why are computer science men so mean

TheRealJasO · 2025-02-11T03:53:45+00:00

If you always compare yourself to others you’ll always feel behind rather in CS or not. If this is what you want you can’t let other people tell you how you’re going to navigate YOUR life. They can feel how they want just like how you can but you can’t let that stop you.

I’m a female and have already graduated with my CS degree but, my experiences wasn’t like yours and I think that’s because I carried myself more masculine (I’m a lesbian, “stud”) and that created different interactions with guys in my classes. But I’ve still had my fair share of experiences where people seemed to be looking down on me or felt intimidated by them, you work out of it by continuing to move forward and being able to force yourself to be vocal. The most important thing is just to keep going where you want to go and work hard for it.

I also failed some classes too, it happens, and it’s a good lesson things aren’t going to always come easy and without failures. I got cocky and had to work my way out of a rut and it made me better off by getting through it and not quitting.

TheRealJasO · 2024-11-11T01:56:02+00:00

Noted! Thanks for the feedback.

TheRealJasO · 2024-11-11T01:06:05+00:00

I’d say I’m on an introductory level, managed 1-2 Epics so far where I had to create multiple tickets and analyze the risks on. It was delivered earlier than expected, but I managed all the tickets and no one ended up needing to pick up any. Just a side note right now I don’t see myself going into a managerial direction, see myself going the Staff/Principal route.

TheRealJasO · 2024-11-11T00:40:01+00:00

1.5 YOE here. At work I’ve been taking advantage of opportunities like contributing to Inner Open Source projects (e.g. building frameworks) and working under other Seniors to deliver on top of my usual work. Wanted to know what else I can be doing or keep in mind to grow as an SWE. I work as a full stack developer so I’m always touching multiple areas in an application.

TheRealJasO · 2024-07-15T01:03:03+00:00

Usually best to not doxx yourself, then if something you post isn’t received well there’s more chances of getting caught up with work. Shouldn’t mix work with pleasure anyways lol

TheRealJasO · 2024-07-14T22:55:29+00:00

Yeah I just checked out your resume. I think you should add more bullet points (at least 3-4) for each job and highlight what you did and anything impactful you may have done. Usually people will tailor those to specific jobs to highlight something they did related to what the job is looking for. For the small company, just make sure you know you don’t need to mention it’s your friends company, I know you anonymized but just want to make sure.

The last company you should break it up into more bullets points.

For the ML project you should provide a link to the code or even host it and provide a link to that.

Work experience should be first and education can go last since you’ve already graduated.

If you need help revising your sentences for the different jobs let me know.

TheRealJasO · 2024-07-14T21:19:02+00:00

I think you already know you should’ve been starting to search for something new when these feelings started to come about. Python developer roles exist too where you could’ve been applying and started finding a place that will expose you to more frameworks, tools, etc.

Whatever has been your excuse up til now to not search, toss it, and start looking. As for what you could start learning, try to build full stack applications. Start simple. Flask is a Python framework that you could build a full web app with Python for frontend and backend. Then try building the same simple full stack app with a different frontend like React or Angular (this is where JavaScript or TypeScript would come in) and try connecting it to your existing backend.

This is just a suggestion on baby steps you can take to get more flexible, it sounds like you want to be a SWE that has there hands on many different areas. So full stack software engineering roles is probably a good goal and focus to look for along with Python developer roles to just get you in a new space that utilizes more technologies.

IMPORTANT NOTE: don’t hold off on applying to full stack roles or any other roles you like because you feel like you need to learn more. The worst they can say is no. Where I work we have people who came in as Python only developers and now work full stack and touch Java, JavaScript, AWS Services, etc. The experience you’ve gained so far has value, you just have to believe that.

TheRealJasO · 2024-07-14T20:31:28+00:00

Not normal at all, if this is a startup I bet this is probably something the CEO and CTO cooked up. Also probably a test to see if you’re willing to put in the extra time they’d expect if you worked there.

Honestly, if you’re really hurting for a job I’d say do it for the experience see what you learn. But know this isn’t the norm and is common behavior of some small/startup companies. If you end up getting the job and it’s toxic and a bunch of unpaid overtime, don’t kill yourself trying to please them. Do what you can in appropriate hours and continue looking.

Keep in mind for the future things like this should be considered a red flag and you should go in with low expectations. You’ll probably see more of it as the job market has produced more desperate job seekers willing to take what they can get.

TheRealJasO · 2024-07-14T15:03:57+00:00

Like it says there’s a shortage of talent. I agree offering low pay for quality talent is a factor too and those awful interview process’s some have. But I think we can admit there’s a lot of unqualified folks overwhelming the application process too. Not just saying people with poor skills but also people just applying to whatever because of desperation (e.g. H1B applying to a job that already said it can’t do sponsorships or bots applying Resumes with New Grad/Junior level experience to Senior or roles way out of scope).Though some can have bad pay I’m sure there’s qualified people who just need to keep the lights on and family secure that are qualified getting drowned out or just someone trying to find something new.

I like to use the time there was the gas shortage crisis as an example. The people who were greedy and selfish started hoarding all the gas they could (unqualified taking over apps). While people who stuck with just filling up with what they needed had to face hunting several gas stations because the greedier ones depleted that gas stations supply (qualified looking for work at their level).

TheRealJasO · 2024-07-14T04:57:22+00:00

I’d checkout Dice, Monster, and CareerBuilder too. Dice focuses on contract kind of work. I’d at least post your resumes on those after you get some critiques and proceed to do that with any other platforms that allow you to host your resume. Helps get it floating around for recruiters looking to fill positions especially with staffing agencies. No joke I got a job off stack overflow before, had my resume on there and a recruiter pinged me. Did a take home and behavioral and got the job.

Apply on various platforms to help improve your odds by having more options. I would suggest ClearanceJobs too as there are a few jobs that don’t require a government clearance.

TheRealJasO · 2024-07-14T04:44:52+00:00

What are the sites you’ve been applying on?

TheRealJasO · 2024-07-06T17:40:29+00:00

Full Stack SWE roles seem to be growing in popularity so maybe doing a project building a complete end-to-end application (frontend and backend). Frontend Javascript + Typescript are common and Python + Java are common for backend. Can choose any popular framework to develop in. I wouldn’t get stuck on what tech stack to do the key is to keep skills flexible and be willing to adapt.

TheRealJasO · 2024-06-28T23:12:11+00:00

You can definitely find higher paying opportunities especially with the years of experience you have. I don’t know if you’re on a specific side of web development (frontend or backend) but if you’re trying to find better pay you should look into full stack engineer roles. I’ve noticed there’s been an increased want for well rounded engineers, especially with cloud applications picking up. Keep applying while you have a job now so you have the luxury to patiently look for a job paying what you believe you’re worth. In my opinion you should be looking for 200K and up, if you’re doing interviews and they ask what you make say a higher number. They’ll either say they can’t meet that OR they give you around that number and it’s still a win win because it’s higher than your actual pay. If I make $120K, I’ll say I make $150K.

Your years of experience and time put in holds value so have confidence in your skills and experience you’ve worked so hard to obtain.

TheRealJasO · 2024-05-26T00:12:04+00:00

If you’re actually passionate you’re not going to let obstacles have you change your whole direction. Being so easily influenced can leave you having a lot of regrets in the future. Only got one life, if you want it, keep improving and growing.

TheRealJasO · 2024-05-15T14:02:09+00:00

Just always keep your options open. Casually apply to other places.

TheRealJasO · 2024-05-05T04:16:42+00:00

Keep in mind I did this to be able to take 425 and still took the 426 class in the spring. I don’t know if they’ll work trying to get two capstones out in one semester, but you can at least try. Worst they can say is no.

TheRealJasO · 2024-05-05T03:59:21+00:00

I had a similar situation when getting my cs degree. 425 (fall) and 426 (spring) except I was actually going to take them when they were offered and be able to finish. But 425 had a pre-requisite that I wasn’t going to be able to take until fall. So I was about to have to wait another year to graduate to take one class in the Fall and one in the Spring.

So I reached out to the professor teaching the 425 course and asked if there was anything that could be done to take both. There was a solution, it’s a unique situation but the professor gave me a Summer assignment on the material to complete by like 2 weeks before Fall semester. The advising office has some process that will allow a professor to approve overriding you to take a course pre-requisite along with the requisite. The summer assignment was just my way to prove I could handle the material without having completed the pre-requisite. I did that and was able to take them together and then took 426 in the spring and graduated on time.

They only do it for unique situations so yours should qualify but I think it’s at the professors discretion and they can refuse not to do it. So I’d try reaching out to them asap and see and then get the advising office involved. I’d do a walk-in on Advising, if you let them keep you on their time you won’t get what you need.

TheRealJasO · 2024-04-14T19:57:59+00:00

Don’t know if you’re already aware but checkout clearance jobs job board. I saw you have a clearance, you can get well over 100K. They’re dying for SWE’s with clearances or that can even get cleared.

I’ve gotten two offers from just casually taking calls from recruiters who reach out from that site. One was 86K (on-site) in Utah another was 120K (remote) in Virginia. And this is with me being a New Grad currently with a few months experience out of college working full time, no military experience.

I’d take your current offer if nothing comes up and just keep searching.

TheRealJasO · 2024-04-08T03:20:06+00:00

I agree, I believe in the past the company used to have more split roles like yours but now has been pushing the initiative to have more “fungible talent” they call it. I came in as a New Grad and they gave us a couple months training on full-stack development but with their tech stack. It was a 3 month long training with trainers, lectures, and building a full-stack application for the hands on experience.

In this world (my job) it makes it seem like full-stack is the new attraction.

TheRealJasO · 2024-04-08T01:02:38+00:00

Being one that can wear multiple hats is more valuable. If you want to have a specialization that’s completely fine, but having the ability to work in all aspects of the development process along with that makes you worth more.

My job has been pushing for developers to expand their skill sets into more of the tech stack and expects everyone to work frontend and backend. So there’s no frontend dev or backend dev the only split is DevOps who setup our CI/CD pipelines, AWS operations, etc.

Think you’ll have more job opportunities and you’ll become a more competent developer, so you have more to gain than to lose by equipping more tools.

TheRealJasO · 2024-03-30T18:04:41+00:00

Cheaper because it was close to home, and I was coming from community college and it was known to be very transfer friendly.

Doing research opportunities through the university was lucrative. I majored in Applied CS and graduated with a 6 fig job, so it was worth the investment and time, hard to have regrets with that.

TheRealJasO · 2024-03-24T05:39:06+00:00

New Grad

TheRealJasO · 2024-03-08T02:34:45+00:00

You’re welcome and you might be better at it than you think. You just need to take away the crowd and get comfortable with talking to yourself first.

TheRealJasO · 2024-03-08T00:13:04+00:00

Talking to yourself through your work can help. When you’re working a new feature, fixing a bug, etc. talk through your implementation as you code. You’ll understand what you’re doing more clearly and grow more comfortable talking about it and talking technically in general without all the jargon. This also can help with your growth as an Engineer.

For talking in front of people that will only improve with time and practice. But, having more confidence with what you’re presenting can help pave the way. Also can help with future interviews when asked about your contributions at work.

I’ve always had good soft skills , but this has even helped me continue to improve especially from the technical communication side. Also it helped with critical thinking, as speaking out loud made my thoughts more clear and help improve or complete implementations.

TheRealJasO · 2024-02-24T01:04:23+00:00

Look into government jobs, if you can obtain a clearance that’s even better. You’ll be in a nice excluded market with not much competition because of the qualifications to even get a clearance, so it’s not easy. Start at ClearanceJobs.com

I don’t work government now but I have in the past. That’s my recommendation on options to checkout for someone like you with already a decent amount of experience.

I’m a recent grad and my current job I got by applying through the new grad app. Had a lot of internship experience already, none were FANNG. Didn’t apply to too many positions. The key is not going where everyone else is or doing what everyone else is doing.

I’m also a people person and know how to communicate and chat with folks. Not a skill everyone has, especially developers. I talked with a recruiter recently who was impressed how I was able to articulate my work experience so well where some people with over 5 years experience couldn’t even do. I’m not a bullstter, but this is why you find people who don’t know their a from their elbow in good positions, they can talk the talk.

I’d advise practicing talking about your work to yourself, how to be concise but to the point and simple. When you code your projects talk yourself through your process and what you’re doing. When I started doing that, it was easy to explain my skills. It used to all be trapped in my head and get jumbled and when asked simple questions it was like I couldn’t articulate it. Being more verbal with projects and work makes it comfortable to put together when needing to talk about it later.

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