[nfbcs] Research

Tue Feb 28 02:28:19 UTC 2017

Self teaching is indeed valuable but it isn't enough. A degree with
experience is what we're all looking for. Put another way, to be an
attractive candidate to many employers, you should be well versed in both
the theoretical and the practical. A CS degree comes with the somewhat
stronger signal that you've at least done well enough in the theoretical to
pass muster with a professor and/or a department. The practical usually
comes through from interviews and any previous internships if you're a new
grad. Internships are usually paid in software engineering, so that's a
good option to go.

Open source contributions are good, but relatively weak if you're not a
major contributer.

Though you can definitely do a lot to demonstrate your practical chops, I
don't really know how you can get a good theoretical foundation without
getting a CS degree. At the very least, you'll have trouble convincing
someone.

In the end, every little bit helps and I think the market does have some
pretty stiff competition out there. Just browse Linked In and see the
credentials of the people who work at the places you'd like to work.

On Sun, Feb 26, 2017 at 10:08 AM, Andy B. via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> If you can get experience through opensource projects. Most hiring managers
> around here require boat loads of experience. Who wants an entry level (jr.
> developer job) when it requires a B.S. in CS and 5+ years of experience?
> Iam
> sure contributing to opensource and building personal projects doesn't pay
> the bills for 5 or more years. Most graduates have at least a $40K bill
> from
> school to pay back as well. We know the trend is for hiring organizations
> to
> keep the jobs just out of reach of recent graduates. What are we going to
> do
> about it? Most people start their own business, become freelance
> developers,
> or create a startup. Never forget that working for someone else is not your
> only option.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Christopher
> Chaltain via nfbcs
> Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2017 11:54 AM
> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Christopher Chaltain <chaltain at gmail.com>; David Andrews
> <dandrews at visi.com>
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Research
>
> It is true that a CS degree will not guarantee you a job, and it's also
> true
> that not everyone working in the technology field has a CS degree.
> I've been a hiring manager in the technology field for over 15 years, and
> I've worked for three different companies during that time. Most of the
> positions I've helped staff have required a CS, CE or I degree or
> equivalent
> experience. Obviously, if you're a recent college graduate, it's going to
> be
> hard to have that equivalent experience if you don't have a technical
> degree.
>
> My advice to anyone going into the technology field would be to pursue the
> appropriate degree. If you want to go into software engineering then I'd
> recommend a CS or a CE degree. If you want to go into some other area of IT
> then an associates degree or a relevant certificate may be appropriate.
>
> Whether you have a technical degree or not, internship experience is key.
> As
> I think someone else pointed out, nothing prepares you for the real world
> better than experience. Volunteering or contributing to an open source
> project will also help you stand out by showing your commitment and
> demonstrating your experience. All college graduates, especially from the
> same university, look the same. Internships and other experience can help
> you stand out.
>
> On 25/02/17 14:19, David Andrews via nfbcs wrote:
> > Greg, I have no doubt that what you say is true. On the other hand,
> > most people who hire entry-level people are going to consider
> > blindness a strike against a person. Not having a CS degree is
> > another, and this isn't baseball -- two strikes and you are out.
> >
> > We always need that little extra edge to end up in the same place.
> > You can talk about overcoming countless accessibility obstacles to get
> > your degree. This is a plus.
> >
> > Dave
> >
> > At 01:49 PM 2/24/2017, you wrote:
> >> This is going to sound odd but I work for a major technology company.
> >> I can not think of a single person in my group with a CS degree. More
> >> common in fact are fine arts degrees, like mine, history and
> >> humanities and music. We have some people including a supervisor who
> >> have no college degree at all, he came out of the military. We are
> >> all doing very technical work much of which involves coding which we
> >> all seemed to have learned as we needed it.
> >>
> >> So is having a CS degree a guarantee of a good job at a technology
> >> firm? Silicon Valley is filled up with CS graduates working at
> >> Starbucks so the answer is clearly no. IS not have such a degree
> >> going to keep you form a career at such a firm, well my experience
> >> the answer no as well.
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > nfbcs mailing list
> > nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> > nfbcs:
> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/chaltain%40gmail.co
> > m
>
> --
> Christopher (CJ)
> chaltain at Gmail
>
> _______________________________________________
> nfbcs mailing list
> nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nfbcs:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/sonfire11%40gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nfbcs mailing list
> nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nfbcs:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/davidct1209%40gmail.com
>