“6 Job Search Tips for Aspiring Programmers” plus 2 more |
- 6 Job Search Tips for Aspiring Programmers
- Bernards Township discussion to focus on library as next chapter in job search
- Search dogs key in hunt for missing woman
| 6 Job Search Tips for Aspiring Programmers Posted: 29 Aug 2010 09:01 AM PDT It's true that most programmers don't need any help getting a job. While other professions have cut down on hiring during the recession, the number of programming jobs has shot through the roof. Demand is expected to increase by 21% between 2008 and 2018. But not all programming jobs are created equal, and you want the most exciting, most interesting, or best-paying job, right? Well then you still have to try, even though you have a computer science degree. Consider it a brief moment of justice for the history majors of the world. In order to help you land your dream job, here are some tips from people who hire programmers. 1. Don't Mess Up Your ResumeWhen a good company has a job opening, it means they also have a giant stack of resume submissions. No company is going to interview the author of every resume in the stack. And it doesn't matter how qualified you are otherwise; if you write a resume that screams "throwaway stack," you're not going to get the job. "It's not going to get you hired and it's not going to get you ignored," explains Joel Spolsky, the founder of Fog Creek Software and the author of Joel on Software. "However, if I have a stack of 300 resumes, I do face a problem of not wanting to interview 300 people." There's no universal factor for passing the resume screening process. Spolsky looks for a high GPA, because "theoretically it comes from 36 different professors' individual assessments of smartness." Ilya Grigorik, the founder and CTO of a data analysis company called PostRank, however, published a rant on resumes that calls GPA "possibly the least useful predictor for a good interview." Chris Martin, the VP of Engineering for PandoraPandora Conversely, it's pretty easy to say what will disqualify you from the screening process: poor proofreading. "Spelling errors shouldn't happen," Martin says. "There are tools for that. If you can't do it, you're probably not smart enough to work here." 2. Be Smart and Get Things DoneThese are the sole two hiring criteria Spolsky names in his Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing. But, as a job candidate, how can you be perceived as smart and demonstrate that you get things done? Well, the first point you can't really do much about. "I can't tell you to try using really long sentences and then you'll look smart," Spolsky says. "either you are or you aren't, so there's no use faking it." In other words, if you aren't smart, your best bet may be to try another profession. But no matter how smart you are, you still need to demonstrate that you get things done. Be able to explain your specific role in the projects you've been involved in as well as the framework of the entire project. Start or contribute to an open source project. Answer questions on sites like Stack OverflowStack Overflow "Write a blog, send me a link to your Stack Overflow (or something equivalent) profile, or GitHub username – something, anything that shows me your interest and involvement in the community," suggests Grigorik. 3. Check Your EgoMartin has run into a consistent problem while interviewing programmers for Pandora: "We're always looking for really smart people, and really smart people often have big egos," he says. At least for Martin, it doesn't matter how skilled the programmer is — if they're arrogant, they're not worth putting up with. Demonstrate your normally proportioned head during the application process. Don't be picky about which projects you'll be working on and show your willingness to learn new things. This is not the time to demand a private office. 4. Learn People Language, TooWhile not exactly a profession known for the people skills of its people, programming does involve a good deal of human interaction. You need to be able to effectively communicate with both your team and people, like marketers and managers. "If you ever look into a professional kitchen in a restaurant, you will see the head chef's ability to keep control is more about his communication skills than his cooking skills," Spolsky says. "The same thing happens with programmers. If you can't communicate, you'll maybe be ok as a sous chef, the equivalent of chopping lettuce all day." Grigorik thinks people skills are so important that he invites candidates at PostRank to work with the team for a day or two so that he can see how they interact. "You can tell a lot about a person just after a few hours of working with them side by side," he says. Be conscious of grammar and composition when writing your cover letter and exchanging e-mails. If you've had problems with interpersonal skills or communication skills in the past, consider seminars or books that might help you improve. 5. Be Prepared to Prove Yourself in the InterviewGo ahead, study behavioral interview techniques and be prepared to answer them. But what is really going to make or break your job interview is how well you prove your competence. Different companies have different approaches to testing you. Pandora asks its job candidates to spend four to five hours in interviews with about eight different people. Martin says he'll ask a lot of programming questions, but that he won't sit anybody down in front of a computer and ask them to code. Spolsky, on the other hand, will always ask people to write code during the interview. GoogleGoogle "When I ask a question like that, I'm not asking it to get an answer," Spolsky says. "I want to have a conversation about it." It's important that you demonstrate a logical thought process and that you don't give up on the problem if it seems too difficult. It's not important whether you say "because the holes are round" or "because it's easier to roll the cover than carry it." 6. Don't Fake ItAfter Fog Creek Software's interview questions showed up on glassdoor.com, the company interviewed a candidate who had read and prepared for them. He nailed the first question. The second question wasn't included on the list, and it became painfully obvious that the candidate had no idea what was going on. "A lot of people get caught in the cycle of, 'oh, I know that,'" Martin says. "And then it's just embarrassing when they don't." Don't exaggerate the number of your proficient skills whey you write your resume. And don't try to talk your way around programming questions that you aren't familiar with during the interview. You will not pull it off. And it will be embarrassing. "If you don't know this stuff, saying you don't know it would be a good place to start," Martin offers. Beyond being embarrassing, there's really not much reason to fake knowledge of additional languages. Most employers aren't looking for people who are experts in every language. They're looking for good programmers who can learn new languages if required. "Learning how to program in C Sharp is 99% knowing how to program and 1% C Sharp," Spolsky says. Computer Programming Job ListingsEvery week we put out a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we post a huge range of job listings, we've selected some of the best computer programming jobs from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting! More Job Search Resources from Mashable:
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| Bernards Township discussion to focus on library as next chapter in job search Posted: 29 Aug 2010 06:25 AM PDT BERNARDS TWP. – Ruth Lufkin, supervising reference librarian at the Bernards Township Library, will discuss using the library as a job search tool from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14, in the library's Program Room. During "The Library: Your Job Search Research Center," Lufkin will introduce useful library resources and showcase tools that make career exploration and transition easier as well as materials of special interest to job seekers. She will also describe ways to search for information on particular industries, pinpoint potential employers and find nuggets of company data. Online resources that are available remotely to every library card holder in the state, as well as those specifically available at Bernards Township Library, will be highlighted. Members of the Career Forum, Career Networking Group (CNG) and other support groups are especially invited to attend this free meeting.The Career Forum meets from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Somerset Hills YMCA, 140 Mount Airy Road in Basking Ridge. The CNG meets on the first and third Thursday evenings of each month at the library, 32 S. Maple Ave. in Basking Ridge. Both of these local support groups offer programs of interest to those looking for work or contemplating transition and opportunities to network with other members of the group. Pre-registration for Lufkin's presentation is suggested but not required; those who register in advance using the Program Calendar at www.BernardsLibrary.org will receive an email reminder before the event. For more information, call the library at (908) 204.3031, ext. 4, or email rlufkin@bernards.org. The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of recordernewspapers.com. We encourage your feedback and dialog, all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff before appearing on the Web site. RecorderNewspapers.com requires readers to register with an e-mail address to leave comments. Registered users: This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Search dogs key in hunt for missing woman Posted: 28 Aug 2010 07:37 PM PDT The search and rescue dogs that found suspected human remains while searching for a missing woman Saturday underwent years of training and testing before they began working in the field, one of their handlers said. Katie Danzig, of Long Island, who is a retired detective from the New York Police Department, was one of four dog handlers from Eagle Valley Search Dogs who brought their animals to Herkimer this weekend to search for Lisa Bawolak, a Herkimer woman last seen alive near the Mohawk River on Aug. 5, 2009. A host of state police personnel searched the same site last year without finding anything. But the canine team, including Danzig's Bluetick Coonhound, found what police believe were human remains within a few hours of starting work Saturday morning. Danzig said the group includes a variety of dog breeds, including German shepherds and Labrador retrievers, and that most begin training for the job as puppies. "It's a long process," she said Friday night. "It usually takes a good 18 months before a dog's up and running, and then there are different certifications the dogs can get." Scout, for example is specially trained for cadaver recovery and certified through the International Police Work Dog Association, she said, while most of the dogs are trained for both search and rescue of living humans and recovery of human bodies and certified through the New York State Federation of Search and Rescue Teams. For the latter certification, handlers buy items associated with human decomposition – such as blood, bone and hair samples – through special, legitimate providers of such items and use them to familiarize the dogs with those scents. Each handler also trains their dog to perform a certain action – such as sitting or barking – when they pinpoint the source of that odor at a scene. "Before they even go into that final indication, you'll watch for body language," Danzig said. "Something in the dog's body language is going to tell you, 'Oh, he's onto something. He smells something.'" This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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