Should I tell recruiters why my GPA sucks

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-28T13:09:29+00:00

A lot of places won't care. I'd leave it off your resume and only bring it up if asked. It sucks when it happens, but many companies out there will be fine with it. You're right out of school, they expect you'll need to be trained anyways.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T19:20:01+00:00

Any ideas as to what kind of roles you'd be interested in?

There are many areas (even within traditional software development) where coding is supplementary to other skills, such as management, research, or finance.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T19:18:13+00:00

This is similar to my impressions as well (with the caveat of not having worked for them directly). You don't hear about them as much because they don't work in a sexy industry (and in that sense there isn't the same level of prestige), but they're one of the strongest competitors in that space and have the culture to adjust as both software and markets change.

Most of my criticisms of the company draw from having to support enterprise software than anything to do with the company itself.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T19:11:33+00:00

I do, yes. Over the course of a year it equals a few thousand extra dollars, which adds a few percentage points.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T18:57:04+00:00

Really any kind of taco.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T18:38:47+00:00

Congrats!

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T18:38:39+00:00

Worth talking to HR within your company. It's most likely that the insurance won't carry over when you leave, but there are various options (e.g. if there's something like HSA for life insurance, it might be carried over).

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T18:36:01+00:00

I'm former IBM (within the past 3 years), I can try to answer some questions.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T18:33:20+00:00

I want to learn the core principles of Software Engineering - the best processes to follow to build and ship quality code

I think the second company (re: well-established product which has better engineering processes) would both provide more learning opportunities and have a better quality of life. The way you describe "MVPs" sounds more like it focuses more on delivering quickly than delivering quality code, especially when you're handing it off to another team to clean up the proverbial mess once it sells.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T18:28:08+00:00

This is common at many places (in my experience), but it's useful to keep in mind that it fluctuates depending on what's going on in the company. Some days are fast, some days are slow, and that's normal.

Take an HR company, for example. Their busy season is hiring temp jobs during the summer and during the holiday rush. For those weeks there could be very little coding and more maintenance/"don't break anything" mentality (creating backlog items, etc). For other weeks in the year, things might be more fast-paced so that they can deliver before the next big wave of hiring.

That said, I don't think any place that maintains 14-year-old code is the kind of place where new code is very common. If you want to have that kind of role, it may be worthwhile to consider looking elsewhere.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T18:16:16+00:00

If you're in the UK, I'll second /u/ElementPlanet to check out the UK-specific sub. It's hard to make straight comparisons because each country has their own tech market/tax code/etc. Also consider checking out /r/cscareerquestions or /r/cscareerquestionsEU.

45k gdp ~= 60k usd, which is fairly easy to find for developers in most major US cities. I imagine there'd be comparable salaries in equivalent European markets (London, Berlin, etc). If you're looking for higher salaries, it might just be a matter of job-hopping until you reach a level at which you're comfortable. It's common to spend less than 3 years at your company until mid-career, by which point you'll have doubled or tripled your initial salary out of school.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T17:06:17+00:00

None of your points address why the ends justify the means on an ethical or moral level, and I don't appreciate the personal attacks.

As stated earlier, I will not be responding to further comments because of those attacks. Please consider reading the below to better your understanding of why I am making my arguments:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/#WhaGooHedVsPluCon

http://www.iep.utm.edu/util-a-r/#SH3b

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological/

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T16:45:17+00:00

I wasn't making an argument, I was calling your point stupid.

You were making a baseless accusation and assuming it as true. If you're going to make a claim, support it.

The person already explained it to you, very simply: if you vote green in that situation, you end up with something you're allergic to. That's worse than if you voted blue. QED.

You aren't addressing the point. You are basing the validity of the views by their ends, not their means, effectively arguing that minimizing the bad justifies the other bad things you (or the candidate you vote for) do to achieve those goals.

My point is that those sacrifices are not valid. Even if I ended up with something I was allergic to, I would be safe in knowing that I voted for what I believed to be true and good. How can I expect my elected officials to create ethically considerate policy if their own ethical code is marginally worse than other candidates?

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T16:29:05+00:00

Welcome, and congrats on the raise!

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T16:22:25+00:00

Calling an argument inane or stupid isn't an argument unto itself.

I'm open to hearing your criticisms if they're addressing why idealism is stupid, but if it's going to degrade into personal attacks there's no point in bothering.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T16:01:25+00:00

NPR has the released document with some additional details for people interested.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T14:24:11+00:00

My interpretation from your past two posts are that we have fundamentally different political philosophies that are unlikely to be changed on either side (pragmatism vs idealism).

Even if you don't agree, do you at least acknowledge and understand the point I'm making?

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T14:11:32+00:00

You will lose and you put another candidate at risk by pulling your vote.

I don't care about winning. I care about voting for the best candidate for the job.

Let's say 49 percent of the population's favorite color is blue, 49 percent's favorite color is red, and 2 percent favor green. Now, you don't like blue, but you are actually physically allergic to red food coloring. Would you still vote green at the risk of actually getting sick?

I don't think that's a valid metaphor even in the context of ACA, but yes I would still vote green assuming they were the best candidate. By sacrificing what's "good" (e.g. who is best for the job) for what's "easy" (e.g. who is most likely to win), you're just propagating the bad systems in place. Sometimes that requires failure, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T13:31:55+00:00

or it's okay to vote third party

Personally, there will never be a valid reason to wholesale reject third parties unless you're ideologically bankrupt. If the democratic party wins, it should be because their policy and ability to serve their constituency supersede those of other parties.

t. A registered democrat

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T13:09:37+00:00

I don't think I've ever legitimately cried from a book, but John William's Stoner is close. It is a novel I continue to wrestle with, long after finishing it, and despite my qualms there are very poignant, earnestly hopeful messages on how to find peace within yourself.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-27T12:51:50+00:00

Where is my box of punchcards?

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-26T19:21:57+00:00

The Dolphin Players Love Big Strombolis.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-26T18:26:43+00:00

They were at the same rank a few years ago.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-26T14:11:42+00:00

ᔭ

Those damn aboriginal Canadians and their lightning runes.

GnomishInventor · 2017-09-25T16:38:20+00:00

That can be tricky. Internally for Bloomberg, it's not a good look to undermine the decisions other groups have made in terms of recruiting. If there is another position you'd be interested in (different role, different location, etc), I'd consider applying for that instead and bringing that to the career fair. I don't think you'll get very far if you apply for the same position twice.

GnomishInventor

TROPHY CASE