Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with programming and job

Contract programming position questions.

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 09:06:36 -0800

I interviewed for a remote programming gig recently, and they requested a trial contract before making a final offer. I'd be hired as a long-term remote contractor (year+, 100% telecommuting), not an employee. I have some questions: 1. What multiplier should I apply to my current salary, at a job with great benefits, to calculate the break even point? The contractor position would not include any benefits, and I'm in good ol' USA, so I will need to purchase healthcare. My thought is current salary +30% to +40% would be a break even point considering the length and stability of the contract. If it were less than a year minimum, I would need to use a higher multiple. Is that about right?

2. The short term trial is at the same hourly wage as the long-term position, which is less than I charge for shorter projects. This short trial is hugely in their benefit, as it should greatly reduce the odds of my being a poor fit for the company. I get a somewhat similar benefit, but I think my risks are much lower. If we decide we're not right for each other, they've dodged a bullet for a pittance while I've lost a week of time for pretty poor compensation. It's not a huge imbalance, but it's there.

I am not concerned at all about the money, but I do not want to be a passive participant who sends signals that I can be taken advantage of. I'm more worried about positioning myself than anything else. I don't have sufficient experience to read the smoke signals and tell how "So, my usual hourly rate is $65 per hour. Could you bump up the short-term rate to match?" might go over. I am very interested in the position and do not want to poison the well.

Also, is this sort of short-term contract request unusual? It seems reasonable to me, but I have no experience with it.

3. What warning signs should I be looking for in the company? What danger signals should scream out, "Get away from these guys!"?

Elevator question

Artw — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:47:08 -0800

When an interviewer asks an interviewee for a programming job to design an object-orientated elevator control system, what are they looking for in a good answer?

Is a failed project as a learning experience something to hide?

mock muppet — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:53:54 -0800

On my resume and/or in a job interview, do I mention my participation in the Google Summer of Code if I failed miserably at it (technically) and then handled that failure really badly (socially/professionally)? A few years ago, I made a proposal for a project to the Google Summer of Code, and was accepted, to be mentored under an organization while completing the (at the time, ambitious) project. I was ill at the time, and underestimated my progress. On top of that, I took entirely the wrong approach. I didn't know it was the wrong approach, but I didn't reach out for proactive help from my mentor, and he didn't offer any. I ended up stuck. I handled things badly in the end, and dropped off the face of the earth for a while. I didn't get my last payment from the program, and I probably let a bridge burn through neglect.

However, I did eventually learn that I had been taking the wrong approach, and I know now how I should have done it, and how I would do it now given the same situation and technologies. It was an accomplishment just to have my proposal accepted, and I learned things from the experience.

Because I was dropped from the program, it's very hard to find any proof that I participated at all. I'm not on the official list of projects for that year, and the only thing that comes up in a search is a pre-summer map of participants. My mentor likely remembers me, but I doubt it would be a good idea to cite him as a reference.

So, what do I do with this on my resume or in an interview? I have little work experience, and it would be a nice addition - it was a very cool project. Is it worth mentioning for the learning experience and coolness factor, even if I can't give my mentor as a reference? Is "I took the wrong approach, but know what I should have done, and I still learned a lot" worth the "though I didn't finish and I didn't ask for help and it all crumbled away"?

10: Print "Hire me" 20: Goto 10

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 06:15:47 -0800

I have an interview for my dream job next week, help me not screw this up. I'm getting flown out for an interview at my "dream job" in a few days. Getting this job will allow me to move somewhere I want to live, work in an industry I want to work in, and start my career. So naturally this is incredibly important.

My mindset going into any job interview, in order to take off the pressure, is that "I don't need this job" and indeed, I don't. I already gainfully employed and the pay is pretty good. But the stakes are higher here.

The interview itself is at a software company, I'll be meeting with at least 5 people, and the interview is expected to take 3 hours. I'm not quite sure I have that kind of stamina. I've read through "programming interviews exposed" a few times and I've done programming interviews before, but never with that kind of length.

My biggest fear is that there will be a bunch of trivia questions about the programming language used, or that they'll ask me to crank out some code on the spot (although I regularly crank out code just for fun). I've heard of instances (at other companies) where they'll bring in a senior programmer to basically pepper me with questions to find my "breaking point", which seems silly to me. I dread having to say "I don't know"

Nearly every conversation I have about the industry I'm in gets me kind of excited, so I'll talk about problems I'll have and how I solve them (or not), or other things that interest me. If the interview were basically a series of these, I'd probably get the job.

I'd like to just treat this as a visit, rather than an explicit examination. Is it the impression that counts more than just knowledge?

To prepare, I'm going to study the more of the intricacies of the programming language I use, along with some other CS stuff I need a refresher on, but what else could I do to prepare?

The path to programming rockstardom

vega — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:47:28 -0800

What distinguishes the ninja/rockstar (Ruby) programmer from the understated kind? I went to an interview for Ruby developer position last week. In the interview I was asked: "we want to hire ninja/rockstar programmers, are you one? what makes you one?"

So here's a moment of self doubt. I'm a C#/.Net programmer, with something like 4 years of experience (I'm also a career changer). I've never worked professionally with Ruby, so sometime ago, I've decided to work on a few side projects to build somewhat of a portfolio and put the stuff on github. These are CRUD apps. These are also actual apps, meaning the power live websites (in other words I have experience from design to deploy of rails apps). They feature stuff like twitter/facebook authentication, voting on content, "liking" content, "friending", and so on. I wonder if they're not "non-trivial."

Anyway, I don't like the "rockstar" question, it makes me think they want to hire divas instead of, you know, developers and stuff. Here's my problem though: I really want(ed) that job. So, if that's what it takes, my question is: what distinguishes the ninja/rockstar (Ruby) programmer from the understated kind?

Finding a Disability-Friendly Technical Job

mock muppet — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 18:45:08 -0800

I can't keep living on disability. I can't go back to school. I'm not good with people. How do I find a part-time job that I can do? Are there no very-part-time CS jobs aside from freelancing? SSI is not covering my costs of living. I need a job that's within my abilities. I can only work 3 weekdays, plus maybe Sunday (though working Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday would be preferable to working Mondays). 3-4 hours a day is my likely limit.

I had to drop out of school - a Computer Science major at a decent university - because of my health - not so much drop out as decide not to try yet again after being kicked out the third time, which makes it much harder to go back. I don't know how to search for part-time programming jobs, if they even exist. Is it a matter of watching the job boards and Craigslist until I find the rare <15 hrs/wk job? I wouldn't know where to begin networking with no contacts.

Outside of programming, what else should I look for? I'm dealing with some fairly serious social anxiety and degradation of social skills, and I can't always rely on my body to carry me physically for hours, or I'd be applying at coffee shops or for help desk/IT support positions. I don't mind working on a team or with people, but I don't think I could handle customers.

The other option I see is to do freelance programming over oDesk or something similar, but having a stable job (with fewer taxes vs. SSI problems) would be preferable.

So, my questions are basically: How can I find very-part-time programming (or Linux sysadmin or similar) jobs? What other kinds of jobs should I be looking for? Is there any other option I'm missing?

How do I know when to leave a good job?

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 19:49:52 -0800

I'm a software developer in my early 30s, working in the defense industry. I'm pretty happy with my job, but wondering if I should move on. I would be looking to move to the San Francisco area. My question is, how do I know when to leave a pretty good job? I know people do this all the time, but I'm pretty risk averse (too much), so I'm having a hard time calibrating my thinking. Also, because the majority of my career has been during this awful economy, I feel squirmy and guilty when I think about leaving a job I've been so grateful to have at all.

Reasons I'm thinking about leaving include:

I moved to a city where I still know no one. Although I like it here in a lot of ways, I've discovered I don't really enjoy seasons (especially the winter one), and it's not very diverse. I miss my family, who now all live in N. Calif. My parents are getting older, etc, etc.

I'm afraid I'll get pigeonholed into my industry if I stay much longer.

I've gotten great experience working on a fascinating piece of software. After many years though, I'd like to try something new. I'd like more breadth, but there's no doubt I have to find it somewhere else.

It might be nice to work with more people my own age. I'm the youngest (by a lot) in my department and always have been. I'm also the only woman on my team. I know there aren't a lot of women in software, but anyone more than just me would be an improvement.

There are some bubbling issues in our team that are uncomfortable, and management is aware and not making any of the necessary decisions to stop it. There's definitely a lack of leadership that's making me a bit cynical. I still enjoy going to work, but for the past year there's been an undercurrent of "I need to get out of here before this thing blows!" which dampens my enthusiasm. If I leave before does blow, I can keep my good relationships with the involved parties.

This is probably silly, but I really would like to be able to throw away (maybe burn?) my slacks and wear jeans to work.

Reasons I'm hesitating:

I like most of my co-workers. We've been working together for a long time and and we're a lot like family (including being a bit dysfunctional, I guess).

In spite of the problems within our team, our managers are basically good people and stand up for us.

We generally have good working hours. We do a 9/80 schedule and crunchtime is not too frequent. We had a bad year once where we were putting in a scary amount of hours for a long time, and it was hard on me. I don't mind if I know there's an end in sight and it won't be constant, but I have this idea that this might be the relentless norm in software and I worry... Trading in a 9/80 for what might end up being a 9/90+ feels like giving up massive amounts of PTO.

The company produces a product that I am fond of--I like that, even though I'm just support staff to the real engineers.

Even by awkward geek standards, I don't socialize very well, so I worry about how well I would fit in at a more normal company.

The pension??

Sorry for the "Anonymous Question" novel. I'd be so grateful for any insight from people who have already been down this road... throwaway email: career.q@hotmail.com

No time left to lose

Anonymous — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:34:53 -0800

Did nothing for 3 years. Now I need a job again. Am I doomed? Three years ago, I had a nice job in the computer industry, programming for $$$. I was good but not great and had that job for 2 years. On a whim I quit my job and have spent the last three years failing at things and staring into the abyss. I have nothing to show for it, literally nothing. On my résumé it will look like a vast blank area. No projects, no portfolio, no nothing.

This was not the plan, but this is how it turned out. I'm 42. Now I need $$, so I need to reenter the workforce. I don't think I have the time to start a new career from scratch. I have a degree, I have work experience, but these lost years feel like an unshakeable stigma and my confidence is very low. Who would hire me?

(If you would guess severe depression is in play, you'd be right, but medical care was not involved so I have no paper trail. Should I mention it at all?)

How screwed am I? Is this gap fatal to my career? How should I put it on the résumé?

What expression can I expect on the faces of potential employers? Is there hope?

Finding A Job In Chicago Without A Clue

Green With You — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:49:44 -0800

I would like to get a new job in Chicago. What are some things I can do over the summer to maximize my odds at finding employment in the windy city? My field is software engineering. A summary of my situation: I currently live in Rockford, IL. I've lived here for most of the last 3 years. I am 28 years old and graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering in 2007.

I work in avionics where I mostly perform verification and validation of aircraft software although I did some development in the past. Right now I work on the 787. From what I gather my part of the project will be done around July. I think Chicago is the best place for me to go when that happens, because I like the city and it will bring me closer to where I grew up in Michigan. I'm willing to move back to Michigan I would just rather move to Chicago if I can find a job.

The problem is, I've only ever had this one job! I'm not sure how prepared my job has made me for other jobs. I decided that I should spend the next several months working on skills to make me more attractive to the kind of development work that exists in Chicago. I don't know what I should prioritize to help me out.

I consider myself pretty good with C, C++, and C#. I know a little bit of Perl and currently do a lot of my work in the scripting language Tcl. I don't really know any SQL except what I picked up after following some tutorials for a few hours. I have no experience with web programming. I don't have a portfolio. Most people I work with seem to think I'm very good at my job. I was tasked with helping two people new to the project get up to speed and dolling out work for several months which is the closest to managing I've ever done.

So: what are some things I can in the next few months do to make myself look better? Sorry if my question is all over the place!

Indie programmer or call-center drone? A false dilemma disguised as hope?

porcupine — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:21:54 -0800

Does it make sense to block off a few months to develop the skills needed to pursue a modest career/business developing indie games and mobile apps for Android, or am I better off just getting an entry-level job at a call center and make a decent amount of money doing sales or tech support? Trying to teach myself enough Java to be able to make my own Android games and apps. It's something I've always wanted to do and now that I'm out of work and back home, I actually have the time to do it.

But is this the right decision for me?

I don't have anything saved up and I'm just able to pay my phone bill through some freelance IT work. Beyond that I am completely dependent on my mom for meals and shelter.

There's no real pressure for me to leave home. In fact, my mother has encouraged me to stay and try to do any kind of work that I can do online so that I won't have to work at an office. (Previous history with years of drug use that I think she associates with me being on my own during my 20s.) However the atmosphere here at home isn't always pleasant--whenever she get frustrated with me she uses the "When are you going to go out and get a job?" line to get me to concede.

For me, I'd rather be self-employed and the thought of creating something that others can enjoy or find useful truly motivates me. Realistically, I am not independently wealthy so I know I can't afford to go the pseudo-starving artist route and keep taking risks. (I'm also already 35.)

I should be responsible for my expenses and my lifestyle and being back at home is just a pit-stop. And it hasn't been a great experience: Aside from the fights and arguments with my mom, I hardly ever leave the house now for lack of money and I've been having serious bouts of depression on and off. I exercise and try to eat right but the feeling of isolation and *shame* for being a 35-year-old man living at home with his mother makes me feel like a Grade-A Loser. For context, I live in a country where it's commonplace for kids to stay home until (or even after) they get married. But I have predominantly Western values (I blame the books and movies I grew up with) and my current situation really feels like Failure. I even avoid my friends or turn down their invites to hang out because I don't want to talk about my shit. (Plus the fact that my mother is very controlling regarding this. While I'm seeing her side of it when it comes to being against binge drinking on weekends, I'm pushed to the other extreme where the only creatures I interact with are strangers on the internet, my clients, her and my cat. (Sad to say, this is literally true.)

My only other option aside from taking a few months to learn Java and app development is to take a job at a call center and just start earning a salary again, and hopefully save enough for a deposit on my own apartment.

Either way, I see it as reaching the same financial goal, only at different timeframes. With the indie programmer route, I would expect to be out on my own in 6 to 9 months. (I have a few web dev projects in development that I'm getting paid for. Plus I intend to sell some of my things to raise money.) But the chances of success are not guaranteed. However I'd probably have the skills to qualify for a job as a programmer if I take this path.

With the call center route, it would take about 5 months to save up enough for the apartment deposit (while starting to pay for my own expenses while still living at home). And I don't know if I'd have the time or energy in between shifts to study programming. This path scares me because I don't know if there's a career beyond "call-center employee". I know there's management positions that I could qualify for if I want to advance but I don't know if managing people or teams is really what I want to do. I really want to create something. That's the reason why I want to learn programming. Besides, I've worked a year at a call center before (long story) and while I excelled as an agent, I was never able to get promoted (although I didn't have a college degree back then).

Hopefully relevant details: I have a degree in IT/network administration so I had some classes in programing and software engineering. I "know" just enough Java, Ruby and C++ to do the basic console input/output stuff but I don't know enough yet to put together a game or an app. But I consider myself competent and able to learn (I've grown up with computers as my hobby since the 80s.)

violent video games developer -> bible software developer?

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:40:45 -0800

My partner and I are currently living on separate sides of the Vancouver/Washington state border - I would very much like to move to be with her, but the job prospects for my specialties are low. One option is to work for a local company which produces bible software. From a technical standpoint, their products are excellent, the jobs pay well , have excellent medical and retirement benefits and they regularly hire from outside the faith. The catch? I am a staunch atheist, and bordering on actively anti-religious. Currently, it's not like I am being extremely principled in my employment - I work for a video games company, and our products sometimes nudge up against my personal standards, being more (deliberately) violent, (accidentally ) misogynist, and (accidentally, slightly) racist than I would ideally like.

However, there is a good chance I would learn some interesting technologies at the bible software company (iOS, Android), and the excellent benefits would be great for me and my nascent family, as my partner is self employed, and is starting up her own business. Complicating this is our wish to buy a house in the area, and have children within 3 years.

Assuming that I couldn't get any other employment in the area other than retail work, or starting my own contract programming business, it really makes the most sense if I am honest.

However - for a long time I have been dissatisfied with working on products which don't align with my own values, and this, while arguably better for the world than graphically violent entertainment, still seems like a solid step away from the direction I'd like to be going in.

What direction would I like to be going in? Working on Family friendly, exploratory toy-games for toddlers->tweens would be fantastic, allowing me to keep using my programming skills for good, rather than various shades of things I am, at best, ambivalent about the moral consequences of.

I haven't really investigated what stripe of Christianity the company founders subscribe to, but that is something I'll do. Finding out that the company founders/company donated to anti-gay or pro-choice causes, or was anti-gay in its hiring policies, would be a deal breaker.

I want a summer internship where I can code.

vogon_poet — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 09:44:56 -0800

Can you give me advice on finding summer internships for a sophomore CS major? I'm a sophomore at an "elite liberal arts college". We are not especially known for our CS department but it's good enough. I'm looking for jobs or internships this summer that will allow me to get practical experience and will help me find work in the future.

Relevant information:

Coursework: I've taken AP Computer Science, placed out of one college intro course and completed the other. Next semester I will be taking two courses: Data Structures and Algorithms and Computer Graphics.

Work experience: I have worked several summers in a medical imaging (heavy math/cs focus) lab. I did a lot of programming for them, including designing and completing a fairly serious extension to their in-house software. Unfortunately, this work was mostly done in IDL, which is not a widely-used language outside of medical imaging and astronomy.

Computer skills: I am competent in Java and unfortunately also IDL. I can use Unix. I understand the essentials of object-oriented programming (but have no knowledge of "design patterns"). I know basic Python, but in practice I've used it only for scripting. I have played with Scheme and worked through about half of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, enough to at least understand functional programming. I've also read through K&R, so I am at least familiar with C, but I am not experienced.

So what should I do? I don't feel that I have an especially strong background or set of skills. My options as I see them:

I could apply for an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates).

I could also apply for Google Summer of Code.

I could also work part time while contributing to an open-source project (for free).

Do any of these strike you as especially good or bad options? Can you see any misconceptions? Am I missing any options?

I would also appreciate more general advice: how and in what areas to improve my skills, programs to apply to and projects to work on, how to get started in open source, etc.

"Computer programmer seeks new challenges"

Kirn — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 06:16:43 -0800

I have a good computer science degree and about 4 years' experience as a programmer. What other jobs can I do? I worked on university projects relating to education and video games, mostly user interfaces. I'm sick of programming - specifically, the endless learning of new languages - but I do like universities and novel computing/technology/science in the real world.

I really enjoy design, in the most abstract sense - e.g. I would call an elegantly disguised but logical and effective plot twist as good 'design'. I feel like this could apply to lots of things, but I'm not sure what they are.

I also like comedy (I do stand-up and am very interested in this world), video games, science, rational/evidence-based thinking, left-wing ideals (equal rights, welfare state etc.), travel, flexible work, and being self-directed and independent.

Other skills: I'm a good writer and I'm organised. I'm not great at maths, multitasking or talking to people for long periods. I have no sense of direction and my common sense sometimes fails me.

What jobs/careers besides programmer might I enjoy and qualify for? All suggestions wacky or otherwise gratefully received!

Aptitude-based hiring and on-the-job hiring in software companies?

zeek321 — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:16:03 -0800

I'm looking for software companies that do 1) aptitude-based hiring and 2) on-the-job training: "If you pass a (often language-agnostic) programming test, in addition to in-person interviews, maybe a code review, etc., we will train you for your job." What companies in the Chicago area follow this model? Epic Systems in Verona, WI and Thoughtworks in Chicago follow this pattern. (I'm curious about companies outside the Chicago area too, in or near Philly is another region of interest, but I'm most interested in Chicago, especially El and CTA accessible workplaces if I'm being pony-specific.)

Careers for someone who can code

vogon_poet — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 09:02:00 -0800

I'm good at programming computers. But I don't want to be a software developer. What can I do for a career and what should I be doing now to make it possible? I like coding. I have a natural aptitude for it. It's one of the few things in life that comes easily to me. But this segment by Zed Shaw really rings true to me. I'm pretty sure I don't want to be a professional programmer or software developer. I've heard enough horror stories about long hours and impossible deadlines that it doesn't sound like a particularly great job. (I'm a pretty type-B person, I want my work to be chill.) More importantly, there's more to life than just doing the one thing that comes easily to me.

My question is technically two parts, but they're very connected to each other.

First: any suggestions for fields I could work in? I know research science involves some programming, but it's difficult to get research jobs, plus I don't have any idea what field I would choose. Academic CS would be interesting but limiting, again because I don't want to live my life just doing the one thing that comes easily to me. Finance pays well and you get to solve really interesting problems, but I'd feel sort of dirty, and long hours with a bunch of super-competitive alpha males sounds terrible. These can't be my only options; I'm sure the hive-mind knows fields where computer skills are useful, where I could solve interesting problems, and that don't have to be stressful or miserable.

Second: what should I be doing now in terms of classes and internships? I'm going to be a sophomore at a liberal arts college. I thought I would major in physics, but the lab portion of E&M showed me that I don't want to. Now I'm leaning towards a math major (I actually like it, this isn't just a fallback). Our CS department is acceptable but not great (plus again I would rather expand my mind than get really good at this one thing). also, where should I be aiming to work in the summers?

(There are a lot of previous questions that are very similar to this one, some from programmers who want to get out of software development, which makes me think my intuition here is right. But none of them seem to have very concrete suggestions about what to do.)

Is there such a thing as an 'easy' programming job?

kitcat — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:49:23 -0800

What would be the easist kind of programming job a person could get? I'll likely be starting a developing career at 33 or so (and I'll probably have a three year old and a one year old at that point). I don't expect to be awesome; I'll be reliable, willing and able to follow instructions and to get along with pretty much everyone. My programming skills and knowledge will be merely adequate. That won't be for lack of effort or desire; it's just because I'm not very quick with the logic-type stuff. It's not something I'm innately talented at and I have to work at it and practice quite a bit. Also, I didn't grow up 'digital'. I'm coming at this later than many.

I'm ok with that. Family life is more important to me than having an amazing career trajectory and making a lot of money. Luckily, my husband's got that part down. I'm cool with making as little as $40K.

This being said, what kind of programming position should I be looking for down the road? Something easier than not would be better -something where I won't have to work extremely quickly (again, not because of laziness, just because I'm afraid I won't be able to without being very stressed out and feeling like a total dummy). Should I aim to be a tester? What would that look like? I would appreciate any suggestions. Feel free to pick at any faulty assumptions here too.

How much does an inexperienced programmer get paid?

Anonymous — Tue, 17 May 2011 13:10:40 -0800

How much should I get paid as an inexperienced programmer doing Java web development for a US government contractor? I’m clueless. I think I’ll mainly be doing Java EE-based web development with Tomcat, and maybe some Python programming as well. I’ll be working at a major federal agency in DC, but my employer is technically a contractor rather than the government itself. (The government people were involved in the hiring decision, but I don’t know if they have any say in this part.)

I have very solid knowledge of Java, Python, and the tools they’re using, but basically no experience with web development, and less than one year of total experience as a professional programmer. I think I’m their only candidate right now, and they’ll almost certainly give me a formal offer of a job once I tell them how much I want to be paid.

I need to set an hourly rate. Obviously I should ask for more than they want to pay, but only a little bit more. I’m very inexperienced, so I have absolutely no idea what’s reasonable.

How much would you ask for, if you were in this position? Even the vaguest ballpark estimate, or any other related advice, would be a great help!

which programming language shouldi learn to be best employable.

radiosilents — Thu, 05 May 2011 18:41:10 -0800

let's assume i'm decently technically minded, and entirely burned out on my current job (technical support). let's further assume that programming is vaguely attractive and something i think i could do, and that i would like to be employable at 50-65k a year. what language do i learn? why?

Finding a Tech Job in a New City with No Contacts

mrbob14 — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 06:48:04 -0800

A continuation of part 1 of my "looking for a new place to live" saga, I'm now ready to start a serious hunt for a (preferably) software development job in a new city. Problem is, I don't have any contacts in the cities I'm interested in. What's the best way to land a job in one of these towns? I'm a 23-year old male who recently worked as a developer for a large software company for about a year. In the middle of January, I left my job because I was unhappy about working in the same small town I grew up in and wanted to pursue something else. I made an attempt to go back to music school, and things didn't really work out. I've continued to maintain another job I've held since 2009 as a church organist to keep the cash flow coming in until I find a new opportunity.

I'd ideally like to find a job in software development, but I don't really have contacts in the software industry in any of the locations I'm interested in (Portland, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, LA, and possibly a few others). Most of my contacts are concentrated in the northeast.

So, my skill set: At my last job, I mainly developed JSPs and created custom Java classes to extend the API of a very large enterprise-level piece of software. I did some UI stuff with HTML/CSS/Javascript, and also did some database work with Oracle. I also have some experience writing PHP/MySQL apps and knowledge of C/C++. My degree is in Mathematics, and not CS, although I did take a few CS courses in college.

One area of concern is how I should explain a 2+ month gap in my software work history. Like I said, I left because I was unhappy working in the same small town where I grew up, and I wanted to try my hand at going back to music school. Should I even mention this in a cover letter, or save it until they ask?

What should I be doing now to help my cause? Should I try to make contacts in the cities I'm interested in before applying to places? If so, what's the best way to do that? Should I embark on a big software project on my own? If so, what? I'm basically looking for the next steps that will increase my chances of landing a job in one of these cool new places.

Looking for a new city!

mrbob14 — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:08:56 -0800

Similar to firei's post, I've lived in the same town for almost all of my 23 years on this planet. I want to move to a brand-new, exciting city. Where should I go? I'm a 23-year old male, currently living with my parents in southwestern Pennsylvania. I graduated from Penn State with a BA in Math in December of 2008, so I did live in State College for a few years, but other than that, I've pretty much lived in the same house in the same small town for my whole life. I need a change!

For most of last year, I worked as a software developer for a fairly large company. The actual "job" part of things wasn't bad, but the fact that I was working 15 minutes from my parents' house just added to my feelings of restlessness and anxiety about being "stuck" here. I became increasingly unhappy, and in January decided to leave the company.

Since leaving my software job, I've been spending a lot of time focusing on music. I have been working the past few years as a church organist north of Pittsburgh, and have focused more energy on that as of late. It pays well enough that I don't have to be super concerned about money for a little while, at least.

I think the time is right for me to make a move and explore a new city! What concerns me is finding a stable job, whether that be in software, music, or otherwise. Like I said, I do have experience as a developer, but I'm worried about what companies might think about the fact that I left my last position.

I've thought about taking a month off at my church gig (I can do this without any problems) and hitting the road, exploring different parts of the US. Is that a crazy idea, or should I just research places from where I am?

Here are the criteria for a new city:

- Nowhere in the northeast or midwest. I'd like to explore a new area of the country.
- Either a fairly large city (My idea of "fairly large" is a city that's at least big enough to have one pro sports team) or a college town.
- A good music scene (especially live music)
- An influx of young people that are involved in the community
- Decent job market for tech jobs, if possible

Any suggestions for where I should go? Also, any suggestions for how to land a software gig in a new town, especially since I quit my last job so recently?

Any advice on the moving thing and the job thing would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, guys!

How can my friend find a job in programming?

biochemist — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:44:34 -0800

How does my friend overcome the catch-22 of needing experience in programming, but being unable to get a job because he doesn't have any? He has an associate's in computer programming and is working on a bachelor's, but he can't seem to find any work in the meantime. He doesn't have any experience outside of college. Is there anything he can do that'll help improve his prospects?

How to get web programming skills up to speed asap

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:25:43 -0800

I need to get a new job, as soon as possible. I’m planning to get back into IT, specifically Web Programming and need advice on how to get my skills back up to speed. I’m looking to get a new job within the next couple of months if possible. I’ve worked in IT in the past, first as a commercial programmer then also in network support, the latter mainly contracting. That had faded away partially due to some health issues that are now resolved and partially due to living in a relatively remote part of the country where there’s not much work of any kind and being reliant of public transport. I’m currently living with relatives but I can’t live on their good will for much longer, and the situation is getting increasingly stressful partially due to the financial problems they have. I had sort of kept things together in recent years by various bits of self-employment but that’s never going to provide enough money to strike out on my own. So I’m looking at getting a job and moving away.

I would apply for network support roles but things have moved on a bit from when I was last doing it and I’ve always had a problem of answering technical questions in interviews regarding things that I’m not current in.

However I’ve already got some web skills (HMTL, CSS, Javascript) and before Christmas I had started updating my old programming skills by learning C#, .net and looking at adding some of the newer web technologies like AJAX and JQuery.

What I want is advice on where to find some example projects that I can do on my own and/or as part of some open source project that will rapidly get me up to a ‘real world’ programming standard.

Also any ideas what can I do about a lack of references? Once I’m up to speed is Jobserve the best place to start job hunting? What else could I be doing? And while I’m doing it, how can I stay sane in a household where everyone is stressed out?

I’m in the UK.

Throwaway email: itjobhelp2011@gmail.com

Help me prepare for my programming interview!

coelacanth! — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:04:37 -0800

I'm a computer programmer, and have an exciting job interview lined up. Yaaay! Help me prepare by suggesting some difficult (but reasonable) programming interview questions to practice on. Also, I would appreciate any general advice you have for succeeding at programming interviews. Feel free to post any sort of algorithm/design/general knowledge questions here, or link me to other sites that are good for such things.

One requirement -- any questions must be posted with the solutions -- how else will I know if I'm right? ;)

As for general advice -- I'm pretty much a nervous wreck in these interviews and suffer from severe performance anxiety. So I would appreciate any sort of helpful tips/tricks for being prepared and confident in this situation.

My background : Java, OOP, server-side web development, SQL/data design

I have lots of experience and have completed some great projects, but I'm really bad at these kinds of interviews. Help me improve!

Should I become a consultant?

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 18:51:25 -0800

Should I become a consultant? Please help me decide! Please let me know where I can find more information. I am really clueless about legal aspects of consulting. I am fortunate enough to work and have experience in a very specialized field. Will leave details out for privacy's sake, but let's say it has to do with software development. Fairly often I get people asking me to work for them in any capacity, part time, full time, contracting, etc. Right now I have a full time job in the aforementioned field.
However, it's not exactly what I want from life. It's not in the right industry. I cannot find jobs in the industry I want in the area I live, and moving is not an option right now.
I feel my career path is stagnating. I was thinking about slowly edging towards the industry I want to be in by doing consultant work from home instead of looking to move somewhere. I don't really like the corporate world anyway.
I would like to be able to continue to work for my current employer as a consultant, as well as for other companies in the area as needed. At the same time, I would try to find remote gigs in the industry I want in, leveraging my programming experience and work experience in said industry. I also feel that being independent is a necessary step to starting my own firm. And making the big bucks. Because I want to make the big bucks...and I'm not that young anymore.
Cost of living here is pretty high. No savings so to speak of right now. Single.
Has the Obama administration done anything to make health insurance cheaper for self-employed individuals? Are there government incentives, loans, I can take for starting a consulting business?
Should I even be thinking about this in the current economic climate?

How do I get more motivation to code outside of class?

RaDeuX — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:07:26 -0800

I'm lacking motivation to code outside of programming classes... I enjoy the classes a lot, but when it comes to coding outside of class, I get stuck on what I want to code or what kind of projects to contribute to. So I've been taking several classes to prepare myself for upper division computer science courses when I transfer to UCSC next fall. These classes consisted of 3 quarters of C, 1 quarter of Java, 1 quarter of Python, and 1 quarter of HTML. I enjoy my programming courses the most out of any of my other classes. They are challenging, yet rewarding when all of the bugs in the assigned lab assignments/projects are dealt with.

However, when I think about contributing to open source or making my own iPhone app, I run into a wall. I hopped onto several IRC chatrooms and thought that the users would be genuinely pleased that a newbie would be interested in contributing to open source projects. I asked around on the Pidgen, Django, Python, and other chatrooms, but they all seemed to just ignore me.

In my classes, all I've ever dealt with were small-scale programs. When I look at repositories and large amounts of code, it becomes rather overwhelming. A couple people that I spoke to told me it was simple. All I had to do is grab a repository and make changes to it. They make it seem really easy. Maybe I'm just being a gripe about it.

Ditching that idea, I decided to learn objective C and Cocoa Touch simultaneously with Apress's "Beginning iPhone 3 Development" book. I stopped about 1/3 into the book, as apps for just about anything already existed. It took me a few weeks of brainstorming and browsing through the app market to realize that it has become so saturated, and the $99/year subscription would probably chew holes in my pockets due to the odds of my apps ever reaching an audience.

I had an internship a few months ago that dealt with django/python, but it didn't work out well for my employer or myself. It seemed that neither of us were interested in my own progress. He wasn't interested because I'm still green, and I wasn't interested because I didn't like dealing with large amounts of code. I know I have to deal with it when I get into the real world, but it's just overwhelming for some reason.

So I have two options. One is to basically harass the open source community with my own bug fixes so I can actually get feedback (whether it's positive/negative), or my other option is to create iPhone apps as a freelancer (creating other people's app ideas for commission). Which option would be better for me in the long run? I'm favoring the latter option myself, as I need to start saving up money for college somehow, and I would like to keep my jobs within the computer science realm so my resume will look a lot better once I get my bachelor's degree.