To be a CS grad with a few industry questions

Question

1. I was forced to take a summer math class in order to graduate with a B.S in CS. Due to this I wont be out of school until mid August. So how and when should I go about looking for a job, after the Spring graduate rush has past? I understand I am at a disadvantage.

2. On resumes should applicants put all technologies they are familiar with, or just those they consider themselves experts in? Such as in school we learned a few functional languages. I am familiar with them, but really couldn't efficiently program in them without a brief review. So do most students seeking entry level positions add these, even when not experts?

Answer 1

Are you sure that you'll be at a disadvantage? Another way to look at it is that you'll be looking for a job at a time when fewer people are newly graduated and looking. Do you really prefer to be looking for a job at the time that the largest number of fresh graduates are competing with you?

You will often want to tailor each resume for the company you are trying to get hired by. You can fairly list technologies you are familiar with as long as you don't suggest that you are expert in them. If you suggest in your resume that you're expert in something, and it comes up as an interview question, things can go badly.

Answer 2

Regarding the 2nd one. You should either categorize your experience from Well, Medium, Low or some other sort of sorting.

Don't tell then you're an expert at something, there are very few actual Experts.

Answer 3

I know something like this has definetely been asked before. But I recently just graduated and had many interviews and trust me when I say, if you can't program a simple alorithm in that langauage then it wouldn't do you any good to list it,unless you know it well,but just can't remember the syntax. Because it would do you better to know answers to someone's question asked even if its not many things; oppose to not known anthing that they ask when it comes to several things you list.

Edit: Found it: When Do You Put A Programming language on your resume

Answer 4

Why not start looking for a job now. At the very least it will give you some interviewing skills.

Answer 5

I agree with using terminology like "experienced" vs. "familiar". Having various keywords for different technologies in your resume will help your resume show up in text searches, but then when you sit down for an interview, be ready to answer detailed questions about the items you claim to he highly competent/experienced in.

When I interview people (for technical positions - engineering, software, etc), I am always asking about specific projects and accomplishments you've made on an individual level. And it's okay if it was a school project - but I want to know the details - I want to know that 1) you were responsible for the work 2) you learned something and 3) you understand it.

If you really aren't an expert in the area you claim, and the interviewer is... you're screwed. But on the flip side of that... for a couple places I've worked for, I was always looking for people who had broader experience - people who had touched and understand a lot, but didn't have to be a 100% expert in one detailed thing. For example, I'm not always looking for a C++ expert, but maybe someone who I could through a little C++ at, a little Perl at, a little C# at... and who could handle it. A lot of times, I'd run into people that are SOOO intently focused on one area (like C++) that they can't handle anything else (like Perl) - or at least in the interview, they are intent on proving their expertise in that one area, and I was pretty clear that's not what I was looking for. In other words... pay attention to the interview... it's not just about you and your skills... it's about whether or not you can adapt to the companies current needs.

Hope this helps!

-Adeena http://mignogna.org