Resume Feedback
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If the degree is the goal, then nothing will replace that. If career advancement or change is the goal, there are normally far more effective options. Software development is actually the one field that I know of that is more dramatically in favour of skipping the formal education path than IT is.
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@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Feedback:
@IRJ said in Resume Feedback:
@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
I'm currently working on a degree in Software Development, should I put the unfinished degree on my resume as well?
Are you months or years away from it? If you are in year 1 of 4 then it really doesn't say much, but if you are 6 months away from graduating that says a different story.
I pretty much always put it if I am working on it. If there is like a set date or proposed one, you know.
Realistically, with my current workload at work, I'm right about a year out from finishing. The major courses I have left to tackle will take a bit of serious time investment, but nothing too horrible. (Java 8 SE OCA and OCP certifications as well as Technical Writing)
Oh okay, you are pretty close then. Definitely put it on.
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Feedback:
If the degree is the goal, then nothing will replace that. If career advancement or change is the goal, there are normally far more effective options. Software development is actually the one field that I know of that is more dramatically in favour of skipping the formal education path than IT is.
The degree in and of itself is definitely a goal. I'm at a point where I am financially stable and debt free and I'm able to pay for it out of pocket without any major impact on my finances. However, I'm really invested in learning the material as well, and have enjoyed OOP so far and I'm looking forward to advancing toward the OCP certification. At first I wasn't all that excited to become an expert in Java, but the concepts all translate to other OOP languages quite easily. And this specific program has a heavy focus on requiring a good foundation in IT/IS before pursuing the programming focus; it is really quite ideal for DevOps. Personally I think they could completely drop their A+ cert requirement and replace it with Linux+ and/or some of the newer AWS certification, but overall I think there is a lot of value.
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@RamblingBiped I saw this being someone doing the same thing. I'm just very acute in knowing that it's a degree for the degree's sake and it is at the cost of my career, not to its benefit.
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Feedback:
@RamblingBiped I saw this being someone doing the same thing. I'm just very acute in knowing that it's a degree for the degree's sake and it is at the cost of my career, not to its benefit.
Yeah, if I had not found this specific degree program I was looking at enrolling for a degree in Business Management. If I had gone that route I feel like I would already be done... lol
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Feedback:
@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
@thwr said in Resume Feedback:
@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
I'm currently working on a degree in Software Development, should I put the unfinished degree on my resume as well?
Keep in mind that (serious) development requires years of experience and analytical skills. Mention that, but don't put it above everything else.
It's like writing a book: Most people can write, but writing a good book is a whole different story.
Yes, and my goal for pursuing this degree specifically is to eventually transition into a Development Operations role of some sort.
I'll just throw out there that to get into development you can do that much faster without going down the degree path. One year of self study should be able to get your farther than a four year degree.
Good point.
@RamblingBiped : If you really want to get into development, do something useful. Either start your own project, not something you will never use but something that is useful and fun to do. Get a Raspberry, Orange Pi, Banana Pi for example and do whatever you want. Maybe a cloud-enabled toaster or a home alarm system?
Another way could be to contribute to a small open source project. Maybe a mod for Minecraft? One of our students is doing exactly this with great success and learned a lot from this.
Either way, you will probably learn much more.
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@thwr said in Resume Feedback:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Feedback:
@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
@thwr said in Resume Feedback:
@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
I'm currently working on a degree in Software Development, should I put the unfinished degree on my resume as well?
Keep in mind that (serious) development requires years of experience and analytical skills. Mention that, but don't put it above everything else.
It's like writing a book: Most people can write, but writing a good book is a whole different story.
Yes, and my goal for pursuing this degree specifically is to eventually transition into a Development Operations role of some sort.
I'll just throw out there that to get into development you can do that much faster without going down the degree path. One year of self study should be able to get your farther than a four year degree.
Good point.
@RamblingBiped : If you really want to get into development, do something useful. Either start your own project, not something you will never use but something that is useful and fun to do. Get a Raspberry, Orange Pi, Banana Pi for example and do whatever you want. Maybe a cloud-enabled toaster or a home alarm system?
Another way could be to contribute to a small open source project. Maybe a mod for Minecraft (one of my students is doing exactly this with great success and learned a lot from this)?
Either way, you will learn much more.
I do regularly work on things that are outside of the scope of my work, as well as outside of the scope of my studies. One of the reasons I am considering using Bootstrap to create an online version of my resume is to familiarize myself with it for future use.
I'm also going to be working in C soon to write some software that functions as a notification system for our fire alarm at work. Our entire alarm and door entry system was designed by a couple of our software engineers. I'm going to be tying the fire alarm system into it all and then making it work with our PBX to automate notifications of a tripped alarm via phone/text/email. If I'm lucky it will also qualify as the project for finishing up my degree.
I've had that suggestion of creating a Minecraft mod from others as well, I just don't have enough time to devote to Minecraft at this point to work on a mod... lol
Can you think of any specific open source projects that I could benefit from contributing to/monitoring? I'm keen on anything to do with Python or Java at the moment.
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@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
@thwr said in Resume Feedback:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Feedback:
@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
@thwr said in Resume Feedback:
@RamblingBiped said in Resume Feedback:
I'm currently working on a degree in Software Development, should I put the unfinished degree on my resume as well?
Keep in mind that (serious) development requires years of experience and analytical skills. Mention that, but don't put it above everything else.
It's like writing a book: Most people can write, but writing a good book is a whole different story.
Yes, and my goal for pursuing this degree specifically is to eventually transition into a Development Operations role of some sort.
I'll just throw out there that to get into development you can do that much faster without going down the degree path. One year of self study should be able to get your farther than a four year degree.
Good point.
@RamblingBiped : If you really want to get into development, do something useful. Either start your own project, not something you will never use but something that is useful and fun to do. Get a Raspberry, Orange Pi, Banana Pi for example and do whatever you want. Maybe a cloud-enabled toaster or a home alarm system?
Another way could be to contribute to a small open source project. Maybe a mod for Minecraft (one of my students is doing exactly this with great success and learned a lot from this)?
Either way, you will learn much more.
I do regularly work on things that are outside of the scope of my work, as well as outside of the scope of my studies. One of the reasons I am considering using Bootstrap to create an online version of my resume is to familiarize myself with it for future use.
I'm also going to be working in C soon to write some software that functions as a notification system for our fire alarm at work. Our entire alarm and door entry system was designed by a couple of our software engineers. I'm going to be tying the fire alarm system into it all and then making it work with our PBX to automate notifications of a tripped alarm via phone/text/email. If I'm lucky it will also qualify as the project for finishing up my degree.
I've had that suggestion of creating a Minecraft mod from others as well, I just don't have enough time to devote to Minecraft at this point to work on a mod... lol
Can you think of any specific open source projects that I could benefit from contributing to/monitoring? I'm keen on anything to do with Python or Java at the moment.
Great, that's a good start. Like the project, integration and development at the same time. Always good to have a real world use-case, the learning experience will be much better.
There's always the trending list at GitHub:
https://github.com/trending/python
https://github.com/trending/javaI could think of an improved AMQP client for Java. The official rabbitmq one isn't very good if you compare it to the C# implementation over at rabbitmq.com. There may already be some, ~
can't tell you exactly because my personal opinion is that Java is a piece of...~ I'm not in love with Java at all. Aside from that, well, you could create an Icinga plugin in Python to monitor your fire alarm system. And, not to forget, Java still needs a usable event system. Not pointing at C#'s wonderful event system, would never do something like this, no no. -
Okay, revised copy #1 for your further perusal...
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9uxfC380LxKbEl4YU5jenVpWEk
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Way better!
