with the bad economy internships and co-ops have really dried up. I'll be graduating next year with a bachelors in CS and I don't want to leave the work experience field empty on my resume. what are the other options? Is working on open source projects considered good work experience?
+4
A:
Some companies love to see open source work on your resume -- others don't care, or even consider it a negative. The companies that appreciate open source work, in my humble opinion, tend to mostly be the ones you'd really enjoy working for, so, without an internship in prospect, I'd go with open source!
Alex Martelli
2009-06-06 01:33:57
Why would a company *not* want to see open source work? That's pretty stupid. I don't think I'd ever even consider working for such a company (unless they paid me *a lot* of money).
Zifre
2009-06-06 01:41:53
They might not be negative about open-source work, but they could look at it along the lines of "this candidate gives work away for free now, so we can pay him/her less!" That's the overly-cynical view, though.
A. Scagnelli
2009-06-06 01:44:44
There still are companies (and divisions within large companies) that consider open source a pinko plot to destroy capitalism (and pollute our precious body fluids;-). A dwindling number, but back when I free-lanced I met some...
Alex Martelli
2009-06-06 02:09:45
A:
I got started by finding friends with small businesses who needed websites. I did them in asp.net for super cheap and built my resume that way. I did also have a co-op at the same time learning vb 6, but the asp.net stuff is really what got me into the job market. I think contributing to open source projects is great too! From my interview experiences what managers wanted to know was how much i knew. A interviewer can usually get a pretty good idea of what your skills are by asking specific questions about what you're working on. Oh, and if you can get into any healthcare IT work then jump on it! Good luck!
Tone
2009-06-06 01:35:49
+9
A:
The important thing is that you're getting real world experience outside of classes.
Open source projects are good if you're out of university, but since you have another year, ask your professors if you can join a research project. You may not be able to get paid, but you will gain valuable experience, and you may even get a paper published.
Failing that, if your school has a requirement for a senior capstone, thesis, or other big project, it might be good to get an early start and do something really impressive.
Jay Conrod
2009-06-06 01:36:18
I think that working on open source while in college is a great thing, but I like your other suggestions.
Paul Fisher
2009-06-06 01:37:54
Open source projects are great, but there are opportunities while you're in college that you don't get again (unless you stay on for grad school, of course).
Jay Conrod
2009-06-06 01:42:28
the problem with open-source is that's hardly visible and valuable (except for some projects but your visibility in the project is important)...but if you have on your resume some research stuff and contacts through your prof, it's all good
LB
2009-06-06 02:14:57
If I was graduating now, I'd really want to do a master's or PhD. By the time you are done, hopefully things will be different in the economy. Even if they aren't you'll have a better shot than you would otherwise.
Richard Hein
2009-06-06 02:43:37
+4
A:
You may want to look into doing some volunteer work too. Maybe helping develop a web app or do some DB work for a charity organization or church that can't afford to pay for the work. You'll get some needed experience, help out a worthy cause and possibly meet people who may be able to help you in your search. Good luck!
Tim
2009-06-06 01:38:19
A:
Writing open source can be a good for your own experience, finding a job, and helping others. If you don't have any experience, the best thing to do is jump into some code and start learning. You'll be able to pick the technology you like working with and putting together a project that you enjoy, adding to the benefit. When it comes time to start interviewing, you can walk in with something more than most of your peers have. For some employers, it says a lot about someone who has the initiative to write open source software. Finally, if other people are able to use what you build, then you've contributed to the community and can have the good feeling of knowing that you've helped others.
Joe
A:
Gain real knowledge of newer technology by playing with it, pushing the limits, discussing it in forums etc..., until you become an expert in that area.
Even if you don't have a lot of paid experience, if you go into an interview and demonstrate that you know what you are talking about, beyond just theory or a basic understanding, you will stand out.
Get up to speed on the latest technology - the latest, because you will be at the same level of experience (in the eyes of many employers) on the new technology as any other developer who may have many more years experience overall.
This will level your playing field. FOCUS on that technology, become as much as an expert as you can. Make sure that your area of focus is gaining ground in the industry. It's important to understand as much as you can about a particular stack of technology, but when you are starting out, you only have so much time, and focusing on a particular area and being really good at it is your best bet.
Be language agnostic. The language is irrelevant. It's all about the frameworks and platforms you build upon. Be flexible.
Learn about OOD/OOP, design patterns, best practices, methodologies used etc.... Read as much as you can about the development process in the real world so you have an understanding of the issues, and the kind of questions you might expect from reality-weary interviewers.
Richard Hein
2009-06-06 02:53:49
any suggestions of what area I should focus on? what will be popular and in demand next year?
anon
2009-06-06 02:56:32
It isn't quite as clear to me as it was years ago. I decided to focus on .NET when it first became available. However, now .NET is a whole ecosystem of technology. So you might focus on WCF or WPF in particular, or WF (if you want to do some .NET development). You may decide to build IPhone applications and ride the mobile wave. It seems like it's just starting to reach a broad audience to me. Or cloud computing, parallel computing ... these are areas that are still in flux, but it might be the right time to start focusing on that kind of thing.
Richard Hein
2009-06-06 03:03:49
I'll give you an example of something not to focus on, for comparison: LINQ. LINQ is awesome, great stuff. You should learn it. But it is not a speciality, it's going to be a required tool. It's just a language and framework feature, used everywhere, and will have to be known by every .NET developer, so you can't distinguish yourself by knowing something everyone should know. In contrast, I don't know many .NET developers who know very much about WCF.
Richard Hein
2009-06-06 03:08:57
A:
To add to Jay Conrad's suggestion:
- First preference: paid research/coding activity for any professor in your college.
- Second preference: free work in college. For example even if professor(s) in your college do not have any requirement, perhaps they can use a program that will speed up their research or day-to-day activities. Propose to write any software that will do this.
Also do not limit yourself to programming. For a fresh college pass out it is equally good to have some research work on the resume, not just programming experience.
Sesh
2009-06-06 04:13:48