Recently Graduated and having trouble finding IT work

2010-07-23T22:05:18Z

I've recently graduated with a Computer Science degree and I have picked up a wide range of knowledge(ie, Java, C#). I have work experience in Database, Client support and web programming thou, but I would like to try C# software developing

I applied for a C# software developing position, but they turned me down saying I am not passionate enough for software developing. Other than school projects, he would have like me to have non school related software developing projects. Okay, I get it. One way I can be passionate about software engineering if I create programs(ie, open source) on my own. What other ways can I show I am passionate?

My question is this: Is it that hard to get an entry level software developing position? Is the only way to get hired is to write open source programs? How do you guys do it?

Graduate School

2010-07-15T10:29:00Z

will an MS in computer science with GPA 3.5 and a 1 year experience in software development company, and 3 recommendations get me to CS graduate (PHD) school in an average university like Concordia or Mcgill in Canada? Note that i got my MS from a university with rank 1000+ , i have one publication ,and i am not from Canada.

Developer Curriculum Vitae - “Experience”

2010-04-23T12:37:14Z

I've been involved in some interviews at work recently, and having seen a few CVs, I've been thinking of my own. I wonder how I might rate my proficiency at the various technologies I've worked with on some sort of simple scale: Beginner, Intermediate, Expert.

I've been doing C# for a few years now, but I'd hesitate to call myself "expert" particularly (partly because surely I haven't been doing it long enough, and partly because I can't bring myself to be so bold as to say I'm expert at anything). I think I probably was expert at VB back when I got into programming, but any VB skills I had will have deteriorated by now.

Of course I wouldn't even bother listing things on my CV that I'd consider myself to be "beginner" at, I'd just add them to the "other tech" category, but I'd be interested to hear tips on helping me decide.

Transcender exam preparation material

2010-04-29T13:28:18Z

I'm planning on taking MCTS exam 70-505. I was wondering if any of you have experience with the exam preparation material of the company Transcender and what your opinion is. Is it possible to prepare faster for the exam? Was it worth the money?

Best MBA Course After working as Software Developer for 3 year?

2010-04-15T17:34:06Z

Hi, My background is engineering with Computer Science. I have been working as Software Developer for last 3 year. Now I want to do MBA. Can somebody suggest me what would be best combination among MBA with my background?

Thanks.

Masters in Computer Science

2010-06-07T18:21:17Z

Hi,

My name is Gautam. I come from India.

I am extremely passionate about Web Development.. I like to build web applications all the time.. Can I make this web application building a full time profession?

I have just graduated from bachelors... Is there a Master of Computer Science in Web Development? Can I choose Masters in Web Development? Is it a bad choice? Is there a course very close to it Web Development that I can choose? Should I just keep Web Development as a part time thing to do??

Could you please let me know any good universities which offer this course/ close to this course for Spring 2010?

Please advice on what I should do because my mind keeps throwing millions of questions on what I should do and my only hope is CAREEROVERFLOW helps me as it always does to solve problems..

Looking forward for your reply..

Thanks in advance

Regards,

Gautam

Applying for a job across the seas

2010-05-27T07:27:23Z

Hi,

I currently work in a big company in Europe whose computer science isn't the main field. Their IT department is big (5 000 people) but the job is really boring.

My girlfriend and I always dreamed of living in Canada and since I'm thinking about changing my job, I think it might be the good time to change where I live too.

However, I must admit several things somehow scare me: is it possible to have an phone/internet interview and get hired without having to travel ? I can't spend $500 to cross the seas each time I got an interview.

Does someone have a similar experience here ? What advices would you give me ?

Thank you.

How can I obtain employment without lying about my job history?

2010-03-16T15:51:18Z

Currently I am attending a local community college. I'm studying marketing, I have a horrible job history, because of school. I would like to get into some sort of sales, but not wireless sales, the money does not seem to be there. Every year I normally work over the holiday season, then I leave position after the season is over and then I find employment over the summer and then when the fall comes around sometimes I do not find work until late fall/early winter.

It's always easy for me to find work over the winter, but in the spring/summer it is rather difficult to find work because of my job history. Does anyone have any ideas off how I can find work without fluffing my job history? Also does anyone have any ideas of a position that would be well suited for me being a student and wanted to work about 25-32 hours a week? I'm thinking about getting my Real Estate License, but I'm not sure if this is the best time to do so, with the market being in the state, that it's in. Plus I'm not sure if i can be a broker part time. Does anyone know if you can be a broker part time?

Entry Level Java Developer

2010-05-27T18:34:05Z

I went for an interview as an entry level java developer, I had interviewed with 6 people throughout the day each asking me individual development questions. I took an assessment both on paper and actually coded on a computer. The computer based questions went better than the written. After they asked me a question about finding a disntance between point which I was able to answer, after they had told me that It was not to see if you could answer it but rather to see how you think.

After it was all said and done they provided lunch and asked me how I felt and I said it was expected and they then said "was it grueling? thats what we were striving for" .

My question is how do I know if the interview went well?

Improving my career in web development

2010-06-08T05:38:08Z

Hi I am a new guy in web development using .net technology. I have strong ambition to make up a good career in this field. But when i starting to learn something from the internet tutorials, i can't complete that. I will stop the reading before completion. so i decided everyday to start a new life in development. But i cant to do that. please help me for improving my career by suggesting some tips for increasing the concentration or something like that. thanks in advance.

How to improve the career of a Management Geek?

2010-02-28T02:03:32Z

I have about 9 consecutive years of technology management experience. From IT Manager to Director of Information Technology Infrastructure and Director of Technology. I see that is getting harder to grow, mainly because of the economy but also for the lack of formal training in Business Management.

I am trying to decide how to close the gab between my studies in Computer Science and MS - Computer Engineering and all my management experience. My management experience is diverse between start-ups and national organizations.

I have thought a few options to accomplish this task:

Get an Project Managment Certification, giving the impression of formal management training, without the investment of an MBA program.
Get an MBA (clear shot) but I don't know if the investment in time and money will be worth.
Get a Career Advisor to examine my situation in detail.
Other

What do the community thinks?

Where to find contract work?

2010-05-10T17:07:01Z

Having spent nearly a decade at one firm, I am now on my own and looking for work. I would prefer contract work to once again becoming a full-time employee, because of the flexibility, and most importantly, because of the relative lack of IP entagnlements. Most of the jobs I've found on boards such as stackoverflow.com seem to be for full-time employees. Other boards, such as ifreelance.com, seem to specialize in relatively short-duration, low-pay contracts. Yet I've seen lots of postings, here and elsewhere, by people who have made successful careers with longer tern (3-, 6- or 12-month) contract work. How do you find this work? Are there particular sites where this type of job tends to be posted?

Difference in pay when contracting as corp-to-corp

2010-07-08T03:11:10Z

I have a corp that I'm considering using for my software consulting work. I read another excellent question here

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/428636/what-does-corp-to-corp-contracting-mean-exactly

that suggested rates paid to corp-to-corp are higher than those paid to individual contractors, since corp-to-corp has to pay for additional expenses such as corp liability insurance, etc. Can people who've had experience with the corp-to-corp setup tell me the difference either as a % per hour, or if I charge $70/hour.

I'm looking for individual experiences that I can go by from other developers who have done this before.

Decisions, Decisions!! Need Career Advice!

2010-07-07T13:56:55Z

So, I'm kind of at a cross-roads at my current employer. I've only been here a year( this is my 2nd job) and I don't think it's a good fit for me any longer. The main reason is that I see my self as more of developer and this place is a small shop where you make very small programs to tie the business together instead of developing software.

The bonus to the place is that they would allow me to go back for my masters if I chose and would let me miss work and such. I would go back for my masters in computer science and do research in computer graphics which is an interest of mine.

So, I could do that or just go ahead and leave. I've been playing with iPhone development and have been offered a position as a mobile developer at a local company.

I'm just wondering what would be the smarter choice long term. I feel like you will always have mobile development. I can't forsee any computing that would overtake it except for nanotechnology type of technology.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Confused about future of my career

2010-05-27T17:59:14Z

I am a software engineer with 7+ years experience but (un)fortunately have not worked in the same domain/technology for more than a year or two. I have worked in java for a couple of years then switched to dotNet then worked in C then in C++ (not C) in a different company. Same is the case with business domains too. Worked in the finance industry then switched to web 2.0 then to enterprise applications in dotNet. Now after 7 years I am confused to which career should I call my strength because being honest, I don't think that I am the master of a single technology or domain. I am very confused. Can anyone please guide me with what course of action can I take to streamline my career. I want to settle but find it very confusing which way to go...

Employability of an 'intensive conversion' masters degree

2010-09-02T18:52:16Z

Hi all

I'm a graduate with a philosophy degree and a hobbyist programmer. I've decided that my existing line of work isn't what I want to do and I've applied for a year-long Masters-level 'computer science for non-CS graduates' course with a view to getting into either software or web development.

Was wondering if anybody here has any idea about the employability of these degrees. Either from the perspective of an employer or employee. The course content looks good and relevant to what I want to do (the mandatory half of the classes are pretty 'hands on' and focus on stuff like server side design, web app frameworks, distributed components, etc. taught in J2EE, Python and Groovy), but I'm conscious that no matter how well I do, I'm going to be competing against people 3 or 4 years younger with a pure CS background in a relatively tough economy.

First question: I'd be borrowing about £8000 ($12k) to take the course, so I'd want to be fairly sure of a relevant job at the end. Assuming I do well, is this realistic?

Second question: I get to pick about half my classes. How will my employment options be affected if I focus more on the foundational stuff (data structures, models of computation, databases, etc.) versus the applied stuff (intelligent data analysis, distributed systems, etc)?

In case it's relevant, the course is in the UK, at a good research-focused department (I guess about 10th nationwide).

Thanks.
Chris

Is it better to support test station software or embedded code?

2010-02-16T02:27:42Z

In the eyes of an employer would it be more valuable to have experience in C# based test station software or embedded code that is written in C++?

IT (Information Technology) Career Development Website

2010-03-02T12:39:12Z

hi, I am software engineer presently. I have been working in asp.net (VS 2005-08) since past 1 year. I dont feel that programming is my piece of cake. I am doing this job as i am not aware of about careers path in IT after doing bachelors.

Could you please suggest some good websites(could be forum/blog etc) which have in-depth written about careers in IT.

Please do not mention Job portals websites (as they aren't careers website!)

let me know any info needed from my side.

Thanks!

Java Developer Third Interview

2010-05-25T04:54:06Z

I am currently going through interview for an entry level Java developer.

So recently I have gone through a phone interview and a skills assessment. I was told that if i qualified through the skills assessment I'd be brought in for an interview with everyone on the development teams.

I made it through the skills assessment and was contacted to say that my scores on the assessment they would like me to come in for an "interview day"

my question is what should I expect? I am a little nervous and would like to know what I should review for the interview (most likely basic Java features like polymorphism, abstract classes and interfaces etc.)

also found out there will be other candidates there with me. Any advice for what I should expect, basic problems which Ive looked up to expect I can cover no problem (IE: FizzBuzz)

Thanks!

ruby on rails VS asp.net as a career.

2010-08-18T19:04:30Z

hi, i have 1 year exp in asp.net, now i got opportunity in ruby on rails i am in bit confusion state between choosing between these two,please help me with following criteria
1.job opportunity (i am from bangalore,India).there are not enough number of companies using RoR right now, i mean most of them are startups.
2.how about 5 years the down the line, is RoR is a just a flash of light ? can it hold on it like java ?
3.money, which one will earn me some decent salary

How to know that you are doing the job suitable for you?

2010-02-16T05:01:15Z

I always think that it's necessary to do the job that is suitable for you, that you are really fond of. But it's not easy to determine if a job we are doing is suitable for us or not. Moreover, the job market doesn't always provide the job we really want, so we will have to choose from the available opportunities. So, how to know that the job we are doing is suitable for us?

How long between interview and feedback?

2010-03-04T18:35:38Z

As a candidate, how long would you normally expect to wait between the interview and getting feedback via the company's HR department or the recruitment agent?

It's the typical situation - you go to an interview for a job, get a good grilling (if you are lucky) and then, weeks of silence. No feedback, no indication if they were happy with you, nothing.

So, two questions:

How long would/should a candidate wait for feedback before it has become somewhat pointless?
Would you contact the company after a while to enquire if they're still interested or do you just write them off?

PS: I'd like to point out that should a candidate have the good fortune of being interviewed by myself, I always try to provide feedback the same or the following day. But that just might be me and I'm generally happy to wait a week or so; however some companies seem to provide no feedback at all and then are all surprised that you've taken another job when they get back to you eight weeks later.

How to keep up the interest in job?

2010-05-26T06:13:08Z

Hi, I have been working as Software Developer for 6+ yrs. And I have worked from start ups to big companies. I always feel some elements missing in me and those are interest, passion etc. In short, I don't feel motivated while coming to work. This makes me think how my work-life balance will look like once I reach at more responsible positions. I don't want to change my field and I feel blessed as well but I think I am not working passionately for my learning, future growth, improvement, skills etc. Any pointers will be highly appreciated. Thx

Is your company/industry hiring?

2010-03-15T02:12:59Z

They company that I work for went through a reorganization over the past year or so and it seems that with the economy picking up we are hiring internal employees again. We have been extremely busy on the recruiting side for our clients so I am thinking that the cart is somewhat leading the horse. Is anyone else seeing an up tick in hiring within their companies/industries?

Internal transfer letter

2010-09-01T05:46:10Z

How to write a Internal Transfer Letter.

For Example

Group of company name(zebra)

Company Name = A, B, C, D, E

Now am working in Company A, i want to write a letter for transfer to Company B

Can any one provide a Format of the letter.

how to become project manager ?

2010-08-30T11:57:06Z

Hi, I am working in a small company in India. I have worked with almost all phase of SDLC, with Team Leader role.

I have 6 year experience.

I want to become project manager.

can you suggest how should I proceed ? Is my small company is good for me ?

Can I lose my job for not disclosing information?

2010-08-31T01:15:11Z

In the State of New Hampshire can one lose their job for not disclosing on a job application that you worked at a company prior? I might lose my job for not telling my current employer I have worked there in the past.

Next role as well as long term role

2010-06-18T11:48:55Z

I have 6 years of experience: 3 in programming and 3 leading teams. I'm good at technical (not like coding), design and leadership.

My interests are: 1. Designing (all design related to project - architecture,flow,DB all) 2. Leading/managing teams - getting work done by the team

Please suggest what could be proper role for me.

Third interview what to expect?

2010-03-30T03:47:11Z

I have a third interview tomorrow with a large company for a software engineering position and I'm wondering what I should expect?

The first interview was a phone screen and the second interview was a 1 hr meeting with 3 software engineers (20 minutes each).

Do every software related firm care more about deadline/productivity than quality?

2010-08-17T14:06:03Z

i've been working for 4 years on small software development companies, and every sigle one seems to go under the same motto "GO,GO,GO!", i never worked in any software development methodology besides "fast and furious"...i understand thats important to be timewise, to keep track of time, to be productive - but not i don't think we should pay it in quality, both of software and life.

in my current job, they have a freaking counter! sometimes i think "did i dedicated all this time studing for this?" do all companies keep track of every single moment you are working?

also, here we use SCRUM, well sort of, we work like this: implementations for a given a client are grouped toguether, generally divided in "numbered task lists", which are lists of tasks that can done separatedly (generally 1 list per ERP form related to that implementation), then the programmers "predict" the time that it will take and we sum the predictions divide by how much time available we have per day and we estipulate a day to deliver the software.

At first i thought it was a very good idea! but now i see that , its humanly impossible to make acurate predictions and to be 100% productive...

is every Software development firm like that? am i at the wrong area? am i just lazy ?

sorry, bad day, bad english :P

EDIT:

@JB King , seriously .. you need to blow off some steam ... you should take karate or boxing classes....

like i said i understand the meaning of tracking time (i've done it myself , developing as a freelancer), what i don't understand is why its more important than writing good software, why the deadline is always more important then the product itself?

also if every company in software development works like that, if so did i made the wrong career choice? is there only the mafialeft for me?

i mean, i studied a lot and i don't think is should be stuck in a career i hate, and i really hate to have a freaking timer runing

PS: i have italian decendecy :P)

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