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

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

Dren: Jan 5, 2001; Pillbug

2banks1swap.avi posted:

The argument over people who doesn't understand statistics is because "Yeah well it's statistically true but that doesn't apply to me or individuals" irritates the ever loving piss out of me. Yes it does. You're not special, neither are they.

Focus more on what you can do to succeed than studies of average earnings.

Do some casual job browsing. What sorts of positions seem available to someone with your credentials? Do they match up with your earnings expectations? Perhaps this python pseudo-code will help.

code:

hits = []
misses = []
statistical_trend = 63000
my_credentials = ('experience', 'references', 'degree', 'gpa')

for job in jobs.search():
  if job.salary > statistical_trend and my_credentials >= job.requirements:
    hits.append(job)
  else:
    misses.append(job)

percentage_hits = len(hits) / float(len(hits) + len(misses)) * 100

if percentage_hits > 50:
  print 'You are above average!  Aim for that 63k starting salary.'
else:
  print 'You are not above average!  Aim lower.'

Of course, this assumes that jobs in the area you are searching come in at the 63k average. You may need to relocate to get that $$$.

Hopefully what the pseudo-code helps to illustrate is that what is more important than the statistical earnings trend is A) having good credentials and knowledge and B) actually being able to find a job that will pay what you want.

No matter where the statistical earnings trendline is you can become better compensated by improving the my_credentials part of that pseudo-code. Thus, in order to become better compensated you should focus on what you can control, improving your credentials, rather than that which you cannot control, statistical average salaries.

If what you're really about is making a ton of cash I suggest you give up on the idea of working as a programmer for someone else. $63k may seem like a lot of money but I can assure you it is peanuts in the grand scheme of things. Any idea how much a house costs? You're gonna be in debt for the next 40 years just to have a place to live and a car to drive. Then once (if) you're finally out of debt you'll be paying property taxes just to keep the stuff you worked for so long to have.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2011 15:03

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 15:36

Dren: Jan 5, 2001; Pillbug

Financial stability is such a boring goal. If you're any good at all you'll have financial stability. Shoot higher. Aim for a yacht or be like Zuckerberg and just try to create something amazing.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2011 19:16

Dren: Jan 5, 2001; Pillbug

It's tough to estimate when you don't know what you'll be working on. Estimate as you go. Keep track of the work you are doing and expect to do, obstacles to your tasks, and create test plans. If you can, use a testing framework to automate the tests. Document your work with a ticketing system. If your project doesn't have a ticketing system you can keep a hierarchical document in a text editor or something. As you do the work your idea of what needs to be done will improve. When it does, update your tickets/document to reflect the current state of things. You can share your tickets/documents with your project manager or tech lead to get feedback on the work you're doing. Your tech lead or pm probably should have told you all of this or provided you with some other structure for communication.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2013 21:59

Dren: Jan 5, 2001; Pillbug

Doghouse are you in college? Is there a career fair you can go to?

# ¿ Dec 16, 2013 18:09

Dren: Jan 5, 2001; Pillbug

Doghouse posted:

I'm in a master's program, but it's in a different state - I'm doing it online. It's a great program so far, designed for non cs undergrads like myself, and it's affordable, and I like the flexibility...but yeah there are downsides.

The University of Maryland (College Park) has a Computer Science only career fair in the spring and fall. I'm not sure if it's for students only but if you are not shy about walking past the people with the name tag badges it doesn't matter if it's students only or not.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2013 19:42

Dren: Jan 5, 2001; Pillbug

One day I thought "I have gotten so much help from Stack Overflow, I will give back and answer some questions." Then I saw how blindingly fast the questions get answered. I didn't want to feverishly race against the rest of SO to answer questions so I decided that other people had it on lockdown and gave up trying to help. I think I wanted rep so that I could post a comment.

I wonder how well cheating would work for getting rep on SO. Like, sign up a bunch of accounts to ask questions with and use your "real" account to answer them. Set your answer as the accepted answer. Make sure you ask some fairly common questions so that they'll get googled and people will upvote you. Sit back and collect the rep.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2013 16:39

Dren: Jan 5, 2001; Pillbug

oRenj9 posted:

Unfortunately, that isn't an option because our rates are renegotiated each June and the owner of the company that I work for takes a pretty small cut to cover the costs of office space and whatnot.

Edit: How should I phrase a counter offer of 87k? "I feel that I bring a lot more than X years of experience to Company and I feel that it justifies a salary of $87,000." (through email, btw)

Whoa whoa whoa. You said you were thinking mid-nineties. You should ask over what you were thinking and negotiate from there. Don't be afraid to negotiate!

# ¿ Dec 20, 2013 23:09

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 15:36

Dren: Jan 5, 2001; Pillbug

Ithaqua posted:

A place I've been talking to since July finally came through with an offer. The pay is 23k more than I'm making right now, with better benefits (3 weeks vacation, 5 sick days, matching 401(k), etc). I'd have to wear pants and commute again (let's say $5000 extra a year in car maintenance/gas) instead of working mostly from home, and I'm not totally convinced I want to work there. They want me to start at the end of January, although they're flexible.

Now here's where it gets complicated: I have a phone interview with Google scheduled for the 2nd, which is awesome because it'll give me the whole Christmas break to study (I'm off work from the 26th to the 2nd). I know that Google is notorious for having a protracted hiring process, and if I can get a gig at Google, there's a 100% chance I'll take it as long as the pay is in line with what the other place is offering, and I have no doubt it would be.

So I'm going to be up front with the first place: I just started the interview gauntlet at Google, they have a protracted hiring process, and I wouldn't be able to give an answer until mid-January at earliest, and that's assuming Google gets back to me and tells me to gently caress off after the phone interview. If they want to withdraw the offer, that's fine.

The offer on the tables sounds pretty good. Bird in hand and all that, you know? But you seem really jazzed about trying to work for google.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2013 20:36

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