maybe im misunderstanding/wrong


are we talking finance as in hedge funds, or as in money lenders? and healthcare as in "patient interaction and social platform", or EMRs and hospital management systems?

all of the above. insurance too.


Pollyanna posted:

i'm more worried about whether they'll give me even a passing glance

unemployment is so low right now that anyone with a pulse can get a job. If you have technical skills or you can show the desire and ability to learn you're gonna be above most applicants these days so don't worry about it. M

Shaggar
Apr 26, 2006

Pollyanna posted:

also, what would you say is the typical time-to-new-job for an engineer? starting from unemployment i mean

it will depend on where you are, but right now for the most part its gonna be pretty quick so just get out there and keep interviewing. you cant get a job if you aren't looking for one.

stay positive and be confident when you interview.

Progressive JPEG
Feb 19, 2003

Pollyanna posted:

that is true, though i feel the need to work with software engineers over just an "it department" - i'm not entirely sure why, i think it has to do with growth. maybe im misunderstanding/wrong

Sapozhnik posted:

being reminded every day that you are a cost center and being paid accordingly

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


q re: networking with people. a PM i worked with at a previous company now works at one that looks cool, and i have no idea how to ask "hey, you guys got openings?" in a way that isn't crass. how do people do this?

Shaggar posted:

all of the above. insurance too.


unemployment is so low right now that anyone with a pulse can get a job. If you have technical skills or you can show the desire and ability to learn you're gonna be above most applicants these days so don't worry about it. M

true. its a matter of knowing what the gently caress to do for me, tho

Shaggar posted:

it will depend on where you are, but right now for the most part its gonna be pretty quick so just get out there and keep interviewing. you cant get a job if you aren't looking for one.

stay positive and be confident when you interview.

def a+ on the be positive and confident, one of the few things about interviewing that keeps me sane. the good thing is that i apparently interview well


there is this too yes :(

jony neuemonic
Nov 13, 2009

Sapozhnik posted:

re: work/life balance in companies whose main product is something other than software: on the one hand yes on the other hand enjoy being reminded every day that you are a cost center and being paid accordingly

this worries me, but the culture in TECH COMPANIES is a toxic hellswamp so pick your poison i guess.

Progressive JPEG
Feb 19, 2003

jony neuemonic posted:

this worries me, but the culture in TECH COMPANIES is a toxic hellswamp so pick your poison i guess.

lol jesus not every tech company is uber

Star War Sex Parrot
Oct 2, 2003

oh good, Pollyanna has taken over another job hunting thread

jony neuemonic
Nov 13, 2009

lol at thinking tech’s culture problems are limited to uber

paging stymie to the jobs thread :getin:

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Star War Sex Parrot posted:

oh good, Pollyanna has taken over another job hunting thread

i will never die

Gazpacho
Jun 18, 2004

by Fluffdaddy
Slippery Tilde

Pollyanna posted:

q re: networking with people. a PM i worked with at a previous company now works at one that looks cool, and i have no idea how to ask "hey, you guys got openings?" in a way that isn't crass. how do people do this?
"what areas in the company are growing?"

PIZZA.BAT
Nov 12, 2016


:cheers:


mongo recruiter just hit me up again

lol

Gazpacho
Jun 18, 2004

by Fluffdaddy
Slippery Tilde
or if it's a small company without areas, "are you looking for any ______" (your leet skills here). this isn't crass, it's constructive

Progressive JPEG
Feb 19, 2003

to be clear, you dont have to be working at a Tech Company to avoid being in a cost center

... it could be a logging company where you're optimizing the algorithm that decides the cuts to make when the logs are cut up

... or an airline where you're working on the billing infrastructure or the onboard entertainment UI

just be working in an area that contributes to the product they're selling

i'd still rather work at a Tech Company when given the option tho

Schadenboner
Aug 15, 2011

by Shine

Pollyanna posted:

q re: networking with people. a PM i worked with at a previous company now works at one that looks cool, and i have no idea how to ask "hey, you guys got openings?" in a way that isn't crass. how do people do this?

This isn't crass, this is literally how most places prefer to hire people because (so the thought goes) good people know good people.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Schadenboner posted:

This isn't crass, this is literally how most places prefer to hire people because (so the thought goes) good people know good people.

i know it's normal but i have a tendency to piss people off by accident

Schadenboner
Aug 15, 2011

by Shine

Pollyanna posted:

i know it's normal but i have a tendency to piss people off by accident

So just send the PM a dick pic with "Remember me?" as the subject line and "See where the night takes you" (as the kids say these days). Not a big deal?

Coffee Jones
Jul 4, 2004

16 bit? Back when we was kids we only got a single bit on Christmas, as a treat
And we had to share it!

Pollyanna posted:

that is true, though i feel the need to work with software engineers over just an "it department" - i'm not entirely sure why, i think it has to do with growth. maybe im misunderstanding/wrong

no yeah that is an issue.

Large retailer in town (think of them as Sears or JC Penney) has a combination of stores and an online presence that drives 40% of income not to mention in-store purchases.

Previously the site was run by a combination of old timer FTEs and a horde of people from bodyshop firms that are there to be a bunch of clocksuckers who will turn a minute long process into days (environment variables managed via sql, need a sql script to modify that environment variable, need sign off on that script, need scripts for several lower and upper environments, need sign off on those scripts, no pushing to prod outside of a monthly release window ).
All hosted on prem. Everything from search to rendering is mashed into a single monolithic probably process.
Only after buy-in from the CTOs could they hire on people to melt this crazy iceberg, move rendering off to a collection of independent micro services, move off to Azure and pick a decent JS front end rendering technology and not have frontend devs require a copy of Visual Studio on their systems.

Organizationally it’s still the IT department. The cousin teams to the site who work on the POS systems for the stores deploy a ten year old version of the old rendering tech. They’re not pushed to do any better. The contractors only get their marching orders from their managers who are looking at retirement and haven’t cracked a book in years.


Anyway, some of these places could be adopters of React and Node in 2014 and be on AWS Lambda pre-announcement, or they could be held hostage by a greybeard and his big black tower of COBOL

Symbolic Butt
Mar 22, 2009

(_!_)
Buglord
current job hunt status: slowly descending into despair

Symbolic Butt
Mar 22, 2009

(_!_)
Buglord

Star War Sex Parrot posted:

oh good, Pollyanna has taken over another job hunting thread

[unironically] good. this is the sign that the thread is legit now

Jimmy Carter
Nov 3, 2005

THIS MOTHERDUCKER
FLIES IN STYLE

Pollyanna posted:

what kinda company? what kinda size? what do they do?

large tech company in the consumer electronics space. Position is a bit hazy but it apparently lies between ‘care and feeding of dev boards used for automated testing’ and ‘embed with engineering groups to deal with bug reports and tell them how to QA things’. The team is apparently almost doubling in size so what everyone’s responsibility will be exactly is a bit up in the air.

My résumé is strange: a long period of low-grade computer janitor punctuated by wild 6-month stints with what are essentially internal internships where I tell contract manufacturers how to do things right and finding and fix their mistakes. The thing which I always have a lot of personal concerns about is that despite me having a very broad knowledge of platforms and tech in general, I’m not proficient with programming per-se (and that’s what everyone says that they want). I’ll duct tape a shell script together and push it out to a bunch of fixtures on the factory line to gather some specific test data, but I’m not coding up full-featured apps over here.

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Symbolic Butt
Mar 22, 2009

(_!_)
Buglord
you're selling yourself short imo with the "I can't code full-featured apps", if you think it matters (it doesn't really) you should sit down and write an app for yourself just to get a feel of how a big programming project would go.

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