ARCHIVE: IT CAREER EXPERT
Job search woes
John Smiley
01.11.2001
Rating: -3.20- (out of 5)
Job search woes
I received my latest issue of Philly Tech magazine the other day
(http://www.philly-tech.com). Philly Tech magazine, as the name
implies, is a Philadelphia area high tech magazine, and it's a good
one. I always start with the letters to the editors section, and for
the third consecutive issue, more than half of the letters dealt with
graduates of computer schools complaining about their lack of success
in finding their first job -- despite the promises of a hot job market
by their respective computer school.
It's always difficult to determine if the letter writer is
representative of the group as a whole, or just a single individual who
for whatever reason can't find work.
I teach and mentor quite a few students who wish to break into the
programming field -- I asked myself -- could I be wrong when I tell my
students that it is possible for a beginner to obtain a programming
position?
I maintain a large mailing list/group on egroups.com, and last week I
sent out a request to my members to take a survey I had put together. I
asked that only members of my group who had recently obtained
employment in the IT field complete the survey. I've posted the results
of the survey at:
http://www.johnsmiley.com/yesyoucan.htm
if you'd like to read them -- I think you'll find them interesting.
There are several themes conveyed in the survey results, but perhaps
none is more important than the respondent's belief that enthusiasm for
their work in many cases got them
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a job. I tend to agree. Right after
experience, I think employers are looking for evidence of a real zeal
for work.
I remember interviewing a potentially great programmer several years
ago. She obviously knew her stuff. Then I asked her to copy her Visual
Basic program to a PC in my office so that I could see it run. She told
me her 'copy' skills weren't very good -- at the computer school she
attended, one of the computer technicians did that for the students.
That remark -- and what it spoke of in regards to her zeal -- cost her
a job with me. In my small company, I expect programmers to be able to
do a little bit of everything, and I don't think this attitude is found
only in small companies. Personally, I wondered why someone who
professed to desire a career in the IT world wouldn't bother to learn
something about the computers for which they wanted to write programs.
As one hiring manager told me recently, she looks for candidates who
eat, sleep, and dream IT. Make your prospective employer believe that
of you, and you can land your first job.
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Written by John Smiley, MCP, MCSD and MCT, author, and adjunct
professor of Computer Science at Penn State University in Abington,
Philadelphia University, and Holy Family College. John has been
teaching computer programming for nearly 20 years.
John Smiley is president of Smiley and Associates,
http://www.johnsmiley.com/smass/smass.htm a computer consulting firm
located in New Jersey.
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