CS Advice Question(s) for those of you in industry

[dyzz]

I am graduating in May and looking for a job(s). I am looking for advice for interviews, anything I can get would be a big help. Its a bit overwhelming, and I am not sure how to answer questions like "Why us?", "Why are you interested in what we do?", etc. Its all a bit overwhelming.


A little background on me:

- My Gpa is under 3.0 (I transfered in with a 3.9 =( ), mostly because I am ADHD and suck at taking exams (and because my daughter has medical complications and I missing about 1/2 of every semester). I do go to a good school, which is top 20 ranked for CS.

- I am a veteran. I was a Navy Intelligence Specialist with a TS/SCI clearance. I am still clearable, and the clearance has lapsed.

- I have 2 years of SysAdmin/Dev experience as I work on campus in the CS Research Center running the Data Center and general Help Desk stuff including Scripting/Developing Software Applications for HelpDesk Support/etc.

- I have no particular "interest" in any specific market other than what pays, because I went back to school to support the high cost of supporting my daughter (She cost us $16k out of pocket last year, total the insurance paid out: $112k), and to provide for my wife and other child.

[Independent voter]

CS? Are you a programmer?

Companies usually give you test where they'll give you a string and you tell them verbally how you'd reverse the string. Don't tell them about your ADHD.

It's a good time to look for work. Don't get discourages, look at interviews like training, take notes and learn from them. I usually have to go on 10 interviews before I'm up to speed.

[dyzz]

CS? Are you a programmer?

Companies usually give you test where they'll give you a string and you tell them verbally how you'd reverse the string. Don't tell them about your ADHD.

It's a good time to look for work. Don't get discourages, look at interviews like training, take notes and learn from them. I usually have to go on 10 interviews before I'm up to speed.

Yeah, sorry. CS = Computer Science aka Software Engineering, etc.

[Kujako]

I have no particular "interest" in any specific market other than what pays

That's kinda gona be a problem. The market is full, so the people who tend to get ahead in it are those that have an interest. I'd be writing software as a hobby if it were not my job.

[Deleted]

That's kinda gona be a problem. The market is full, so the people who tend to get ahead in it are those that have an interest. I'd be writing software as a hobby if it were not my job.

It seems odd whenever I hear this 'the market is so full for development' from Americans. Here in the UK we have an enormous skills shortage in most fields of development, and particularly in operations, and from what I've seen most tech hubs in the US have similar massive shortages, to the point where I've had friends go from £50/60k senior dev roles to $150-200k in SV or NYC with almost no problem.

My advice for anyone starting out in development - a CS degree is rarely worth much these days, what's important is what you've done around that, because it's often so far behind the current tech ecosystem due to problems with updating university courses. Doing things like having personal or side projects which you can show off and display aptitudes in things like TDD/BDD, an understanding of web or dev operations (which if you've been working as a sysadmin while studying you should hopefully have a solid foundation in), being able to display the ability to work to the project style (try do things like find issues on GitHub and close them) and you'll be laughing your way into a job.

Remember - CS grads are the least employable degree course in the UK (and I'm pretty certain it's pretty awful in the US too), but juniors who enter with 'just a passion' and little formal training often take off like rocket ships. Make sure you display enthusiasm and excitement for working in tech, don't just be one of those 'I'm a developer because I did CS and I heard it pays well' and you'll be fine. On the junior level the most important thing is enthusiasm and a passion for learning, because you're almost guaranteed to use next to nothing of what you learnt at uni.

Also if it's the same in the US as it is in the UK - brush up on your pair programming skills. Almost all tech interviews I do these days use pairing as the assessment and it can be jarring if you're not used to working in a shared headspace.

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Something like a career change is brilliant - most juniors who are shit are shit because they have never held down a job and don't work well with others. If you're someone with a previous role (particularly in something like the military) before you made the switch that is a huge bonus and will further let you display your enthusiasm and excitement in a way most CS grads cannot.

[Annoying]

It seems odd whenever I hear this 'the market is so full for development' from Americans. Here in the UK we have an enormous skills shortage in most fields of development, and particularly in operations, and from what I've seen most tech hubs in the US have similar massive shortages, to the point where I've had friends go from £50/60k senior dev roles to $150-200k in SV or NYC with almost no problem.

My advice for anyone starting out in development - a CS degree is rarely worth much these days, what's important is what you've done around that, because it's often so far behind the current tech ecosystem due to problems with updating university courses. Doing things like having personal or side projects which you can show off and display aptitudes in things like TDD/BDD, an understanding of web or dev operations (which if you've been working as a sysadmin while studying you should hopefully have a solid foundation in), being able to display the ability to work to the project style (try do things like find issues on GitHub and close them) and you'll be laughing your way into a job.

Remember - CS grads are the least employable degree course in the UK (and I'm pretty certain it's pretty awful in the US too), but juniors who enter with 'just a passion' and little formal training often take off like rocket ships. Make sure you display enthusiasm and excitement for working in tech, don't just be one of those 'I'm a developer because I did CS and I heard it pays well' and you'll be fine. On the junior level the most important thing is enthusiasm and a passion for learning, because you're almost guaranteed to use next to nothing of what you learnt at uni.

Also if it's the same in the US as it is in the UK - brush up on your pair programming skills. Almost all tech interviews I do these days use pairing as the assessment and it can be jarring if you're not used to working in a shared headspace.

- - - Updated - - -

Something like a career change is brilliant - most juniors who are shit are shit because they have never held down a job and don't work well with others. If you're someone with a previous role (particularly in something like the military) before you made the switch that is a huge bonus and will further let you display your enthusiasm and excitement in a way most CS grads cannot.

I probably only got my job because I had made my own C compiler. They were like "wow, this is good." Solid showing of skills that mattered to them. Personal projects are crazy recommended. That and I had an internship at the NRAO's interferometer here in town.

That being said, fuck pair programming. Never felt like it gave any improvement over me doing my thing, while the other people do their thing.

[Deleted]

It seems like everyone on the employment end says that, but try actually getting yourself into those positions and you find that it's still hugely competitive.

Even if there is a perceived "shortage", it's likely in due in part to the fact that employers still know that they can be extremely selective. I feel like I could probably walk out tomorrow and have a good shot at getting my foot in the door in a shitload of different fields even with little to no experience, but programming isn't one of those, no matter how much of a "shortage" employers claim there is.

I guess it depends where you live / are willing to work. For example here in the UK we have London as our main tech hub and finding a job in London is moronically easy. We have some minor hubs in Manchester, Edinburgh and Bath/Bristol which are still fairly short changed but as soon as you go out of these hub areas it can become a lot more of a challenge. I'd imagine in the US it would be a similar case where there's certain areas where it's easier / faster to find a job (NYC and SV being the ones I'd be familiar with) and potentially much harder if there's not much of a hub in the area you live.

Tech companies generally cluster in very small geographic areas - which is great if you can work in one of them, but I can imagine it's harder if you don't.