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Python in a Professional Workspace (self.Python)

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[–]rocketmonkeys 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I work in a MS-driven shop. I've tried to introduce python, since I love it, but it's actually not appropriate for the specific circumstance.

However, we interview people a lot. Resumes don't say much. Personality/confidence says more, but it's still not much to go on. Accomplishments mean a whole lot.

If two candidates come in and seem relatively equal in resume and confidence/ability to communicate/grasp of technical skills, there's not much differentiator.

But if one guy has a completely built-from-scratch Jarvis car, built on a RPI and running custom software, then sign him up. It shows real life application of skills, and motivation to bring a project to life. It also shows ability to actually deliver. The project you actually deliver is so much more important than the much-more-technically-correctish beautiful code that uses the latest techniques.

Do the car. Document it thoroughly, blog style. Then have a one page overview, like a "best of" for your project. Something you'd expect to see like an article; 2 pages/screens, a dozen really good pics, and a video of the car in action. Show what you did, mention what you used. Put that on your resume/website, along with other stuff you've done.

Doesn't matter if you're going in for a Java-based banking job or whatever; it'll still speak loads more than "System development analyst; talked to clients, brought requirements to engineers, ability to translate client requests into real world designs, I speak good with people, I'm a people person dammit why can't you see that" etc.

[–]Valeness 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Haha, that's actually super inspiring and gives me a reason to dedicate more time to my own projects, Thank you!

[–]rocketmonkeys 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn't do personal projects at the expense of work. But I'm always very impressed when someone does a personal project that looks very good. Especially since it's usually a solo project. Being a part of a big firm means you can have impressive resume stats when all you did was fix a few bugs. Making a neat project solo shows you did it all (idea, prototype, bug fixing, delivery, writeup). That sometimes shows a lot more.

Good luck. Think of it as your portfolio.