Interview Discussion - March 18, 2019 CS Career Questions |
- Interview Discussion - March 18, 2019
- Daily Chat Thread - March 18, 2019
- Thanks, LeetCode, for the ironic humor
- If you're a struggling grad/will graduate soon...
- What advice would you have for people who are starting their first internship?
- Job hunting as a mid level in Atlanta.
- UX: Move to Seattle for M.S. or stay in SoCal for potential fortune 500
- What is your career path, and would you choose it again?
- $21/hr Palo Alto?
- How to fix my current situation?
- Constantly blocked by Product owner
- Do you count internship experience towards "years of experience"?
- Reputation of Oracle Labs
- Are training companies worth it?
- I'm a student who recently switched majors meeting with a data scientist
- What are some non-competitive fields in gaming industry(if there is any)?
- Mental health is very poor, what to do?
- Rising Sophomore, Bummed out over a lack of Internship, here's my plan, any feedback?
- I want to switch tech stacks and learn javascript. Any advice/resources?
- Negotiating Internship Extension (Moving from 26-30 hours a week to full time + full time dev work)
- Combination of imposter syndrome/fear/depression/anxiety -- I could really use some advice.
- Self consciousness about my code is holding me back, how can I overcome this?
- New Grad trying to pick between 3 very different options
- About to head into my senior year with no experience in a Comp Sci field; what should my priorities be this summer?
- Someone got fired... What does this line in the email mean?
| Interview Discussion - March 18, 2019 Posted: 18 Mar 2019 12:07 AM PDT Please use this thread to have discussions about interviews, interviewing, and interview prep. Posts focusing solely on interviews created outside of this thread will probably be removed. Abide by the rules, don't be a jerk. This thread is posted each Monday and Thursday at midnight PST. Previous Interview Discussion threads can be found here. [link] [comments]  |
| Daily Chat Thread - March 18, 2019 Posted: 18 Mar 2019 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]  |
| Thanks, LeetCode, for the ironic humor Posted: 18 Mar 2019 10:30 AM PDT Read recently on a LeetCode binary tree inversion question:
It's nice to be reminded that algorithm practice, while necessary for interviews, is dumb. [link] [comments]  |
| If you're a struggling grad/will graduate soon... Posted: 18 Mar 2019 08:35 AM PDT TL; DR for backstory: I graduated at age 27 a couple years ago and got a job I felt unqualified for, due to my complete lack of internships or side projects, rudimentary understanding of algorithms and data structures, poor interview skills etc. After a few months of serious anxiety and struggles, I felt good at my job and really loved it for a while. Then my job changed majorly and I was stuck working with old/boring data analysis tools for awhile, and wasn't doing much software development. I thought I would write a part 3 to this seeing as a new wave of recent grads is about to hit the job market and probably will have lots of people panicking like I was. After my job changed drastically in late 2017, I was searching for a new job on-and-off. It was complicated by the fact that my first job was in the middle of nowhere in the upper midwest, so I had to travel long drives for any interviews. I got responses to a good number of applications, but had to be very picky in what I would pursue because of the days off I had to take. Some of the interviews I didn't do well in, some I did do well in but they went with more experience. Overall I do feel I would have found another job WAY sooner had I been able to go to a lot more interviews. Anyway, after about a year of on-and-off searching, I just recently I accepted my second job since school. I am a week in now, and already, it is just a completely different experience compared to my transition from college to my first job. That first week at my new job, I was convinced I needed to find a new career. I felt like even for a new grad, I was completely lost and hopeless, and that most other new grads surely must have been doing much better than I was. I would just stare at the code and wonder what the hell it was doing. I didn't want to ask questions because then they'd know my terrible secret of being a moron and fire me. No matter what friends and family would tell me, I was totally certain that they just didn't understand how bad I really was at my job, and that I'd get fired sooner or later. This first week, I felt so much more confident about the questions I ask, I haven't been bombarding my mentor with constant questions because I feel more able to do independent research. As I get more into doing actual work, I'm sure I will need to bother him more, but having experienced all of this before and worked on a real software development project (for a little while) I feel way more confident in my ability to ask the right questions, retain information I need and get up to speed more on my own. My best advice for those yet to be hired, which I've stressed before in prior posts, is don't get too focused on one job or one company. Be willing to take something that maybe isn't what you totally had in mind. This sub really tends to be Big 4 focused, but there are a lot of great opportunities out there outside of that realm. The job I just took is for a leading insurance software company. The tech stack I'm going to be working with is pretty cool and exciting and is going to expand my skillset and make me a lot more marketable going forward. Best of all I'm living in a much more fun area where I'm closer to family and actually might be able to find someone to date. When you do get a job, don't be like I was and be terrified to ask questions. If you're a new grad, most people will expect you to not know your ass from a hole in the ground. My first week I was so nervous that I forgot the difference between implementing and extending, and at one point my mentor had to ask if I knew what he meant when he said "constructor" (I did for the record). I thought for sure the dumbo switch had been flipped and I'd be fired within a month. Just make sure that you take lots of notes when you get your answers and that you're not asking the same questions constantly. That's when they will get concerned. I still pretty much suck at whiteboarding interviews and would have to Google and practice how to invert a Binary search tree in order to not totally humiliate myself. The difference is at this point, I've done enough interviews that I don't completely panic during them and will just try my best to work through a problem. If I can't and fail, oh well, I'll try to do better next time. Or, at the next interview there may not be any whiteboarding and they'll just ask me to explain what I see wrong with a code snippet they give me, like this place did, and I'll ace it. Overall, good luck, don't be discouraged or start panicking when things don't fall into place for you immediately. You'll get better, and you'll be fine. TL; DR for this post: If you don't have a sparkling resume full of internships and a GitHub full of side projects and a 3.8 GPA and the ability to invert a binary tree with your eyes closed while standing on hot coals - breathe. Relax. Just keep applying and improving and learning. You'll be fine. [link] [comments]  |
| What advice would you have for people who are starting their first internship? Posted: 18 Mar 2019 03:41 PM PDT I among many others are going to start an internship this summer and I was wondering what advice would you have for people who are doing their first internship and how to make the best out of it. (Maybe perhaps to get a return offer?) [link] [comments]  |
| Job hunting as a mid level in Atlanta. Posted: 18 Mar 2019 08:01 AM PDT Hello everyone. We've recently purchased a home near-ish Atlanta, Georgia and I will be looking for a mid level developer job in the next month. Other than the normal universal job boards are there any specific companies or places I should check as I begin my search? Depending on the subject in question I'm sitting between 3-6 years of experience and really looking for something ~85k - which from my research is above entry level for the area but below what the local senior levels make. I would love any advice from the locals for specific companies or places I should check out. I understand the area is pretty decent as a tech hub and I'm sure I'll be spamming indeed, glassdoor, and linkin job boards soon as well. [link] [comments]  |
| UX: Move to Seattle for M.S. or stay in SoCal for potential fortune 500 Posted: 18 Mar 2019 04:32 PM PDT I'm having trouble deciding between two options right now. Background: almost 5 years for experience across different industries. I currently work in the gaming space. Background is non-tech. I've been wanting to pursue an M.S. in HCI and recently got accepted UW and DePaul. UW was my first choice but DePaul is convenient. Option 1: Stay in LA, enroll in DePaul and look for work here. Currently interviewing at another well known gaming company in the area that closely aligns with my experience. Option 2: Find a remote role or role in Seattle while I attend UW. I'd eventually move back to LA but I would not mind staying a couple years. I think UW definitely has a better offering in terms of education but I'm not sure how much it would matter down the road. Even as someone who has sat on the other side of the interview panel, its not something I focus on. However, I have some doubts and would rather stay on the safe side. [link] [comments]  |
| What is your career path, and would you choose it again? Posted: 18 Mar 2019 04:39 PM PDT I am currently getting a CS degree, but not quite decided on what to do with it. Those of you deep into SWE or data science, are you happy? Would you choose it again? Why? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 18 Mar 2019 11:59 AM PDT CS Freshman. First internship. I was expecting a wage of about $28/hr, and hoping for something close to $30. Today they called with a verbal offer of $21/hr. I'm not from California, so I'd need to find housing for the summer. I know places can get expensive around there. This offer doesn't make much sense to me. I'd take it as long as I am not loosing money, but is this wage even livable around there? I have a 3-day deadline. I requested an extension and the hiring manager said she would relay my request to the team. Main questions: - Is it livable? Can I get by? - How could I negotiate to something at least $25/hr. I am considering calling and saying "Hey ___, I appreciate the offer. I am having trouble seeing how this wage can provide for housing and my flight to California. Could you ask the team if $28/hr. is reasonable?" EDIT: I would love to take this opportunity as long as I can get by. I still want to ask for more money without them taking the offer back. UPDATE: I called and asked if they were open to housing/flight stipends are possible. They said this is not available for their intern program, but the "wage has wiggle room". I will call tomorrow and ask for a little "wiggle". [link] [comments]  |
| How to fix my current situation? Posted: 18 Mar 2019 07:35 AM PDT So about December I started a new job as a Full-Stack Developer before that I was a pure Front-End Developer but was fired because I had to do a Project with PHP and API and needed constant help. And they said:"I am sorry but we can't keep spoon feeding you." Then handed me my termination. I didn't even complete my 6 month probation. So at this new job (that I got 2 weeks later), I told them my situation at the previous job. They liked my character and although I told them that I am completely inexperienced with the technologies that they are using, but still requested me for a trial day. And the recruiter said he had 3 other applicants who had like 15 Years Work Experience, but they all failed. And even though I only have 1 year experience; I got the job, the next day when the CEO said:"From my side its also yes." 1st month was just self training which was okay. But from 2nd month it was hell, like I just couldn't make any progress with anything. But when I was given small tickets, I slowly started to understand the technologies. But when it comes to big stuff like creating a new site feature. I always get stuck and waste valuable time, then get paranoid that I am going to get fired from this job too. But all my developer friends and the recruiter tell me your overthinking everything. Also not to worry because the Boss and Manager like me a lot. Since its a small company where there is only 2 IT Guys (Me & My Manager) they need someone who can do everything. My manager said he doesn't need me to impress him, but to get to a stage where I can work without him. But to big tasks its very impossible at this stage (still have 2 and 1/2 months probation left). Since my manager works remotely and only comes in like once every 2 weeks. And I am afraid I will get fired again. When asking questions, my manager cant just answer normally. He always has to add a comment based on my skills like:"I thought you knew this" or "You should know this". Or he just tells me to Google it. That is why I am afraid to ask him questions. Despite the boss telling me on my first Employee Evaluation, that I should get on his nerves and bombard him with questions. On top of all that, I have this task (New Site Feature) that was supposed to be finished last week, but doesn't look like I can finish it this week without my Manager either. And I don't know what to do. Especially, I am really overwhelmed right now due to so much stuff going on in my private life and work. Please advice me what can I do to save myself? I really love this job and the people but I feel like if I say to my manager "I can't finish this", he'll just hand me my termination notice tomorrow (I got my 2nd Employee Evaluation tomorrow). I appreciate anyone who can give me even the smallest advice whatsoever. Thank You P.S. Every time I get stuck but especially now; I always regret becoming a Software Developer. [link] [comments]  |
| Constantly blocked by Product owner Posted: 18 Mar 2019 05:07 PM PDT I'm a junior dev with 7+ months experience at this point. I have done quite a few projects and every single time I end up blocked by the product owner. This comes from a LACK of planning and appropriate mock approvals. In my case right now, no mock was ever provided so I have to just "wing it" and code up a bunch of shit and then change everything once the product owner sees it and hates it. I am not a UX/UI engineer. I'm an Android engineer, but we do not work on mobile devices, as I work in ag. tech, so take everything you know about good UI in Android and throw it out the window. Is every job like this? Constantly blocked by one person? It is not even his fault, he is stretched so thin and extremely stressed, but it makes my job so much more difficult when I have to keep changing code or spend days doing nothing waiting for a response. Are other companies more organized than this or should I expect this frustration throughout my career? [link] [comments]  |
| Do you count internship experience towards "years of experience"? Posted: 18 Mar 2019 10:31 AM PDT I was looking through my overall experience in this field and realized I have 1 year of internship experience. Do you consider internship experience as true experience that should be considered when applying to jobs? Hypothetical: you have 1 year of experience and 1 year internship and a job you are applying to asks for 2+ year of experience, are you qualified? I'm not applying right now, and it doesn't really matter in my case at this moment, but I was wondering what the community thinks. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 18 Mar 2019 01:08 PM PDT Title basically. Came across some opportunities at Oracle Labs recently and was wondering what their reputation in the field is? I'd also appreciate it if someone who has worked or is still working there could share their experience. [link] [comments]  |
| Are training companies worth it? Posted: 18 Mar 2019 06:48 PM PDT Hi I have only been in tech for a few years but feel like my career is stalling a bit. Pretty much a lot of short term contracts and/or companies that when their volume of work is high, hire you to do help desk/support/etc and then when the work is done they let you go instead of carrying you on. I am starting to see a lot of my former school mates (unf I got a liberal arts degree) start settling into their lives and so eventually I would like to as well. So since I am not a recent grad with a cs degree, cant really code beyond basic programs, or have any high level certs (my highest is ccna) I was looking towards apprenticeship programs as per the article below because structure does help me. Are these a bad idea? Because right now Im kind of burned out with all the contracts Ive been doing driving around town. These jobs can take a toll and eventually cant even stay awake to study at night. I think the other option I would do as to support myself is to say take six months and work a stress free non-IT job where I can study for more certs in my free time. I think this would be difficult to do if I have family around and say worked contracts where they are bugging you still in the evening. I wish I was able to just study and not work for 6 months but I think that ship has sailed as I have to support myself. Any horror stories from programs like below welcome. Thanks for any insight for any who've gone through the same thing. https://www.axios.com/job-training-tech-catalyte-techtonic-b7451a9f-ea10-4126-8b02-4ecabf752e72.html [link] [comments]  |
| I'm a student who recently switched majors meeting with a data scientist Posted: 18 Mar 2019 06:45 PM PDT What questions should I ask him? I know I should ask him about his personal story and what he thinks is best for my career looking forward (stuff like statistics research vs internships and how to stand out as an applicant) but other than that I have no idea. (Background being I'm a former Biology major with research experience who recently switched to Computer Science. Since I have some experience with biostatistics, R, and data analysis (and really enjoy it), I'm looking into data science as a career option) [link] [comments]  |
| What are some non-competitive fields in gaming industry(if there is any)? Posted: 18 Mar 2019 06:39 PM PDT Basically title. I may be wrong but people think working with UE or Unity more fun and thus it's a competitive field, are there any "boring" but less competitive jobs in gaming industry? [link] [comments]  |
| Mental health is very poor, what to do? Posted: 18 Mar 2019 06:36 PM PDT For the past few months, my depression and anxiety have grown very bad. I'm currently working hard to get the mental health services I need, which has been a struggle of its own. In the meantime, I need advice on handling my developer job while I wait to feel better. My current decline unfortunately coincided with the introduction of a new manager whose style is much more demanding and inflexible than my previous manager. I have been at this job for 4 years. Last month, I was responsible for a task that ballooned into a long effort due to unforeseen problems beyond our control. When I expressed my concerns with finishing it, my manager insisted that I had to see it through instead of roping in others who have the experience to handle it in a more timely manner. Privately, this led to many sleepless nights and miserable days as it triggered my already fragile anxious state. I've now been tasked with scoping out a new major project. I don't feel like I have the skills to understand what we're trying to achieve because the goals are very vague. I talked about this with my manager, and once again, he threw some motivational quotes at me and insisted that I keep going without offering anything concrete. I hate to do this twice, but it's at a point where I feel I need to tell him again that the current task at hand should be handed off to somebody else. As I'm waiting to hear back from doctors and get medicated, what I really need is to be back in a familiar space of feature development that helps me mitigate my stress level. Is there any way of communicating this without giving too much away about what's going on with me and without just sounding lazy? Job hunting is off the table right now because of my current state. [link] [comments]  |
| Rising Sophomore, Bummed out over a lack of Internship, here's my plan, any feedback? Posted: 18 Mar 2019 05:30 PM PDT Background: I'm rising sophomore and I fortunately have a summer to build my skills & my resume, even though an Internship won't be on it, I learn fast and I'm a productive programmer, I think I can make up for not landing an internship and spend this summer and my remaining years to set myself up. You all are more experienced in the process and I wonder if any of you have any feedback My definition of career success: Well paying, fulfilling, happy, stress-mediated employment where one can feel good about the work they accomplish, stay challenged, but not too stressed/burnt out. Goal: I'm Canadian, though I want to move to Seattle, Austin, into some company either in Full Stack or Mobile that pays well, but in a company that has a good employee satisfaction reputation What I've done so far: I'm maintaining a somewhat above 3.0 GPA at a mid-tier Canadian school, managed my team at a successful Hackathon where we made a Nodejs app, and I'm currently working on a MEAN stack project with Passport/JWT Authentication, Google Maps APi, Socket io messaging, that I'm aiming to finish by the end of the semester. My plan this summer: I'm taking Coursera course: Stanford Machine learning, Deep learning Ai Specialization, and Stanford Algorithms specialization (to leetcode early, and help kill my data structures course next year so I can TA it). To learn Django, React, Android, and PostgresQL. To make a personal website, an AR android app with node.js GraphQL backend, A django/react/postgres app leveraging IBM Watson & Data Analysis, a Keras/Tensorflow Neural network consumed by a django app. All my projects will strive to tackle problem spaces in social issues (Homelessness, Dementia, etc), Have test-driven development and/or automated testing wherever appropriate, and have some basic security features. Also planning to finish that Algorithms specialization a little early so that I can start leetcoding in August. I'm gonna learn more about deployment and use Docker, Kubernetes, AWS Elastic Beanstalk; whatever is necessary, gonna ask some people more specifics about this when it's appropriate. I'm also gonna take breaks on the weekends to avoid burnout, and focus to be productive, and efficient during the weekdays to get shit done. My plan after Summer: During September, I'm gonna apply everywhere. Also try to network with some recruiters on Linkedin. Do some Alumni Networking. Go to career fairs. Based on what happens, there are multiple scenarios. Though in general, besides Leetcode, I'll also tackle Hacker Rank, Cracking the coding interview, and Elements of programming interviews. I wont spend too much time on projects, but I'll go to every Hackathon I can go too, more so because they're super fun. Scenario 1: I land a really good internship in sophomore summer. Based on this, I'm gonna keep leetcoding, work on 1 project throughout each year to keep projects recent/fresh, and hopefully land another good internship in the summer after. In which I'll take a year off school after third year, to do a string of quality internships, and giving myself more time to prepare for interviews when full-time comes around. Scenario 2: I land an okay internship. From this, I'll aim for scenario 1, though as a backup, I'll also apply for an internship year through my school's internship year program. The placements aren't great but it's workplace experience but I get the time to Leetcode. Scenario 3: Another summer without an internship. I'll spend that summer doing what I'm doing this summer, and likely end up going for an internship year out of my school's internship year program. Still leetcodin! Then hopefully by the time I'm applying for full time jobs, I'll be a competitive candidate. Hopefully I don't burn out, I do plan on still giving myself a life, enjoying college on friday nights, and giving time for myself, and for my family. I do spend time with them often, see friends, and enjoy time with my girlfriend. Just trying to do well cause I'm in CS so why not. Been a hobbyist programmer (with gamedev) since the eighth grade, so really I'm just beginning to invest more time into it with stuff like Full Stack, Android, and ML instead. Not sure about the role i'll be in as an end goal, depends what I like most, could switch my projects into Data Science if I really like that, though I'm gonna use this summer as an opportunity to explore everything and see what I like. So what do you guys think? Any feedback, criticism, advice? ( Sorry for any spelling mistakes, etc. Typed this up super quick) P.S This is the type of insanity that happens to a poor freshman who soaks in this subreddit for a year [link] [comments]  |
| I want to switch tech stacks and learn javascript. Any advice/resources? Posted: 18 Mar 2019 11:20 AM PDT I want to switch tech stacks and I'm in need of good resources for javascript, javascript frameworks, and anything else you think will be useful for me. I want to stay in the realm of web development (I'm also open to mobile app development) and I'm currently just youtubing tutorials and reading documentation to start learning javascript. I plan on learning the MEAN stack and also want to learn React. I have 1-2 years work experience in Microsoft tech stack (.NET, C#, MSSQL). I also have a B.S. in CS. I don't have a job currently so I have a lot of time on my hands to help learn. I've been told by two people (my recruiter contact and someone well established in the field) to do a bootcamp. I don't have the extra funds to go do a bootcamp plus I've read on this subreddit to not waste my time or money on a bootcamp if I have a degree. Given my background I'm confident in my ability to learn as much as I can, create some portfolio projects, and then start applying. Do you have any resources that could help me learn javascript and frameworks (and hopefully is free)? ALSO, I'm open to suggestions, advice, and resources on ANYTHING I should be looking into and learning about. Whether its in regards to technologies I should learn or advice for interviewing etc, I appreciate and welcome all types of advice. Thanks for taking the time to read and help out! [link] [comments]  |
| Negotiating Internship Extension (Moving from 26-30 hours a week to full time + full time dev work) Posted: 18 Mar 2019 05:17 PM PDT Due to me graduating in the summer and not the spring, my work can only extend my internship until I finish my summer semester. After that, they'll then have me in for a review in August in which they'll determine whether they want me as a full time contractor (I'm aware of the differences in being a contractor and FTE. Getting laid off isn't a huge concern for me at this job and I have decent reason to believe that that I can't really go into) I'm currently being paid $15/hr, and my supervisor/VP of the department mentioned that I could possibly get a raise. We're meeting to discuss that this week. I wanted to know how I could leverage this Currently I work 26-30 hours a week, and am given a task a week. I've heard good things from my managers and supervisor that the devs have said to them, and have also gone above and beyond in some ways like doing some massive improvements on our database performance as well as refactoring some over complicated code. It's not a whole lot, but definitely more than what was expected out of an intern at this company. When my extension starts, I'll be taking on 40/hr a week and be given a full developer sprint, just with intern tasks (fix broken tests, write tests, bug fixing... small things just more frequently). I looked at glassdoor and noticed the lowest paid software developer was at around $55000 a year, which is roughly $28-30/hr I'd say? I was thinking of maybe negotiating $22/hr, which would be a very nice raise but I don't think it would oversell my achievements. Any insight? [link] [comments]  |
| Combination of imposter syndrome/fear/depression/anxiety -- I could really use some advice. Posted: 18 Mar 2019 05:13 PM PDT Hi! Thanks for reading this post. I will try to keep it as not vent-y/rant-y as possible, but I have gotten to the point where I type in keywords and symptoms into this subreddit looking for similar stories to mine. I've found a few, and am so thankful for the patience and advice others have given to similar situations, but I wanted to try my luck at posting. TLDR: I am on what others in my company have called "the worst project at the company." It has pushed me further into existing feelings of depression/anxiety/imposter syndrome/fear. I graduated May 2018 from a state school with a B.S. in compsci. I spent a lot of time in the labs studying and helping others; I really enjoyed what I was studying. I was about as on top of my game as I could be my junior year up until I attended the Grace Hopper Women in Computing Conference in 2016. I consider that a huge turning point for my self-confidence. All I could remember was feeling absolutely defeated every day, attending sessions and networking at the job fair made me feel... indescribably stupid. That summer I took an internship at a boutique software consulting firm, and had a really great time! I got to work with a number of tech stacks and interface with a ton of awesome people. I really liked the idea of moving around to a few different projects throughout the year because I was so unsure of what I wanted to do with my career. My senior year, I, again, attended the Grace Hopper Conference thinking that having some experience under my belt would enable me to more confidently represent myself amongst people from all the greatest technology companies in the country. Once again, I spent a lot of time in the halls of the conference center, just hiding from all the fanfare. I accepted a fulltime offer to the consulting company I interned with because 1) it was small, and I thought I would thrive better under a company with >1000 people and 2) I thought consulting would be the best way to get access to different types of engineers, projects, resources, etc. And for my first few months while waiting to be assigned to a client project, I spent time doing company programming assignments and internal projects. However at the beginning of January, I got assigned to, what I think, is a nightmare project. Creating basically a button panel in Java Swing to run a bunch of configuration scripts for proprietary software. Our company has been unable to get anyone from our company willing to work on this project, and I didn't really have a choice because I'm so new (I expected to do some grunt work, but...) The worst part, to me, is that I haven't coded anything yet, and development isn't slated to begin until end of April/May. I sit all day and occasionally do some work in Excel that my PM doesn't have time to do. I've been told by other senior engineers in my company that they'd quit if they were in this situation, which honestly sent me spiraling. I really don't wanna stay at my current company if I'm gonna be stuck on this project, but I feel like I deserve this project for being too stupid. I'm trying to sort out this mix of imposter syndrome/fear/depression/anxiety:
I know a lot of my fears are not realistic, but I can't stop feeling this way. It bubbled under the surface for so long while I was a student, but I had coursework to do that let me ignore it. I can't shake any of these feelings, I cry nearly everyday at work from being so anxious. I think I want to go to therapy. This is the advice I need: I feel so scared to go back to CS basics, but I think I have to. How do I approach this? Am I stupid? Are these feelings normal? Should I find another job? [link] [comments]  |
| Self consciousness about my code is holding me back, how can I overcome this? Posted: 18 Mar 2019 11:01 AM PDT Since starting my internship a few months ago, I've noticed that I struggle to complete tasks at work and do them at home instead. I feel so much pressure in the office to produce high quality code that I sort of turtle away from doing anything substantial at all. It feels kind of like I'm being watched while I code. At home, I'm magnitudes more productive since I have more time to produce my best work and I'm in an environment where I don't feel like I have to meet strict expectations. I desperately want to be as productive at work as I am at home, but I'm seriously self conscious about my code/afraid that it's shitty code. I know that doing work at home isn't sustainable and I want to be the best developer I can be, but how do I overcome this? [link] [comments]  |
| New Grad trying to pick between 3 very different options Posted: 18 Mar 2019 04:53 PM PDT I've got a full-time offer from the A-Jungle company* with it's standard package, an offer from a defense contractor around ~77k in a fairly high COL area, and possibly an Engineering Residency with G. It seems like the A offer is the best to start a career with and improve my resume with, but I highly value work-life balance. I've heard almost exclusively bad things about A's work-life balance, and good things about G's balance. Is it insane to take a 1-year contract with G over good full-time offers? Also, does a year+ full time experience at big defense contractors help get interviews at high-paying tech companies? G and A were the only competitive companies to give me a chance out of school, and I'm not sure a defense contractor on my resume would improve things at all. *not sure what gets filtered, sorry for the dumb name abbreviations [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 18 Mar 2019 06:52 AM PDT For those who don't care about the following big wall of text, you can skip to the last paragraph where my most important couple of points are made. Also, TL;DR at the bottom To start with, I guess I should explain my thought process over the last couple years in college. In my freshman year of college, I had convinced myself that I was going to be going into pre-med so I loaded myself with biology and chemistry courses. I did quite well with pre-med, maintaining a 3.9 after my freshman year even after taking organic chemistry. However, my brother, who is the same age as me, was at the same college and was also aspiring to be pre-med. But let me tell you, this man was INTO it. He lived, breathed, and slept medicine. He was subscribed to medical pages on reddit, would watch videos of surgeries for fun, and was set to get his EMT license that summer to volunteer at the fire department. After taking a long look at myself, I realized that that life was not for me and I did not want it as badly. I knew I was only in pre-med for the money and did not actively want to pursue a career in medicine because I cared about helping others. One of my only passions is video games and computers. I had always loved technology from a young age so I figured computer science was a great fit for me. I saw that it had a lot of math and kinda just brushed it off even though I have always been unbelievably bad at math. I made the change my fall semester sophomore year and haven't looked back since. While this major hasn't been particularly easy for me, I can say with confidence that I do love programming and like knowing how computers work. This isn't going to be a thread where I regret my life decisions over my chosen major in college and ask if there's anything I can do to find my true passion in life. When I changed my major, I just assumed there were so many CS jobs needed in America combined with the fact that I go to a pretty prestigious university (top 30), I would just be offered jobs right out of college and top tech giants like google and amazon would come to me begging on their hands and knees just for a chance to have me. The farther I get along, the more I realize that is not the case at all with CS and it is just as difficult to get a job in this field as it is with any other. Because of my late entry into the game, I have had to work really really quickly to get through my major on time. Because of my unfortunate middle class placement on the economic ladder (too well off to get financial aid, too poor to actually pay for college) and the limited lifespan of a GI bill split between 3 kids all going to college at the same time, I can't possibly stay at school any longer than the 4 years allotted to me. The issue with this is that my school has a pretty small CS department and is notorious for offering classes necessary to graduate only during specific semesters. I've also always been on the slower side when it comes to learning and I tend to get overwhelmed by classes and workloads very easily. Luckily I came to school with lots of AP credits so I have the liberty of being able to take 12 credit semesters but because of the difficulty of most computer science classes, I can only take 2 of them per semester or else my GPA will definitely dip even more than it already has. Because of this, I've designed my courseloads for every semester meticulously, making sure to take certain classes as prerequisites exactly when they are offered because if I wait even one semester without taking an absolutely necessary class, that puts me another year behind the game. Why I'm telling y'all all this is, because of all these factors, I have to take 2 summer classes so I can graduate on time: Software Development (traditionally the most difficult programming class offered at a lower level) and Linear Algebra (which I don't necessarily have to take over the summer but I would like to so that I don't overload myself with STEM classes in the fall; as I said earlier, I'm REALLY bad at math and would rather take this without the stress of other classes). Luckily I can take them both online so I can still hold a job but this finally brings me to another issue: I couldn't find an internship this summer. It's not like I haven't been trying: I've been applying to internships ever since December. Because of my financial situation, I couldn't apply to any big companies out of state or far from home so I could only apply to places nearby. I live in a pretty small city most recently voted one of the worst metropolitan areas for tech graduates so this does not help my cause. Last summer, I worked for the not so well known marine engine subsidiary of a very well known European car company in a town 45 minutes away from mine. It was honestly horrible. It was a business related internship in the purchasing department and I absolutely hated it because of how slow paced and boring it was. Luckily, it taught me two things: I really hate business, and I do enjoy programming a lot. I know this because I spent my free time in the summer, working on the one computer science related aspect of my resume. Its a fantasy football draft program that utilizes RNG and the PyQt Python GUI module to organize and optimize the draft process for my friend's fantasy league. I had a ton of fun working on it and it was the only thing that made the summer bearable. I took that job because everyone around me told me that it would be a great company to have on my resume, and, similarly to my earlier line of thinking regarding computer science, just having the company name on my resume would bring big tech companies crawling to my feet despite this job not having anything to do with programming in any capacity. Being a dumb college sophomore I believed them and now I have no experience in CS to speak of besides the aforementioned project. Because of this lack of experience, I was not able to land a internship for this summer. I feel dumb for not looking harder for a CS job last summer because I feel like that awful 40-hr a week internship was a total waste of time and now I essentially have nothing to show for it because its not like one personal project will get me any internship offers. If you've made it this far past my ranting, I applaud and thank you. So I come to you fellow redditors. After browsing this sub for a while, I realized that I was way off track of where I should be at this point in my college career. I've been slacking off and not taking advantage of my time in college to make myself a better prospect for jobs after I graduate. For instance, I know Python, C, C++, and Pascal but I don't really have any experience. Like I don't have any web servers built and I haven't used any frameworks or databases or anything that would make a company stop and say "Wow that guy knows a lot of cool programming acronyms and definitely knows what he's talking about" I've joined my school's CS club to try and find more computer science peers and maybe some networking opportunities. I'm participating in a hackathon next week that I already have some ideas for. It's not like I'm going to win, but I'm thinking I may as well try and make a project so I can add it to my resume/GitHub. This summer, my plan of action is this:
I guess my question is: Should I really not be going for an internship my junior year of college and instead just grind out coding for all hours of the day so I can have something CS related on my resume? Or should I go for a safe internship with nothing related to CS because "hey, at least its an internship". I really would love some advice regarding this and if I am indeed heading in the right direction. Also, If y'all could suggest anything for me to do as a first project for the summer to get the ball rolling, that would be much obliged. I'm thinking of starting out by writing a Python program for a Tetris clone but I'm wondering if that is just going to be seen as elementary and not something that would be interesting on a resume. I would really appreciate some replies. TL;DR: Computer Science junior a little behind on the game (has to take summer classes) and has no CS internships lined up because I have no experience in the field. I'm trying to decide whether I should get a relaxing 25 hr a week job and focus on grinding LeetCode, making projects, and studying for my summer classes so I can improve my resume with regards to computer science or should I take the first internship i can get with no relation to CS just so I can have any sort of internship [link] [comments]  |
| Someone got fired... What does this line in the email mean? Posted: 18 Mar 2019 04:10 PM PDT "His position is being eliminated at the end of the month due to departmental restructuring, which is the direct result of recent contractions from key clients." What does this mean? I work in a startup, the person fired worked in customer support doing research and reports for clients. Should i be worried? Our team consists of 4 sales, (marketing consisted of one who left recently), 1 HR, now 2 Customer support, 3 front end, 3back end, 3product, and 3data science. We also work with a third party service that helps with front end. We have 7 leads. Should i be concerned? I'm a bit worried I will lose my job because I joined 6months ago and so far I feel like my tasks haven't been too difficult, the other team members on the backend can easily replace me. [link] [comments]  |
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