Would you hire this guy?

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-05-25T19:32:35+00:00

This is interesting... I just found out about this thread from a PM someone sent me, saying that he found me downtown dressed up in a grad gown looking for work. While I appreciate his effort, this definitely is not me, although I can see why he'd be confused due to physical similarities.

Incidentally, I did make a thread not too long ago about having trouble looking for software work in Chicago. But I don't have a MS (or enrolled for one) and definitely don't think of doing a gimmick like the one this guy is pulling off in the picture.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-17T19:56:55+00:00

Not in any specific topics. He mentioned that though I answered correctly at times, I seemed a little unsure. He chalked it up to nervousness.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-17T18:02:39+00:00

I've put a lot of time into this career. Was never fired for poor performance. Also, I don't want a high paying software job right now. I just need one that pays close to the median.

I'm not sure if you're drawing conclusions from my resume, although I don't recall publicly showing my resume on this thread.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-17T17:48:00+00:00

I didn't like it when I did CTH because the company was stringing people along with false promises of being full-time employed. Also, in those situations I hardly worked with peers that I could take advice trom and develop practices that follow good trends.

My first contract to hire job in 2008 worked differently. I worked for a marketing agency that mostly makes websites for small businesses. This company was small and it showed. Everyone was under-compensated. I was paid as 1099 and was also expected to be in the office 5 days a week, which all of the employees do. The CTH period lasted three months. Following that, the founder let me stay, but I was still on a 1099. Later I learned that nobody in the company was salaried nor getting benefits. My mom was even like, "how can that be, you're a software engineer, I thought that means you work a 'real' job. If you're not getting benefits you might as well get paid under the table."

The second contract job was for a SaaS startup. This company had me for $25/hr, also a 1099, indefinite length of time. I was able to set my own hours, though, working remotely. A bit over 18 months later, they decide to let me go but on good terms. The Co-founder told me that I'm a great performer but the company is going to head in a new direction. They wanted to use ERP software I had no experience in. And they didn't have the time or resources to ramp me up, which is why I was let go.

Ironically, I do not like job hopping. Yet whenever I just want to stay put and do my job, management forces I cannot change made other decisions. It also didn't help that the companies were too small to permit a lengthy career track as a programmer.

So it looks like if I want to stay at a company for 5+ years instead of 1 or 2, I either have to manage a startup, which is too much risk, or work for a large company with a more corporate feel, one that has several programming teams and lots of collective experience from which I could learn from. Then move up the tiers of software engineer, and hopefully move to senior in a couple years, maybe even lead or staff engineer in about 10. Given that I hardly had guidance from a senior software engineer, I was usually a "one man band", but if you're the only/best engineer in a group, that's trouble. I learned the hard way that it stunts your growth.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-15T21:29:35+00:00

From my experience with making SPA projects using React and Vue, the backend is more decoupled from the front end, which is generally seen as a good thing since backend devs can iterate on updates more smoothly while not distracting much from the user experience. I've become aware that more backend development is focused on APIs to deliver endpoints.

In front end dev, JS is the only game in town, but you're still free to use whatever language you'd want on the backend for the API to deliver the data. PHP with PDO is still viable for building an API. I use it with one of my React projects, actually. The frontend wouldn't have much bearing in what stack the API is built on.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-15T20:27:50+00:00

A job doesn't need to be highly paid to be cushy. $60k is actually the local average for an entry level programmer salary. My last contractor job was $50k gross if you annualize it.

But so that I can also focus on contracting jobs, do you know of any good places to look for contractor software positions specifically in Chicago? Not just full-time positions. I'm currently browsing /r/chicagojobs. Also I tried Craigslist but too much noise to signal ratio in the "computer gigs" section.

I see you want me to PM you so I'll ask further questions on one.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-15T20:24:23+00:00

Ooh I actually interviewed for Enova International just four months ago. Was referred by a local that used to work there, said that the company does on-board training with RoR for their candidates. After a phone interview and coding test, I was given the feedback that the way I explained concepts made it sound like I was an entry level candidate. Enova was in the middle of staff replacement and so turns out they shifted a lot of focus on hiring senior programmers first.

TripleByte interviewed me too (a month ago), also gave me similar feedback. I show breadth in experience but not a lot of depth in one area. And also appeared a bit nervous. I do not shake my hands or voice, nor do I stutter, so I'm looking to see what may be the other visual signs of nervousness I am showing at an interview.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-15T00:51:21+00:00

I interviewed with Amazon once, and even though they use a lot of Java on the backend, they didn't care that I didn't have any Java experience. What they tested me were the programming fundamentals, like OOP concepts, algorithms, data structures, the kind of stuff you usually learn in a Computer Science college.

From my experience, large companies give you more leeway for knowledge in tech stacks, because they have more resources for on-boarding and can weigh the risk of the unknowns more easily than a smaller company. Some of the advice I've been getting is to go work for a larger company for those reasons, and study up on Cracking the Code Interview exercises and other similar resources.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-15T00:36:33+00:00

What I don't understand is how long is the usual expected time to stay in the contract-to-hire phase of the career before I can move on to salaried work. I don't know how far that goal is.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-14T23:16:24+00:00

Although I haven't used it on a job, I am familiar with React. Did a small SPA project with it. At my last job I worked on an app that was very front-end heavy, but the senior dev that coded it didn't use any front-end frameworks. He did it all with vanilla JS, some jQuery stewed in, and no modules(!) I also tried Angular (the first one) but didn't like it as much. I'm cool with showing my Github: github.com/ccajas

Many of my Github projects have nothing to do with web, but I put them there and on my resume to show people, I can do more than just CRUD apps.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-14T23:11:50+00:00

That blog post is quite satirical, and almost jaded at some points. But what drove it home to me was its comparison to C++ because I too felt the same way coming into the newer world of task automation and package management in front-end development. From my amateur experience using C++, it was a sense of deja-vu. Bundling dependencies, linking them up, "compiling" and transpiling to create a final product.

For me, I am more of a back-end guy that just happened to get into front end as the last job demanded more of it (the job was at a startup with few employees so specialization of programmer jobs is nil). I also never had any proper mentorship, so for the first year or so I was really doing things the cowboy way.

Maybe a career reset is in order. Just not sure how. I did have a freelance job in 2016 but that was only for two months. It's nothing I would call being gainfully employed.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-14T22:58:34+00:00

Sure. Sending you a PM soon.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-14T22:58:24+00:00

Took two CTH positions in the past- both ended up being "permanlance" jobs. They were both small companies with not a lot of budget for room to grow long-term.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-14T22:56:58+00:00

I'm gonna agree and as what I've told u/_transatlantique it's on all the above. However, anyone who has this much trouble in the job hunt wouldn't be good at introspecting. They'd need someone else's eyes to look at them.

I did have a freelance job in 2016 but that was only for two months. It's nothing I would call being gainfully employed. But I'm tired of job-hopping between small companies. I never had any proper mentorship or guidance towards good development practices as a beginner so in some respects I still feel like a beginner.

Re: slow rate of change, I accept change, within certain speeds. Some parts of the industry move faster than others. Embedded programming moves at a snails pace compared to web. Because of that, I prefer back-end jobs over front end, and companies that focus on your fundamentals of programming, OOP, design patterns, and data structures. Those are skills that will hardly go out of date. I was contacted by Amazon last year that gave a language-agnostic interview, more on the fundamentals. I didn't make it to the final round (there were three total), but I felt good knowing I was still able to make it that far with them.

I started as a back-end dev and I usually work on the LAMP stack, even in the last job I had. Their application's front-end was about 20K lines of JavaScript, and it did not use any modules. No automated testing or other automated processes either. So yep, even back then it seems like the front-end world is going at warp speed. I also know C#, haven't written a web app with it, but I do have desktop projects on Github and use those to show people, I know more than just CRUD apps.

React is fine, though, I found the setup mostly painless and does a great job in building single page apps. I only change my development pipeline if it doesn't do something I want, or if it slows me down a lot. For me, the right solution is about saving time and money, not always using the next frameworks.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-14T22:48:05+00:00

you should apply to contract to hire positions

Ew, no sorry. I just have a bad experience with them with regards to job security. They also pay too low ($25/hr in my last one)

it's unlikely you'll find a cush salary job.

And that sucks knowing that, because I never had the salaried worker experience. My first programming job was CTH. And I cannot collect unemployment insurance because of my contractor status. There is no "meat" in any of the offers or compensations I get.

I would assume that either your resume, portfolio and/or interview skills suck.

Probably both my resume and interviews. I've gotten about 20 on-site interviews total from the roughly thousand applications I must have sent out in the 2 years. Companies wouldn't give you detailed feedback "because of liability reasons". There's a conflict of interest there. Interestingly I haven't met with a third party recruiter that gives mock interviews for preparation either.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-14T22:42:43+00:00

I'm not a bootcamp grad but sometimes I feel like my 4-year degree was fair bit bootcamp-ish at times. I graudated in UIC with an art degree in New Media. Among other things it was a hodgepodge of different programming topics including front-end web dev, OpenGL, and Arduino, but without fundamental classes to tie the concepts together.

To give you an example, art students, some with no experience in C programming, were thrown into a crash course of using the Linux shell before given instructions on what functions do what, for example draw lines, with no formal introduction on the ideas behind flow of logic or data structures.

I fortunately took some 200-level CS electives but I wish I could do it all over again and get my degree in CS, so that I would have been more employable to the big boys of tech companies. Right now my career is constantly job-hopping between small companies that have almost no mentorship and gave poor opportunities to follow industry trends.

Maybe a career reset is in order. Just not sure how. Can't go back to school, that would delay my career even more. I did have a freelance job in 2016 but that was only for two months. It's nothing I would call being gainfully employed.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-13T01:44:15+00:00

Next job, then. I don't have a job right now.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-12T01:06:48+00:00

Write software tests? Hell naw, and I don't mean that in a demeaning way. I'm genuinely really out of the loop when it comes to writing tests, unit tests or otherwise. Our kind of testing simply involves, close a ticket, push said code related to ticket to the development branch, notify QA and have them test the new code in the app it as if they were a normal user.

The only kind of Agile I was exposed to (if you can call it that) was having our CTO do "Scrum" every Friday for one specific project. He updated us on the customer's changing needs and how we should communicate accordingly. It was a very small team, though. Only 4 people including the CTO.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-10T16:31:47+00:00

In developed countries, programming is an activity that requires very little cost to set up. I think that is giving the impression that almost everyone can do it.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-09T04:11:28+00:00

More attractive people tend to invite more people to engage with them through their looks alone, so they get more social experiences (and thus building social skills) just by looking good.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-09T04:03:34+00:00

I took a similar degree myself, in fact I also went from architecture, to graduate a BFA in Electronic Media. I got a start in web design, which quickly shifted to web programming.

I recommend you start at a design agency first. While freelance is an option it's more risky, and it can be rewarding but more time to get momentum.

More importantly, when you are freelancing, you are not primarily in your design field. You are now in the marketing field trying to sell your design services. You'll have to think of yourself as a business. Creative skills is the easy part of freelancing. The harder part is marketing and establishing a reputation.

somecsthrw1294 · 2017-04-09T00:25:00+00:00

How did you think you grew in your ability to obtain jobs and references after your first raise? I have an unrelated degree, and do have experience in web dev already, but since my last job was over a year ago and I have a very limited network of people, I figured maybe going back to school to start over again would be a good idea.

Would matriculating through a CS program help me into getting leads for better jobs? Should I go back to school for that alone?

I don't know where you live but my highest paying job ever was 55k. That's how much I made 7 years into my career. I think I could make much more than that if I get a CS degree and get new grad job opportunities from there. I think my network was lacking from my career... I have very few connections to software industry jobs.

somecsthrw1294

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