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Buh, as long as people need to extract the maximum out of specific hardware, they stay relevant. Not to say anything about being useful for debugging. Just when there's a movement to do everything in high-level GCed languages because performance on the desktop is pretty OK, people are crying for 60fps scrolling and zero latency interaction on sub 100 USD crapphones. If anything, I wish I knew more about GPU hardware by this point.
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Sep 11, 2013 15:02
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If you actually do care about the hardware side of things, you could always read Ulrich Drepper's What Every Programmer Should Know About Memory It's written somewhat in the style of a whitepaper but in fact it's really more of a mini-textbook so don't expect to finish it all in one sitting unless you're on a plane or a long commute or something.
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Sep 11, 2013 16:12
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It's not to say that I'm not interested in assembly and architecture - they're certainly interesting and knowing them would help - but I would rather focus on higher-level implementations than worry about optimal performance and getting my program to run on any platform. If the knowledge can help me be a better programmer, by all means, share it with me. Just, I'd really really really really really really really really rather not end up doing anything similar to Electrical Engineering. 
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Sep 11, 2013 18:11
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Regarding relo chat:Safe and Secure! posted:Would it be a horrible idea to work in one area for a year or two and then move to another? I slummed helpdesk and CJ poo poo for ~10 years, then lucked into a position at a big corp. From their desk I made my side projects stand out, and when my boss came to me and said "WINK WINK if I offered you a promotion to Perl dev, could you claim to know it in 2 weeks?" and I said "Yep." I'm now ~15 months into that role and I am relocating my wife and our cats from NW Arkansas to Denver on a coder-or-bust track. We're selling everything we own, because it's cheap poo poo and it's in Arkansas. I'm gutting my 401k, because it's only low 5 digits, we need the moving cash, and it's in Arkansas. I'm selling the house for the first offer that doesn't leave us underwater, because it's in Arkansas. You get the gist. I will state that it's about an order of magnitude tougher than just "single dude, i can couch surf for 2wks, maybe do extended stay for 2 more while I bicker over leases", especially when you have to factor in stuff like "We have had excellent health insurance for years and now I am going to likely be doing contract work". But it's doable if your feet have been to the fire long enough. e: {moved jobbeg to jobthread) Jonny 290 fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Sep 11, 2013 |
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Sep 11, 2013 18:15
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Malcolm XML posted:You absolutely need a car in the Bay Area unless you really love Caltrain. Hahahaha what??? I used to live in the Sacramento suburbs. 6 miles to work, a mile to the closest grocery store. A few miles to a decent bar, meaning someone's DD or waiting to sober up to drive. No sidewalks or bike lanes to get to either of those. That requires a car. SF? I have a 20 minute walking commute. When we move buildings soon it'll turn into a 20 minute bus ride. I can get to a bar without crossing a street. Groceries are similarly walkable. My car went from being an absolute necessity to a giant pain in the rear end oh god why do we own TWO stupid cars that have to get moved twice a week. Pollyanna posted:It's not to say that I'm not interested in assembly and architecture - they're certainly interesting and knowing them would help - but I would rather focus on higher-level implementations than worry about optimal performance and getting my program to run on any platform. If the knowledge can help me be a better programmer, by all means, share it with me. Just, I'd really really really really really really really really rather not end up doing anything similar to Electrical Engineering. I'm a firmware developer and my core skills are in the area of HW/SW interaction, working closely with EE's. You're waaaaay up the stack from there, but in my uneducated opinion bioinformatics seems like a hop, skip, and a jump away from any job with Big Data in the title. And as you noted, high-level concerns will dominate your time there.
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Sep 11, 2013 18:25
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Pollyanna posted:It's not to say that I'm not interested in assembly and architecture - they're certainly interesting and knowing them would help - but I would rather focus on higher-level implementations than worry about optimal performance and getting my program to run on any platform. If the knowledge can help me be a better programmer, by all means, share it with me. Just, I'd really really really really really really really really rather not end up doing anything similar to Electrical Engineering. I honestly wouldn't worry about it that much. If you're just looking to get a job (as opposed to being focused on personal development for its own sake) then I'd focus on building some basic projects in Python or Ruby or Java (good examples would be a web scraper to grab data, a javascript game with some basic physics, or a basic amazon.com style site where users can log in, view products, add them to a cart etc). You don't need a CS degree and you don't need to be the most complete programmer ever. It's good to keep working on personal development after you have a job but even with basic programming and web development skills you can get a job and be a benefit to a company.
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Sep 11, 2013 18:29
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Hmm...I was told that apparently, there's far more job opportunities for Bioinformatics majors that hold a CS degree or somesuch. They got that from this: http://www.asis.org/Conferences/AM09/open-proceedings/papers/67.xml But I'm not sure that study actually supports their point. In fact, according to the study, CS degrees become way less important than Bioinformatics once you reach the higher levels (MS or PhD). quote:When comparing the level and type of degree requested, it is interesting to note that computer science is seen more often as a degree requirement at the Bachelor’s level, while biology and bioinformatics are featured more often at the Master’s and Ph.D. level. These results imply that in bioinformatics lower levels of computer science training are acceptable, while biological or bioinformatics training needs to be at a Master’s level or higher. quote:We have shown that graduates from all levels of education are needed in the field. Those with a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline, especially computer science, are especially in demand, as well as graduates with a Ph.D. in biology or bioinformatics. It seems to me that a CS BS becomes redundant if you're taking a Bioinformatics MS. That goes contrary to the idea of "you need a CS BS in addition to a Bioinfo MS to be competitive", as far as I can tell. Does this make sense? JawnV6 posted:I've read about your situation in a few different places and I don't think you'll find yourself wanting for work. You're clearly driven and capable of implementing software. I like to push arch & asm on everyone and I'd suggest you get there eventually, but right now branching out to a second language will prove far more valuable. Thank you. I've figured that I can cover my bases pretty well by learning Python and Java, and using BI tools for the former. As for the Big Data comment, I do think that BI has a lot of crossover with it - I assume Big Data involves a lot of data acquisition and processing, and poo poo like databases? That could be a possibility. Also living in a place where you don't need a car is easily the best thing ever. Cities rule  NovemberMike posted:I honestly wouldn't worry about it that much. If you're just looking to get a job (as opposed to being focused on personal development for its own sake) then I'd focus on building some basic projects in Python or Ruby or Java (good examples would be a web scraper to grab data, a javascript game with some basic physics, or a basic amazon.com style site where users can log in, view products, add them to a cart etc). You don't need a CS degree and you don't need to be the most complete programmer ever. It's good to keep working on personal development after you have a job but even with basic programming and web development skills you can get a job and be a benefit to a company. I've actually thought about getting a programming job of some sort to get money/experience while I'm doing my MS. If that's what I need to do to become desirable, then I'm way ahead of you. My current big project (eventually) is a stock analysis program using Python to get stock data and perform technical analysis on it. I hope that falls under "personal development" 
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Sep 11, 2013 20:43
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If you can demonstrate that you are a capable enough programmer any (not terrible) prospective employer isn't going to care that your degree doesn't have the word "computer" in it, especially when you are trying to get into a field where your degree is still related.
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Sep 11, 2013 20:46
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Yeah, that's the thing. There's three points to what I've been told: 1. The CS BS would be a backup plan in case the MS goes wrong for whatever reason (unlikely). 2. The CS BS would build the skills I need in preparation for the Bioinformatics classes (i.e. "what if one of your classes uses Computer Science that you don't already know?"). 3. If I decide to do a different CS-related field, I would need a CS diploma in order to qualify for jobs (even though I would already have an MS in a heavily CS based field  ).The third point has already been knocked out of the park by astr0man, as far as I can tell. Skills I'd develop in the MS are also easily transferrable to other disciplines and fields (databases, scripting, statistical analysis, etc.). The first point might be the most salient of the three, but it's conjecture at this point. Plus, as you guys have been saying, getting hired in the CS world involves way more than just a degree. Personal projects, experience, etc. count for a hell of a lot, and all that is perfectly doable on my own. Sure, structure could be an issue, but it's perfectly doable in theory. As for the second point, if admissions thought I wasn't experienced enough to take these classes, why would they accept me? Admissions really, really wants to make sure they get students that can handle the program. It doesn't make sense that they wouldn't check to see if I can handle it before they accepted me. Also, the kind of classes offered in these programs gives appropriate background and familiarity with whatever language or concept is involved to the students - it's explicitly designed to bring together Bio graduates and CS graduates. They fully understand that some students will not have as much familiarity with CS concepts as people with the relevant Bachelors. And as for me, I'm a Biomedical Engineering graduate. I'm somewhere in the middle compared to a Bio or CS major. I've got experience in both sides of the equation. I can handle it. Also, if there's really something important I need to learn and the class doesn't cover it, topics in CS are easily researched and learned online. If I don't know how to write (god forbid) a for-loop, I don't just flounder there like a jackass, I look it up in the documentation. If I need explanation on how databases work, Google is my friend. It's like that with everything. This really seems quite simple to me. A Masters in a CS-based field will, by the end of the degree, make a CS Bachelors redundant. Skills needed to perform well in the field (or at all) are either included in the coursework, or available for self-study. I just don't see the point. The final question is, "why not". This is a hard one. To be honest, if I didn't need to pay money for a degree and I could pursue it on my own terms and structure, poo poo, I'd never leave college. But, that's not how it works. My parents are fully willing to invest money in education for me, which I greatly appreciate, but it doesn't invalidate the fact that money is a big issue. Time is an investment too, and I want to make sure I use it well. The thing holding me back is...why? I know, answering a question with another question, but I don't want to just throw things at the wall and see what sticks. I can't find a good impetus to do so, even if there's no barrier in the way. Sorry, this has gone really off-topic. I just can't see the point in getting a Bachelors in a field that I'm already getting a Masters in. Either way, I'm already doing my own thing that will get me somewhere, so...
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Sep 11, 2013 21:58
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Pollyanna posted:It seems to me that a CS BS becomes redundant if you're taking a Bioinformatics MS. That goes contrary to the idea of "you need a CS BS in addition to a Bioinfo MS to be competitive", as far as I can tell. Does this make sense? Pollyanna posted:Thank you. I've figured that I can cover my bases pretty well by learning Python and Java, and using BI tools for the former. As for the Big Data comment, I do think that BI has a lot of crossover with it - I assume Big Data involves a lot of data acquisition and processing, and poo poo like databases? That could be a possibility. Just as an aside, crosspost from the general programming thread: Elderbean posted:I have a vested interest in biology, namely genetics, but it’s not a lucrative major and jobs are hard to come by. Everything I’ve read recommends obtaining strong programming skills because the more math oriented subsets of biology like Bioinformatics are in demand.
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Sep 11, 2013 22:00
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JawnV6 posted:You're investing way too much time into a vaguely theoretical problem that isn't proven to affect your personal situation. I understand why you're applying such scrutiny, but chilling out and focusing on hard technical learning will benefit you much more. You've got a sense of the problem space, it's time to cut that analysis and start working in solution space.
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Sep 12, 2013 06:36
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I'm definitely thinking too hard. It's really not that big a deal to me, I'm naturally the kind of person that makes plans up as they go. I guess I don't really need to worry that much, cause I already know my immediate future will build towards something.
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Sep 12, 2013 16:54
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A place I interviewed for back in June is still advertising on craigslist. :| Was I that bad an option?
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Sep 12, 2013 21:45
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Zero The Hero posted:A place I interviewed for back in June is still advertising on craigslist. :| Was I that bad an option? yes
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Sep 12, 2013 21:49
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There are a lot of places that don't have an urgent need to hire someone but do have multiple openings for when the right person comes along.
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Sep 12, 2013 22:03
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Well, I solved their stupid programming challenge. I feel like they decided not to hire me during the interview but had me go along with the rest of the process anyway.
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Sep 12, 2013 22:19
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Yeah, my employer is basically always looking to hire, but they're pretty picky and ok with growing slowly and only hiring people we have a lot of confidence in.
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Sep 12, 2013 22:37
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I passed the screening process AND did well on the test (about a MUMPS offshoot  79% is considered good) one company gave me when I was interviewing with them. I had like three interviews with them and they all went well. They said they'd let me know when I could fill the position I was applying for. Something like 6 months later they called me up and said "whoops we're downsizing the whole company and laying people off so we won't be hiring you ok bye".Still mad about that. 
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Sep 12, 2013 23:45
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Zero The Hero posted:Well, I solved their stupid programming challenge. I feel like they decided not to hire me during the interview but had me go along with the rest of the process anyway. You might be somehow abrasive or off-putting in person. I saw one guy get passed on because, although he was technically competent, he could not regulate the volume of his voice and he was so fat that he broke one of our conference room chairs when he sat in it.
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Sep 12, 2013 23:50
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Pollyanna posted:I passed the screening process AND did well on the test (about a MUMPS offshoot Not sure why, considering the other option would have been that you start and then have to immediately look for another job. e: Ithaqua posted:You might be somehow abrasive or off-putting in person. I saw one guy get passed on because, although he was technically competent, he could not regulate the volume of his voice and he was so fat that he broke one of our conference room chairs when he sat in it. No Safe Word fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Sep 12, 2013 |
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Sep 12, 2013 23:52
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i passed on a guy because i thought he was boring
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Sep 13, 2013 05:22
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rotor posted:i passed on a guy because i thought he was boring Zero, have you started any side projects since people yelled at you to do some side projects?
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Sep 13, 2013 06:46
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Ithaqua posted:You might be somehow abrasive or off-putting in person. I saw one guy get passed on because, although he was technically competent, he could not regulate the volume of his voice and he was so fat that he broke one of our conference room chairs when he sat in it. Well, I don't have either of those particular issues. I spent some time thinking about what I might have done wrong, interview wise, but I'm trying not to read too much into it. The interviewers weren't very talkative, and just didn't seem very, well, sociable. I'm just not sure how much this one interview can really reflect on the industry as a whole. Cicero posted:That's nothing, I once passed on a guy because his capitalization was poor. I have, but I haven't had too much time to put into it the past few weeks. I've just been going back to try and learn more SDL, something I started years ago before I got sidetracked. I've done a decent amount of personal projects over the past few years, I've just ended up dropping them because I decided my efforts would be better put towards some new technology. Like when I started working with ASP.NET after I had two interviews for an entry-level APS.NET position. I have a hard time figuring out what to do, and most of the advice I get is something like "Try making a simple (something complex) with (some technology you've never used)". I'm not opposed to learning something new, but sometimes I get into something and realize I don't really have the prerequisite knowledge, and it's going to take a ton of work before I can even start the project, and I decide my time would be more effectively spent elsewhere. I'm also going through a Coursera course in Data Structures / Algorithms right now. I did well in my college course, and while I'm still confident I could write and implement a Quick sort if I had the internet in front of me, I'd like to be able to talk about it with an interviewer if asked. The course is a bit more in-depth than mine was, too.
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Sep 13, 2013 16:39
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I think a big part of why I got picked where I'm at now is because I actually have a personality, talk about stuff, want to hang out, and for that matter knew good places to go eat. Everyone here has a personality and when we look to replace someone, a big part of if we care to get them or not seems to be "are they interesting" or "are they fun." I've had people hit me up to go eat long after interviews and getting a job was done because shooting the poo poo is a good skill to have, and networking is very important. Cicero posted:Agreed. Pollyanna here is kind of like ol' 2banks in terms of over-analysis...except 2banks has a job now and is independent. Pollyanna, your analysis seems fine, your options are good, now is the time to deep dive into one of them. You can surface in 3-6 months when you have something tangible and then re-analyze. Posting from work! There's a light at the end of the tunnel, really. The real key is to be able to point to something and say "I did that" and be able to talk about the skills you got while developing it. What to make to show that is the hard part. Well, that and not going crazy while interviewing your rear end off and waiting for it to be your turn.
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Sep 13, 2013 17:01
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Does anyone know what the deal is with a recruiting company called A*Star Strategies? Their website is less than informative.
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Sep 13, 2013 21:19
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JimboMaloi posted:Does anyone know what the deal is with a recruiting company called A*Star Strategies? Their website is less than informative. 99.9% of recruiting companies are garbage. That's what the deal is.
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Sep 13, 2013 23:09
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So I think I've blown an opportunity to  . I didn't get an out-and-out no, but the people I spoke to at the interview want to discuss it with the senior programmer who was on holiday and will be back on Monday. The recruiter seemed to think there was a chance, however I've pretty much written it off at this stage.I haven't had the opportunity to get comprehensive feedback at this stage because I only heard back 5pm on Friday. But there seemed to be some doubts about my ability with Python (It was a Python/Django role, and they seemed very pleased with the Django side). The only python code of mine they have seen other than the parts in Django were on their written test, which admittedly I think I did badly in. I struggle with visualising things when they're on paper, and thinking back to the test I know I did make some mistakes. My question is: how do I get better at written tests? Do I just need to sit down and memorise large swathes of the stdlib? Normally when coding I do a lot of experimenting in the Python interpreter or looking things up on the internet. I'm not really sure how to commit all this to memory.
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Sep 14, 2013 11:42
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Offer to show them some of your public code to assuage their doubts, and just say that you were nervous doing the written part.
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Sep 14, 2013 14:57
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I don't really have any pure python to show, it's all django. (which is python obviously, but heavily wrapped)
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Sep 14, 2013 19:55
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Most places shouldn't be super-obsessive about which language or frameworks your code uses. Good code is good code.
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Sep 14, 2013 20:53
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NtotheTC posted:I don't really have any pure python to show, it's all django. (which is python obviously, but heavily wrapped) If you do anything nontrivial in Django you are probably gonna touch a lot of pieces of Python. A Django app is still a Python program, it just happens to be processing data to and from the web.
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Sep 14, 2013 22:24
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NtotheTC posted:I don't really have any pure python to show, it's all django. (which is python obviously, but heavily wrapped) IIRC Django is pure python. Just because you import libraries or a framework doesn't mean that you aren't working in the language.
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Sep 15, 2013 03:05
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Is there any benefit to using recruiters other than just getting a heads up about a job opening? I'm entry-level, so I'll take the help if recruiters are going to do some leg-work for me. But the conversations I've had so far with recruiters have left me with a bad taste. They usually strong-arm me towards naming a (low) number salary-wise. And I'm leery that recruiters can do a better job selling me to a company than I can do myself.
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Sep 16, 2013 06:09
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Assuming you even talk about money up front (you generally shouldn't), alternating bids is a basic rule of negotiation, and anyone who insists that you break from that probably isn't going to be effective at dealing with the company either. e: To answer your first question: Yes, there is a benefit to dealing with recruiters if you do it the right way. Get a job description, tout your matching skills as favorably as you can, and get your resume submitted to the employer. Then focus on the employer. Gazpacho fucked around with this message at 07:12 on Sep 16, 2013 |
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Sep 16, 2013 06:37
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Gazpacho posted:Assuming you even talk about money up front (you generally shouldn't), alternating bids is a basic rule of negotiation, and anyone who insists that you break from that probably isn't going to be effective at dealing with the company either. Okay. Thanks for the tips on dealing with recruiters the right way. Makes sense. If I can, I usually apply through the employer's site after being notified about the job by the recruiter. I have dodged, to varying degrees of success or awkwardness, every salary requirements question by recruiters, HR, and hiring managers for jobs I care about thus far. But I fear that dodging on money with recruiters/HR will just get my resume tossed away, and I'll never get to talk with the hiring manager. In the situation where HR is very firm about me providing a salary requirement, I've been thinking about breaking the Never Name a Number First Rule and compromising my $$$ just to get to the next stage. It's somewhat beside the point, but I have been naming a salary on applications to companies I totally don't want to work for (long commute, lovely company, don't like the sound of the job description, etc.) with the idea that it will increase the chances of getting a practice interview out of them. Sorry to bring the thread back to salary-chat! Carry on.
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Sep 16, 2013 07:45
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Bolton Hairy-Bore posted:In the situation where HR is very firm about me providing a salary requirement, I've been thinking about breaking the Never Name a Number First Rule and compromising my $$$ just to get to the next stage. My solution to this is to move somewhere that has so many jobs that you could ignore all companies that do that and still have tons of jobs to apply to.
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Sep 16, 2013 07:54
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Safe and Secure! posted:My solution to this is to move somewhere that has so many jobs that you could ignore all companies that do that and still have tons of jobs to apply to. I have a treasure chest that will last me four more months, which I think is enough time to find a decent job, but not quite enough money to move from Pittsburgh to the Bay. And it seems like a real challenge to try to find a job in SF while living across the country. I could couch surf in Oakland, I guess, and scrape by until I land a job. But I have friends here, an apartment lease... gently caress it, I don't want to move to the Bay yet. In a year or two, maybe. Then, after I'm no longer entry-level, I may have more leverage to get a great SF job and pay SF rent. Your solution is noted, though, and recognized as such! I guess my problem is fairly minor, as it's just a matter of a few thousand bucks for a year or two. I'd rather have a few more thousand dollars, but I guess that's no good reason to bother this thread about it, now is it!
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Sep 16, 2013 08:18
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As has been said here before, any Bay company worth its salt will fly you in for interviews at their expense, and will pay your relocation expenses to move you there. It isn't as difficult as you think to get set up out there.
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Sep 16, 2013 13:26
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So I was asked to attend a 2nd interview, which is a good thing. I'd like to write something that shows off what I can do a bit better, and shove it on my github. Is there anything in particular that an interviewer might look for that would give them confidence in my ability? For reference it's a Junior Python/Django dev role.
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Sep 16, 2013 14:33
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A Django-powered website.
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Sep 16, 2013 14:45
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