M.S. Job Search and Resume Writing Workshop

Min Zhong

(modified from a Caltech Resume workshop by Niniane Wang)

March 13, 2008

ApplyingReferrals: employee, faculty

Have your contacts refer you for opportunities.

Career Fairs: university, conferences, industry

Research companies and opportunities prior to the fair and create your target list

Bring hard copy resumes

Have an introduction

Job Boards: career center, monster.com, hotjobs.com

How to Prepare for Technical Interviews

Interviews: Key Take-aways

1. Do mock interviews. Similar to testing out a concert hall for a

violinist

2. Don’t try to game the system. Don’t hijack the interview Don’t try to change your personality Don’t stress over little mistakes

Interview PreparationWhat to Expect1. Starts with short introduction

2. “The Meat” / Assessment

3. Close with your questions

Engineering Skills Assessment Language syntax, core libraries, idioms, performance issues

Algorithms and data structures

Analytical Skills

Sound design

Interview Preparation

Tips / How to Prepare Review the fundamentals

Review algorithms and data structures

Write code, especially if you are out of practice; focus on your strongest language- Practice on a white board or paper- No pseudo code – we want actual code- language doesn’t matter, the interviewer will ask you which language you prefer

Find and practice on sample questions on the internet

Know someone at Google? Ask them about their experience. Get referred and/or let your recruiter know who can provide a reference.

Interview Preparation

Interview PreparationThe InterviewWe're interested in how you approach problem-solving. Think out loud. Ask questions.

Our questions will be in-depth. We want to see how you think about complicated things.

The right answer would be nice but it is not necessary - your thought process is more important.

We will ask you to write code in the language of your choice.

Interview PreparationHow to Prepare for an Interview in a Couple of Years... Develop a solid Computer Science and Engineering foundation

Learn about programming languages: C, C++, Java, Perl, or Python.

Get experience outside of class: Computer Science clubs or societies, coding / programming competitions, internships, Open Source projects (Google Summer of Code)

Q&A