Through a modern tech student's eyes

Well, I've got two weeks of class and 1 final until I'm done with my next to last fall quarter at RHIT. I must say, I'm ready to be done. Next quarter will be more work classwise, but I think having recruitment wrapped up (I hope) and one less job will help tremendously. On a lighter note, overall things seem to be going well, and even if I slide some I should still be alright GPA-wise.

So, I've managed to get a little bit ahead homework wise for the upcoming trip to Chicago. However, this weekend will incorporate studying for multiple tests, preparing two presentations, some work for eTapestry, and finishing a research paper. I don't think I'll get too much Fifa time this coming weekend :(

On a more random note, I watched a bit of political news this weekend and things are getting heated. It seems that most political advertisements these days are focused on why not to vote for someone else, rather than why to vote for who's running the advertisement. I've lost a lot of respect for politicians in general the last 6 months, but I hope things start to turn around a little bit in Washington. I don't care if it's Reps or Dems, I just want someone getting something done with at least the intent of creating a greater good for everyone. Unfortunately, that seems to not be the case anymore.

Just a quick update, I heard back from Business Logic Corp in downtown Chicago and they're giving me an onsite interview next Wednesday! They're putting me in a hotel Tuesday night before I go through a series of three interviews with engineers on Wednesday. It should be tough, but I'm really excited!!! Wish me luck.

Well I'm starting to get a little bit discouraged since neither company interviewed with has gotten back to me yet. It's only been a week, but I was told in my interviews I would hear by this time. However, past experience tells me it's not uncommon for companies to get behind in intern recruiting. I did actually follow up with one company, but I was actually not given any contact information for the other, larger corporation (Fortune 10) that I'd really like to get in to.

All this recruiting junk has also made me think deep and hard about future plans as well. I think I'd like to go into technology management of some sort in the future, but I also realize that's a long-term goal. No one will listen to a young lad even if I got my MBA right out of undergrad. Ultimately, I think the only rational decision is to apply to both some grad programs and to some interesting companies and take the best offer I get.

Let me know if anyone reading this knows of any top notch IT Management grad programs or MBA's offering a concentration in technology management.

OK! As I was just about ready to submit this I got a phone call for an interview with General Mills and an email from Epic Systems Corporation asking for me to apply. Talk about ironic, I'm literally hovering over the "Publish Post" button complaining about my career prospects when I get two companies contacting me at that moment. That blows my mind, well I now have an interview next Tuesday at 3:30 PM Central!

Well I need to do some research and finish my homework.

I should point out that this entry is a response to another blog article that advises women on dating geeks.

#1: Realize that women may not be impressed by your level in World of Warcraft. Yes, I hate to break it to my fellow geeks, but women simply aren't wowed by your level 60 barbarian. Some may laugh at this first point, but I've honestly seen this thought process take action in multiple situations. In general, women don't care about your tech skills including but not limited to: programming, hacking, cracking, web page crafting, experience points in games, and "shop talk." So, please try to keep it to a minimum for her sake.

#2: Don't take shots at your hobbies personally. I remember an argument my freshman year where a girl was making fun of her boyfriend for playing to much Everquest and not ever getting out. He was completely offended and shouted back about how his social life of Everquest was better than most people's social lives in the real world. To many geeks are too uptight about being geeks and need to loosen up. Let her make fun of you and take it in stride because if they see you're confident with who you are, then that goes much further than going on the offensive.

#3: Do something spontaneous that doesn't include a Family Guy marathon or Halo. She will probably love it if you randomly decide to layout some cash to unexpectedly take her out some night to a nice dinner or do something exciting on the town. And yes, even if you're not 21 you can find something to do. Oh, and if it requires some driving, it'd be a good time for a heart to heart chat, not one for listening to TWIT the whole way (I know I'm going to catch heck from my girlfriend for this one).

#4: Most of us geeks are pretty low maintenance. That said, ask for her thoughts or input on something you've been thinking about each day. Who knows, maybe she'll say something you hadn't thought of that will completely change your perspective. To sum it up, she doesn't think you're a genius that knows everything and how to handle every situation; but she will respect you if you seek and oftentimes take her advice.

#5: Opposites attract more effectively than similars. If you date a lady who is a female remake of yourself then you could possibly find yourself in a very bland and uneventful relationship. I'm not saying geeks can't date geeks, but there should be at least some separation in interest. Otherwise you'll just be talking to yourself all the time like some crazy guy, and you'll never get a chance to see another take on life that a moderately different lady friend could share with you.

Well that's the main things I thought of when reading Penguin Pete's article. Feel free to let me know how wrong or right I am by leaving some feedback.

Ok, well it's not exactly Adobe Photoshop. However, in what I've seen so far, it's a decent alternative that is most definitely free. I think this is a great alternative for most basic users of Adobe Photoshop and you can get it here.

I just got back from RHIT for the day and feel pretty good about my interviews. The first one, with General Electric went very well. They used a very favorable interview format where they go through your interview and allow you to elaborate on past experiences. It was very personable, and I think it went pretty well overall!

The other company I interviewed with is much smaller and the interview was much more technical. They asked some experience questions, but most of the time was spent on two questions. The first writing a method in Java. The other question was rather abstract, and more of a brain teaser. Fortunately, I think I got both right and things went well. Also, they were much more laid back than other companies (like Microsoft) that use the same interview format. Plus, they did leave sufficient time for my questions.

Much to my surprise, both companies said they'll get back to me within a week! That's a much quicker turnaround than I'm accustomed to. However, if I did get offers from both, I'm not really sure which one I'd pick at this time...

I just got back from RHIT for the day and feel pretty good about my interviews. The first one, with General Electric went very well. They used a very favorable interview format where they go through your interview and allow you to elaborate on past experiences. It was very personable, and I think it went pretty well overall!

The other company I interviewed with is much smaller and the interview was much more technical. They asked some experience questions, but most of the time was spent on two questions. The first writing a method in Java. The other question was rather abstract, and more of a brain teaser. Fortunately, I think I got both right and things went well. Also, they were much more laid back than other companies (like Microsoft) that use the same interview format. Plus, they did leave sufficient time for my questions.

Much to my surprise, both companies said they'll get back to me within a week! That's a much quicker turnaround than I'm accustomed to. However, if I did get offers from both, I'm not really sure which one I'd pick at this time...

Take a look for yourself here. What drives people to do something perverse and disgusting things? I often wonder when I look at this world if people are getting worse as time goes on, or we're just better at exposing this sort of things.

Well I just got back from the career fair. Around 180 companies ultimately showed up. I was somewhat dissapointed in that most the companies I talked to aren't very multi-dimensional. It seems at most you do nothing but sit and code all day.

However, I do have two interviews tomorrow, and I'm pretty excited about them! One is with General Electric for an information systems job. The other is for Business Logic Corporation for a software engineering internship.

Well I better get some homework and interview preperation. More on the interviews tomorrow...

Tomorrow will be a very busy day at RHIT. Nearly 178 companies are coming to our fall career fair. That means that there will be nearly 1 recruiter for every 4 students at RHIT. I have plans to talk to between 5 and 10 companies depdending on how I feel. Unfortunately, I have been losing my voice over the past 48 hours and don't know how well I'll be able to speak tomorrow. Is it too informal to bring a water bottle to an interview? I sure hope not, because I plan to. Anyway, wish me luck!

I watched a very good documentary today about the emergence and disappearance of the electric car. For those that don't know, many manufacturers released electric cars a few years back that you could charge in your garage. These aren't hybrids, they were 100% electricity. The video covers the controversy behind their rapid and forceful removal from the marketplace, and is just a well done piece on "the bottom line." I recommend that anyone with some free time to take look here.

Moving on, working in technology once you get past the interviews is very enjoyable. Although exceptions occur, I have found most tech people to be very down-to-earth and friendly. Dress codes are also more lax in most IT departments. Another major pro is flexibility, almost every company I've talked to or worked for in technology has the philosophy that you can come in and leave whenever you want, just get your work done. As I found later summer, this meant I would work between 35 and 50 hours on average.

Also, if you like technology, then you will find the things you work with very exciting. I was overwhelmed with the number of new things I was exposed to last summer at eTapestry. It's absolutely incredible the effects technology is having on the business world!

The last thing I'd like to touch on is the outsourcing dilemma. I'm simply not buying into it. Yes, jobs are and have been shipped across oceans. However, take a look at Monster or HotJobs, you will find thousands of jobs for information technology and software engineering spread across the country (not just Silicon Valley). We're coming out of the dot come bust, and jobs are plentiful. Search Google and you'll find that computer science enrollment is also still down across the country. Less tech grads and more jobs equals a much brighter future for people in my field!

As of right now, I have two jobs. The first is a being a supervisor for the Homework Hotline which is a free tutoring service for students in 6-12th grade. The other is doing conversions programming for eTapestry, which does software for non-profits. Instead of delving into the details of my not so exciting jobs, I'd like to share some thoughts on working in technology in general. Or, the trends I've noticed in that particular workforce.

The first thing that's quite different from other jobs is the interview process. I've actually interviewed with some big names including Microsoft and Guidant. I've also interviewed with several smaller companies I won't list here. Anyway, interviews come in two breeds, behavioral questions interviews, and testing interviews. Behavioral interviews are definitely my preference. They ask simple questions like what are some roles you taken in teams, or what's a difficult situation you've been in and how did you handle it. On the other hand, testing interviews, used by Microsoft and Expedia, are very difficult. They usually ask absurd or just extremely difficult questions.

I find both of these types of interviews are somewhat degrading. They claim to look in to your true potential and actually fail miserably. The reason I say this is because you CANNOT get a valid judgment of someone in an hours time. It's just not possible. Trust me, I know many not so intelligent individuals who ace these interviews simply because they've been exposed to the particular question(s) asked before.

Luckily, not all companies interview in such a fashion. Many still do the typical who are you and why do you want to work for us format. These are much more personable, and I feel point out things much more important in a person than if they can write a 10-line algorithm to do something tricky in 10 minutes or less.

Thanks to online applications, I actually landed an interview with General Electric this Thursday. I plan to post some details that evening!

Ah how exciting! I got my first post from someone. It's a pity it was anonymous. But maybe, just maybe, someday I'll get something a little more positive. Ha, anyone who thinks anonymous online postings are going to hurt my feelings should try a more innovative approach. Anyway, I'd like to talk a little bit about the small world that is Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

I must say the the educational quality is where the school truly shines. The professors aren't required to do research and thus, actually have time for students. I have taken class at IUPUI, and talked to friends at many institutions, and RHIT definitely seems to outshine most in the academic value arena.

The big drag is that really being such a small school takes away the excitement only a large university can offer. This is especially true in sports. Also, the social life at RHIT is quite nonexistent. Well over half of the 2,000ish students hardly ever leave there computers. In turn, this does make campus recruiting less stressful as social skills of any sort get you further than they might elsewhere.

All things considered, the decision to come here became easy for various reasons, and in the end, I'm very happy with my decision. I think it's an excellent place to get your undergraduate degree, especially in the rising software engineering field. However, I would recommend a larger and more nationally reputable school for anything beyond a bachelor's degree.

Hello, my first post in the world of blogging will hopefully answer the common question, why blog? There are many reasons, but here are the main ones:

1. I live in central-western Indiana, my parents live in north-eastern Indiana, one sister lives in Tennessee, and my other sister lives in southern California. My point is that staying in touch which my family is quite difficult. We all lead busy and complicated lives, and this leads to a certain lack of communication I find unfortunate. So, as I encourage them to do, blogging is a good way for me to allow them to know what's going on in my life and my head.

2. I love to write about and share my experiences and opinions with the world. My life may seem extremely dry and unimportant to most, but I think some people other than my family can also benefit. I can't say who all those people might be, but definitely those in high school who are facing those life's decisions can get something out of it. Hopefully, I can give some insight into what going to school for software engineering (or computer science for that matter) is really like, and where it gets you in the real world. These are both things I'm still learning a lot about.

Well those are the two main reasons I'm here. I plan to write a "mini-biography" of my current life (not the whole thing, how boring would that be) to give anyone who might read this an idea of where I'm currently at in the journey of life. I plan to break this in to multiple posts covering: my education, work-life, hobbies, and future plans.

I would also like to note that I will not be using any personal information of myself or those I mention in my blog (other than first names). I'm doing this for a sense of privacy in a world that lacks it. And yes, I understand the irony of posting what is essentially an online diary yet still attempting to maintain some privacy.

Well, that's all for now, stay tuned!