Month: May 2022

Hi! I thought today I could cover one of the most relevant topics to those who have or are going through what I just went through with searching for my first job in CS. Like I mentioned in the earlier posts, job applications in this industry are hugely a number game, so getting out as many suitable applications as possible is a huge part of getting us to where we want in our early careers. Here are three sites that were super helpful to me:

LinkedIn

Before I started my job search, I just thought of LI as a sort of “professional Facebook”. However, it came to be my best tool for job search. One reason is because many recruiters use LinkedIn to reach out to candidates about suitable opportunities. Their job search functionality also is very user-friendly and even allows filtering for jobs that are “Easy Apply” which is definitely a plus when you’re applying for hundreds of jobs as I did!

RippleMatch

I thought this was kind of a cool and unique one that I’ve never stumbled upon previously to my CS job search. The main purpose of this tech, which is a pretty cool startup in it’s own right, is connecting early career people in tech with suitable jobs. There are several well-known companies that recruit solely through this site – Pinterest and eBay come to mind as some examples. They have a standard form that you fill out for every application which includes a summary on what interests you about the company/role – a little extra effort required but actually a great way to motivate that initial research.

Handshake

This is definitely the third place I most commonly went to search for jobs to apply for. The best part about Handshake is since it’s through OSU (or whatever institution the new grad is enrolled in), there’s a lot of integration for job applications with campus events, corresponding with alumni working at the organization, etc. There were definitely some jobs on this platform that I wouldn’t have found elsewhere.

There it is – my recommendations about the best job search sites! For those who are still looking for a 2022 new grad position, best of luck and hope this helps 🙂

Completing my B.S. in computer science at OSU while juggling a full-time job, I, like many other of my classmates, do not find myself with a lot of free time. However, something that I’ve been doing in the lower-productivity moments that I’ve managed to enjoy in the past couple of years is occasionally de-stressing by watching some tech-related media content with my friends or family – in other words, movies/TV shows about programmers! I think it’s been recently on trend for them a little to delve more into the technology given how important it is for our daily lives, and I wanted to give a couple recommendations for titles that have given me the perfect mix of escapism with the inspiration to keep coding 🙂

Most Funny: Silicon Valley

This show covers the lives of a couple SWEs in the titled city who come across some miracle algorithm that sends them down the rollercoaster of excitement, money, and humiliation that come with owning an exciting new start-up. This show is now several years old but so much of the humor is still amazing and relevant for our day-and-age. It’s also just really fun to see the parodies of FAANG in the show and have developers be the stars of the show. Lovable characters and good lessons all around.

Based on Real Life: WeCrashed

This one recently came out on AppleTV and each of the episodes were pretty intriguing for me! Per the name, it covers the famous (infamous?) rise and fall of WeWork and its founder. This was pretty cool for me from a cultural standpoint because I remember WeWork getting really big and then suddenly not really being talked about anymore, but I was a little too young to understand or really look into the reason behind the shift. This follows a lot of the formulaic Hollywood rags-to-riches-to-rags story behind a lot of “true” stories and famous individuals, but it was cool to see the glamour and eventual downfall framed in a tech context (or at least “tech” context – unicorn, investor, series jargon, though in the end, he was largely selling real estate or “space as a service”).

It’s a blessing to be able to catch our breaths and just relax and watch some TV with our families and I hope we all find the time soon to do that, whether you can check these titles out, or whatever else you enjoy~

I’m taking a quick detour from the more technical nature of the last post to visit a topic that’s undoubtedly in the mind of many individuals during this job hunting system – how a person is supposed to submit a paper form of themselves to organizations to seek employment, i.e. the resume.

For reference, here is what my resume looked like in 2020 — before I started my OSU CS journey. Some fields have been blocked out for privacy.

For my actual job search process in the past year, the resume that has gotten me through a good number (although definitely not all!) screens looks more like this:

Looks a bit like a downgrade huh? However, this was an intentional decision based on what is needed a SWE resume vs. when I wanted to display more of a design and aesthetic focus on my previous resume.

Here are a few other tips to keep in mind for creating an organized and powerful resume:

• Try to list quantifiable achievements under each job title
• Power verbs speaking to technical accomplishments
• Skills section that speaks to level of aptitude in different subjects

Hope these tips are helpful for others as they work on their resumes! All the best, Jane 🙂