Off Topic Thread too point uh

dregin

Zzippy wrote: »

Blame the education system in UK/ROI. I've only sat on an interview board once, wouldn't like to do it again. It was for a technical job in GIS, which I had a lot of knowledge in, so I was asked to select candidates for interview and do the interviews. Every one of the people who got an interview, and a few more, had a masters in GIS. Impressive enough. I wouldn't even have got an interview myself. When it came to the interviews, they were all incredibly useless when asked any technical questions to do with the subject they actually had a MSc in.

Universities are all about numbers these days, get as many students through as possible, get as much money in as possible. Never mind quality. It's no wonder graduates aren't ready for industry, and no wonder our universities are sliding down the rankings. Have a few mates who are lecturers and the pressure on them to churn out graduates and not fail too many is ridiculous. When you have 600 first years in a course how are they supposed to get to know any of them, never mind teach them properly...

I'm in the nice position where I get to look towards resources like github to go along with a candidate's CV. It says a lot in the IT world if someone has never heard of github. Also, phone screens are your friends!

b.gud

dregin wrote: »

I'm in the nice position where I get to look towards resources like github to go along with a candidate's CV. It says a lot in the IT world if someone has never heard of github. Also, phone screens are your friends!

Do you mean list github on their CV as a skill or you ask them about it in an interview and they know nothing about it? I've been working as a programmer for 4 years (actually just realised this day 4 years ago is when I started ) but it's only in the past month that I started using git and github, had always used svn before that. So it would never have been on my cv, but if I had been asked about it in an interview I would have known what it is but would have to say I don't have any practical experience of it.

I'm glad I moved to a project that is using though as I fully intend to add it to my list of skill, along with Objective C and Swift which I'm starting to use professionally now.

irishbucsfan

b.gud wrote: »

Do you mean list github on their CV as a skill or you ask them about it in an interview and they know nothing about it? I've been working as a programmer for 4 years (actually just realised this day 4 years ago is when I started ) but it's only in the past month that I started using git and github, had always used svn before that. So it would never have been on my cv, but if I had been asked about it in an interview I would have known what it is but would have to say I don't have any practical experience of it.

I'm glad I moved to a project that is using though as I fully intend to add it to my list of skill, along with Objective C and Swift which I'm starting to use professionally now.

Any revision control is fine but if you have a github account and you're active on there then it makes you a pretty attractive candidate. Saying that we use gitlab and self host it so Im pretty much inactive on github.

Hiring anyone for development is very much an art rather than a science though. I rarely interview developers because we don't get many openings but when I do my line of questioning is generally alwaya one specific technical question related to their language of choice (IE php, explain the difference between an interface and an abstract class and give a usage example for either, preferably one you've used). Then after that I just ask them about a project they enjoyed working on and a project they didn't enjoy working on, then I ask them if they watch rugby and make my decision.

b.gud

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Any revision control is fine but if you have a github account and you're active on there then it makes you a pretty attractive candidate. Saying that we use gitlab and self host it so Im pretty much inactive on github.

Hiring anyone for development is very much an art rather than a science though. I rarely interview developers because we don't get many openings but when I do my line of questioning is generally alwaya one specific technical question related to their language of choice (IE php, explain the difference between an interface and an abstract class and give a usage example for either, preferably one you've used). Then after that I just ask them about a project they enjoyed working on and a project they didn't enjoy working on, then I ask them if they watch rugby and make my decision.

Really freak a candidate out and don't ask them any technical questions just spend the whole interview asking them rugby questions though it could be worse you could end up with an interview panel like this

Actually POC did IT in college so you could one day end up interviewing him :cool:

dregin

b.gud wrote: »

Do you mean list github on their CV as a skill or you ask them about it in an interview and they know nothing about it? I've been working as a programmer for 4 years (actually just realised this day 4 years ago is when I started ) but it's only in the past month that I started using git and github, had always used svn before that. So it would never have been on my cv, but if I had been asked about it in an interview I would have known what it is but would have to say I don't have any practical experience of it.

I'm glad I moved to a project that is using though as I fully intend to add it to my list of skill, along with Objective C and Swift which I'm starting to use professionally now.

I use it as a portfolio.

esterhayes

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Any revision control is fine but if you have a github account and you're active on there then it makes you a pretty attractive candidate. Saying that we use gitlab and self host it so Im pretty much inactive on github.

Hiring anyone for development is very much an art rather than a science though. I rarely interview developers because we don't get many openings but when I do my line of questioning is generally alwaya one specific technical question related to their language of choice (IE php, explain the difference between an interface and an abstract class and give a usage example for either, preferably one you've used). Then after that I just ask them about a project they enjoyed working on and a project they didn't enjoy working on, then I ask them if they watch rugby and make my decision.

As a recent CS graduate, I really need to start using it.
Should i put some of my college assignments on it?

I don't really have anything else to put up there, unless i start doing some independent work.

I'm fairly clueless how to approach the job market, where i should be looking to enter and what I should be doing to ensure I give myself the best possible chance of getting started, any advice/help would be really appreciated.

Been happy enough working away this summer in a non computer environment.

junglyparty

esterhayes wrote: »

As a recent CS graduate, I really need to start using it.
Should i put some of my college assignments on it?

I don't really have anything else to put up there, unless i start doing some independent work.

I'm fairly clueless how to approach the job market, where i should be looking to enter and what I should be doing to ensure I give myself the best possible chance of getting started, any advice/help would be really appreciated.

Been happy enough working away this summer in a non computer environment.

I would put your college stuff on it. Its a good habit to start building a portfolio as soon as possible.

irishbucsfan

esterhayes wrote: »

As a recent CS graduate, I really need to start using it.
Should i put some of my college assignments on it?

Yes. If you want to REALLY cheat put it up in multiple commits over multiple days and then it looks like you're really active. I just made that up now but it seems like a quality scam.

esterhayes wrote: »

I don't really have anything else to put up there, unless i start doing some independent work.

You should, or just write small stuff at home. We put all sorts of rubbish up there, we have our own API classes for a wide variety of stuff from Spotify to Tinder, just for the sake of writing it. I'm currently trying to reverse engineer our coffee machine to allow orders to be taken over the company chat system.

esterhayes wrote: »

I'm fairly clueless how to approach the job market, where i should be looking to enter and what I should be doing to ensure I give myself the best possible chance of getting started, any advice/help would be really appreciated.

Been happy enough working away this summer in a non computer environment.

I don't really have specific advice for the job market because I've never really been in that position but I'd definitely suggest to not be afraid to try a whole bunch of things. Your ideal career may not even necessarily be technical, who knows. I have no degree at all, let alone a CS degree, but I tried a whole bunch of stuff and ended up doing something I didn't even know existed a couple of years before. If you find something you're passionate about and just work hard then the rest should fall into place unless you're really really unlucky.

Also if you end up in a crap job with a rubbish employer don't worry, there are plenty of them. People who've had crap jobs are the only ones who really appreciate good ones anyway!

molloyjh

Yeah what you do in college is one thing, what you could end up doing after could be totally different. Your career can move fairly organically once it starts. A little exposure to something else could spark a move away from what you thought you'd be doing.

At the start though it's worth knowing what you want to do in the short term. What areas interest you the most and when going for interviews make sure to link aspects of the job to what you're looking to do.

Honestly though at entry level roles in any sector as much weight goes on your general manner in the interview as anything. Have you prepared? Do you have a good idea what the team you'd be joining do and do you have even simple examples of you doing similar? Most of the actual skills can be learned on the job. The interview is generally just to get a sense on whether you're CV is total BS or not and to see whether you're the type of person the interviewer would want to employ. No preparation = no job, no clue = no job etc. If your examples aren't fantastic but you've shown you're the kind of person to get stuck in and work hard you'll have more joy that the person with the huge body of work who couldn't relate to the role on the interview.

From there plan for what you want to do but keep an open mind. Sometimes the random opportunity you never considered could work out really well.

dregin

esterhayes wrote: »

As a recent CS graduate, I really need to start using it.
Should i put some of my college assignments on it?

I don't really have anything else to put up there, unless i start doing some independent work.

I'm fairly clueless how to approach the job market, where i should be looking to enter and what I should be doing to ensure I give myself the best possible chance of getting started, any advice/help would be really appreciated.

Been happy enough working away this summer in a non computer environment.

I've used mine for contributing to open source projects. Github has a fairly simple Fork/Pull Request process that allows anyone easily contribute to any project. It's a good way to get exposure across a lot of code bases. It can be as simple as correcting typos in documentation either, but shows that you're active in the open source community. Always a plus

As far as the job market goes, I like referrals. They're usually people who already know about the company through the person who referred them, so aren't likely to suddenly find the job/company culture doesn't suit them after x months in the place and then bolt. So yeah, ask your mates in tech what their company are like to work for and take a look at available positions that they may be able to refer you for.

esterhayes

Appreciate the advice. Might come back again as I start to put myself out there.
Finding an area of CS i'm passionate about is top of the list of things to do.

Wang King

Is this about as off-topic as we've ever gone

pickarooney

Yeah, not a mention of true detective even though for once it was decent

Fireball07

I don't know anything about NFL, but I'm entering a draft fantasy football for the Premier League this year. Draft starts tonight, should be interesting.

thomond2006

Fireball07 wrote: »

I don't know anything about NFL, but I'm entering a draft fantasy football for the Premier League this year. Draft starts tonight, should be interesting.

Draft Jay Cutler



https://youtu.be/_l99FTqfLOM

On another note, we need to hire these two as rugby pundits.

molloyjh

pickarooney wrote: »

Yeah, not a mention of true detective even though for once it was decent

Thought it was excellent last night. It's all coming together really well. And finally VV is actually doing something other than talking.

.ak

Thought the 6th episode was better... Still find it incredibly awkwardly paced. Next week is the final episode right?

Zzippy

Got Netflix last week. Gf addicted to Suits. On season 3 already. I hope there aren't too many more...

junglyparty

pickarooney wrote: »

Yeah, not a mention of true detective even though for once it was decent

I don't know the names of all the secondary and tertiary characters so, once again, I was very confused. I had no idea who

that black guy who Paul Woodrow met was. I still don't really know who they were. They were some of the high up bent cops?

pickarooney

Zzippy wrote: »

Got Netflix last week. Gf addicted to Suits. On season 3 already. I hope there aren't too many more...

It's just the same goddamn story over and over for bull**** five seasons and goddamn counting.

Harmless and watchable though

errlloyd

I watch suits, and can concur it's repetitive and boring as crap. Season five currently airing. It won't be on Netflix.

esterhayes

true detective is all over the place, nowhere near as good as last year.

rumours there might not be another season.

A very good new show is Mr. Robot. Also enjoying Humans.

Teferi

First 2 seasons of Suits were class I thought. It's tapered off in the seasons after that but it's not unwatchable. I thought the latest season was an improvement after a dodgy 4th season.

esterhayes

esterhayes wrote: »

true detective is all over the place, nowhere near as good as last year.

rumours there might not be another season.

A very good new show is Mr. Robot. Also enjoying Humans.

Though the most recent episode was quite good, but up to this point it's been terrible imo. There's just too much focus on personal lives and not enough about the case, I really can't bring myself to care about any of them because they're all complete assholes.

esterhayes

Sky Mango Tux wrote: »

Though the most recent episode was quite good, but up to this point it's been terrible imo. There's just too much focus on personal lives and not enough about the case, I really can't bring myself to care about any of them because they're all complete assholes.

pretty much, the cop stuff has largely been good, although the shootout was pretty weak from a story perspective.

too many secondary characters, too many threads they are trying to weave together to make a coherent story.

b.gud

The finale of the season next week will be 90 mins long http://hbowatch.com/true-detective-finale-extended-to-90-minutes/

molloyjh

junglyparty wrote: »

I don't know the names of all the secondary and tertiary characters so, once again, I was very confused. I had no idea who

that black guy who Paul Woodrow met was. I still don't really know who they were. They were some of the high up bent cops?

He is the chief in Vinci. He called Velcoro into his office in episode 2 (???) to basically tell him to keep tabs on the investigation into Caspers death. He was also at the party in the episode last week.

dregin

This is the plot for TD 2:

Danny's scary story: https://youtu.be/as9pu3rqgFs

junglyparty

Why is everyone in uproar over a lion being killed? I really don't get it.

.ak

junglyparty wrote: »

Why is everyone in uproar over a lion being killed? I really don't get it.

Nice pun.

I think the reaction is OTT, buuut... I do get it. The lion was coaxed out of a reserve so it could be shot by a wannabe hunter with a load of poachers guarding him with guns. The lion was a bit of a local attraction afaik, so there's that too.

But what seems to be going over everyone's heads is that Lions are an endangered species. You're not supposed to be killing the fecking things. People say meat-eaters who are giving out about this are hypocrites... Well that's bull. I eat meat, lots of it, but the stuff I eat is farmed for that purpose. I don't go out eating endangered species, or lopping off their heads for a trophy.

I did have a delicious condor egg omlette this morning however.. Massive! I could only eat half of it.