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    Big 4 Discussion - March 11, 2018 CS Career Questions

    March 11, 2018

    Big 4 Discussion - March 11, 2018 CS Career Questions

    Big 4 Discussion - March 11, 2018

    Posted: 10 Mar 2018 11:07 PM PST

    Please use this thread to have discussions about the Big 4 and questions related to the Big 4, such as which one offers the best doggy benefits, or how many companies are in the Big 4 really? Posts focusing solely on Big 4 created outside of this thread will probably be removed.

    Abide by the rules, don't be a jerk.

    This thread is posted each Sunday and Wednesday at midnight PST. Previous Big 4 Discussion threads can be found here.

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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    Daily Chat Thread - March 11, 2018

    Posted: 10 Mar 2018 11:07 PM PST

    Please use this thread to chat, have casual discussions, and ask casual questions. Moderation will be light, but don't be a jerk.

    This thread is posted every day at midnight PST. Previous Daily Chat Threads can be found here.

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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    I got an AWESOME internship thanks to this sub. It’s not super prestigious, but in the spirit of breaking down “survivorship bias”, here’s my story.

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 11:22 AM PDT

    TLDR: I'm pretty average in terms of this sub and I'm super happy with how it worked out.

    I love reading stories about people working hard and ending up with internships at Google, and they always inspire me. So I worked hard (but not too hard) and got an incredible, well-paying internship that I can't wait to start. You've probably never heard of the company, but it's a tech company that I fell in love with during the interview process, and I'm just so happy with the way things worked out. I hear about "survivorship bias" on this sub where only Big N success stories get posted, so here's my story because I wish I had read more stories that made me feel okay with just getting a "normal" internship.

    I've always been a great student (3.8 GPA), and I'm on a full ride to a mediocre state school because I couldn't afford anywhere that wouldn't pay for all my college. My CS department is among the worst you can find, and I'm just there for the degree, so I've mostly been self-taught with technologies and such. I really like web development.

    I'm very involved with campus life and a number of clubs and activities. Sophomore year, I found this sub and started doing Leetcode and CTCI, but not that often and really only just to get a sense of how to solve white board problems. I still can't balance a binary tree or implement quick sort perfectly without some help, but I can solve problems pretty well, and I also think it's really fun to do so. I spend most of my time with friends and watching movies, but I set aside some time and built some small projects in my spare time (from-file search engine in Java, little Pygame projects like Hangman and Snake, a Bootstrap website for my improv team, etc.)

    I applied to only one internship because I only felt like I was qualified to do so very late into my sophomore year when recruiting season was over. It was a big company in my smallish town. My projects/courses taken weren't super impressive, but I was able to discuss them intelligently thanks to this sub. Then they gave me some whiteboard questions which I absolutely nailed, MUCH easier than I expected after reading CTCI (Reverse a string, Fibonacci recursive and nonrecursive, some OOP stuff, how would I improve one of my past projects, etc...) I got the job.

    This internship was really great and I learned a lot, but it ended up being a lot of small, busy-work HTML/CSS tweaks on their website for weeks once my big summer "project" was done. They said if I wanted to drop out of college and start there as a developer, they'd make it happen (very kind of them but it just wasn't doing it for me there).

    For this summer, I applied lots of places (40+) and was rejected from almost all of them. They included Big N and other big companies with awesome internship programs. I got follow-up calls from 3 smaller places and made it to one on-site at a small tech company in a big city not far from my home town, and I got the job. I was honestly so surprised. I never thought I'd make this much money, especially before graduating. They're paying for me to relocate for the summer and they've been so kind to me, already reaching out to see what kind of stuff I'd like to work on. My boss seems like such a cool, knowledgeable guy. I couldn't be more happy.

    I don't have any impressive projects, and I honestly feel like it was just my ability to talk about technologies with passion and work through problem-solving strategies. The only white board question was checking for palindromes using multiple data structures and comparing efficiency. I learned it all from this sub, so THANK YOU to everyone who offers their stories/feedback on this sub.

    Conclusions: If you're thinking you don't compare to people on this sub, know that just by reading these posts and having any projects at all, you're working way harder than ANY of my classmates. This sub can be daunting, but it's also honesty so helpful. I'll have 2 internships under my belt after this summer, and I feel great about my career prospects without ever having stressed about spending my weekends on Leetcode or big projects. If you want to enjoy college, just do it. Just be sure to spend an hour or two every week working on CS stuff that you enjoy and you'll honestly be fine with decent grades.

    Not sure if anyone will read this, but if so, I appreciate it so much. Have a great day!

    submitted by /u/TravisWatchesMovies
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    Why does the CS community seem so hostile to beginners?

    Posted: 10 Mar 2018 09:55 PM PST

    I'm a graduate student in mathematics; so, I've worked with the math community a lot, and by extension the physics community. I also have some exposure to the finance community when I spent some time on Wall Street before grad school.

    All of them have been very receptive to beginners, and eager to help.

    The CS community, however, seems to treat beginners with extreme hostility. So many people seem very arrogant, and it has turned me off from the field in general.

    For example, if I ask a question about my code and include a snippet (prefacing it by saying I'm a beginner), more often than not I'll get rude comments belittling my code for being inefficient or not very readable. These are not phrased constructively and are unnecessarily rude. Further, many of those who aren't directly rude seem to answer in an intentionally vague manner in one or two words which don't even really answer my question, as if to imply that their time is too precious to type five more words to help me out.

    I don't believe I'm entitled to anyone's help, but I've never seen other communities act like this, and I don't understand why. It really has been a huge turnoff to me.

    P.S. I don't mean this sub specifically; you guys seem helpful.

    submitted by /u/UncleBen322
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    Why is American software engineer pay much better than every other place in the world?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 05:48 AM PDT

    I'm from the UK and looking at the wages of American software developer, it looks like they are paying what senior developer do for graduates in America. Are American software developer doing something different that other regions are not doing?

    submitted by /u/hugokhf
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    [rant] Nearing a month into unemployment after working for 3 years and it's killing me.

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 06:53 AM PDT

    Backstory, I quit my job on January 21st because it was incredibly toxic and it was doing a lot of damage to my career and mental health, looking for jobs was impossible because I was always so exhausted or angry by how horrible it was in the office everyday.

    I've been interviewing with a couple of companies since then, and I still am, but I've been becoming readily frustrated with how companies are testing me -- don't get me wrong I'm REALLY grateful for every company/recruiter reaching out to me, but I'm getting sick and tired of having to go through timed tests with difficult algorithm problems which I don't think are completely relevant for the job or my field.. I'm an experienced frontend developer, why does it matter how many seconds someone has to wait to buy a ticket? I understand that companies use it to see if you can "think logically" but using it as the baseline to cut someone out of the process is really draining, I have the experience, I have the work to show for it, I haven't practiced leetcode since I graduated 3 years ago because I simply DON'T need it in everyday work.

    I've been practicing leetcode every day now, as the tests/interviews come and go, but it's just killing my confidence how long the problems take for me to solve, how I still don't have an offer and how I just don't have any income anymore. I don't regret quitting, because if I stayed I would have bombed every interview..I'm just..so frustrated. I just want a job and to go to work everyday and like..just earn money. The interview process with multiple companies is draining me. :/

    The latest interview I had with a company I really liked, they really annoyed me because, I got through to the last stage where I had to create a visualization where I improve the design of two of their applications and nowhere did it say I had to implement my design, I even asked the people involved in the interview like, hey is it necessary I implement my design? or would mockups be enough? and they said they'd be happy with a mockup, an implementation isn't necessary but that it would be cool.. On the day of the presentation (there were like 5 developers, 2 of which were tech leads) and 99% of their questions were about why I didn't implement it -- the tech lead even asked me if I could actually develop it and if I wasn't just a designer (even though I passed the tech test THEY gave me??) . I told them, you and the requirements said that you needed a visualization. Designing takes time, and implementing it takes even more time - the total time given was 6 hours for the test. How could anyone have delivered both? The whole thing put me off so much, especially because I really loved the work and the products they had. It honestly felt like I let them down, even though what they were expecting was just not a possible thing in the time frame that they gave. 6 hours to design, and then implement something for the web + mobile for 2 different applications?

    And another company I'm interviewing with keeps emphasizing with how cut throat they are, and how they only hire the "smartest" people, the said that they will only go through the next step if I get the highest out of all the candidates being tested. It just stresses me out and it makes me feel like my worth as a developer is set to how well I do in a quiz.

    I'm sorry, this is all over the place.. I'm just frustrated and I don't know where else to talk about it. I need a hug. And a job lol

    submitted by /u/DistinctObject
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    Back end engineer recently joined a front end webdev team. How do I catch up?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 04:27 PM PDT

    Basically the title. I'm a software engineer and quickly need to ramp up on broad front end skills (JS tools, HTML, CSS, database management). I was hoping to find comprehensive online lectures that I could take outside of work. Of course during work reading code, docs etc has played a huge part in the learning process but I want to supplement it.

    As for why I'm not on a backend team, I originally was, but visa issues prompted the company to switch my location to a more visa-friendly country with mostly front end work.

    submitted by /u/dannystone13
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    What else can I do with my CS degree? (Graduate looking for abnormal advice)

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 11:21 AM PDT

    Intro

    I graduated from the best STEM school in my state (sits around 65-70 ranked nationally), this past December with a B.A. in CS and a minor in philosophy. I came within 2 classes of being able to snag a double major in philosophy, but decided not to stay for a 9th semester just to get that second degree (painful for the academic in me, but the economically sound decision, I think). Some background on me, I am where I am because:

    I applied and was originally accepted into school as a philosophy major w/ a law emphasis (I broadly had law school aspirations), but during my senior year of high school during this time I built a computer, and started getting more interested in playing with tech, and the concept of learning to program was exciting to me (exciting in the sense that the media portrays the silicon valley/startup world, and the movie "Social Network" portrays successfully starting a big project and watching it develop). I drank the kool-aid and arguably was turned on to the CS major for the wrong reasons, but that's not to say I didn't work hard during school.

    Freshman-Sophomore Year

    Fast forward, I'm your average CS student during freshman-sophomore year, I spend most of my time struggling through my classes, making B-C's on average in my CS classes, spending free time on small personal projects that amount to nothing, diving deep into the Linux world and ricing out various distros for fun (Debian, Arch, Etc), spending way too much time on Reddit and 4chan, and trying super hard to "be" a programmer- my personality changed a bit I think, as CS circles were different than the normal type of social circles I find myself in.

    Junior Year & SDE Co-Op Experience

    Junior year I snag a Co-Op Software Engineer position with a company that has an international presence and 2 billion revenue. I don't want to go into too much detail, but the company's product isn't all that exciting, and the location of the office I reported to was even worse. I started the job with absolute excitement and a sense of achievement, but after the first day I knew I would hate it. My manager had no self-confidence and it gave me a weird vibe (I wanted a mentor I could work to learn from), the team I worked on all age 35+ were very intelligent, cordial, and capable, but it wasn't fun having very little in common with anyone, and they were all very antisocial. The entire office had a dismal vibe, despite being laid back and everyone well paid from what I understand. I worked with C#, had lots of freedom, experienced and learned a lot about developing in a corporate environment from that job, yet I absolutely dreaded every single day, and decided that I didn't want to be a programmer anymore.

    (of note: I finished out the co-op, my team had high praise for me, and my manager borderline begged me to stay with the company, even offered me a dept. change since I mentioned I don't like coding as much as I thought I would- I'm not a bad employee, I have self-respect, but I just internally hated the experience outside of the life lessons I learned.)

    Final Semesters at School

    I go back to school after this experience, and continue to drudge through my remaining CS classes, yet this time I'm now carrying some existential dread and a defeated sense of purpose as I had worked so hard to become a programmer and get a programming job and now I felt that this path is not at all for me, yet I remained pragmatic and knew it would benefit me intrinsically and economically to finish out my CS degree. I managed to do so, graduated with a 3.07 GPA, and a serious love for philosophy (reading, researching, discussing topics, and occasionally even writing) as I started to identify with the liberal arts side of my college degree much moreso than the painful time spent in my CS classes. But despite this accomplishment I have no idea what path I want to pursue now. I feel a bit like I wasted 4 years of my life pursuing a specialized degree for a specialized path that I have no interest in walking- yet I don't deny I learned a lot in my time in school (in all facets of life), and I wouldn't go back and change it, I'm not that type of person.

    The average and unhelpful advice from Peers

    My friends/peers all think I'm shortsighted for not trying to get a SDE position and "make the buku bucks" and just treat it like a 9-5 and ignore the fact that I don't enjoy it, just to make a good living. I try and tell them that being a SDE isn't a position that you can just tune out all day and collect your paycheck at the end of, and I'm also not the type of person to want to just do the bare minimum in a position- I want to achieve and grow within the professional world- learning and personal growth as well as potential for financial growth fuel me as a person.

    Mixed thoughts about potential career paths

    I've begin to consider the PM role as a potential for me after I had a mock interview with an IT head of a good-sized company who said I didn't sound like a good fit for the IT lifestyle and instead suggested I'd make a great PM. He arrived at this conclusion after I had described myself, my motivations, and he raved about my manner of speaking/communication- inasmuch as making it clear that I should treat it as an asset that many technical types don't possess.

    I've since applied for PM roles, but I've been ghosted for just about every position I've applied for since graduation (I've only received one actual "no", otherwise I just hear nothing back (feelsbadman.jpeg). I'm reasonably confident in my resume, I've put a lot of effort into its presentation and layout, and have had many critique sessions over the years. I've also held a variety of positions: Data Analyst Assistant, Skatepark Supervisor, Software Engineer Co-Op, Law Office File Clerk, Surf shop retail, and I'm currently working part time for a small IT solutions company local to me doing just about every type of thing for them (field setup, equipment prep, troubleshooting, cable running, etc.) I've enjoyed this so far, as it makes for varied days, but I don't see it as a future for me, or something I'd like to do everyday.

    I've also considered a sales path, as many use me as a consultant (for tech and beyond, I'm a bit of a master of none type), and I enjoy dedicating time to product/service research, and answering/helping others clearly and proficiently. But I have little to no actual B2B or B2C experience, and I'm scared of what will happen if I can fake it/sell my self enough to find myself in an entry level sales position.

    The final thing worth mentioning is that if I did make it into sales, the "Sales Engineer/Solutions Engineer" role sounds interesting to me based off its description, but I have no idea if it's actually as cool as I've made it out to be in my mind, any insight on this would be helpful.

    Thanks and closing remarks

    I've spent a lot of time lurking this subreddit all through my time in school, and I've been wanting to write this up for a long time now, but I feel bad asking for very specific help so I've procrastinated until now- when I really feel I need it.

    Thank you so much in advance to anyone willing to read this wall of text and offer some advice.

    TL;DR it's more helpful if you at least skim it, but basically I have a B.A. in CS, don't want to program, am unsure about PM roles and Sales roles in tech, but considering them and overall trying to find a good alternative career path for my personality type while not wholly wasting my degree. I'm an ENTP ("Debater") on the Meyers-Briggs chart fwiw.

    submitted by /u/Lotrent
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    How to Make a Realistic Plan For Researching Machine Learning as an Undergrad

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 03:39 PM PDT

    Hi,

    I'm currently a second-year at the University of Chicago. I'm majoring in Computational and Applied Mathematics and I'm hoping to go to pursue a PH.D. in CS.

    Essentially here's my stretch goal, I want to go to Oxford and intern at the FHI (Future of Humanity Institute) working on technical AI safety. Here's the problem, machine learning is really hard to get into as an undergrad. I've been taking statistics and advanced math courses to prepare for my first machine learning course next fall quarter. However, currently, I've only played around with neural networks and basic learning methods, no research or projects to be had.

    I know that I should try and engage with the faculty to see if I could do research, however, there are literally only two people who do ML research and I don't want to burn through them before I even take a single ML class! I've been thinking about just self-teaching myself and working on projects with Kaggle, but I'm not sure if that's a great idea. I have research experience working on coding for the astrophysics department, and I'm sure I could find someone in one of my major's allied departments to do research with.

    How fucked am I for pursuing this goal, and what advice should I try and apply to up my chances of success with applying for this internship next winter? Thanks!

    submitted by /u/zach466920
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    How to find a list of software and/or "high tech" companies in a medium sized city?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 01:56 PM PDT

    I am interested in compiling a list of companies in my area that specialize in: software development, information technology (not consultancies), high tech manufacturing, science, research, high tech fab, etc. I've been compiling a list for a few years now but it seems like I always find companies I didnt know about (the area Im in has like 5 small cities put together). Any idea how I can do this more thoroughly?

    submitted by /u/Beanshello
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    Received over six figures offer (NYC) out of bootcamp, am I crazy to turn it down?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 06:18 PM PDT

    Hey guys, I've been a lurker on this sub awhile. Anyhow, I'm now a few weeks into my job search following a bootcamp (STEM degree but no CS background) and I'd love some perspective/advice on something.

    Last week I received an offer for ~100k base + <20k additional signing bonus pre-negotiation (NYC area) from a big company. As this is NYC, the company is one of the many financial firms in the city. It's funny, if you came to me a year ago and told me I would have an offer for over six figures, I'd think it would be nuts to turn it down (I'm now >1yr unemployed). But now that I see one on the table, my gut says not to take it. I'm also not that sold on the culture in the finance world, and hate the old-school corporate office aesthetic.

    The biggest thing is that I'm simply not excited about the products I would be working on at the bank (proprietary tools for trading). Also, when I visited, I didn't like the atmosphere and felt that if I had to spend 8+ hours a day in that place, I would hate it.

    As for good points, besides the pay, my would-be direct manager seems like a very agreeable guy and the technologies I'd be using are pretty modern and not proprietary.

    I don't have any other offers on the table, but I managed to get an offer before this (startup, decent comp but not on this level) and I do have an on-site with a BigN company in a few weeks that I am grinding hard for. Half of the people I talk to are saying to take the money and run -- just leave after a year if it's really that miserable and then I'll already be a mid-level SWE so getting the next one will be easy. The other half say to turn it down.

    Does anyone have any advice on how to view this situation beyond how I've been doing so far? Please and thanks.

    submitted by /u/csthrowawaytorn
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    What should I be doing since I'm struggling so much with the job search?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 03:24 PM PDT

    Graduated in 2015.

    After over 1 year of unemployment, I managed to get a contractor job in NYC for $4k/month. The SVP of Engineering had lunch with me and said I was going to get converted to full time. One week later, their budget changed and I was laid off.

    One more year of unemployment passed, I got a contracting position at Dell Technologies in Texas. I was promised full time after 2 months. I completed an entire project by myself. On the second month, my team lost funding and 30+ people were laid off (one co-worker was laid off after 1 week). I worked together with my staff/architect and got a great recommendation. Everyone was sorry for what happened.

    While working at Dell, I only managed to get interviews with small companies due to my lead's referrals. These turned out to be "interviewing for the sake of looking nice".

    Company #1: internal transfer, had a pair-programming session implementing a data structure, rejected me with the feedback they had no more junior spots left.

    Company #2: consulting company, on-site, never received a rejection even after sending a thank you, and my referrer has been ignored when he asked for feedback.

    Company #3: consulting company, lunch, didn't seem to be satisfied with a Github, my recommendation by referrer, and work experience. He asked me to give him internal company code, which I declined.

    Anyway, I wasn't happy with any of those, especially because two of them turned out to be contracting roles. Currently, I'm not getting any interviews. I tried to connect to LinkedIn recruiters; no one has replied. I was already connected to a Home Depot recruiter; he looked at my profile then he ignored me.

    I had 5 mock interviews with senior principal engineers at Dell. They told me I was "middle of the pack" in terms of performance. No one complained about my resume.

    Other than referrals at crap companies, I'm not getting a single interview through Indeed or similar.

    submitted by /u/fkfvgvuku
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    Career path without coding

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 02:43 PM PDT

    Hello,

    I study ICT and I am in my third year, meaning if all goes well I will be an engineer this time next year. As sad as it may sound, I feel like I haven't learnt too much, which of course is mainly my fault as I should be doing more learning on my own. During my studies, I struggled mainly with any kind of programming - I understand the absolute beginner stuff like loops, ifs and some basic functions but that's about it. Honestly I just don't think that I will be able to develop neccessary programming skills to land a job when I finish my studies next year.

    I was thinking about Network Engineer career path but - you guessed it - don't know too much about it. I have a CCNA certificate (Introduction) which I believe is pretty much worthless.

    How can I self-develop to become a Network Engineer? Could you recommend me some online resources or maybe some books? How difficult is it to get a job in that field?

    Or maybe some other IT path that I am overlooking or do not know much about?

    I would really appreciate your answers.

    submitted by /u/roberrcik
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    Very bad glassdoor reviews - but apparently tech is different?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 04:54 PM PDT

    I've been offered a graduate software engineering job that pays more than I expected to earn (outside of London as well) for a company mostly centered around trading/marketing. On Glassdoor, 95% of the reviews are all awful and talk about the same things (dreadful management, no training whatsoever for graduates, high staff turnover etc.). However, the recruiter kept mentioning how different tech is to the rest of the company (most of the company is trading/marketing), and the reviews from software engineers/tech people (there are only like 10 of them) are generally okay compared to the business roles. I haven't signed anything yet but I'm thinking of giving the recruiter a call tomorrow and asking about the bad reviews and how tech is genuinely different to what other people are complaining about. Is this a good idea? Should I be careful how I word it? Or should I just stick with it as its high pay outside of London.

    submitted by /u/GregoryWm
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    Grad school worth it?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 04:50 PM PDT

    I'm a undergrad freshman with zero internship experience but have a decent resume otherwise (good grades, little bit of research and personal projects). My dad is pushing me towards going to grad school, but I'm not sure about the cost and the implications on my career. Should I try to get into the industry with an undergrad degree? Is a graduate degree with little industry experience any stronger?

    submitted by /u/SaltMining_
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    How can I maximize my salary raise in my current situation?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 09:37 AM PDT

    Hi, I'm currently in the following situation:

    I work at a software consultant company. I have a salary of lets say $X (I live outside the US so raw numbers are not really interesting).

    Now I have three offers from three other companies. All offers offer about 15-20% higher salary. I do not mind leaving for another company; I've been at my current company for two years and wouldn't mind trying new things.

    However I like the current project I'm working on, and would like stay on it for a few months more.

    I got a yearly salary meeting at my company coming up in a few weeks. Normally I'm guessing I would get max ~5% raise. How can I maximize my salary? My optimal situation would be to get a similar salary as the other offers (15-20%). Then I feel like I can stay for however long I want without feeling like I'm losing out on a lot of money.

    I'm thinking of being completely transparent and saying that I got three outside offers at $Y, and that I want my salary corrected to that amount or it will be hard for me to justify staying there.

    Will that go over well, or should I be a bit more less blunt in my proposal? I feel like since it is a consultant company I'm all about the money for them, and raising my salary would still provide more of an income for them than if I were to leave, but I'm unsure how well this flies in the real world.

    Like I said I'm not afraid of leaving, so job security should not be taken into consideration here, but of course I do not want to burn any bridges.

    Is the best strategy to show my hand and tell them about the other offers?

    Any suggestions otherwise?

    submitted by /u/KntBg7
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    Which of these CS electives should I take to complete my CS major?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 04:10 PM PDT

    I can pick up to 4 of the following 5:

    1) Database Systems

    2) Compiler Design

    3) Computer Networks

    4) Cryptography and Data Security

    5) Applied Machine Learning

    So basically it comes down to which one I shouldn't take. These are the few good things I have heard about each:

    For databases, I have heard that a sound knowledge of SQL is very much appreciated by employers and is also applicable a lot in real life.

    I keep hearing that although learning about compilers is not necessarily applicable in real life, it helps you become a much better programmer because you know the ins and outs of a compiler and what it expects.

    I also hear that a sound knowledge of computer networks is very applicable in understanding how different systems communicate with each other and, therefore, how one can code efficient systems to act accordingly.

    For cryptography, I have heard that there are plenty of jobs available in the field such as security engineering etc.

    And obviously machine learning is huge these days and has applications to a variety of fields like AI, CV, robotics etc.

    So I was wondering what people think the best four would be. Mainly in terms of career opportunities, appeal and general applicability in real life. They all seem quite good so I'm finding it difficult to eliminate one of them.

    Any help would be very much appreciated!

    submitted by /u/PracticalSwimmer
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    Will being a Jew help me in tech?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 07:54 PM PDT

    I got a job on Wall Street due to the pedigree of my undergrad school and the fact that I have a very Jewish name which appealed to a very religious MD. Jews run the Street.

    Is it like this in tech?

    submitted by /u/UncleBen322
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    Currently between QA and SDET. Not sure what to study to advance to SDET/SDE.

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 01:45 PM PDT

    I have a degree in an unrelated science field. After college I realized I didn't like my field enough to work full time so I ended up with a QA position. I've done some minor self studying at home the last 2 years, but enough that i'm doing beginner SDET level work (Python and Java).

    I know the basics of OOP. I can write scripts, and I can modify existing frameworks. Since i've been on the job for 2 yeas now, i've also got a good grasp of general practices (git, jenkins, code reviews). My self studying consisted on learning the basics of a few languages, and that was really all that I needed go get where I am now. I'm not sure how to go further though (goal of becoming SDET or SDE). After learning the basics, it seems like it opens up into way too much to narrow down easily. I've asked some SDEs at my company, and they've given me some conflicting answers. Some suggested to go down the more traditional route they went down with their CS degrees. They suggested finding some college courses online and just going from there.

    The majority though said they would advise against that. They said most of what they learned in school hasn't been relevant to their job, and since I already have my foot in the door I should focus on more practical things, or at the very least things necessary for interviews. They suggested that fast tracking towards what is necessary to advance to a higher position will be better, since once i get into one of those positions i'll learn learning on the job, which is more valuable.

    What do you guys think? To summarize: I'm between QA and SDET, and have the goal of becoming an SDET/SDE. I know the basics of OOP and that's pretty much it. What should I be studying to best advance my career?

    submitted by /u/kickedRock
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    Advice wanted. 8 months into first, after-college job. Considering looking for another job.

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 03:34 PM PDT

    Currently 8 months into my first job after graduation. I'm a solutions consultant for a very large company. The job has been a great learning experience so far, the pay and benefits are nice, I work from home pretty much always, I love my location, and I've been pretty content so far.

    But in January, I was assigned to my first international project and had to spend a month in a country on the other side of the world. This was a shock for a few reasons. I had never travelled outside of the US before, and didn't really expect to, but I got my passport on the recommendation of my manager in case I was given an international project. I didn't expect this mostly because from my interviews and conversations with other consultants, projects within the US seemed to be the majority of work. And well, a month just seemed like a lot of time to be put up in a hotel in another country. Anyway, the travel went fine, got my work done, got to check out the area, and returned home and continued my work remotely. But the last week of those four weeks, I was incredibly homesick, and just wanted nothing other than to get back home. And now, although I've been relieved to be back home, things haven't been as good as I thought they'd be coming back. I've been working remotely on a schedule with a huge time shift to accommodate for the time zone that the project is based in. I expected this when returning home, but it's been harder on my personal life than I thought. Harder to spend time with friends/family and I'm now having very irregular sleeping/eating patterns. And now I'm hearing that I may be sent for another month very soon. Most of the conversations with my team regarding going back pointed towards not having to return and continuing all work remotely... But oh well.

    I'm having doubts that this job is the right fit for me, and am thinking about looking elsewhere. It's my first "actual" job, aside from university jobs and my internship, and it's pretty solid in my opinion, but I don't think I'm adjusting well to my recent work. What I've been experiencing isn't affecting my performance. The client and my management are actually very pleased with what I've done so far (their reasoning for bringing me back over to the international site) but I feel like it's more important that I'm happy with where I'm at.

    I feel like a more traditional role might be better suited for me. Non-consulting. Not traveling. Knowing who my team is, what my work is, where I go to work. I just feel that maybe I shouldn't be looking without more experience, because I'm already in a great position to keep gaining experience. Maybe I'm just overreacting and need to adjust better. Advice would be much appreciated.

    TLDR: Job's been cool, pretty happy with it. Recently, conditions have been a little shitty for me. Not sure if I want to stay in this job. Not sure if I should be looking for another job without more experience.

    submitted by /u/ynot-
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    Has anyone here successfully gotten out of the tech industry?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 06:55 PM PDT

    Let's be honest. Even if you enjoy coding, no one wants to be stuck dealing with story points, startup nonsense, and product managers in their 30s or 40s.

    Who here has successfully managed to get salaries comparable to the tech industry, but somewhere that isn't awful?

    submitted by /u/Discorrad
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    Front end entry level prep suggestions?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 06:54 PM PDT

    Im finishing up a 3 stack coding camp. Python Java Mean.

    I want to get a head start and apply to jobs based on projects I have already done. Our first few weeks were spent on front end (HTML, CSS, Jquery, Angular, Json, AJAX). I do know python but I have dozens of projects in the front end (web pages with all kinds of dynamic content). Im trying to apply to entry level and internships. Any suggestions for how difficult of projects hiring managers are usually looking for?

    submitted by /u/MakeAmericaGreat94
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    If you can just search-engine everything and find out what it is then what's the point of going to college and paying thousands for an education?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 06:48 PM PDT

    You go to college, they teach you what an array and a binary tree is, they teach you quicksort and binary search and all that, and AVL trees and whatever else. But you could just googlesearch this and learn about it all. So what's the point of college then? Anything you're taught in a CS education, or any field for that matter, you could just googlesearch and learn about. So why does anyone go to college for anything if you can just Ggl every single thing they teach you and learn about it for free? You know, from our beloved magical wizard search engine.

    submitted by /u/odwjwoh
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    Conflicted undergraduate trying to decide between two majors. Advice needed.

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 06:10 AM PDT

    Hi CSCareerQuestions,

    Using a throwaway for this since it's kind of embarrassing for me to even discuss. I am an undergraduate at a reasonably large university. My university offers two programs:

    A) Computer Science with a focus on biomedical computing. This is a computer science program with mandatory courses in biology, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and the standard math courses that accompany a computer science program. There is an honours project for this program, which is based around computer science and programming, and you graduate with a computer science degree.

    B) Computational Biochemistry. This is similar to the standard biochemistry program, but instead of electives you take introductory computer science courses through second year, including courses on data structures and operating systems, as well as crossover courses in upper years related to bioinformatics. The honours project is based around biochemistry and you graduate with a B.Sc. (the degree says Computational Biochemistry).

    Up until this past school year, I was a second year undergraduate in biochemistry. I switched into program A due to the hype around computer science, and since I had already taken intro to computer science as an elective, I wasn't very far behind academically, about a semester. I live in an area where technical (read: programming) skills are very employable. I'm currently in a course load based around computer science and, to say the least, I feel like I'm struggling. I understand the mathematics and logic that make programming work (discrete mathematics was enjoyable for me), but when it comes to actual programming, I find it tedious and frustrating and have a lot of trouble producing working code and debugging.

    I enjoy an academic challenge, but I had an easier time in almost every other course I've taken, including courses like calc II (differential equations), which is notoriously difficult at my school. I was doing okay in biochemistry since I enjoyed the courses, although not good enough for med school and not good enough for graduate school either, although my grades were improving with time. My current GPA is about 2.7 (my school doesn't use 4.0 point GPAs, but that's approximately equivalent, about a B-).

    Anyways, I've nearly completed data structures and can pass the second year courses associated with program B. My career goals, regardless of which degree I were to graduate with, would be to move out of a technical role within ten years regardless. I've received a lot of conflicting opinions about whether program B and its introductory comp sci courses offers sufficient knowledge of programming to break into this industry. I want to be successful, but I'm not certain I have the ability or desire to complete the program in comp sci, or whether upper year computer science courses offer enough benefit to make it worth staying in the program. Like I said, I live in an area known for it's major tech companies; am I likely to be overlooked if my degree doesn't say "Computer Science" on it?

    Any advice is appreciated.

    submitted by /u/CarleUthrowaway
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    SapientRazorfish ?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 06:31 PM PDT

    Bascially they're a large interactive agency that's een through lots of mergers. Looks like they're investing heavily in AI and stuff, so it seems like an attractive place to go. Pay is alright, nothing special, but benefits look nice and there's like 5% travel (which looks like a lot of fun).

    I got an offer to work for them doing Java dev, and I was curious to see of anyone here worked for them? I can't find any previous questions about them on this sub. Feedback on if they're flexible with transfers would be nice too, I got an offer for an east coast location but would like to transfer to the west coast eventually. Glassdoor has mixed reviews about the recent mergers but seems to have great people at most of their offices, but some other advice would be nice as well.

    submitted by /u/sr_cscareerquestions
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    Anyone starting career in CS in late 30s?

    Posted: 11 Mar 2018 02:34 PM PDT

    Really looking to switch over to SE from background in Healthcare IT. Have a BS in Information Technology, but love CS and have solid foundation in math, data structures, algorithms, languages.

    Anyone have any late starter experiences?

    submitted by /u/underwatr_cheestrain
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