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Ask Slashdot: Finding a Job After Completing Computer Science Ph.D?
An anonymous reader writes I recently completed my PhD in computer science and hit the job market. I did not think I would have difficulty finding a job esp. with a PhD in computer science but I have had no luck so far in the four months I have been looking. Online resume submittals get no response and there is no way to contact anybody. When I do manage to get a technical interview, it is either 'not a good match' after I do the interviews or get rejected after an overly technical question like listing all the container classes in STL from the top of my head. I had worked as a C++ software developer before my PhD but in the past 6 years, software development landscape has changed quite a bit. What am I doing wrong? Has software development changed so much in the last 6 years I was in school or is my job hunting strategy completely wrong? (The PhD was on a very technical topic that has very little practical application and so working on it does not seem to count as experience.)
The site that teaches you to code well enough to get a job. Also, hide the PhD.
Unfortunately, many people in the workplace do not like PhDs. With a PhD you should look at the academic world and teach there
Target your job hunt towards what you researched for your PhD or leave it off. A generic development house just wants coders and your PhD probably hurts you.
If your PhD isn't in an area of practical interest, you need to figure out your pitch for how it is applicable.
My office values PhD's in certain areas and would have candidates do a presentation based on your research/thesis.
Network at conferences appropriate to your research?
Actually popular/good recruiters are motivated to find you a job ASAP, your salary is a secondary priority, as it really does not make much difference whether they earn 30% of 100k or 80k, if the other option is earning nothing at all while wasting time on you.
I read a similar story in the Microsoft CompTIA Security+ guidebook. Tthe guy outsourced his five remote jobs to people in China. He got caught when a security specialist for one company conducted an audit and noticed that the VPN token was logging in from China. Opps... He kissed five paychecks goodbye.
What an idiot. He should have had the subs loging in from a system in his home office. :)
They may actually be looking to see if you're willing to say "I don't know".
My response would be twofold.
1) "C++03, C++11, or C++14? The Standards committee added some in each iteration."
2) "To be honest, I probably can't name them all off the top of my head. I could look them up (for C++03) in my copy of the standard, or use Google to find them all. However, I generally find that vector, list, set and map tend to meet most of my needs. If I need something specialized, I'll look it up."
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Sure, but half (or more) of the time, the Indian programmer doesn't actually have a real degree. We had this happen all the time when I was working for a consultant group. We'd get Indians who would claim to have a degree from Shrkekrlkajrthu University, but if anybody bothered to call good ol' SU, they had no record of them. Or, the Indian would pay SU $10k to give him a "degree" with no credits earned. Fraud. Lots and lots of fraud. Like, to the point where I had a database programmer working with me who didn't know what a join was. Shit you not.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.