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For all the people that have worked as an interviewer- What % of the applicant pool is actually competent, i.e. you'd be willing to hire them? I know everyone says it's low, especially when interviewing fresh CS grads, but how low? 50%? 33%? Has anyone that has had a good amount of previous experience missed a totally obvious question? Just curious
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Oct 19, 2011 01:55
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I'm a senior in school, and a company said they would like to have me start part-time until I graduate, on an hourly wage. How much should I ask for? - I live in NYC. Average salary for entry level jobs is probably around 55k-60k, give or take 5k for individual experience/intelligence - I'd be doing JavaScript and Python, maybe C# down the road - The company is a consulting one, though they've been working on the same projects for quite some time - I'd be working from home Pie Colony fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Mar 23, 2012 |
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Mar 23, 2012 16:04
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shrughes posted:??? I mean, there are certainly places that pay a lot more (Google), but I haven't seen more than 60-65k (I've been looking at a lot of start ups though, I guess with varying levels of funding). Last year's salaries seemed to be a bit higher (65k-70k), so I don't know if I'm just looking at the wrong places or getting unlucky or what. Although yeah, after about 2-3 years it goes up to a solid 80-95k, and there are PHP devs that make 120k+
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Mar 23, 2012 19:50
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how!! posted:If you're going to ask coding questions, make them as straightforward as possible. Ask lots of smal, easy questions, rather than one big, convoluted problem. it doesn't take a good programmer to answer the first set of questions. an average one could easily answer them quickly. so you don't have any distinction between good and average. just because it is more representative of what you do on a daily basis does not make it a good qualifier of competence. hiring managers would rather hire someone that solve the daily problems AND be able to reason through a less frequent, more difficult problem. it's probably more about how you present the second problem. given enough time, a good programmer should be able to answer it, but even he doesn't, it should still be an illuminating process for the interviewer to see the applicant's ability to process, reason, and work through a problem the applicant is uncomfortable with. it took me 5 minutes to come up with a solution under a no-pressure situation (which i think works) so given, say, 15 or 20 minutes with the problem, it would at the very least be informative for the interviewer. code:
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Dec 6, 2012 20:05
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how much do you guys value good working conditions? i work at a company where my managers know what they are talking about (i.e. knowledgeable both about programming and about management), i don't have a lot of interruptions, the company is lenient about when you can come in in the morning, i almost never have to stay late, the kitchen is stocked with snacks, the company has a toolchain which i enjoy using (bsd/python shop), and there are even a couple of people here that i would esteem "very smart." the only problem is i believe (as a grad ~7 months out of school) i am getting paid 10k below what i should be getting paid (this being a sizeable % of my salary in a time where I should be saving money/paying off student loans) e: to be more specific, i am making 60k working in nyc. i think i should have said at least 10k, since despite programmers being eternally dumb i think i am better off than most recent grads as a result of doing a lot of coding in my spare time (in the last 5 months, i've written a compiler, an emulator, and a chess engine). i would have readily left this job despite all the factors listed above if it wasn't for two things- i'm decent enough with my finances where despite living by myself and putting 10% of my pay to my 401k, i am able to save up roughly $1k every month and that i would generally trade off lower salary for a low stress job (obviously to an extent, or else i wouldn't make this post) Pie Colony fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 00:14
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Mniot posted:If you go interviewing, I suggest asking people to estimate how many hours their engineers work. A lot of places think that 60 hours/week is standard. A 60 hour week and a $10k pay-raise is more for you per-year, but a pretty significant cut in your effective hourly rate. this is a good point. i would effectively make $90k if i were to work 60 hours, which sounds a lot nicer but not having enough free time would definitely drive me crazy and make me burn out a lot faster. it sucks because on one hand there is the whole "work as much as possible when you first start since you're healthy, it can really kick-start your career, and you'll learn a lot" but on the other hand there is "gently caress it and buy a motorcycle, drive upstate to go hiking with your girlfriend, and do drugs because you should stave off becoming a boring adult for as long as possible." e; typing that last part out actually decided it for me Pie Colony fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 03:24
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So..although I'm relatively happy with my job I want to poke my head out and see what kind of offers I can get. I spent the last two hours updating my resume (so I haven't given it a really good look-over), does anyone have any tips? It's a lot better than my old one but it still feels like a bunch of bullshit http://i.imgur.com/yCmhX8f.png kinda short... but I don't think I could say anything else interesting about my jobs. I could add some side projects, but it feels weird putting that on my resume, especially with my github at the top. The two projects I could reference are a microprocessor emulator and a chess engine, but maybe I will get further with my toy compiler by the time I actually seriously look at jobs
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Feb 1, 2013 20:58
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Chasiubao posted:I'm gonna catch flak for this, but: Objectives suck. Also, your object is a weird mish-mash of an objective and a summary of yourself. yeah, it felt weird writing it I guess. I could take it out but then my resume definitely seems short. also I want to write something to get across the point that I write tests for my code, but writing something like "increased test coverage from 0% to 5%" just sounds not serious
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Feb 1, 2013 21:06
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I have limited experience in interviewing, so I'm wondering this: how much different in terms of difficulty is a company's (~1hr) technical phone interview and in-person interview? I had a phone interview today that I think went pretty well, and honestly I was expecting something much harder since I've heard this company only does recruiting at top 5 colleges and is somewhat algorithms-heavy. The questions were a couple easy "problem -> describe a solution" type ones, and two coding tests (one easy recursive tree algorithm, another one easily solved with hash tables). Is their 4-5hr in-person interview more likely to have similar difficulty, but longer/larger breadth problems, or straight up more difficult ones? I'm actually more nervous now that I'm doing well in their process (after completing their code test and phone interview)  (or maybe it's just that working while interviewing makes each interview worth a lot more)
Pie Colony fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Feb 21, 2013 |
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Feb 20, 2013 23:43
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Also, would it be wrong or imposing to follow up my phone interview with "thanks for interviewing, by the way, is the in-person interview going to be language-agnostic?" (the phone one was) cause they're mostly using a language I haven't used seriously in a couple years.
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Feb 21, 2013 00:16
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Just had a 2nd interview with a dev and CTO. It wasn't a technical interview (unfortunately) but more about my working process, etc. It went alright. Some of my answers probably weren't that clear but at times it felt like they were trying to sell the company to me more than I was trying to sell myself to them. Anyway, the last question was regarding salary. I said something like "definitely open to negotiation once we discover that we're a good fit for each other" or something. The dev knew the kind of poo poo I was trying to pull and just smirked, but the CTO said to reach him over e-mail about salary. How should I proceed? For reference, I already have a decent job with fewer hours, and I have a minimum figure in mind. On one hand, this company has a lot of big clients and has said they're expanding. On the other hand, all they gave me were 2 mostly non-technical interviews and a not-too-hard code test, and it's for a junior position, so I don't know how much they are expecting me to ask for.
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Mar 14, 2013 20:00
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Che Delilas posted:It doesn't matter what they're expecting YOU to offer; force them to be the ones to make the first offer. It gives you an idea of what kind of value they put on the position. If it's insultingly low, that gives you information about how you will be regarded and treated if you were to accept the job (poorly and with no opportunity for a raise, most likely). Right, well, how do I get them to do that?
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Mar 14, 2013 20:55
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Not really related to interviewing per se, but I have my first ever annual review soon, does anyone have any tips? I mean, obviously most of the talking points are going to be pre-determined by my actual performance, but as far as getting a raise goes.
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May 22, 2013 16:25
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2banks1swap.avi posted:Oh yeah I was supposed to do this i don't think anyone cares that you wrote documentation or had meetings or "implemented inversion of control." talk about how you helped the company.
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Oct 26, 2013 23:26
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Ithaqua posted:
this is definitely not true, and it's kind of a pet peeve of mine when people say stuff like you need a $100k salary to live in nyc. you can get a 1BR in a place like crown heights or bed stuy, which is about a 30-35 minute commute door-to-door to my office in union sq, for $1400, and I was able to save 10-20% of my paycheck when i was living by myself on 60k. your mileage may vary depending on how terrifying you find black people though.
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Nov 4, 2013 15:46
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how? the commute is the same as from the upper west side to downtown manhattan, the apartments in brooklyn are newly renovated for all the white people moving in, and 20% of my paycheck after all my expenses seems pretty good to me.
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Nov 4, 2013 16:16
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baquerd posted:You mean saving 20% of net after taxes or 20% of your discretionary? The former is pretty good, the latter not so much. 20% of my net pay after taxes, with 10% going to my 401k. you're right - rent was around 40% of my take home pay. i don't know if that's good or bad but it worked out fine for me. i've since gotten decent raises. gucci void main posted:Both Crown Heights and Bed Stuy are shitholes. A 400 square foot apartment, which is barely in the realm of acceptable for a single person unless you really like living in a closet, is going to run you $1800-2600 a month depending on the neighborhood unless you want to be 45-60 minutes removed from Manhattan. This excludes the fact that the rental market is an utter nightmare and you typically need anywhere from 3-5k up front (first/last month's rent + finder's fee) to even be able to get into a place. New York is a hilariously overpriced dump. At least for as exorbitantly expensive as it is, a place like SF has the great weather going for it. oh really? tell me all about the time you've spent in brooklyn during the couple of months it took your nyc employer to find out you were an idiot.
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Nov 4, 2013 17:43
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2banks1swap.avi posted:I want to do low end stuff so much. i think edx just started some embedded computing class, it's around $30 for all the equipment.
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Jan 25, 2014 21:42
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if you know the CS fundamentals (as opposed to just now learning them), four days is more than enough time to get through a book like "cracking the coding interview."
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Jan 29, 2014 15:47
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Tunga posted:This post stuck in my mind because I just bought CTCI and it's 400+ pages of questions, exercises, and advice. It definitely seems helpful but do people really get through this kind of book in less than a week? I'd say it's going to take me more than a month to go through it properly and work on the problems and such, mostly just because I have a job and other interests. if i remember right, a quarter or half the book is just review of the data structures and algorithms. if you know this stuff in advance, you should really be skimming this. also, when i read through it, i didn't code every single problem in the book or anything. a lot of them i just thought about in pseudocode, coding all of them would just be too tedious. but i guess not everyone agrees with that.
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Feb 9, 2014 17:20
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giogadi posted:1) Find the average of a list of 32-bit integers. just out of curiosity, do you know what the algorithm he wanted you to give was (or what was your first solution)? i don't know how to do it but i haven't given it too much thought, though my first question would have been "would an approximate value be useful?" => convert all of them to doubles and use a naive average. or use my language's bignum library or something. Pie Colony fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Feb 12, 2014 |
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Feb 12, 2014 18:21
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Otto Skorzeny posted:First round interview w/ Facebook NYC in two weeks. Cram time! let me know how it goes, i've been considering applying there.
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Feb 26, 2014 18:49
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Otto Skorzeny posted:Broadway & 9th is still considered midtown? I thought it was Greenwich Village. Shows what I know, I guess. Better than their old building on 43rd though, right? i think he was referring to the old office on 43rd, which is in a super lame part of manhattan. the new office on 770 broadway is in a cooler area.
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Mar 7, 2014 20:38
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DaVideo posted:I had an interview question that asked how you would insert an integer into a list of "range" structures, where each range keeps track of the starting integer and the ending integer e.g. [[1,2],[4,4],[7,9]]. If you insert an integer, it merges with any adjacent ranges so if you inserted 3, it would become [[1,4],[7,9]]. The merge function takes an number and a list, so you can consider the input, like if the number is a valid integer and if the list is empty/null, but there are bunch of cases you have to consider such as: This is only tangentially related, but your post represents how I used to solve algorithm questions. I would write some code, an input would be given to me that fails, then I would try to amend the code so that it doesn't fail. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't work very well - my algorithms ended up being just a set of cases, and I would either get frustrated and quit when a new case that I could not work around appeared, or I would miss the point of the algorithm entirely. I adopted a new strategy of essentially reading the problem description, writing down the facts that stem from it, then making further deductions. At some point I might get a theorem in my head which I prove or disprove, all before writing any code. I'm not very mathematically inclined, so formal proofs aren't the easiest thing for me to wrap my head around, but I started writing them for simple problems on websites like Codeforces and have gotten better at them. The benefit in doing this, I've found, is that you KNOW the code you write is guaranteed to be correct, and more importantly, working through a proof illuminates certain properties of the problem that lead you to the correct answer. For example, suppose I receive the above prompt. Finding where to insert an element (here, an element being a range) in a list of sorted elements sounds a lot like binary search, except I know in the interesting case you won't find the element at all (if you did, there's nothing you have to do to the input). So I start thinking on how to modify the binary search. Intuitively, I know binary search works by considering a range (low..high) and successively chopping down that range based on where the element would be. So I throw out a guess -- the values that low and high have are around where the index I should insert is. Then I start thinking, what ARE low and high at the end of an unsuccessful binary search? I start with the fact that low > high at the end, then continue making deductions from that fact. At some point a theorem pops up in my head. code:code:Obviously you won't have time to do this in every interview, but the speed at which I can prove or disprove a simple statement has increased and I've noticed more and more correct (and correct on the first try) submissions to algorithm problems. Pie Colony fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Apr 11, 2014 |
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Apr 11, 2014 23:06
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I posted this resume about a year back, but ended up sticking with the company I was with. My annual review is coming up soon, so I would again like to see what kind of offers I can get from the market, either to use as leverage or just to finally make the switch. Does anyone have any comments? Should I add more projects? Both the ones listed I'm happy with (or at least I was when I wrote them a year ago) but I don't really actively work on them. My more recent ones are not as major, a couple of one-off programs and a few interpreters. Should I explicitly spell out the technologies in the "familiar with" section to get past HR? Should I add an "interests" section so companies can see I like to work with more challenging subjects? Obviously I don't have any professional experience in programming language design or virtual machines or other stuff I find interesting. More bullet points? And yes, my school only offers BAs in CS  
Pie Colony fucked around with this message at 23:00 on Apr 29, 2014 |
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Apr 29, 2014 22:58
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Literally Elvis posted:Is this really problematic? My school offers both, and getting a BA would be soooo much faster/easier than the full BS (mostly because I transitioned from a liberal arts degree). I've thusfar set my sights on a BS because while most of the job postings I've seen for programming jobs just list a "bachelor's" as a requirement, I've seen a few that specify a BS and I'd rather not screw myself. But would I be screwing myself? Well, it's exactly like you say. In most schools, there is a difference between BAs and BSs - the former is typically completed with fewer courses. Fewer courses means less (depth/breadth of) knowledge. I can't speak for all hiring managers, but I assume at least a good portion of them are going to think a person with a BA is less qualified than a person with a BS. Which isn't to say you will be tossed right out of consideration, but it does make it slightly harder. In my university, all people (I think) receive a BA, even if they complete a similar program that another school might give a BS for. My >*girlfriend*< is in the same boat, majored in biochemistry for 4 years and came out with a BA. It's kinda lovely.
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Apr 30, 2014 19:55
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I had an interesting introductory phone talk with some startup. I was answering some softball questions or whatever and then the convo went like this: Him: So, what kind of salary were you expecting? Me: Blah blah going rate for a programmer in the area Him: Just so we're not wasting each other's time, you were thinking around 75-80k? Me: Actually I was thinking a little bit north of that Him: Okay *continues to ask other questions* It caught me off guard cause I've usually only discussed salary after the whole process with them wanting to hire me. He continued the convo nonchalantly which seems like he's not opposed to paying me more, but later on he did tell me about options (which I don't really want). I'm looking to get closer to 90k, so is it worth it to continue with this company?
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May 8, 2014 01:50
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Alright I guess
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May 8, 2014 02:35
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Speaking of NYC, I just got an offer at the only place I have interviewed so far (mostly just from being unable to take time off). The company is great but I thought from how easy the interview was (~4 coding/algorithm questions, 1 db schema design question, and a couple "how WOULD you implement this?" type questions), they weren't going to give a great offer. Today I had a 5 minute phone convo, not really a negotiation. They pressured me to give a number first, so eventually I just told them 95k. Small pause, then an "ok, I'll talk it over with the team." They call 20 minutes later offering 100k. sw8. It's roughly their average salary on Glassdoor, but given that I'm 2 years out of school and it would be a >40% raise for me I'm pretty psyched.
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Jun 2, 2014 22:25
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perfectfire posted:There's nothing interesting really. They asked me into the conference room and then told me my performance was too slow and I wasn't improving so they're cutting me loose. After an HR spiel with a bunch of papers I collect all my things in a stereotypical cardboard box and walk out to my car. Did they bring up your performance in the past?
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Aug 8, 2014 19:04
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everythingWasBees posted:I'm most comfortable and experienced with Java, since I learned using Processing and most of my classes nowadays are based in Java. I'm also pretty comfortable with JavaScript. I'm familiar with Assembly, and probably most interested in that and C. Honestly, if there's anything heavy on Assembly, that'd probably be the most enjoyable. Web development is kinda interesting, while mobile development is less so. Build an interpreter for a 6502 or similar assembly language.
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Sep 26, 2014 17:06
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How come all the talk in this thread is either like the Big 4 or unknown startups, and never companies like Intel or Sun? Seems like they have a lot of smart developers there. What's working there like?
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Dec 5, 2014 16:12
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Blotto Skorzany posted:Does Sun still exist? Thought they got folded into Oracle after the buyout. Yung istib prents used to work there [e: Oracle, not Sun], not sure whether he still posts in CoC though. Yeah I guess you're right, shows how little I know about it.
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Dec 5, 2014 16:41
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Gazpacho posted:Device drivers, external control systems How boring would it be to have a "device driver writing" job? I've never written a device driver but it sounds like it might be better than "web apps."
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Jan 12, 2015 07:21
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PongAtari posted:-What sucks about being a programmer? My outlook is that every job sucks to some degree (otherwise they wouldn't have to pay you to do it), but I'd hate to go all in on this only to realize I hate it as much as my current job/industry. It depends who you are and where you work, like anything else, but software dev is easily the best job I've had. There's a lot of money to be made right now and companies are constantly trying to one-up each other with the perks they give you. At some companies you can even get away with not working more than a couple hours each day. The bad parts about the field are potentially working with spergs (which is why your choice of workplace matters) and pager duty (which is something I haven't done, not sure if it's because of switching companies frequently enough and/or being young)
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Jan 28, 2015 21:03
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Gavinvin posted:I usually ask if they are happy to do either an early morning or end of day interview (and if they like your CV they usually will) that way you can just go into work late, or leave early. It really depends on the size of the company, smaller companies are usually much more flexible. Many people think interviews are this completely random thing or luck is the only thing that matters. That's not true, but there are factors beyond just your intelligence. If you have an interview early in the morning or end of the day, you do in fact risk dealing with interviewers that are grumpier or just want to go home. It's obviously not impossible to pass an interview like this, and obviously if it's the only time you can get off, it's better than nothing. But post-lunch interviews are the best IF you can do them.
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Nov 11, 2016 17:40
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Sounds like a cop out excuse. Is she applying to junior positions? If she crushes interviews, I would imagine at least the bigger companies (e.g. Google) would have no problem coaching her onto their teams.
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Dec 20, 2016 23:34
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Hesh Ballantine posted:I am a "contributor" on an open source project, but am still learning their codebase and haven't actually written or fixed anything for them yet. Miscellaneous thoughts, let me know if I made any incorrect assumptions: - I'm not 100% sure what a student recruiter does but it doesn't seem particularly relevant to a technology job - A 3.265 GPA is not horrible but not great, you could consider leaving it out and offering it only when asked (and rounding up) - "developed and implemented" sound like the same thing - Inconsistent sentence structure and punctuation (e.g. complete vs partial sentences, trailing periods) - I'd rewrite the capstone project section to be more results/outcome focused than just what it is. How expensive was the thing you replaced? How cheap is your thing? What other improvements does it have? Is 4 channels better than before? If not leave it out - If you're applying for a job writing code, having "tech support rep" on your resume is no better than having "burger flipper" on there. Lab/teaching assistant is probably the same - There are people that will deny you an interview if you have "C/C++" on your resume instead of "C, C++" -- they aren't the same language - Does "productivity suite" mean Microsoft Word? In which case take that out, everyone knows how to use Microsoft Word - If you're applying to software roles, no one is going to care that you know how to use a soldering iron If I were you, I'd probably go for the master's while applying for internships. That being said I don't know all the details on your situation.
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Aug 4, 2018 00:06
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Hesh Ballantine posted:e: Also I'm extremely leery of internships because I don't work for free. Most tech internships are paid, and often at rates that are higher than regular full-time positions in other industries. Also they are quickly becoming (if not already are) necessary for new college grads.
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Aug 4, 2018 01:22
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Taffer posted:I disagree on this point. Having working knowledge of actual circuitry and how to put it together/take it apart was one of the big factors that got me all of my last 3 jobs. So my last 6 or 7 years of employment. Fair enough, my experiences are definitely painted by doing webshit for however many years, but ultimately it comes down to the role — if you’re doing embedded software, sure it might help; if you’re working at a Facebook or Netflix probably not. Either way the point to take home is to customize your resume to the position instead of listing all the things you ever did or know how to do.
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Aug 4, 2018 01:37
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