Newbie Programming Interviews/Get a Job Megathread: Fake it 'til you make it

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New Yorp New Yorp: Jul 18, 2003; Only in Kenya.; Pillbug

Hadlock posted:

I went from one hour each way down to 12 minutes each way and it changed my life. I didn't realize how soul sucking commuting is until my commute got a lot shorter. Now that I have a shorter commute I won't even consider a job unless it's within 30 minutes of my house, or the pay is enough that I can afford to move close to the office. I'm sure having kids who are in school will impact that kind of freedom in a few years though.

Yeah, I've turned down large ($20,000+) pay raises to continue working mostly from home. In my case, not commuting amounts to an extra 2-6 hours of free time per day, plus thousands of dollars in commuting costs. It's huge. On the rare occasions where I have to travel to NYC for work, I'm miserable. I have to wake up at 5 am and I don't get home until after 7. This is compared to my typical day, where I wake up at 7:30 or 8 and I'm "home" by 5. Plus fringe benefits like mid-day naps.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 15:50

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# ? May 18, 2024 14:45

Cryolite: Oct 2, 2006; sodium aluminum fluoride

Anyone see much demand for Go? I don't get many results near me for "golang" on indeed or dice but I'm afraid some postings just put "go" which makes them difficult to find.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 19:05

kitten smoothie: Dec 29, 2001

Ithaqua posted:

Yeah, I've turned down large ($20,000+) pay raises to continue working mostly from home. In my case, not commuting amounts to an extra 2-6 hours of free time per day, plus thousands of dollars in commuting costs. It's huge. On the rare occasions where I have to travel to NYC for work, I'm miserable. I have to wake up at 5 am and I don't get home until after 7. This is compared to my typical day, where I wake up at 7:30 or 8 and I'm "home" by 5. Plus fringe benefits like mid-day naps.

The ability to conveniently eat dinner leftovers instead of the peer pressure to go out and drop $15 is another wonderful WFH fringe benefit.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 19:09

Daric: Dec 23, 2007; Shawn:
Do you really want to know my process?

Lassiter:
Absolutely.

Shawn:
Well it starts with a holla! and ends with a Creamsicle.

If I have 0 coding experience and I wanted to learn to make a career change, what should I start with? Is there something in particular I should start with or will it really depend on what I want to do career wise?

# ? Aug 21, 2015 20:17

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Do you want to do "programming" or something more specific like game programming or enterprise business programming or web front end, etc? For the first two C# is worthwhile. Cisco just rewrote the client for one of our products in Java recently, and our other major product is almost entirely written in C# and VB6. JavaScript would be something to learn if you plan on putting the words "web 2.0" on your resume.

The free online MIT computer science course starts you off in Python which is nice because it starts you off in a scripting environment which lets you struggle through syntax issues without having to also learn and gently caress with a compiler which is it's own hurdle. It's called open courseware if you want to look it up.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 20:27

22 Eargesplitten: Oct 10, 2010

Is game programming still "gently caress your family life" for a month before deadlines, any more than normal programming at least? Do you still get shafted on salary because everyone wants to do game dev, or is it a case by case basis? I always thought it would be cool to make a game, but I also think it would be cool to not get divorced.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 21:01

sarehu: Apr 20, 2007; (call/cc call/cc)

22 Eargesplitten posted:

a month before deadlines

You mean a year or two?

# ? Aug 21, 2015 21:03

Linear Zoetrope: Nov 28, 2011; A hero must cook

22 Eargesplitten posted:

Is game programming still "gently caress your family life" for a month before deadlines, any more than normal programming at least? Do you still get shafted on salary because everyone wants to do game dev, or is it a case by case basis? I always thought it would be cool to make a game, but I also think it would be cool to not get divorced.

It depends on the company. Some of the medium sized studios (especially in Europe) have fairly sane work habits, even if there's a little crunch time now and then. Little indie studios and things owned by EA/Activision/etc tend to still be pre-union Hollywood levels in that respect, though. (The little indie studios more because they can't pay bills without crunch time, the larger studios more because gently caress you)

# ? Aug 21, 2015 21:04

Daric: Dec 23, 2007; Shawn:
Do you really want to know my process?

Lassiter:
Absolutely.

Shawn:
Well it starts with a holla! and ends with a Creamsicle.

I have no interest in game programming honestly. I guess my interests would lie mainly in web design. I've wanted to learn Python but wasn't sure if it was even used in a career setting and would be worth the time to learn it.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 21:05

the talent deficit: Dec 20, 2003; self-deprecation is a very british trait, and problems can arise when the british attempt to do so with a foreign culture

Python is almost everywhere. I work at a Scala/Erlang startup and even we have non-trivial amounts of Python in production.

I'd still recommend people who want to move into programming as a career within a relatively short timeline learn JavaScript but Python would probably be #2 on that list.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 21:21

Daric: Dec 23, 2007; Shawn:
Do you really want to know my process?

Lassiter:
Absolutely.

Shawn:
Well it starts with a holla! and ends with a Creamsicle.

the talent deficit posted:

Python is almost everywhere. I work at a Scala/Erlang startup and even we have non-trivial amounts of Python in production.

I'd still recommend people who want to move into programming as a career within a relatively short timeline learn JavaScript but Python would probably be #2 on that list.

That's awesome, thanks for the info. I'll start on it today.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 21:36

sarehu: Apr 20, 2007; (call/cc call/cc)

Daric posted:

I have no interest in game programming honestly. I guess my interests would lie mainly in web design. I've wanted to learn Python but wasn't sure if it was even used in a career setting and would be worth the time to learn it.

Your problem right now isn't learning Python, it's getting good at programming.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 21:43

Daric: Dec 23, 2007; Shawn:
Do you really want to know my process?

Lassiter:
Absolutely.

Shawn:
Well it starts with a holla! and ends with a Creamsicle.

sarehu posted:

Your problem right now isn't learning Python, it's getting good at programming.

Does learning Python not have anything to do with programming?

# ? Aug 21, 2015 22:14

kloa: Feb 14, 2007

Programming is like any skill: you can learn something quickly, like driving, but it takes time and actual experience to become good at it.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 22:24

22 Eargesplitten: Oct 10, 2010

There is making a computer do what you want, and that's part of programming. Another part of programming is making a computer do what you want in a way that the person who replaces you doesn't hunt you down and strangle you with your power cord.

There's function, efficiency, legibility, and probably other aspects I haven't thought of. Function is the easiest part.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 22:26

Che Delilas: Nov 23, 2009; FREE TIBET WEED

Daric posted:

Does learning Python not have anything to do with programming?

Python is fine. You're fine. Just learn how to code something.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 23:09

Vincent Valentine: Feb 28, 2006; Murdertime

Daric posted:

Does learning Python not have anything to do with programming?

Someone explained it to me like this.

Programming is like writing a novel. You have to understand how writing works, how a story works. Rising action, falling action, climax and conclusion are all part of it. Speaking English doesn't mean you can write a novel in English, just like you might not be able to write a song or poem.

Similarly, knowing a language like Python doesn't teach you how to write a program. You know the words and grammar but not the substance.

# ? Aug 21, 2015 23:14

sarehu: Apr 20, 2007; (call/cc call/cc)

Yeah, it's like writing a novel except you have to construct a proof that each paragraph is correct.

# ? Aug 22, 2015 01:00

JawKnee: Mar 24, 2007; You'll take the ride to leave this town along that yellow line

proof by oft-repeated induction

# ? Aug 22, 2015 01:18

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Here's that link to the MIT OpenCourseware

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00sc-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-spring-2011/

My buddy started with this six years ago and is now living in the country Colombia working remotely for some company in the UK writing python code so apparently it works ok. I got through the end of the 2011 version of Unit 2 and it's all very good, not too dry and includes youtube videos of all the official MIT (yes, THAT MIT!) undergrad lectures. You can probably burn through it in a week if you're especially brilliant, a month and a half if you really have no experience with for loops and don't know the difference between a double and a float. There's 27 lessons. Go hawg wild.

# ? Aug 22, 2015 01:40

Che Delilas: Nov 23, 2009; FREE TIBET WEED

JawKnee posted:

proof by oft-repeated induction

Q.E.D. on my machine.

# ? Aug 22, 2015 02:25

Rurutia: Jun 11, 2009

This is probably outside of the scope of this thread, but I was wondering when people think it's time to stop jumping around for salary increases. Do people normally try and stay and get promoted to Principal or VP or do they try to jump to it (in a top 5)?

I was looking at the salary thread and was surprised at how many 300k+ there were outside of SF. I know in a couple of the top 5's the salary+bonus is capped at ~250k.

# ? Aug 22, 2015 15:16

New Yorp New Yorp: Jul 18, 2003; Only in Kenya.; Pillbug

Rurutia posted:

This is probably outside of the scope of this thread, but I was wondering when people think it's time to stop jumping around for salary increases. Do people normally try and stay and get promoted to Principal or VP or do they try to jump to it (in a top 5)?

I was looking at the salary thread and was surprised at how many 300k+ there were outside of SF. I know in a couple of the top 5's the salary+bonus is capped at ~250k.

I'm sure there are plenty of people making numbers up to ruin the survey. I wouldn't put too much stock in it.

# ? Aug 22, 2015 16:02

Safe and Secure!: Jun 14, 2008; OFFICIAL SA THREAD RUINER
SPRING 2013

Not sure what "top 5" means, but if it's Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, then at least one of those companies (Google) will give senior (i.e., fresh grad + 2 promotions) engineers a $250k comp package if I've heard right. I wouldn't be surprised if some managed to get more than that, though I'd be surprised if that was normal. And I'm under the impression that Facebook usually pays a little more than Google for similar roles.

Not all of those pay the same, though. Amazon is really cheap AFAIK and I've never really heard anything about Apple and Microsoft.

# ? Aug 22, 2015 16:56

Rurutia: Jun 11, 2009

Ithaqua posted:

I'm sure there are plenty of people making numbers up to ruin the survey. I wouldn't put too much stock in it.

Maybe. I'm still curious about obtaining Principal/VP positions.

Safe and Secure! posted:

Not sure what "top 5" means, but if it's Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, then at least one of those companies (Google) will give senior (i.e., fresh grad + 2 promotions) engineers a $250k comp package if I've heard right. I wouldn't be surprised if some managed to get more than that, though I'd be surprised if that was normal. And I'm under the impression that Facebook usually pays a little more than Google for similar roles.

Not all of those pay the same, though. Amazon is really cheap AFAIK and I've never really heard anything about Apple and Microsoft.

I wasn't surprised that they existed, more at the sheer number outside of SF in such a small sample size.

Either way, I was asking the best way to get there.

# ? Aug 22, 2015 17:40

authwiggidywack: Oct 29, 2013

Anyone here made the transition from working in an office to working remotely? I have 5 years experience with C#/WPF and trying to get into the remote business. Seems like the majority of non-enterprise work is ASP.NET for C#.

Any tips or thoughts greatly appreciated.

# ? Aug 23, 2015 03:32

New Yorp New Yorp: Jul 18, 2003; Only in Kenya.; Pillbug

authwiggidywack posted:

Anyone here made the transition from working in an office to working remotely? I have 5 years experience with C#/WPF and trying to get into the remote business. Seems like the majority of non-enterprise work is ASP.NET for C#.

Any tips or thoughts greatly appreciated.

Do you mean "working remotely for an organization" or "working remotely as a contractor"? I did both a few years back (I work for a consulting organization, and many of my clients are remote). I highly recommend it.

Invest in a good, comfortable headset because you will be using it a lot.
For longer-term projects, visibility is key. Set up a backlog for the project and keep it updated. I recommend Visual Studio Online, but I'm also biased because I do a lot of consulting in that arena. Your clients should be able to see what's going on with their project and the progress you're making without bugging you for status updates via email.
Communicate early and often. Use some sort of IM software so your clients can contact you without emails or phone calls. Respond to IMs in a timely fashion.
If you're solo, get comfortable with managing client expectations and learning to say "no" nicely. I'm sure there are boilerplate "statement of work" documents out there. Get everything agreed upon and signed prior to starting work. Deliver exactly what's in the SOW. If they start to ask for things not in the SOW, see "managing client expectations" and "learning to say 'no'".
Be flexible. But not too flexible. Again, see "learning to say 'no'". Like, I won't bill a client if they have questions or need a little help for like 30 minutes or so after an engagement. It's not a big deal and it makes them happy. Some people try to take advantage of that.
If you're juggling multiple clients at once, make them aware of how much time you have available to devote to their projects. I've done alternating days for 2 week iterations before, which worked out well. Both clients get some stuff every week, and it balances out in the end. Don't overbook.
Set up a quiet work area at home. If you don't have a spare bedroom to use as office space, you will be at a major disadvantage. Some people recommend having a totally separate work area from their personal PC area, but I don't bother.
Along those lines, minimize distractions. My girlfriend lives with me and is often home during my working hours, so we have a general understanding of "disturb all you want, but don't get pissed if I'm busy". If she comes in and starts talking to me and I'm focusing on something, I'm free to just grunt and wave her off in a "gently caress off" fashion. There are no hard feelings; it's understood that it's akin to her sending me a text message when I'm at the office and me not answering immediately. If I am on a call with a client, she knows not to bug me unless there is human blood or fire involved.
I haven't had a problem on this front, but other people who do the same thing have mentioned that they have issues with work/personal time boundaries. If that's you, then set working hours for yourself and adhere to them. Say, "I will work from 8 am to 5 pm, with an hour lunch break" and then actually do that. Some people find it's helpful to actually get dressed for work; I am not one of them. It's easy to get into a groove and not stop working until midnight because you're just "a few minutes" away from being done for 6 hours. Conversely, it's also easy to say "I'll get started in a few minutes" until noon, while drinking coffee and loving around on the internet. Set your work hours to whatever you want and your clients are comfortable with, but stick with them.
On the other hand, don't feel compelled to stay "in work mode" just because in an office you'd be expected to be there until 5 pm. If I had a really productive day and I'm done at 3 pm, I stop working. I keep an eye on my IMs and emails, but I don't feel obligated to pretend to be productive for an extra 2 hours.
Enjoy the benefit of mid-day naps and the ability to run errands in the middle of the day. The first time you realize that people are staring at you like you're a homeless person because you ran out to the grocery store to get milk at 1 pm on a Thursday wearing your pajamas with a week of beard, it's a magical experience.
Writing off "home office' on your taxes is extremely difficult to do and not get audited.
Get your employer to pay for your internet and cell phone if possible.
Shower every day. Or at least every other day. It's easy to fall into bad hygiene habits when you're alone in your gooncave.
Exercise. You'll be even more sedentary than usual. You'll be reclaiming hours of your day by not commuting, use some of that reclaimed time to exercise. Note: I have failed utterly at this.
Be aware that if you make this change in your working life, you will have a very difficult time changing jobs. Going back to an office environment and commuting again will make you want to kill yourself, and realize that you're basically getting several thousand dollars a year extra in reclaimed commuting/dining costs (I did the math, it works out to roughly $10,000 a year for me, but I also live in the middle of nowhere with an insanely long commute to basically everywhere). There's also the intangible of "several extra hours a day". It's impossible to quantify and hard to attach a dollar value to it.

That's everything I can think of right now.

New Yorp New Yorp fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Aug 23, 2015

# ? Aug 23, 2015 05:24

authwiggidywack: Oct 29, 2013

Ithaqua posted:

Do you mean "working remotely for an organization" or "working remotely as a contractor"? I did both a few years back (I work for a consulting organization, and many of my clients are remote). I highly recommend it.

Invest in a good, comfortable headset because you will be using it a lot.

For longer-term projects, visibility is key. Set up a backlog for the project and keep it updated. I recommend Visual Studio Online, but I'm also biased because I do a lot of consulting in that arena. Your clients should be able to see what's going on with their project and the progress you're making without bugging you for status updates via email.

Communicate early and often. Use some sort of IM software so your clients can contact you without emails or phone calls. Respond to IMs in a timely fashion.

If you're solo, get comfortable with managing client expectations and learning to say "no" nicely. I'm sure there are boilerplate "statement of work" documents out there. Get everything agreed upon and signed prior to starting work. Deliver exactly what's in the SOW. If they start to ask for things not in the SOW, see "managing client expectations" and "learning to say 'no'".

Be flexible. But not too flexible. Again, see "learning to say 'no'". Like, I won't bill a client if they have questions or need a little help for like 30 minutes or so after an engagement. It's not a big deal and it makes them happy. Some people try to take advantage of that.

If you're juggling multiple clients at once, make them aware of how much time you have available to devote to their projects. I've done alternating days for 2 week iterations before, which worked out well. Both clients get some stuff every week, and it balances out in the end. Don't overbook.

Set up a quiet work area at home. If you don't have a spare bedroom to use as office space, you will be at a major disadvantage. Some people recommend having a totally separate work area from their personal PC area, but I don't bother.

Along those lines, minimize distractions. My girlfriend lives with me and is often home during my working hours, so we have a general understanding of "disturb all you want, but don't get pissed if I'm busy". If she comes in and starts talking to me and I'm focusing on something, I'm free to just grunt and wave her off in a "gently caress off" fashion. There are no hard feelings; it's understood that it's akin to her sending me a text message when I'm at the office and me not answering immediately. If I am on a call with a client, she knows not to bug me unless there is human blood or fire involved.

I haven't had a problem on this front, but other people who do the same thing have mentioned that they have issues with work/personal time boundaries. If that's you, then set working hours for yourself and adhere to them. Say, "I will work from 8 am to 5 pm, with an hour lunch break" and then actually do that. Some people find it's helpful to actually get dressed for work; I am not one of them. It's easy to get into a groove and not stop working until midnight because you're just "a few minutes" away from being done for 6 hours. Conversely, it's also easy to say "I'll get started in a few minutes" until noon, while drinking coffee and loving around on the internet. Set your work hours to whatever you want and your clients are comfortable with, but stick with them.

On the other hand, don't feel compelled to stay "in work mode" just because in an office you'd be expected to be there until 5 pm. If I had a really productive day and I'm done at 3 pm, I stop working. I keep an eye on my IMs and emails, but I don't feel obligated to pretend to be productive for an extra 2 hours.

Enjoy the benefit of mid-day naps and the ability to run errands in the middle of the day. The first time you realize that people are staring at you like you're a homeless person because you ran out to the grocery store to get milk at 1 pm on a Thursday wearing your pajamas with a week of beard, it's a magical experience.

Writing off "home office' on your taxes is extremely difficult to do and not get audited.

Get your employer to pay for your internet and cell phone if possible.

Shower every day. Or at least every other day. It's easy to fall into bad hygiene habits when you're alone in your gooncave.

Exercise. You'll be even more sedentary than usual. You'll be reclaiming hours of your day by not commuting, use some of that reclaimed time to exercise. Note: I have failed utterly at this.

Be aware that if you make this change in your working life, you will have a very difficult time changing jobs. Going back to an office environment and commuting again will make you want to kill yourself, and realize that you're basically getting several thousand dollars a year extra in reclaimed commuting/dining costs (I did the math, it works out to roughly $10,000 a year for me, but I also live in the middle of nowhere with an insanely long commute to basically everywhere). There's also the intangible of "several extra hours a day". It's impossible to quantify and hard to attach a dollar value to it.

That's everything I can think of right now.

Holy poo poo thank you for that advice. There is quite a bit in there that I am applying already. I am currently working for a (local) organization (enterprise) remotely due to medical issues (Tourette's Syndrome, way less disruptive at home) but the job its self is mind numbing and eating away at me.

I have not been the best at networking so finding an actual job working remote for an organization is turning out a lot harder than I expected (I didn't expect it to be easy). I've done some freelance work on the side, but for this one i'm looking to land something fulltime for a company.

I'm in Canada and landing anything in USA would be jackpot (Currency conversion would be nuts right now).

So far I've been trawling through C#/.NET Remote positions on StackOverflow's careers board.

# ? Aug 23, 2015 21:09

Necc0: Jun 30, 2005; by exmarx; Broken Cake

Ithaqua posted:

Do you mean "working remotely for an organization" or "working remotely as a contractor"? I did both a few years back (I work for a consulting organization, and many of my clients are remote). I highly recommend it.

Invest in a good, comfortable headset because you will be using it a lot.

For longer-term projects, visibility is key. Set up a backlog for the project and keep it updated. I recommend Visual Studio Online, but I'm also biased because I do a lot of consulting in that arena. Your clients should be able to see what's going on with their project and the progress you're making without bugging you for status updates via email.

Communicate early and often. Use some sort of IM software so your clients can contact you without emails or phone calls. Respond to IMs in a timely fashion.

If you're solo, get comfortable with managing client expectations and learning to say "no" nicely. I'm sure there are boilerplate "statement of work" documents out there. Get everything agreed upon and signed prior to starting work. Deliver exactly what's in the SOW. If they start to ask for things not in the SOW, see "managing client expectations" and "learning to say 'no'".

Be flexible. But not too flexible. Again, see "learning to say 'no'". Like, I won't bill a client if they have questions or need a little help for like 30 minutes or so after an engagement. It's not a big deal and it makes them happy. Some people try to take advantage of that.

If you're juggling multiple clients at once, make them aware of how much time you have available to devote to their projects. I've done alternating days for 2 week iterations before, which worked out well. Both clients get some stuff every week, and it balances out in the end. Don't overbook.

Set up a quiet work area at home. If you don't have a spare bedroom to use as office space, you will be at a major disadvantage. Some people recommend having a totally separate work area from their personal PC area, but I don't bother.

Along those lines, minimize distractions. My girlfriend lives with me and is often home during my working hours, so we have a general understanding of "disturb all you want, but don't get pissed if I'm busy". If she comes in and starts talking to me and I'm focusing on something, I'm free to just grunt and wave her off in a "gently caress off" fashion. There are no hard feelings; it's understood that it's akin to her sending me a text message when I'm at the office and me not answering immediately. If I am on a call with a client, she knows not to bug me unless there is human blood or fire involved.

I haven't had a problem on this front, but other people who do the same thing have mentioned that they have issues with work/personal time boundaries. If that's you, then set working hours for yourself and adhere to them. Say, "I will work from 8 am to 5 pm, with an hour lunch break" and then actually do that. Some people find it's helpful to actually get dressed for work; I am not one of them. It's easy to get into a groove and not stop working until midnight because you're just "a few minutes" away from being done for 6 hours. Conversely, it's also easy to say "I'll get started in a few minutes" until noon, while drinking coffee and loving around on the internet. Set your work hours to whatever you want and your clients are comfortable with, but stick with them.

On the other hand, don't feel compelled to stay "in work mode" just because in an office you'd be expected to be there until 5 pm. If I had a really productive day and I'm done at 3 pm, I stop working. I keep an eye on my IMs and emails, but I don't feel obligated to pretend to be productive for an extra 2 hours.

Enjoy the benefit of mid-day naps and the ability to run errands in the middle of the day. The first time you realize that people are staring at you like you're a homeless person because you ran out to the grocery store to get milk at 1 pm on a Thursday wearing your pajamas with a week of beard, it's a magical experience.

Writing off "home office' on your taxes is extremely difficult to do and not get audited.

Get your employer to pay for your internet and cell phone if possible.

Shower every day. Or at least every other day. It's easy to fall into bad hygiene habits when you're alone in your gooncave.

Exercise. You'll be even more sedentary than usual. You'll be reclaiming hours of your day by not commuting, use some of that reclaimed time to exercise. Note: I have failed utterly at this.

Be aware that if you make this change in your working life, you will have a very difficult time changing jobs. Going back to an office environment and commuting again will make you want to kill yourself, and realize that you're basically getting several thousand dollars a year extra in reclaimed commuting/dining costs (I did the math, it works out to roughly $10,000 a year for me, but I also live in the middle of nowhere with an insanely long commute to basically everywhere). There's also the intangible of "several extra hours a day". It's impossible to quantify and hard to attach a dollar value to it.

That's everything I can think of right now.

Only thing I can add to this: Force yourself to get out of the house on a regular basis where you can hang out with other people. Join some sort of social club or sport or ANYTHING. It's very very easy to fall into a rut where you have zero human contact for weeks or even months at a time and you suddenly find yourself with a crazy case of cabin fever.

# ? Aug 24, 2015 16:59

New Yorp New Yorp: Jul 18, 2003; Only in Kenya.; Pillbug

Necc0 posted:

Only thing I can add to this: Force yourself to get out of the house on a regular basis where you can hang out with other people. Join some sort of social club or sport or ANYTHING. It's very very easy to fall into a rut where you have zero human contact for weeks or even months at a time and you suddenly find yourself with a crazy case of cabin fever.

Yeah, definitely. I live with my girlfriend so it's not too bad, but even then I still sometimes end up where I haven't left the house in 3 or 4 days and I'm going insane from lack of stimulation.

# ? Aug 24, 2015 17:14

Skandranon: Sep 6, 2008; fucking stupid, dont listen to me

Ithaqua posted:

Yeah, definitely. I live with my girlfriend so it's not too bad, but even then I still sometimes end up where I haven't left the house in 3 or 4 days and I'm going insane from lack of stimulation.

I found having to take my dog out for walks helped a lot with this when I was working from home.

# ? Aug 24, 2015 17:15

Ghost of Reagan Past: Oct 7, 2003; rock and roll fun

Quick question: I'm applying for jobs long-distance. Will this be an obstacle in this industry? I know it is in some. I'm obviously mentioning my willingness to relocate in the cover letter, but for entry-level positions could this be a deal-breaker?

# ? Aug 24, 2015 22:59

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Ghost of Reagan Past posted:

Quick question: I'm applying for jobs long-distance. Will this be an obstacle in this industry? I know it is in some. I'm obviously mentioning my willingness to relocate in the cover letter, but for entry-level positions could this be a deal-breaker?

It depends on the company. As a general rule, the higher the salary, the more likely the company is to be looking at out-of-state candidates/paying for relocation.

# ? Aug 24, 2015 23:40

Bruegels Fuckbooks: Sep 14, 2004; Now, listen - I know the two of you are very different from each other in a lot of ways, but you have to understand that as far as Grandpa's concerned, you're both pieces of shit! Yeah. I can prove it mathematically.

Ghost of Reagan Past posted:

Quick question: I'm applying for jobs long-distance. Will this be an obstacle in this industry? I know it is in some. I'm obviously mentioning my willingness to relocate in the cover letter, but for entry-level positions could this be a deal-breaker?

If you have a couple of years experience it's easy to find software jobs that are willing to relocate you, but entry level generally don't unless you're straight out of a good college.

# ? Aug 25, 2015 00:35

Doghouse: Oct 22, 2004; I was playing Harvest Moon 64 with this kid who lived on my street and my cows were not doing well and I got so raged up and frustrated that my eyes welled up with tears and my friend was like are you crying dude. Are you crying because of the cows. I didn't understand the feeding mechanic.

Ghost of Reagan Past posted:

Quick question: I'm applying for jobs long-distance. Will this be an obstacle in this industry? I know it is in some. I'm obviously mentioning my willingness to relocate in the cover letter, but for entry-level positions could this be a deal-breaker?

I have 1+ years of experience, and just finished my master's, and I'm applying for entry level work in a different city that my wife and I want to move to. I'm having a very, very hard time. I barely hear back from anything I apply to and I've only had one in-person interview. I don't even insist on them paying relocation. I'm not sure if it's mostly because I'm in a different city but I am starting to think so.

# ? Aug 25, 2015 00:55

Series DD Funding: Nov 25, 2014; by exmarx

I got an out-of-state job after college with paid relocation :shrug:

# ? Aug 25, 2015 01:25

Gounads: Mar 13, 2013; Where am I?
How did I get here?

Necc0 posted:

Only thing I can add to this: Force yourself to get out of the house on a regular basis where you can hang out with other people. Join some sort of social club or sport or ANYTHING. It's very very easy to fall into a rut where you have zero human contact for weeks or even months at a time and you suddenly find yourself with a crazy case of cabin fever.

Very important, or your car battery dies. Definitely not speaking from experience.

# ? Aug 25, 2015 15:44

Cheston: Jul 17, 2012; (he's got a good thing going)

Doghouse posted:

I have 1+ years of experience, and just finished my master's, and I'm applying for entry level work in a different city that my wife and I want to move to. I'm having a very, very hard time. I barely hear back from anything I apply to and I've only had one in-person interview. I don't even insist on them paying relocation. I'm not sure if it's mostly because I'm in a different city but I am starting to think so.

I also got relocation assistance for an entry-level position, and they were willing to pay for a flight + hotel stay during the interview process even though at the time I lived a few hours' drive away. The company was/is hungry for engineers, though, so I got a bit lucky. I'd get feedback on your resume and keep trying- it took me two months, and I think that's about average.

**edited a bunch

Cheston fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Aug 25, 2015

# ? Aug 25, 2015 17:15

Kumquat: Oct 8, 2010

Okay so salary negotiation chat. I applied to a place that I didn't really expect to hear back from and stupidly gave a number because I was caught off guard (70k, which I would be happy with). They gave me an offer for 63k with a performance based bonus that they say is 10% of base on average. How do I make a counter-offer on this? How do I tactfully say that I'd like closer to 70k on the base because bonuses seem nebulous to me?

Everything else about the company seems agreeable and I'm otherwise excited to work there.

For context, this is in Boston, it's a web developer position, and I'm a babby dev who just graduated from a bootcamp. Did I shoot myself in the foot and I should just move on and apply for other positions or can this be salvaged?

# ? Aug 25, 2015 20:19

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# ? May 18, 2024 14:45

JawnV6: Jul 4, 2004; So hot ...

Kumquat posted:

How do I tactfully say that I'd like closer to 70k on the base because bonuses seem nebulous to me?

"It's a very compelling offer, I would be very excited to sign up and get to work with you, but 70k is my cash floor and my family and budget can't depend on a bonus."

Would you be ok if it was a guaranteed signing bonus? "Gee, if you could give me $5k for signing up (meaning $68k first year w/o bonus) that would make this decision a lot easier."

If you're on the phone, I'd ask what percentage their bonus was last year. It's great to talk about averages, targets, etc. but feel free to ask the live human on the phone what their personal experience with a system is. I.e. them saying "We promote from within!" prompts the question "When was your last promotion?"

# ? Aug 25, 2015 21:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Cavern of COBOL > Newbie Programming Interviews/Get a Job Megathread: Fake it 'til you make it

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