Breaking into the industry

Learning to break into the tech industry

Transcript

1. BREAKING INTO THE INDUSTRY BY: JONATHON KLOBUCAR
2. Who am I? Went to WMU 05-09 Moved to SF in 2011 Worked at Rdio, Apcera, and currently at Automatic Lead Infrastructure Engineer at Automatic
3. SO YOU WANT TO BE A DEV?
4. Typical fields Backends Data, API, Servers, Systems Mobile Android, iOS Frontend Javascript (React, Angular, Etc) DEV&|OPS Traditional ops, App platforms, Automation, Scaling
5. SKILLS TO LEARN
6. hard skills Git / Github / Source control A dynamic programming language (Python, Ruby) How to use a shell (i.e Bash) Unit tests Algorithms No one expects a proof… unless you are google Experimenting with new technologies in a hands on way Understanding a basic webapp (Nginx, load balancing, logging)
7. Soft skills Being able to take criticism Giving constructive feedback Asking questions (yes ask them) Lots of communities on Slack and IRC Reading blogs and white papers. Experimenting with new tech in your spare time
8. COMPARING THE CULTURE
9. Company A 40,000 people Lots of team Single purpose roles Writing tests, QA, Entry level, rigid structure for working cross team Better benefits, salary (generally), and stability
10. Company 1 40 people Few teams Work on all sort of random things Switching teams is easy, and free flowing generally Less Stability, more erratic hours. Given domain over a project
11. HOW TO APPLY
12. Basics Talk to your network in the industry THIS GUY—> Github Recruiters CCLUB people… once again… THIS GUY —>
13. QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR NEW JOB
14. Do I want to work here? The best jobs in the software are a two-way street. The best way to enjoy the job is to enjoy the work and people Ask what the one thing the team or company does well. What is the culture like?
15. CULTURE TIPS
16. Diverse cultures bring the best results I’ve found Examples to ask When you have a problem how do you work with others? What is the code review process? What happens when there is a disagreement? How many minorities work in your engineering department? Software Engineering is mostly male, something to ask is how they <company> are working to encourage more people into the field.
17. Q&A