[PLUG] Linux job hunting...

Pete Lancashire pete at petelancashire.com
Mon Nov 14 22:00:37 UTC 2016


Here's a few of my thoughts

First an experience for a PSU CS graduate. He could not and still can not
write in a language of his choice a program that outputs the string "Hello
World"

I hope this does not reflect the typical graduate and also hope the a
potential hiring company knows.

What are your skills out writhing software that

 - fits in a small code space ?
 - you know how to make code wiggle a voltage on an electrical wire ? As in
make bit 5 of word 123 go low ?
 - and many more like that

Go but a couple of the little < $20 single board computers that run Linux
or Android. Learn to get time to do things that are real world, as in make
an LED light up, or send a TCP/IP based wireless message that some one
caused a PIR sensor to change state (Learn with PIR means).

Oh yea .. we are taking C maybe C++ here.

Why, there is going to be a lot and there is quite a bit now of need for
remote wireless I/O, Not only the scary IOT stuff, but even without that
there is a growing need for sensors and actuators to become smarter and
wireless. Read up on what the manufacturing industry is up to, go find out
how many sensors are in a chemical plant.

Not interested in the real world ? Well that's not me so learn this weeks
latest bloatware programming environment and join the crowd as in get in
line.

On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 6:10 AM, Michael C. Robinson <
michael at robinson-west.com> wrote:

> I have a major problem, I'm a college grad in computer science with 0
> years of experience.  That PSU allows this when granting a degree is
> sad, but that's another issue for another time.  Everything I can find
> is for senior level people and a lot of the programming jobs require
> .NET or some other Microsoft thing.  Short of an internship, no college
> graduate can have experience programming in a Linux or any other
> environment professionally.  How do you land a job in this market? With
> Intel laying off so many senior level people, I cannot compete with the
> talent out there.  The tech industry in Oregon doesn't need college
> graduates and doesn't seem to want them either.
>
> I'm thinking of volunteering somewhere, possibly at freegeek.  Thing
> is, I need coding experience.  The only other thing I can think to do
> is build a code repository and certify in Java.  Don't know if there
> are Python, C++, PHP, and Perl certifications that companies care
> about.  I'm looking at seasonal work in retail because I can't get a
> computer job.  That doesn't cut it, I worked too hard for a degree in
> computer science to be shut out of the field.  I need in, I'm too old
> to wait: 1, 5, or 10 years longer for that first progamming job.  I've
> been job hunting for 2 years as it is.
>
> Interested in any good tips or advice people may have.  I admit I'm
> discouraged, but I'm not giving up.  Giving up won't solve the problem
> of being unable to land that first programming job.  This isn't a
> situation I want to deal with much longer, an entry level programming
> job would be very welcome.  Barring that, all I can think to do is
> prove I have the experience necessary to function in a more senior
> position.  That's a heck of a place to start though.
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