Resume Advice Thread - August 18, 2018 CS Career Questions |
- Resume Advice Thread - August 18, 2018
- Daily Chat Thread - August 18, 2018
- My manager told me why I got my return offer.
- Interview experience of a 2.5 years professional
- JP Morgan revamping their new grad program?
- Job Offer From Some "For Exposure" Kids
- Any cool companies that offer Winter internships?
- Any experience working at Ford or GM?
- Month 7 of my after grad job search and starting a project - Should I teach myself Java, or do it in a language I know (Python or C++) to maintain fundamentals?
- Should I take this compilers course?
- How is the reputation of SAS Institute in the industry?
- Scared rising senior with several questions for New grad roles at NYC companies like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs and what to do
- Can you negotiate a Canadian offer with U.S. counteroffers?
- Is scientific computing career a good choice?
- How to figure out if a new position will have work life balance
- A scared senior - what to do?
- What books/pdfs can I read to learn web development?
- C#, .Net Developer opportunities in Canada.
- Should I try to negotiate before I get a competing offer?
- What is the most ridiculous implementation of something you ever had to fix?
- I’m graduating in Spring 2019. Should I apply just for new grad positions, or go for summer 2019 internship positions in the hopes of maybe getting a return offer?
- Toggling linkedin's 'actively looking' button?
- Leaving a job that has prepaid for a future Conference
- Is this a good plan for a self-learner?
- What soft skill jobs can I get with a Comp Sci Degree?
- Will this undergraduate research be worth it?
- should I make a personal website. Or have a CV. Or even a linkedin, or github
| Resume Advice Thread - August 18, 2018 Posted: 18 Aug 2018 12:07 AM PDT Please use this thread to ask for resume advice and critiques. You should read our Resume FAQ and implement any changes from that before you ask for more advice. Abide by the rules, don't be a jerk. This thread is posted each Tuesday and Saturday at midnight PST. Previous Resume Advice Threads can be found here. [link] [comments]  |
| Daily Chat Thread - August 18, 2018 Posted: 18 Aug 2018 12:07 AM PDT 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. [link] [comments]  |
| My manager told me why I got my return offer. Posted: 18 Aug 2018 09:01 AM PDT If it ever sounds like this is me bragging, part of it is, but most of it is for context. Maybe this will give insight to people who are looking to intern. I started interning at a "big name" financial tech company back in May 2018. Worked on distributed systems and budgeting servers. I was the only intern at this company, and I essentially worked alongside the other engineers. My manager and I had weekly meetings where he would start the question off with questions like "are you having a good time here?" and "What do you feel like you've learned" but never gave much critical feedback. I thought this meant he did thought I was incapable of improving or that he thought I would be demotivated by criticism. Often times in these meetings I would bring up things I could be doing better. I don't think it was self deprecating, but in the sense that I wanted to see what he would agree with so I could get some more insight to where I stood. When giving me my return offer (100k + 20k benefits), he said that the reason he didn't give me much criticism was that anything he could have told me, I would have already thought of myself. He mentioned the differences between my first presentation and my later presentations and how it didn't matter where I was at now because I would keep getting better quickly. He used the word "introspective" a lot to describe my approach to work and I realized that it wasn't always about coming into a company as a "ninja coder" (I hate that term) but more of just a human that can assess themselves, because we're probably our own best critics. In conclusion, I think more importantly than just being a skilled software intern is being an introspective one. [link] [comments]  |
| Interview experience of a 2.5 years professional Posted: 18 Aug 2018 03:30 PM PDT This subreddit has been hugely helpful in my job hunt. I have just finished my job hunt (Google and Amazon offers) and am very pleased with it. So, I want to share my journey so that it might be helpful to someone who is in similar shoes as I was almost a year ago now. My Background:
Why I decided to look for another job:
Google doc link to preparation + interviewing timeline : Link Preparation phase: My primary source for preparing CS type questions was leetcode. Here is my monthly breakdown of my leetcode preparation- I used system design primer for prepping system design. A lot of places didn't ask me system design questions, so I didn't exhaust the github resource. I skimmed a lot of topics. I currently also do devops at my work, so I am decently familiar with how companies scale web apps. I kinda enjoyed reading through the system design topics; it was a nice break from monotonous leetcode sessions. I also used pramp to get comfortable interviewing. Here's the timeline for pramp- You'll notice that I did a lot of them in early part of my prep phase. Once I had done enough of them, I was super comfortable speaking my mind as I write code. This is absolutely crucial and I think it really helped me in the interviews. Interview phase: I applied to bunch of companies, but only interviewed at the Jane Street, Two Sigma, Bloomberg, Google, and Amazon. I got referred to G and Amazon, and had recruiters from the rest approach me. There's a nifty toggle in linkedin where you can indicate that you are searching for jobs. Once I turned that on, I got bunch of recruiters message me. Here's a timeline of how the interviews went- Once I had Google and Amazon offers, I stopped interviewing further. I had bunch of other companies in pipeline which I had heard back from and was trying to schedule hr/phone interviews. I am negotiating between Google and Amazon, so I don't have final numbers yet. Final thoughts: The journey was definitely painful in the beginning. It had been a while since I had read these CS topics, so leetcode easies were kicking my a** initially. However, once I got past the initial hurdle, it became much easier. Since I did a lot of pramp initially, it kinda helped me find motivation. Talking to someone who is on similar boat really helps. I was able to really connect with a couple of pramp interviewers and we actually ended up connecting on linkedin! I could have maybe compressed the preparation phase more, but I would end up burning out. I have a full time job and the only meaningful time I could find to really prep was during weekends and day offs. Over time, I kinda started to like prepping. Another thing I wished I did earlier was have flashcards with leetcode problems on one side and solution/hint on the other. It helped me remember some crazy tricks and also group problems which shared solution techniques. Well, thats it! This was a long post, but I wanted to give back to the subreddit that was super helpful during my prep phase. Godspeed! [link] [comments]  |
| JP Morgan revamping their new grad program? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 06:24 AM PDT I recently read an article about how JP Morgan is revamping their software engineering program (i'll attach link at the end of the post), and i'm wondering if any recent new grads/interns have any insight on what JP is actually doing to improve the program, and if the salary is also increasing with their new sweeping changes. [link] [comments]  |
| Job Offer From Some "For Exposure" Kids Posted: 18 Aug 2018 02:46 PM PDT So, I moved to a new city 10 days ago, I'm having a blast. I literally live in the city and can walk everywhere and shit right? Well, my neighbors know I'm a software engineer for a big company in the area because we all hang out. Great group of people. I met my neighbor's girlfriend's neighbors though. Oh boy. These kids have an "incubator" in Philly which is a 3 bedroom condo one of their dad's bought, and they just come up with ideas all day. None of them program. They tell me about how they've "had a real hard time getting a tech guy" to come into their company. Get this, they can't pay anyone right now. Everyone's doing it "for the company". I didn't think I'd meet people like this so fast. Just wanted to share the story. [link] [comments]  |
| Any cool companies that offer Winter internships? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 06:18 AM PDT We all know summer internships are cool as tits, but are there any cool companies (like unicorns; for example, Stripe, Spotify, Airbnb, Quora) that offer winter internships? Like January to March/Apr. [link] [comments]  |
| Any experience working at Ford or GM? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 02:38 PM PDT Ford + GM keep saying that they're transitioning towards being more tech focused companies. For those that work there, what's the culture like? Is it comparable to other tech companies? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 18 Aug 2018 01:06 PM PDT As the headline says, I'm starting up a new project to maybe help my job search because my skills have been atrophying from 40+ hours a week of resume spamming. My school didn't offer a Java class in my final semester, so the only languages I've used are Python and C++. Would I be better off doing this project in Java to add that keyword to my skill list, or should I do it in a language that I already know to make sure that my fundamentals are still intact? Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Should I take this compilers course? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 02:52 PM PDT Hi. Senior undergrad in Compsci here. We have a compilers course (the actual name of the course is "Language Processors") that is offered as a technical elective. It used to be a must course in our department, but the course was found to be too difficult (a majority of the students would fail) and then they started offering it as an elective. But in my university it hasn't been in demand for a long time. The course has never been offered in the last 7 years, but I was told this year they will be offering the course (since there has been sufficient demand). The course contents were described on its website as follows:
The textbook is the most recent edition of the dragon book. We have a must course called "formal languages and abstract machines". I've already taken that course and learned about basic concepts in parsing, etc. so I have an idea what the most of the course will be like. I'm really interested in compilers, but I'm not sure if I should be taking this course. I have a few questions,
Thank you for reading. [link] [comments]  |
| How is the reputation of SAS Institute in the industry? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 07:08 PM PDT I have a few friends who have done internships there and they seemed to enjoy it, but I never seem to see it discussed here. Lots of people in North Carolina seem to think it's the best tech company ever to have existed, but I'm curious what industry people think about it. I'm thinking about applying for an internship there, but I'm wondering how the name is perceived on a resume and how it compares to big companies that get discussed here often. Does anyone have any opinions on how the company is viewed in general? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 18 Aug 2018 02:55 PM PDT Rising senior and gonna graduate early at Dec 2018. I just applied to both Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan NYC office last week and they are dream companies for me working after graduation. My question are they really hard to get into? What is the interview process like? This is what my rsme looks like: https://imgur.com/a/lAhNhHQ Will it be really hard for me to get into JP Morgan/Goldman Sach? My GPA is a 3.7 but I only was as a research CS intern at NYU and an intern at a small start up. Dont got big company exp :/. My friend who interned this summer and got a return offer refered me to JP Morgan. And Goldman Sachs sent me a hacerrank problem the day after I applied and I got all the test cases correct on both questions (not too bad) with 15-20 minutes to spare after I submitted. If I can't get into them, will it be really hard for me to get a 80 or maybe even 90k job (before taxes)at NYC if I don't slack. I did around 40-50 Leetcode questions (Medium and Easy), and I am planning to study CTCI, prepare what to talk about in my resume, and brush up some general CS knowledge. Is there anything else I can do in August, September, and October for me to get a good offer? [link] [comments]  |
| Can you negotiate a Canadian offer with U.S. counteroffers? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 02:17 PM PDT Has anyone managed to negotiate a higher canadian offer by presenting U.S. offers as leverage? I have an offer for a FANG in canada which is higher than pretty much every local company so I can't get any leverage applying to other local companies. Would I be wasting time applying to American companies just to negotiate the offer? [link] [comments]  |
| Is scientific computing career a good choice? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 06:31 AM PDT I took some numerical analysis & scientific computing courses in my university and found them interesting. I also noticed that the iteration of knowledge in this field is not as fast as other fields (like web dev) of IT industry, like Fortran is still in use lol. So I would like to give it a try. Can anyone tell me whether a graduate degree is necessary? Are jobs related to scientific computing in demand? Aside from what I learned in school (solving all kinds of equations, parallel computing, etc), what kind of knowledge does one need in one's job? Thank you very much. [link] [comments]  |
| How to figure out if a new position will have work life balance Posted: 18 Aug 2018 08:27 PM PDT Hi everyone, thanks for taking the time to help! So this summer, I worked in a mega giant west coast company with a terrible work-life balance. Like, I don't mind staying two hours more a day for a really interesting job. But I don't want to work more than 50 hours a week, unless it's something I feel like is truly meaningful that will help save the world. So I'm interviewing for full-time positions at other companies, and am feeling rather stressed for two reasons:
Advice? It's not like I can go up to recruiters and be like, "what's the easiest job you have at this company lol?" [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 18 Aug 2018 04:32 AM PDT Hello everyone, this is my first-ever post on reddit, so please be gentle to me. Currently, I'm a rising senior at Stanford majoring in CS. I'm also a first generation, low income student. I haven't pursued internships due to concerns with housing, lack of guidance, etc (Stanford CS actually lacks dramatically when it comes to student-to-faculty ratios and one on one time). My freshman year, I didn't even know what an internship actually was (oh the advantages of generational gaps to education and opportunity), and I wasn't decided on CS yet then anyways, which added a lot of anxiety later when all of my friends already had internships freshman year. Moreover, my GPA isn't great. Currently, I have a 2.9. I have some personal reasons/issues that caused my GPA to be lowered a few decimals, but I would have no way of conveying this to a recruiter anyways, so would it matter to mention? First and foremost, I was having laptop issues for 2 quarters that resulted in the lateness/incompleteness of some very important assignments on a significant number of occasions. More than that, though, is I've been going through different treatments for depression, and I have been having severe sleep issues for the past 2 years, needing about 13 to 14 hours of sleep per day. I slept through most of my classes junior year. I'm actually amazed I managed to maintain an (almost) B average at all. I don't want it to make it sound like I'm just making excuses, these were really issues that affected my life, but I'm not denying I'm still at fault here for not as aggressively pursuing things as I should have. FYI, I recently quit taking medications for the sole purpose of being less sleepy and more productive. Would any recruiter care about any of these things at all if I cited them as reasons for my poor performance? Moving on, I don't have any substantial solo projects. For me, the quarter system at Stanford is already a very large load of work, and there just isn't time for other side hussles, especially when I work a part time job. The summers I stayed at home I didn't focus on projects partially due to laziness and sleep issues but also partially due to non-ideal living situations (would you work on projects if working a minimum wage job/only getting to eat once a day if lucky? once again, would a recruiter even care?) I have done numerous projects in school, ranging from a simple adventure game builder app on Android, a simple Android Tetris app, and an iOS social media app to help people with mental health issues. I took a 3 month web programming course and by the end of it I wrote a diary web application as well as a simple flashcards study web application. This is just to give you a clue as to my experience in general, and probably the bulk of what would go into my resume (I have a few resumes made for internship applications that I have chosen not to include at the moment.) As mentioned above, I was wondering if/how I should mention my personal issues to recruiters (I think they would come up later on in conversation.. Obviously I wouldn't throw them at a recruiter at the beginning, but my GPA and experience would come up eventually for sure). Moreover, I was wondering what you all think I should do. I have some very good friends who are willing to refer me to the companies they've interned at this summer (all "big 4") and I will take them up on it, but I don't feel like it will go anywhere due to my lack of experience. People will begin applying to full time industry jobs in the Fall, but I don't feel like I'm on par with most of my peers. I just lack experience and numbers. Would it be advisable to wait to apply to jobs? Should I just throw my (not very good) resume at recruiters in career fairs and hope for the best? Is it possible for graduates to try for internships before full time jobs? Am I screwed if I don't get a job right after graduation, or worst case a year after? I still have 1 month left before fall quarter begins, and I'm still withdrawing from discontinuing my medication, but I'm hoping that soon I could potentially pursue a personal project such as writing a personal blog in pure Javascript/HTML/CSS/nodejs etc and pay for a hosting service or something. I wasn't sure if that's a good idea either. I apologize for all of the questions and concerns, I just don't have a lot of guidance right now. I feel like this subreddit is all I have at the moment. Thanks for any time spent reading/answering and for any advice. [link] [comments]  |
| What books/pdfs can I read to learn web development? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 08:12 PM PDT Right now, I'm going through Colt Steele's Web Development Bootcamp on Udemy. I have finished around 70% of the course. So far, it has basically taught from scratch HTML, CSS, Node JS, Express and a rough intro to databases using MongoDB. My issue is: I am often traveling and have to be out for work. So, watching videos attentively and writing notes are not really viable. Besides, if I forget something, I end up having to watch through a whole list of videos in a section for finding exactly where Colt discusses that. What books/pdf would you recommend me that follow a somewhat similar curriculum (like Colt's) for web development? The portability of carrying a comprehensive pdf around and being able to study web development at my own pace on the fly would be great. The lack of a terminal/command line doesn't really bother me when reading from a book/pdf. I can always later come back and test out the codes on a computer. [link] [comments]  |
| C#, .Net Developer opportunities in Canada. Posted: 18 Aug 2018 02:11 PM PDT I'm a .Net developer with 4 years experience and might be moving to Canada next fall. I was wondering as to how the market is and if there is a decent demand for my kind. Would like to know the experiences of .net developers currently working in Canada. [link] [comments]  |
| Should I try to negotiate before I get a competing offer? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 08:03 PM PDT Just got a full-time offer after my Facebook internship. I want to negotiate and I'm considering setting up a phone call with my recruiter next week. I'm wondering if I should wait until I have a competing offer. If so, why? Do I lose anything by attempting to negotiate ahead of time? My thinking so far is that if I can increase my offer before I get other offers, I'll be starting from a better place when I do start to get other offers. Let me know what you think! Some context: Although we're not explicitly told what level we were evaluated to as interns, offers scale with performance and I know that I was evaluated to the lowest level that receives an offer. I believe they use the phrase "meets expectations" but again, I wasn't explicitly told my performance level. When I received the offer I let me recruiter know that I knew it was the minimum offer and that I was pretty shocked/confused since I'd only received super positive feedback throughout my entire internship. It's in writing that I was evaluated to this level so it could take away some of my negotiating power. Also I've heard of other people successfully negotiating their signing bonus (+25k) without having a competing offer. This was a different year (last year) and the person had been evaluated to a higher level than me (exceeds expectations). They also took the approach of "if you increase this, I'll sign today" which I am very far from ready to do. Unrelated: Can anyone recommend some good resources? I want to read up a lot on negotiations before the recruiting season this year. I definitely appreciate any recommendations! Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| What is the most ridiculous implementation of something you ever had to fix? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 07:57 PM PDT I was thinking about this story that happened to me a couple years ago, and I wanted to share. Then I thought it might be interesting to hear about the incompetence of others. So here's my story. About 4 years ago or so, a guy I knew (a self described digital artist/website designer) was freelancing and had a job to make a small product demonstration for this company. The product was outside doors for housing and it was just meant to be a turntable of the product, with the ability to customize the look of the door. Nothing too complex. Well, this guy despite thinking he's a graphics guru, had no idea how to implement this. The company offered their product in 10 different colors, with 4 different door handles, 6 different door styles, and 5 different hinge styles, as well as to display the product in 3 different lighting arrangements like day/night/afternoon. This guy thought he had to hardcode all of that, so he took pictures of every single combination, and since he had no idea how to make a turntable, he took one photo of each combination at a 1 degree of rotation, so 360 photos for a full rotation. If you do the math, that's 1,296,000 individual photos he needed to show this off. He also wanted this to be in high quality, so he took the images in 4K resolution (~6mb per image) which is approximately 7.5 TB of storage space required. He thought this was reasonable to make as a pop up window in a web browser. He set up his app in flash (using all no code required stuff naturally) to hardlink forward/next buttons and options together. When I saw it, he was extremely frustrated, and freaking out because some company paid him something like $20,000 plus free product to build this, and he was going to have to return it all. All he was able to put together was a single view of a single configuration of the product after about 2 months. Eventually I fixed it for the guy, and even tried to show him how to do it himself, swapping models in and out, changing colors/lighting on the fly, etc... but he had no interest in learning. I didn't implement every model, color, etc... just the support to do so. This guy couldn't figure out how to do it, and refused to pay me. Later on, he used what I built in court for proof of work, and kept the money the company gave him. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 18 Aug 2018 01:58 PM PDT I've heard that for some companies, you must apply for either their new grad position or the internship, but you cannot do both. Is this true? If so, I'm afraid that going for internship roles would rule out the possibility of applying for their same-year new grad positions. And that I'd have to wait for 2020. What is the best recommended approach? [link] [comments]  |
| Toggling linkedin's 'actively looking' button? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 07:39 PM PDT Hey everyone, so I just finished my summer internship at a big bank (Goldman Sachs, BoA, JPMorgan type) and I received a return offer, with a deadline about a month from now to respond. I was hoping to apply to some tech companies to see if I could get in before the deadline, but if I toggle linkedin's 'actively looking' button can someone from JPMorgan (a recruiter) see it and rescind my offer? Sorry if this is a a stupid question I'm a paranoid undergrad haha [link] [comments]  |
| Leaving a job that has prepaid for a future Conference Posted: 18 Aug 2018 10:49 AM PDT I am currently working for a company as a software developer and they have paid entry for a conference and a conference course that is at the end of September. I am not actively applying to jobs but an opportunity came up from a company I would love to work at. I am going in for a 2nd interview next week so it's not a guarantee at the moment. I am just curious about this scenario if I had the job offer and its something I know I am super excited for. If this were the case should I take the job or take the course? I can't imagine doing both would be possible without burning a bridge with my current employer (i.e. they are paying for the course so I can be more effective at my current job) [link] [comments]  |
| Is this a good plan for a self-learner? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 07:32 PM PDT I'm a fresh grad (finance major) working at a fin-tech right now. I'm 22. I realised coding is the future far too late and want to build a better future for myself personally and professionally, now. So far I've completed 2 intro courses on Python, 1 intro course on HTML/CSS, and currently half way through an intro to SQL. My career goal is be skilled at web-dev, data automation, and iOS dev. But I don't want to rush things. Do you think below is a good plan for the next year? 2 months each, 1 year plan: HTML CSS JavaScript VBA SQL Python. Thank you very much! 🤗 [link] [comments]  |
| What soft skill jobs can I get with a Comp Sci Degree? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 01:29 PM PDT So as I am trucking through my CS/SE degree, I noticed that I really enjoy the whole lower level and theory and the science of programming and the overall big picture. Though as many other college students, I am starting to unravel my likes and dislikes and what I really enjoy doing. I am starting to notice I fall into more of a soft skill type of personality then a full blown technical personality, my GPA is good don't get me wrong, but I notice I am just better with interacting with others and enjoy the "bigger picture/soft skill" side of things. Are there any jobs that work well with a CS degree that are more soft skill based or bigger picture thinking? I was looking at a product manager? I think that's what they are generally called and seemed interesting and of course project management/management in general. I apologize if this is a redundant post, but do thank you for your time! [link] [comments]  |
| Will this undergraduate research be worth it? Posted: 18 Aug 2018 07:03 PM PDT Hello I'm thinking of doing an unpaid research job that is based on Physics though I have no interest on Physics. This research will require "some programming" and world require using Linux but mostly we'll be studying Physics. Is it worth it to do this research? Will it look good on my resume and help me with my job prospects? [link] [comments]  |
| should I make a personal website. Or have a CV. Or even a linkedin, or github Posted: 18 Aug 2018 06:58 PM PDT Hello all, Close to finishing a BS at a state school in NJ. School isn't necessarily famed for CS. Goal is work in NYC, for a big company like bloomberg, goldman-sachs, JP Morgan, Bank of America. or bioinformatics. So like research hospitals or companies working towards curing rare disease research. Of course, all this is easier said than done. It is a competitive environment, and I wouldn't have it any other way My question is, as an aspiring professional, would I need or benefit from having anything listed in the title Like I don't have any projects I do on the side (no time between school and work), so I don't really have a github I don't really use any social media, so I am not also inclined to make a LinkedIn, although I am willing to change on that. I am not seeking an academic position, so maybe I don't need a CV. but on the bioinformatics side, I could end up working for a research team in software capacity, so would I need to eventually establish that? And the website, if I want to stand out to screeners or recruiters, is it necessary, especially for the finance companies I listed. In all, are any of these things necessary/optimal for the line of work I seek. Thank you very much!! [link] [comments]  |
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