College

[Scoot26]

Yeah I mean I get where he's coming from, but I do happen to know a guy who's doing online college who has good work ethic with his jobs. He's a vet which may have a lot to do with that. But you never figure that out if you never give the guy a chance. Though chances are 99% of such people that a hiring guy may experience may be dumb as rocks so it's easy to generalize.

The whole experience thing was really the hardest part about finding a job. It seems like every job req out there requires some degree of experience and college grads just don't have it. They have to get it somehow, but no one will hire them so they can actually get experience. I lucked out because a CS major doesn't have to deal with that quite as much, but I know a lot of other people I went to school with kinda got screwed by the whole experience thing.

I'd say I'd got screwed in that sense. Any of my friends who were CS major's did too. The CS majors all worked out well (they also all got to network with each other and so they just about always help each other out).

 

[clonetrooper264]

An interesting side note to all this - the opportunities to self educate today are greater than any time in human history. You just have to want it and be willing to work. Sooo many great resources out there now. Want to learn about finance and capital markets? Cool. Hop over to Khan Academy and learn about it for free - https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance . Hell, you can even attend classes from top professors at MIT, Harvard etc if you want to - https://www.edx.org/schools-partners . It's insane. How educated you are really comes down to a personal choice and your capacity to learn.

The MIT open course stuff is what helped me pass physics in college lol

 

[Scoot26]

An interesting side note to all this - the opportunities to self educate today are greater than any time in human history. You just have to want it and be willing to work. Sooo many great resources out there now. Want to learn about finance and capital markets? Cool. Hop over to Khan Academy and learn about it for free - https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance . Hell, you can even attend classes from top professors at MIT, Harvard etc if you want to - https://www.edx.org/schools-partners . It's insane. How educated you are really comes down to a personal choice and your capacity to learn.

I have discipline problems when doing these things. I tried taking a few of these actual online courses for free a few years ago when I was unemployed. Lost interest within 3 weeks every time... Definitely made me know I have zero desire in ever going back to school.

Isn't to say I don't use things to learn things online... History is a great interest point of mine, I learn things all the time from it. Self banking and better management of money, stock market, other investment markets, I've studied quite a bit on my own as well. Suppose its all about what really interests you.

 

[clonetrooper264]

I'd say I'd got screwed in that sense. Any of my friends who were CS major's did too. The CS majors all worked out well (they also all got to network with each other and so they just about always help each other out).

Yup...that's how I got in with Ares. I was basically screwed in the majority of jobs because they wanted 5-10 years of experience or some junk. All the entry level stuff I tried to find were with huge companies that basically every CS major applies for. The offers I did end up getting were had through networking into positions where they just ignored the experience requirement.

 

[Crystallas]

An interesting side note to all this - the opportunities to self educate today are greater than any time in human history. You just have to want it and be willing to work. Sooo many great resources out there now. Want to learn about finance and capital markets? Cool. Hop over to Khan Academy and learn about it for free - https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance . Hell, you can even attend classes from top professors at MIT, Harvard etc if you want to - https://www.edx.org/schools-partners . It's insane. How educated you are really comes down to a personal choice and your capacity to learn.

Yep.

Not only online resources for learning, but opportunities to join local groups for other hands on learning. So many meet-up methods to learn a skill that requires parts and equipment. I learned a lot of mechanical trades from being in car clubs, many medical trades by volunteering with charities, and programming from coder competitions(not even competing). In the modern world, there is no excuse.

 

[Scoot26]

Yup...that's how I got in with Ares. I was basically screwed in the majority of jobs because they wanted 5-10 years of experience or some junk. All the entry level stuff I tried to find were with huge companies that basically every CS major applies for. The offers I did end up getting were had through networking into positions where they just ignored the experience requirement.

LOL... I have this argument with my girlfriend all the time on networking. Not that she excuses networking or would never use it... She just feels the personal high sanctification in doing everything 100% herself. So that's how she treats job searching. Internet cold applying only. She keeps telling me its more like 50% of people get their jobs this way, I call bullshit. I did a survey of all my friends and contacts on how they got their jobs.. 15 of them... 3 people, including her, got their jobs just cold applying on the internet. Not that that's a big sample size, but I still think it's telling.

Meanwhile, my friend who grow up in poverty, therefore made it a point to not live that way on his own, majored in CS, networked the shit out of everyone, interned, got hired full time, and now he's making 120k/year at a startup downtown. He was laid off last year from another start-up...within days he had like 10 interviews just based on his networking capabilities. And has recruiters all over him every day now. Today he just told me he was offered 130k + bonus + stock in another start up lol. Competitive market for him.

So I too believe networking is major asset to getting a job and especially with the internet where you can have 50 random applications for one job, it really helps to know someone within the company.

 

[clonetrooper264]

LOL... I have this argument with my girlfriend all the time on networking. Not that she excuses networking or would never use it... She just feels the personal high sanctification in doing everything 100% herself. So that's how she treats job searching. Internet cold applying only. She keeps telling me its more like 50% of people get their jobs this way, I call bullshit. I did a survey of all my friends and contacts on how they got their jobs.. 15 of them... 3 people, including her, got their jobs just cold applying on the internet. Not that that's a big sample size, but I still think it's telling.

Meanwhile, my friend who grow up in poverty, therefore made it a point to not live that way on his own, majored in CS, networked the shit out of everyone, interned, got hired full time, and now he's making 120k/year at a startup downtown. He was laid off last year from another start-up...within days he had like 10 interviews just based on his networking capabilities. And has recruiters all over him every day now. Today he just told me he was offered 130k + bonus + stock in another start up lol. Competitive market for him.

So I too believe networking is major asset to getting a job and especially with the internet where you can have 50 random applications for one job, it really helps to know someone within the company.

I networked my way into about half the interviews I got. There's literally no other way I would've stood out from anyone else. Not that I stink at CS or anything, but there's just a lot of guys in my situation. I was not top of my class by any means. I did summer school for 2 out of 3 summers in college (the other summer was a non CS related job so people didn't put a ton of stock in that). Not much experience to go on. In many ways I networked to get considered for positions a person of my experience had no business being considered for, but in doing so I got a chance to show off my stuff. It only worked for like 20% of what I got interviews for, but it worked. That's all that matters yo.

 

[Scoot26]

I networked my way into about half the interviews I got. There's literally no other way I would've stood out from anyone else. Not that I stink at CS or anything, but there's just a lot of guys in my situation. I was not top of my class by any means. I did summer school for 2 out of 3 summers in college (the other summer was a non CS related job so people didn't put a ton of stock in that). Not much experience to go on. In many ways I networked to get considered for positions a person of my experience had no business being considered for, but in doing so I got a chance to show off my stuff. It only worked for like 20% of what I got interviews for, but it worked. That's all that matters yo.

I haven't been on a whole lot of interviews in my life actually (its in the single digits)... But except for my first job (which was Target, who back in 2005 would pretty much hire anyone), I've never gotten an interview without the assistance of at least someone..whether it was a friend, temp agency, or recruiter.

 

[clonetrooper264]

I haven't been on a whole lot of interviews in my life actually (its in the single digits)... But except for my first job (which was Target, who back in 2005 would pretty much hire anyone), I've never gotten an interview without the assistance of at least someone..whether it was a friend, temp agency, or recruiter.

I think I'm at single digits too. If I count phone interviews I think I've had maybe 8 interviews for full time positions. #millenialproblems

 

[Scoot26]

I think I'm at single digits too. If I count phone interviews I think I've had maybe 8 interviews for full time positions. #millenialproblems

lol, I've never actually had a phone interview.. They've all been in person.

 

[AuCN]

In my line of work, I couldnt imagine someone not having a degree being educated enough in the field to be worth hiring. If they had experience already, I would certainly give them a fair shake though! However, in my industry, a masters is the new bachelors. Everyone is looking for a masters or a doctorate. But I have found that most people that we hire that did their bachelors and went STRAIGHT to masters come out thinking they know everything. They are impossible to work with with their egos and arrogance. They know nothing about how industry works. Its like their brains were re-wired for academia. I much prefer a hard working bachelors that is good at picking things up on the job, or someone who went bachelors->industry(even just a year or two)->masters over someone who went bachelors->masters. Just my experience. Granted it is not a huge sample size.

 

[clonetrooper264]

lol, I've never actually had a phone interview.. They've all been in person.

It was awkward. I like in person interviews better. Though on the phone I had the ability to look up the question they were asking...that was hilarious. Not sure if ethical, but...they didn't say I couldn't. Nothing came of it anyway so :elephant:

 

[nvanprooyen]

In my line of work, I couldnt imagine someone not having a degree being educated enough in the field to be worth hiring. If they had experience already, I would certainly give them a fair shake though! However, in my industry, a masters is the new bachelors. Everyone is looking for a masters or a doctorate. But I have found that most people that we hire that did their bachelors and went STRAIGHT to masters come out thinking they know everything. They are impossible to work with with their egos and arrogance. They know nothing about how industry works. Its like their brains were re-wired for academia. I much prefer a hard working bachelors that is good at picking things up on the job, or someone who went bachelors->industry(even just a year or two)->masters over someone who went bachelors->masters. Just my experience. Granted it is not a huge sample size.

Geology right?

 

[Scoot26]

It was awkward. I like in person interviews better. Though on the phone I had the ability to look up the question they were asking...that was hilarious. Not sure if ethical, but...they didn't say I couldn't. Nothing came of it anyway so :elephant:

They probably heard you typing in the background LOL.

 

[AuCN]

Geology right?

Yeah. Gold Exploration. I work as a geochemist but there are also geophysicists in my department.

 

[clonetrooper264]

They probably heard you typing in the background LOL.

They asked some random riddles and stuff...that was the only ones I looked up. I had a very quiet keyboard at the time so I find it highly unlikely that the guy heard lol. Either way, in retrospect I probably wouldn't have liked that company very much...or I would've failed the in person interview if they relied on that random junk. I did ace the technical stuff without any aid though so who knows?

 

[Scoot26]

They asked some random riddles and stuff...that was the only ones I looked up. I had a very quiet keyboard at the time so I find it highly unlikely that the guy heard lol. Either way, in retrospect I probably wouldn't have liked that company very much...or I would've failed the in person interview if they relied on that random junk. I did ace the technical stuff without any aid though so who knows?

Riddles for an interview?

 

[nvanprooyen]

Riddles for an interview?

Probably shit like..."if you needed to know how many street light poles there are in the US, how would you find out?"

 

[clonetrooper264]

Riddles for an interview?

Probably shit like..."if you needed to know how many street light poles there are in the US, how would you find out?"

It was something like 'give me 10 reasons why manhole covers are circles'

I came up with like 4.

 

[AuCN]

Riddles for an interview?

"Why are manholes round?" I heard that one is fairly common.

Edit: Dammit. Clone beat me.