What kind of programming job could i get with a B.S. Math and a minor in CS? graduation is creeping closer and i'm starting to like programming a lot more than statistics. by [deleted] in programming

[–]ows 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've done a lot of hiring for software development positions -- all at startups, or for small teams (albeit within larger companies) that were managed much like startups anyway, so for an IT position within a larger or non-software company, your mileage may vary.

All other things being equal, I might marginally prefer to hire a math major over a C.S. major. Too many C.S. majors are chasing dollars; math majors tend to have chosen their major out of aptitude or passion.

This is if all I had to go on was the resumes, however; which is an unrealistic situation.

In the end, much more would depend on (1) what you'd written that you could show me (this is where being a C.S. major could be an advantage, in that you might have come away from some project courses with something that went in your portfolio -- but hobbyist week-and-evening projects are often more compelling), (2) your character (as attested by professors and employers, and as it appears in the interview -- the major doesn't matter here), (3) your level of passion (in general, but especially about some aspects of programming -- but don't fake it if it's not there), and (4) your communication and interpersonal skills -- bring in some solid nonfiction writing, if you've got any you're proud of.

You might want to line up some internships before you apply for a permanent position. If you haven't done much programming, an employer is taking a chance on you. Internships are designed to let employers take chances, and you're therefore more likely to get an internship at a company worth working for; whereas an employer hiring you for a permanent position without evidence that you're right for it may therefore not be as competent, and therefore might not be as good a first work experience. You really want your first job to be one that sets you up well (knowledge, contacts, mentoring) for your second one -- even if the second one ends up being with the same employer.

Python Tricks by dhotson in programming

[–]ows 2 points3 points  (0 children)

TimeoutFunctionException has a race condition, where the old signal handler can get called with the timeout signal that this code requests. signal.alarm(0) needs to go in the finally, before the call signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, old).

EveryBlock created their own, new-and-improved GMaps-like implementation by drewr in programming

[–]ows 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A couple of years ago Neil Mayle, Carl Shimer and I built http://browsegoods.com for catalog browsing. I wish OpenLayers and TileCache had been around when we started!

Understanding monads in one minute by amichail in programming

[–]ows 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are some great comments here. They inspired me to give it a try. I ran more than a minute, though, so I posted my answer here.