You’re in luck, check this out:
people sign up and pledge to spend the year learning to code.
much obliged sir
My experience is the same as willies, first interview(usually a phone interview) is what my group likes to call the “axe murderer test” where they find out that you’re not crazy/stupid/unqualified, then they invite you for a real interview.
I learned the other day that one of the alumni from my school got his job with a mobile game company through Twitter. They tweeted him a job offer!
Let this be a lesson to all: let people know what you’re doing (if it’s relevant!) if you’re aiming to get a job in the industry, because you don’t know who might be reading it. I tweeted about the game I was working on, and I plan to do it some more once I’m further along into it.
My first interview seemed like what you’re saying. The lady who first interviewed me asked a bunch of typical questions, along with questions about my work history and history with computers. Then she passed me off to the “techie” portion of the staff, where they asked a few questions about my programming history. I got the “Where do you see yourself…” question from the techies.
After the interview was over, I emailed the lady stuff I had forgotten to show (because she didn’t ask) during the interview, like references and a recommendation letter. I also included samples of things I had done that could be played around with (a website for a college course and a couple monte carlo simulations in excel) in the mail to pass along to the techies. Don’t know if that made a difference.
But what I do know is that this is a data entry position and I didn’t type anything that interview. I didn’t even mention that my average WPM was 52. So maybe a test will happen. There’s another thing: The interview is Friday at 4:30 PM. IIRC, they close at 5:30. No later than that. Is that good or bad?
Probably good, they may ask if you want to go out to dinner :).
Most of my live interviews were REALLY long(like 9 in the morning till 6 at night), so I’d say a really short one is probably a good sign. They certainly aren’t going to give you a live interview preplanning to say no, and if it’s short they don’t plan to ask you a lot. That’s how I read the situation anyways.
Here are two screenshots of the tutorial pages for my game:
Spoiler
Page 1
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/King9999/TutorialScreen1.png
Page 2
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/King9999/TutorialScreen2.png
Space is really limited, especially since I’m using landscape mode. I tried to get everything on one page but it wasn’t happening.
Point me in the direction of a tutorial of classes/objects for C++ within the context of games.
I don’t know any tutorials off hand(I can look around at some point if you want), but I can certainly answer any questions you have. They aren’t really any different than classes/objects used anywhere else, though there are some different ways of using them(mainly component based stuff is something I don’t think i sused much outside of games).
Wow, thanks for the link. This is an easy way to pick up and practice coding. Conveniently enough I wanted to pick up javascript so this will be an easy way to do so and get me more in the habit of daily coding.
EDIT: the badges are a little silly, but I suppose they can help motivate.
I had that second job interview I was talking about. I got the impression it went well. It was more of a chat about the company and such. They asked me what my ideal salary would be, and I gave them a fair range (18-23k). IIRC, they said that they’d let me know over the weekend or Monday. It’ll be Thursday tomorrow. I’m pretty sure they passed me over.
I had this possibility entertained Tuesday, and already got a little sad over it (I really need a job). But I decided to do something different today: a debriefing. What went right/wrong in the interview, and what I can do to be better prepared in the future. I came to the realization that I was doing almost everything right. I was cordial. I was early for both interviews, and maintained a reasonable air of confidence through them, never seeming either abrasive or weak. The problem, as I see it, is that I just don’t have enough work experience to take very seriously. I have about 2 years total experience from all 3 jobs I’ve held, and only one of those had something to do with IT. This problem is going to hunt me where ever I apply for any job in the IT industry. Of course, the catch there is I can’t get the experience if no one will hire me. I’d bet that even these people would agree I interviewed well, but maybe someone else interviewed just as well and had more experience.
So, I’ve decided to embark on a mission of sorts. During the first interview, one of the IT guys that said that things would be a little easier if I had samples of my work. Screenshots or something. I followed up on that by sending an email of the only things I programmed that anyone could play around with… a couple of monte carlo simulations in excel and a website I did in a college class way back. Yeah. Looking back on that, I’m convinced I really need to hulk up on things I can show people who might want to give me a job. This is what I want to do:
-Get some web hosting for free from somewhere.
-Set up a website/portfolio with a project that somehow shows off my skills. The idea is that an employer comes across my resume on the internet, goes to that portfolio link, and is impressed enough by my work to maybe call me in.
The problem is, I’m lost on both those. Don’t know where to get free hosting, and I don’t know what kind of project I can do to show off. Seeing as how I’ll most likely have to interact with PHP (and don’t know PHP), this could take a while. Now, I can pull PHP manuals/books from the sky if I need, so learning enough to do basic things won’t be a problem. I have plenty of time to devote. So I’m asking you guys (who may be more experienced): what projects can I do and show off on this theoretical site that are just above average without being too hard?
Awesome. I might actually tune into this thread once I get my feet wet. I signed up on Codecademy back in November and was slowly pecking at it for the holidays. I then signed up for Code Year and I’m starting to get back into the swing of things. The ultimate goal for me is learning Java, then parlay that into developing Android apps. Other than minor HTML coding in Notepad, I don’t know the first thing about JavaScript. So this is all kinda difficult for me to take in.
I probably might need to get a better machine if I end up getting far enough to build something that actually has to be compiled.
Where do you live that a salary that low is acceptable for a programmer?
This wasn’t a straight up programming position. It was data entry. I threw that out salary out there because I researched data entry salaries online the night before and the lowest was around 24k. Being that this is a small company and 18-23K is enough to fulfill my current needs, that range is what I came up with. Not smart I know, but I need a job.
I live in Flint, MI.
Ah yeah that makes a bit more sense I forgot it was data entry. When I started I lowballed at 50k for the job so your salary range really threw me for a loop.
be careful about throwing up low salaries, it could give the impression that you don’t think you’re worth that much and therefor not talented/qualified. If it gets to the point where they are planning on hiring you there’s no way they are going to NOT hire you based on what you say for salary(unless it’s completely crazy).
you can get free hosting from google, but your URL will be super ugly. I personally made a website through google, and then bought the domain ajgreen.me for like 10 dollars and linked that to the google site.
If you don’t mind me asking (you may have said it before), what was your first job exactly? How much work experience did you have prior to it? Right now, an offer for a 50K job would blow my balls out of their sockets.
50k is low end for a programmer, I’m in my first job ever right now and I’m making 50k, most of my college class mates are either making a bit more or are working for startups.
That was my first job out of college. Entry level computer programming. Of course living in So Cal the cost of living is also a lot higher