Tag: computer industry

Job fair

Wednesday of this last week, I went to a EECS job fair.  I found that essentially all companies there were eager to talk with anyone that came by and take a résumé.  I have even gotten some contact back from some companies already which I was not expecting as I am a first year student and I was told by many older students that first years do not typically get contacted or get internships/jobs.

I think that this point brings up some very interesting beliefs that are in the tech industry.  Many of these have been noted before on countless blogs and new articles, but rehashing these from my own experiences I believe might be helpful to some people.

  1. The tech industry does not particularly care about you age, gender, race etc.  All they care about is if you are technically skilled and are able to get the job done.
  2. Github profiles are a big deal.  At the top of my résumé along with my physical address, I decided to put my internet address.  This included things such as my email, website and github profile.  I want to note that even while talking with an individual he was looking at my résumé said “o nice you have your link to your github profile” and then continued to circle it with his pen and said that he was amazed how many people he talked to that did not have some public code profile.  Today this “public code profile” has become a standard for hiring in the coding world.
  3. Do not emphasis what you do not have when talking with the representatives.  I was waiting behind some student who was talking with the hulu representatives about what he has.  First he starts out with what he does not like about the hulu product, the fact that there are ads even though he is paying for it (guess what you pay for Cable and there are still ads, there is no reason hulu can’t do the same).  The representatives then interrupts him and asks about what sort of projects he has.  He states that he has made a few smallish things.  The representatives then continues to ask if he has a github (see point 2).  Which he replies that he does, but there is nothing on there because…..some answer like, “my ideas are soooo great that I do not want people coping them I might sell them at some point…..”

These are somewhat of tips/points/what not to do experiences.  Like I said at the top, these ideas have been noted all over the internet and are not rocket science.

Additionally, in line with my last post about hackathon projects.  Everything that you write should be version controlled somehow.  You can use git without using github and just keep it on your local machine.  Additionally, when you decided that your code is either “done” or not going to continue into a money-making company, or only going to survive as a free product, then you might as well create a public repo on github or similar so that if/when you are at a job fair, there is something on

Bill Gates vs General Motors

I have no idea if this is true but it is worth something.

Bill Gates vs General Motors

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the
computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If GM had kept up with
technology like the  computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00
cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”

In response to Bill’s comments, General Motors issued a press release
stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be
driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):

1.    For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2.    Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to
buy a new car.

3.    Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You
would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut
off the car, restart it, and  reopen the windows before you could continue.
For some reason you would simply accept this.

4.    Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause
your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to
reinstall the engine.

5.    Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was
reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy  to drive – but would run on
only five percent of the roads.

6.    The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all
be replaced by a single “This Car Has  Performed An Illegal Operation”
warning light.

7.    The airbag system would ask “Are you sure?” before deploying.

8.    Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out
and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle,
turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna

9.    Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10.    You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.