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CS, resumes, and internships.
Thor1590
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hello again, it's time for my yearly H/A thread.
It's been great having a stable job and nice income, but I've decided to forgo all that and start pursuing internships for next summer. I won't be quitting until then, but the long-term prospects for our facility are grim and I'd rather start getting experience in my field before that point anyway. However, due to my incredible failures in the past, I'm not sure how to construct a resume that shows I have something to offer. So, I had a few questions for you fellas since I know many of you are in the coding business and also do hiring and whatnot. I figured I'd get some more specific answers before heading into the career department at my school.
First, my GPA is only a 3.0. On the dot. It's been raising steadily since I got serious, but it's still sort of low. I've been getting dean's commendations; should I bother putting those on the resume or just leave it at the GPA? Also, what have your experiences been with getting, say, lab grunt/grader gigs as an undergrad?
Second, I've been doing programming on the side. It's mostly dumb crap like coding old 70s/80s tabletops in C#, and I'm not sure how to categorize that as experience (if I should at all). "Experienced in C#" sounds way more than what I'm qualified for, and "Minor experience in C#" sounds stupid. Honestly, should I just leave my "experience" out entirely since they'll basically assume I have an undergrad's generalized skillset anyway?
Third, what are my chances? I've had steady jobs for most of my adult life, and have some great references, but none of them are in the industry (save a professor or two). I've heard that generally recruiters don't want to hear about unrelated jobs, but I don't think I should just leave that part blank. I'm 22, and won't be done with school for another two years. Will that hurt me?
Man. Thinking about it, I've never had to make a resume at all, or apply for a job the normal way. The post office just had an aptitude test and they took the highest scorers. The only interview I've had was at Wal-Mart when I was 18. I feel like I should know this stuff by now, but I seem to have somehow avoided the entire process. Anyways. Thank you for any replies.
It's been great having a stable job and nice income, but I've decided to forgo all that and start pursuing internships for next summer. I won't be quitting until then, but the long-term prospects for our facility are grim and I'd rather start getting experience in my field before that point anyway. However, due to my incredible failures in the past, I'm not sure how to construct a resume that shows I have something to offer. So, I had a few questions for you fellas since I know many of you are in the coding business and also do hiring and whatnot. I figured I'd get some more specific answers before heading into the career department at my school.
First, my GPA is only a 3.0. On the dot. It's been raising steadily since I got serious, but it's still sort of low. I've been getting dean's commendations; should I bother putting those on the resume or just leave it at the GPA? Also, what have your experiences been with getting, say, lab grunt/grader gigs as an undergrad?
Second, I've been doing programming on the side. It's mostly dumb crap like coding old 70s/80s tabletops in C#, and I'm not sure how to categorize that as experience (if I should at all). "Experienced in C#" sounds way more than what I'm qualified for, and "Minor experience in C#" sounds stupid. Honestly, should I just leave my "experience" out entirely since they'll basically assume I have an undergrad's generalized skillset anyway?
Third, what are my chances? I've had steady jobs for most of my adult life, and have some great references, but none of them are in the industry (save a professor or two). I've heard that generally recruiters don't want to hear about unrelated jobs, but I don't think I should just leave that part blank. I'm 22, and won't be done with school for another two years. Will that hurt me?
Man. Thinking about it, I've never had to make a resume at all, or apply for a job the normal way. The post office just had an aptitude test and they took the highest scorers. The only interview I've had was at Wal-Mart when I was 18. I feel like I should know this stuff by now, but I seem to have somehow avoided the entire process. Anyways. Thank you for any replies.
Thor1590 on
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As far as internships, the skills requirements are going to be much less stringent than say what I do, which is senior level or lead level development. I am pretty much required to have ten years of experience and advanced knowledge. As a general rule, you'll be expected to understand the basics of development, have some confidence with C# and the .NET framework, and some rudimentary knowledge of databases.
At your age with your level of experience, you might also consider putting together a code portfolio. The code doesn't have to be perfect, the end product just needs to be decent, and show some generally good coding habits. Find a couple of your little side projects you do for fine, go over the code, spruce them up, get the code nice and clean and easy to ready, and put together a little website as a portfolio.
In terms of your resume, you'll want to focus on your schooling and any extra curricular stuff. When I get a resume for an internship, I want to see: Schooling information, or in the lack of that, some demonstrable coding background via portfolio or open source work. I also like to see some kind of stuff outside of their "day job" and school, such as being an active member of a NUG (.NET Users Group), or some other club.
In the interview process, don't be afraid to admit what you don't know. Many times people will ask you a question they don't expect you to have the answer to just to trip you up. An answer of "Hmm, I'm really not familiar with <insert here>, but I'd love to read up on it" is perfectly fine, especially as an intern. It shows a willingness to be wrong and to learn.
I feel like I have a lot more to say about this, since I've literally been where you are, I just need to organize more thoughts.
Absolutely. That's my first stop once I get this information together.
Actually, I'm a little concerned about putting what I've made so far up. It's still copyrighted material, so I'm not sure what the legal ramifications are. I just need to make more of my own, I suppose.
The Wichita NUG seems to be defunct, but I'll definitely look into other groups and open source opportunities. I'm worried that once I start school again, I won't have much time to contribute. I'll see what I can find, though.
It's a lot to do in 2 months or so, but I can handle it. This has been amazing advice so far, and it's good to hear somebody made it out of a similar situation. Thank you.
I guess I should be a little more clear: although the code is mine, the game system itself is not.
I'd imagine that's fine, as the portfolio is to demonstrate your coding abilities, not your ability to create a game system from scratch.