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Hey goons, I'm looking for your thoughts on my career situation... I graduated with a BA in Journalism in the Fall of '09. Since then I've held two jobs, the most recent of which being a decent-paying, good benefits job doing graphic design/some HTML/CSS development. Since I got this job I had a career crisis, and now I'm going back to school part-time for another BA in CsCi while still working full-time at my current job. At this rate, I'll graduate in Spring of 2014 or Fall of 2014, at 25 or 26 years old. I'll want to go to graduate school too if I continue to get good marks in upper level classes, but that's a maybe. I guess my question is, am I handicapping my ability to get a good job upon graduation by not getting any programming or DB-specific jobs or internships before I change my career? Right now I work for a non-technical boss. Also, any language practice I pick up will have no practical use where I work, so if I picked up PHP in my spare time I would only be writing whatever things come to my head. Should I quit my full-time position and get an internship or should I be OK?
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Apr 7, 2012 14:01
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Pweller posted:As long as you complete some decent projects doing whatever it is specifically you want to be doing as a full time job, you should do fine interviewing later. I'm going back to the same school, so I've already finished all my generals, and I've already been back for a couple semesters now, so I'm partway there. The only thing that concerns me about hitting the reset button and getting internships from scratch is money. I don't really have any, and can't afford a minimum wage internship.
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Apr 7, 2012 14:21
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It sounds like first-job salaries for outgoing CS grads varies greatly by region you're living in. Does anyone have an idea what an average salary range for midwestern cities like Minneapolis/Chicago/St. Louis/Milwaukee for a CS grad without much experience?
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Dec 16, 2012 03:38
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Good Will Hrunting posted:I've started to look for internships and it's fairly discouraging to see listings with things like "Extensive project experience or previous internship experience in (7 different areas)" and laundry lists on most of the listings I've come across so far. For someone like me coming from a different background and field, it's getting tough to find anything I feel comfortable applying to. Where do I draw the line in terms of applying for certain positions that list frameworks, APIs, etc, that I've literally never touched? I seem to see that bigger companies are a lot less picky and seem willing to hire people with less professional experience. I'm in the same boat as you right now. I'm not sure what the right answer is, but I'm just going to apply for them anyways as long as the job seems desirable...the worst thing they can do is say no and not call you back.
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Jan 11, 2013 21:55
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Jazzcactus posted:This may have been discussed already in the thread but a quick question. Which school is it? I go to the U of M right now for CS, and I know a few people around who got CS degrees at UMD, UWEC & UW-Madison, and they're all doing fine. The U of M does pretty well trying to fit students in with internships, so I think the bigger question is how are the employment opportunities at the school you're looking at? Ultimately, I don't think it matters, as long as you're in it because you want to be in it and really enjoy the material.
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Feb 1, 2013 14:23
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For managers: What would you rather see when hiring a college graduate: a year-long internship as a software engineer with no github/personal code to show you (due to internship/schoolwork being proprietary code), or no internship/job during college and a github of personal projects?
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Apr 30, 2013 17:19
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I'm meeting face-to-face with a recruiter tomorrow... it probably won't go anywhere, but why not. Is business casual the norm, or could I potentially wear shorts and a nice polo and get away with it? I've always gotten my jobs through straight interviews and nothing through a recruiter. e: It's at a coffee shop and not at their office.
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Aug 2, 2013 04:05
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Oh, I've worked multiple jobs where business casual was the bare minimum, so it's not a deal at all. I was just curious... haven't dealt with recruiters much, and since my current job doesn't give a hoot about dress code it's going to be awkward walking into the office tomorrow with dress clothes. Oh well.
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Aug 2, 2013 04:53
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Theler posted:Working with smarter people than you is hugely beneficial and a great way to learn. As the posters above said you could use your experience to find a good well paying job. I just wanted to add that if you do choose to ask for a salary based on your contributions and position in the company I would ask for at least 70-80k (ask for the higher amount). They can afford it. I may be a bit too high here though. Don't be taken advantage of because you're comfortable here. Yes, ask for 80k, at least. He can always say lower. I am also graduating this spring from UMN and will be at that same career fair next week. Definitely apply for positions there. The going rate for a fresh grad like me is 60k-70k. I have an internship, so I should be on the higher end for that... for you, he specifically told you you're more valuable than that, so ask accordingly. If he's not willing to give you that, you'll have to ask yourself what's more important in your life and if you're willing to take less than you're worth.
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Sep 9, 2013 12:26
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So, I'm a soon-to-be CS grad who has a job offer from one of the big four; haven't accepted it yet though. Pretty much no matter what happens, I'm going to take it, because it's my best opportunity. What I'm wondering is, though, what's the proper way to go about trying to negotiate a little extra salary or a couple extra vacation days? Is it bad form to ask for more, get denied, then say "ok I'll take it anyway"?
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Oct 13, 2013 18:48
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Replace IBM with Amazon and that's what I was thinking.
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Oct 13, 2013 18:58
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wolffenstein posted:I can't link the original for whatever reason, thanks Google Docs. Anyway thank Gavin Brown for this script. Thanks for this! Exactly what I'm looking for.
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Oct 13, 2013 19:37
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Here's a question I have... about a month ago, I scheduled a job interview for a company that requires me to fly out and spend a night in a hotel. A week or so ago they scheduled all the travel options for me. The interview is this coming Wednesday-Thursday. Since then, I've received a job offer from another company and I no longer am interested in this position. This whole interview would be a waste of everyone's time. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much of a dick move would it be to cancel the interview and force them to cancel the flight and hotel room? Is that considered poor form?
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Oct 20, 2013 12:01
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gandlethorpe posted:Amateur (if even) programmer here, in desperate need of guidance. I have no formal education in programming, but it's always sort of had a presence in my life. My dad was a programmer, and my older brother took it up early. I was exposed to things like BASIC early on, but in my young age resisted learning it in depth. If you're interested in getting the formal CS education, would your company consider allowing you to take 6-8 credits per semester at some tech school and be flexible with your schedule so you can work on getting that foundation? My company allowed me to do that when I decided to switch careers to CS.
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Oct 24, 2013 23:53
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Real pros make their resumes in InDesign.
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Nov 11, 2013 01:42
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Yo guys, noncompetes are basically unenforcable and the only reason they're there is mostly to scare you into not stealing their trade secrets and starting a new competing company. Even if you did do that, it would be tough for them to even enforce it then. I signed an 18-months-after-termination noncompete for the company I'm going to work for and the best course of action is just to ignore it because that NDA is only worth the paper it's printed on. e: I guess I don't know the software industry in particular but everywhere else I've worked this has been the case.
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Nov 27, 2013 13:04
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Splurgerwitzl posted:Do you guys like your jobs? Did many of you go to a 4-year school while working? I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask. I need a career and programming seems appealing. I know very little about coding but it seems like an intellectually interesting and comfortable job that won't break my body. Are you considering going to a 4-year school while working? For two years I worked a full-time, salaried position and took 8 credits/semester simultaneously on the side. You'll work really, really hard. Only do it if you're certain you want to change careers and not just because you're kind of curious. Do some research, try to pick up some basic programming skills, and see if it's something you'd like to do (and can afford).
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Jan 3, 2014 20:14
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Gazpacho posted:There are divisions in Amazon where you really, really don't want to work. While all public-facing services need to have a very high level of service, the same isn't true of services behind the scenes. Which divisions are those? Just curious.
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Jan 18, 2014 17:49
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Write "Negotiable" in those fields whether or not they're required.
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Jan 22, 2014 18:34
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mobby_6kl posted:Nope, but how does one "get placed" at Amazon anyway? Weren't you applying for a specific position? Like, I applied for a C++ dev role, and it was specifically about developing new features for our database. New college grads get their choice of teams to work on, as long as there's room for another person on that team.
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Feb 16, 2014 15:19
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Is it just me, or is Amazon hiring a every single possible college grad for this summer? I know of at least 7 graduates from my school alone who are starting (including myself) after graduation this year. There were at least 75-100 college kids at the one-day 'please work for us look how great we are' event I went to and a recruiter said there were like 4 or 5 those planned.
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Apr 14, 2014 22:58
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If I'm leaving a company in which I've signed a noncompete to join a new one, is it generally good practice to tell them about it? If so, how many details of it should I give to my new employer? FWIW, I don't think the business spaces overlap, but of course I'm not a lawyer. They haven't asked if I'm under any noncompetes so that's why I'm asking about bringing it up.
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May 21, 2016 22:05
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I recently accepted a new job at Company A that would be a good fit. My start date was negotiated to be early September. I've already filled out background check forms, signed the offer letter, even gave them my license plate # for the parking garage, all that fun stuff. However, another opportunity at Company B has since fallen into my lap; I'd get more responsibility, equivalent technical challenges, a more interesting space to me, and $50K more salary. I have a job offer there and intend to take it. On a scale of 1 to 10, how lovely of me is it to say to Company A: "I'm sorry, but after thinking about it, I don't think accepting this position is right for me at this time. I have decided to go another direction." ? (I'm going to do that anyway, but just wondering how many bridges I'm going to end up burning. I like Company A and want to still be a candidate in the future.  )
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Jun 13, 2016 04:05
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I know I can drop out of the process whenever I want. It's an at-will employment offer. I just like the company I'm dropping out of and am wondering what the best way to not burn bridges is. Someday in the future if they hire again I'd like to be considered still. But it sounds like they're going to be pretty pissed. It's just unfortunate.
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Jun 13, 2016 16:38
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UnfurledSails posted:Turns out a <1 year SDE1 position base runs from 75k to 145k, with the average being around 100k. If it was like 70k average then I can see myself asking for like 90k and letting them "win" down to 75k if they give me an offer, but it's tough to want 110+ thousand dollars a year as someone with zero work experience, so I'm afraid it would hurt my chances of getting an offer. Are you a college hire? If so, what you put is irrelevant; all college hire positions at Amazon have a standardized salary based off your education level.
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Jun 21, 2016 04:54
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