Student Support Services Roundtable Discussion

What’s going on? (Introduction)

• Today’s attendance is all CTI majors? (break down?)
• My presentation comes from many sources
  • 3 software developers
  • 1 hotel manager
  • 1 telephone interviewer / supervisor
  • 1 administrative assistant, looking to become a graphic designer
  • 3 of the above have been actively seeking new employment in the last six months
• All of the above have been involved with interviewing/hiring others
• All of the above disagree on some key issues

Who am I?

• 5 years as network administrator / support desk / training for the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago
• Came to DePaul University in ’98 after community college
• Became involved with Computer Science Society
• Bachelor’s in Computer Science (core - Programming)
• 3 years, since Graduation, as Java Developer
• Occasionally present seminars at DePaul

What do I do as Java Developer?

• Work for Acxiom
  • Customer Relationship Management and data management for Fortune 500s
  • Offices throughout US, Europe, Asia, and Australia
  • More than one billion in revenue a year
• I build the web-based user interface that drives most data processing in the company
  • Used by data administrators
  • Used to setup, schedule, monitor, and audit data processing jobs
• Java / JSP / HTML and JavaScript / C# and .NET
• Focus on Object-Oriented Principles and Design Patterns
• Open source tools (Tomcat, Apache, and Linux)
• J2EE, DBMS/JDBC, Threading, Networking protocols, CORBA/RMI/JINI

How to prepare for a career

• Get work/practice
  • Part-time job (Catholic Charities and DePaul)
  • Volunteer experience (CSS projects)
  • Personal practice ("Don’t stop with the homework.")
  • "Build a portfolio." (At least keep a mental record of your accomplishments)
  • "Companies don’t want to pay for training right now."
• "Have as many people look at your resume as possible"
  • Mentors and peers, in the workforce or looking
  • Career Center, which offers workshops and advising
• Take the hard classes and get good electives
  • For example, I took Distributed processing, JDBC, multi-threading
• Practice your interview skills
  • With mentors and peers
  • Career center, which offers workshops, advising, mock interviews, OCR
  • Job fairs and interviews
• Leave some time to party and make friends --> make connections
  • Student and professional organizations
  • Be involved with extra-curricular activities (commuters?)
• "Have an ‘edge’ over the competition."

How to locate a job

• A good connection is better than a good resume
  • Friends in the workforce
  • Acquaintances through school, work, student or professional organizations
  • A connection recommends you from the inside and sees opportunities not publicized elsewhere
• In-person is worth more than online
• Use Career Center resources to have a top-of-the-pile resume, cover letter
• Be a good match, choose job applications wisely
• Keep trying
  • Monster.com suggests sending out 50 resumes a day
  • Jerod’s experience (receiving 6000 resumes in 3 weeks)
• "Don’t overlook an opportunity that isn’t your dream job if it could lead to your dream job."
  • Continue to do things that bring you toward your interests.
  • Many facets of a job are the same from one company to another
  • But make your intentions clear at the time of the interview
• Make extensive use of resources available through DePaul
  • Career Center for resume building, interview practice, job locating
  • Career Center website
  • CTI offers freely available software labs, student organizations and events
  • Mentors can be found through the Career Center and the Alumni Association (ASK)

How to succeed in the interview

• Know what you want to do
  • By having tried it at DePaul, work, or on your own
  • By asking mentors and peers
• Practice interviewing
• Be honest, both in the interview and on your resume
  • If you know it, say it but don’t be arrogant
  • If you don’t know it, the interviewer will appreciate your honesty
• "Treat it as a conversation." View your interviewer as an equal, not superior or inferior
• Be knowledgeable about the company and the position
• Have several questions prepared (ask if they want examples)
• "Don’t bring up money. Let them ask first."
  • Tell them you'll consider the offer they make
  • If they try to get an exact number, give them a range
• You can ask to meet the team or someone in the position you’re applying for, to determine how they operate. (For example, my team has no "cowboys".)