Tales from the Bits – Tales from the bits

Tips to succeed in a software engineering job interview. Tales from the bits(6)

George Bagropoulos — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:58:00 +0000

The time has come for your Job interview.
Are you prepared?
Usually most companies, from my experience, adopt a three round interview, especially if you are not located near the company you want to work for. This happens equally to the USA and EU.
Basic Tips
1. Know your CV inside out.
2. Get to know the company history and code of conduct
3. Be polite
4. Be on time (including phone interviews)
5. Ask questions about the position and the role
6. Send a thank you note after the interview.
7. Avoid drinking coffee or beverages.
8. Drink water and have a bottle of water with you.

After the interview with human resources, follows the technical part of the interview.
You may get a test that you have to answer in a predefined amount of time or you may get a combination of oral and written test.

As soon as you decide that you want to change your job and before starting sending out your resume start reading and coding.

1. Review basic data structures and algorithms
2. Write code in the two most important languages that you use.
3. Refresh your knowledge on Object Oriented Design
4. Design Patterns
5. Software testing
6. Puzzle solving
7. Comment your code
8. Review your coding style
9. Review basic mathematics
10. If you have a friend which is a software engineer tell him to test you on selected areas.
11. Be ready to get tested on every skill you have listed in your CV.

When you will get the opportunity of a technical interview you will not have the time to review basic material.

Keep in mind that even if rejected you gained a valuable experience you did not have before. Use that experience for your benefit for the next interview.

Good luck!

Tales from the Bits(5)

George Bagropoulos — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:39:00 +0000

Fellow computer programmers and software engineers Heads up!
I found out, the hard way, that I was depending a lot on the visual studio integrated environment to write my programs. I am programming for the .NET framework. I added a new weekly exercise. I write some code using either the editor edit.com or notepad.exe and manually compile it to an executable. After a few bugs I got my code running. I feel better that I do not depend to automatic tools to fill up my code. The approach is not recommended for big projects but for small ones to keep exercising your brain. Keep returning to the core of computer science such as sorting, data structures and algorithms. It has therapeutic results affecting your brain reasoning and status!
Happy coding!

Tales from the bits (4)

George Bagropoulos — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:49:00 +0000

It is time for some jokes. Computer science jokes usually are not funny for those who do not have programming experience.

There are 10 types of people: those who understand binary, and those who do not understand it.

More jokes at:
http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/computer.html

Tales from the bits (3)

George Bagropoulos — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:48:00 +0000

I have read something amazing about team problems.

There were four team members named
Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to do and
Everybody was asked to do it.
Everybody was sure Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did.
Everybody was angry about that, because it was
Somebody’s job.
Everybody thought Anybody could do it,
but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t.
In the end, Everybody blamed Somebody
when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Tales from the bits (2)

George Bagropoulos — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:27:00 +0000

Always backup your work!
Always make copies of the data!
It sounds so simple but for many individuals and small companies it is so hard to keep. Recently I was visiting a small company and I asked the question “Do you take backups?” The answer was “Yes”. I continued the conversation by asking how the backup is taken and what the procedure was. The answer was that the data was copied on a rewriteable DVD disk. I asked, “Do you have one for each day of the week and rotate them?” The answer was “No, I am using only one”. “And what will happen if after you have erased the disk to get it ready for the backup you experience a hard disk failure?” I got no answer to my question. I proposed a very basic system for backup. At least use two disks. Use one disk on the even days and use another disk on the odd days. And keep the backups in a fire safe and secure place. It is amazing how many people do not make backups or make backups the wrong way. Everyone has the feeling that the disaster will not strike.
Do not take any chances.
Backup your valuable data frequently and correctly.

Back in the old days, a small company was using diskettes to take backups. One day, my phone rang and they told me that their files were corrupted. Naturally, I suggested using the backup diskettes. They told me that the diskettes where not working. I told them to use the alternative set. The result was the same. I went to the main office of the company. I asked the person in charge to tell me what he did. He told me that before calling me he did a backup to both the sets just to be sure. He had copied the corrupted files destroying the backup.

Always backup your work and do not destroy your backups!

Why I selected Tales from the bits as the name of my blog?

George Bagropoulos — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:43:00 +0000

(Last updated: December 22,2013)

The title of my blog, “Talesfromthebits”, is a paraphrase of the “Tales from the Cryptkeeper”, the TV series. (More about the TV series can be found at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122837/). I have chosen this title in order to distinguish my posts on this blog from my other blog content. In this blog, I am planning to post real experiences from the field of Software Engineering in a tone more humorous and adventurous.
And everyone knows that Dec 25= Oct 31.