Portfolio/CV opinions?

[Maximilian]

I graduated in December and im trying to get hired as a junior/graduate software developer but im not having much luck. There's a couple of things limiting me...

First is I can't relocate. Or rather relocation is a last resort because I own the house im currently in, I don't wanna leave it empty for an extended time.

Secondly ive got very little actual work experience doing anything :\

Thirdly I think im crap at maths. Ive done stuff on project euler and its never been a barrier for me in uni but the only interview ive had so far im pretty sure I failed horribly at the aptitude test. It was full of worded algebra questions where I have to create the equation then solve it. Ive always been garbage at this type of thing. Im thinking about doing a khan academy course because im fed up being scared of algebra.

Anyways I have a portfolio and a CV, would be cool if I could get some critique on them. My CV is under the "Links" dropdown:

http://www.maxpower.rocks/

Excuse the ".rocks" domain... it was the cheapest top level domain I could get apart from .space and with .space I could see people putting a dot then hitting the spacebar so .rocks it is :|

Right now im learning how to use spring-boot to make a new website and when the need arises either React or Angular 2.0 for the frontend, probably React though, I think web development is where I want to end up eventually. Im also looking for a basic unskilled job doing anything, I gather its easier to find employment if you're employed to begin with.

 

[clamum]

Personally, I'd get rid of the "About Me" and descriptions under "Key Skills" (instead just list the latter out).

Since you don't have relevant work experience, I'd make your Education section bigger. Under your "Open University" time, could you put an unordered list there with bullet points and elaborate on some things you did at school? For example, I had a Senior Design project I worked on while getting my B.S. in CompSci and me and a group of guys created a game in Java that was similar to Worms. I could easily create a couple bullet points for that experience and list how I learned X and Y and worked with others on a software project.

I see you're in Glasgow. I don't know the market there, but I think in the U.S. there's a ton of software developer jobs. At least there is in Michigan; I get recruiters nearly every week asking me if I'm interested in a position.

Anyway, I ain't a resume/CV expert but good luck!

 

[cbrunny]

I took a look. not in programming and don't know much about portfolios or web content. But my quick feedback: professionalize everything. Pick a different font. Drop the smiley. Don't use "half-way" language (e.g. if something is, don't say it seems). "Toying"? no, you're exploring and learning or something.

It was also not immediately obvious to me that you offer something different from a typical programmer. Make whatever is special about you stand out.

Or because I don't work in the industry, none of this means anything and ignore me.

 

[Net]

I'll comment on the part when you get the interview and how to perform well in it.

You'll want to have the following down solid. I know its a lot but you just work as hard as you can to know them all well and then hopefully in the interview they'll ask a question that will use the ones you know well:

Object oriented concepts
Big-O notation
arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists, hash table
recursion
Trees: binary tree, binary search tree, (one of the following: AVL, red/black tree, splay tree)
Sorting: quick sort, merge sort
Algorithms: breadth first search, depth first search. Traversals: inorder, preorder, postorder
Graphs: 3 ways to represent graphs in memory (objects and pointers, matrix, adjacency list) pros and cons between the different ways.
graph traversal, breadth first search, depth first search, dijkstra, A*
Other data structures: array, stacks, singlely linked lists, doubly linked lists

I'd recommend the following book:

http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Codi...=1461976608&sr=8-1&keywords=cracking+the+code

And practice problems here: https://www.hackerrank.com/

Youtube is good to for learning algorithms also. This is a good reference: http://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-4t...TF8&qid=1461976944&sr=8-2&keywords=algorithms

And know the time complexities: http://bigocheatsheet.com/

More practice problems: https://careercup.com/page


EDIT: I don't think its going to help you to get a job in another field doing anything. I think it might actually look like you're not sure if you want to do software development. I'd put all your energy into getting a software development job. And with the amount of preparation that you have to do with technical interviews it would be really difficult to start a new job and then do that at the same time. It will just extend how long it will take.

 

[Net]

A follow up to my last post.

Here's how I would narrow it down.

Start with binary search, then quick sort, merge sort, then recursion and dynamic programming.

Next Trees.

Graphs aren't asked as much.

 

[Maximilian]

Cheers guys, ill take some of this onboard :thumbsup:

@Net Yeah about 70% of that stuff I don't know lol, ill give it a shot though.

 

[purbeast0]

I personally think a lot of the stuff Net says you should know is complete overkill. That is stuff you should know when taking exams in college but in the real world knowing all of that isn't really relevant.

A lot of the concepts surrounding that stuff is good to know. But knowing intricate details about that stuff is just to swing your dick around.

I've had phone screens where it's felt like I was taking a college exam all over again. I decided to cut them short myself sometimes because that's just not a type of company I would want to work for if they want to know the bigo notation of s function. I may not know that, but I can explain to you in English why it's efficient or not.

 

[Net]

I personally think a lot of the stuff Net says you should know is complete overkill. That is stuff you should know when taking exams in college but in the real world knowing all of that isn't really relevant.

A lot of the concepts surrounding that stuff is good to know. But knowing intricate details about that stuff is just to swing your dick around.

I've had phone screens where it's felt like I was taking a college exam all over again. I decided to cut them short myself sometimes because that's just not a type of company I would want to work for if they want to know the bigo notation of s function. I may not know that, but I can explain to you in English why it's efficient or not.

I'm not talking about the real world. I'm talking about technical interviews Unfortunately, that's how it is. Like you said, when you did your interviews you felt like you were taking a college exam.

Also, about big o notation of s function. I'm not referring to that. I'm referring to understanding what the notation in http://bigocheatsheet.com/ says and what it means.
So if I asked you to code up a problem you should be able to:

1. Identify what algorithm and or data structures you would want to use (your not going to choose the right data structures or algorithms if you don't know them lol)
2. Code up the solution
3. Say what the big o for it is (i.e. O(logn))

I'm curious what company you applied for that didn't ask you to solve a problem that require knowledge of data structures and algorithms. With that said, I'm sure you can find some companies out there like that. But most are going to ask you to solve a coding problem that will require you to know what data structure to use and you'll need to come up with an algorithm or modify an existing one.

 

[purbeast0]

I'm not talking about the real world. I'm talking about technical interviews Unfortunately, that's how it is. Like you said, when you did your interviews you felt like you were taking a college exam.

Also, about big o notation of s function. I'm not referring to that. I'm referring to understanding what the notation in http://bigocheatsheet.com/ says and what it means.
So if I asked you to code up a problem you should be able to:

1. Identify what algorithm and or data structures you would want to use (your not going to choose the right data structures or algorithms if you don't know them lol)
2. Code up the solution
3. Say what the big o for it is (i.e. O(logn))

I'm curious what company you applied for that didn't ask you to solve a problem that require knowledge of data structures and algorithms. With that said, I'm sure you can find some companies out there like that. But most are going to ask you to solve a coding problem that will require you to know what data structure to use and you'll need to come up with an algorithm or modify an existing one.

every company i've applied for has asked me about data structures and algorithms. what they don't ask is for intricate details about how a binary search tree works. that is the kind of stuff i'm talking about that you don't really need to worry about IMO, at such a detailed level. then all of these different trees, graphs, etc, i think that is completely unnecessary to worry about in an interview. that's getting into the nitty gritty details imo.

i think my favorite coding exercise in an interview was when they gave me a laptop on wifi and gave me a spec sheet to write a game (command line game) and they said just do it in whatever language you want to do it in, and if you have any assumptions just write them down on the sheet. take as little time or as long time as you would like and just come grab us when you are done. that pretty much represents the real world to me and it was a great way to gauge what i actually know about coding.

and as mentioned, i haven't had the need for knowing bigO of anything since i was in college (11+ years ago). in the real world it's just knowing why something is more efficient than someone else, not what the bigO for the specific algorithm is. so again, that is the kind of details i think are overkill. it's more important to know why a binary search is more efficient than just traversing over a list, and being able to explain why, rather than giving the bigO of each scenario.

the technical interviews i like the most are saying "here is a problem, solve it in whatever language you would like and do it in what you think is the most efficient way" then after you finish, you have a discussion about it. making someone do it a very specific way in a specific language is not a good way to guage someone's talent imo. i want to work somewhere that they just want to get the job done with the best tools available, not somewhere that fights their current tools to get the job done. i've been in both and the former is much more fun and you learn a whole lot more.

i definitely agree at the higher level of your stuff though, that it's good to know those things and be able to explain them like the back of your hand. things like lists, maps, sets, and being able to explain the difference between all of them. obviously knowing OO stuff is a must have now a days and how polymorphism works.

i guess what i'm saying too is that you can know all of that stuff in your bullet point list and that still doesn't mean you are a good developer. it just means you have book smarts. there are much better ways to interview someone to find out if they are a good developer than asking them what a BST or tree graph is, or what the bigO of a function is. whether you know that stuff or not would take a backseat to whether or not you could solve a technical problem in an interview.

 

[Net]

every company i've applied for has asked me about data structures and algorithms. what they don't ask is for intricate details about how a binary search tree works. that is the kind of stuff i'm talking about that you don't really need to worry about IMO, at such a detailed level. then all of these different trees, graphs, etc, i think that is completely unnecessary to worry about in an interview. that's getting into the nitty gritty details imo.

i think my favorite coding exercise in an interview was when they gave me a laptop on wifi and gave me a spec sheet to write a game (command line game) and they said just do it in whatever language you want to do it in, and if you have any assumptions just write them down on the sheet. take as little time or as long time as you would like and just come grab us when you are done. that pretty much represents the real world to me and it was a great way to gauge what i actually know about coding.

and as mentioned, i haven't had the need for knowing bigO of anything since i was in college (11+ years ago). in the real world it's just knowing why something is more efficient than someone else, not what the bigO for the specific algorithm is. so again, that is the kind of details i think are overkill. it's more important to know why a binary search is more efficient than just traversing over a list, and being able to explain why, rather than giving the bigO of each scenario.

the technical interviews i like the most are saying "here is a problem, solve it in whatever language you would like and do it in what you think is the most efficient way" then after you finish, you have a discussion about it. making someone do it a very specific way in a specific language is not a good way to guage someone's talent imo. i want to work somewhere that they just want to get the job done with the best tools available, not somewhere that fights their current tools to get the job done. i've been in both and the former is much more fun and you learn a whole lot more.

i definitely agree at the higher level of your stuff though, that it's good to know those things and be able to explain them like the back of your hand. things like lists, maps, sets, and being able to explain the difference between all of them. obviously knowing OO stuff is a must have now a days and how polymorphism works.

i guess what i'm saying too is that you can know all of that stuff in your bullet point list and that still doesn't mean you are a good developer. it just means you have book smarts. there are much better ways to interview someone to find out if they are a good developer than asking them what a BST or tree graph is, or what the bigO of a function is. whether you know that stuff or not would take a backseat to whether or not you could solve a technical problem in an interview.

please do the following interview question without knowing the "nitty gritty" of the binary search algorithm (hint: you can't lol. you need modify the binary search algorithm to solve this question): https://www.careercup.com/question?id=14608732

yes, you need to know the nitty gritty of how the basic algorithms work for technical interviews.

you're saying they don't ask you the "nitty gritty" intricate details of how the basic algorithm (binary search tree, etc..) works. Yep, they expect you to know that because the question they ask will require it to solve it.

That book I posted "cracking the coding interview" is a good one, she (the author) interviewed hundreds of software engineers and evaluated thousands of hiring packets on the hiring committee. Any programming interview questions book, this one is good http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Prog...d=1462657029&sr=1-2&keywords=coding+interview will reinforce what i said in my first post.

I'm not going to continue with this but I'll leave it at what the companies say themselves which is what I'm saying. You can search on companies websites: https://www.palantir.com/getting-hired/ , glassdoor is also good to see what companies have asked
https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview...terview-Questions-EI_IE15276.0,11_KO12,34.htm
https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/1-Create-Binary-Search-tree-2-Fibonnaci-Series-QTN_436863.htm
https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview...-to-verify-a-binary-search-tree-QTN_36765.htm

 

[Bryf50]

I'm not sure I like listing your grades for each course. If you want to show off your grades and it's very good list your overall GPA. I also don't like your skills section. You're basically saying I'm just an ok Java programmer and I kind of know some other stuff. At most I'd make it two categories, primary and secondary, name it however you want.

 

[slugg]

Know some basic design patterns. Nobody has mentioned this so far, but that could make or break a tech interview.

Also, someone mentioned that graphs aren't as important as other topics. I would definitely disagree there. Almost everything in real-world computer science revolves around a graph of some sort. Dependencies are modeled as graphs, networks are graphs, file systems are graphs (a tree is a graph, and it's possible to have non-tree file systems), websites create graphs, and much, much more.

I don't want to say that graph theory is important. More accurately, your ability to solve graph problems is what's important. The explosion of the popularity of microservice architecture is a perfect example; distributed work over a system introduces plenty of graph problems.

Even lower level code, like image processing, involves graph knowledge. Sure, there's plenty of arithmetic and linear algebra, but at the end of the day, you will end up writing a graph algorithm of sorts. Ever wonder how the magic wand tool works in Photoshop? You guessed it: a graph traversal algorithm.

How does video game AI know where to go? How does Google Maps know where to go? How does Facebook figure out who you probably know? How does Netflix achieve massive scale and reliability?

Graphs.

 

[velimark]

I am not sure if you can get higher degree courses, but it would be really great if you get some additional professional course related to programming. It will help you to crack programming questions in interview.


As you mentioned above that you find it tough to solve aptitude questions, so you should solve some practice questions and try to crack interview with help of it.

 

[beginner99]

Thirdly I think im crap at maths. Ive done stuff on project euler and its never been a barrier for me in uni but the only interview ive had so far im pretty sure I failed horribly at the aptitude test. It was full of worded algebra questions where I have to create the equation then solve it. Ive always been garbage at this type of thing. Im thinking about doing a khan academy course because im fed up being scared of algebra.

Well, companies that do such idiotic tests are IMHO fail anyway and you would not like the job. 99% of apps don't need any math besides basic operations. So asking question in that sense makes no sense (for most jobs) and doesn't separate good from bad candidates at all. Similar to stupid puzzle questions.

Instead of doing math courses either start a new project (on github or similar of course) or contribute more to some projects and mention it in the CV. Eg. practical experience.

 

[beginner99]

Thirdly I think im crap at maths. Ive done stuff on project euler and its never been a barrier for me in uni but the only interview ive had so far im pretty sure I failed horribly at the aptitude test. It was full of worded algebra questions where I have to create the equation then solve it. Ive always been garbage at this type of thing. Im thinking about doing a khan academy course because im fed up being scared of algebra.

Well, companies that do such idiotic tests are IMHO fail anyway and you would not like the job. 99% of apps don't need any math besides basic operations. So asking question in that sense makes no sense (for most jobs) and doesn't separate good from bad candidates at all. Similar to stupid puzzle questions.

Instead of doing math courses either start a new project (on github or similar of course) or contribute more to some projects and mention it in the CV. Eg. practical experience.

My name is Max and im a graduate looking for my first job in the software development industry in and around the Glasgow area. I own my own home so it would be difficult for me to relocate away from Glasgow. I

Remove the relocate sentence. You already say in which are you are looking and if a recruiter contacts you anyway for a job in London, his fault. IMHO the sentence makes you look like you could be a complicated employee.

maxpower.rocks is also pretty cheesy.

EDIT:

Site doesn't fully work without JavaScript (Links tab). IMHO a no-no for a software developer using the site for job application purposes. Make it fall back to work without JS.

 

[clamum]

every company i've applied for has asked me about data structures and algorithms. what they don't ask is for intricate details about how a binary search tree works. that is the kind of stuff i'm talking about that you don't really need to worry about IMO, at such a detailed level. then all of these different trees, graphs, etc, i think that is completely unnecessary to worry about in an interview. that's getting into the nitty gritty details imo.

i think my favorite coding exercise in an interview was when they gave me a laptop on wifi and gave me a spec sheet to write a game (command line game) and they said just do it in whatever language you want to do it in, and if you have any assumptions just write them down on the sheet. take as little time or as long time as you would like and just come grab us when you are done. that pretty much represents the real world to me and it was a great way to gauge what i actually know about coding.

and as mentioned, i haven't had the need for knowing bigO of anything since i was in college (11+ years ago). in the real world it's just knowing why something is more efficient than someone else, not what the bigO for the specific algorithm is. so again, that is the kind of details i think are overkill. it's more important to know why a binary search is more efficient than just traversing over a list, and being able to explain why, rather than giving the bigO of each scenario.

the technical interviews i like the most are saying "here is a problem, solve it in whatever language you would like and do it in what you think is the most efficient way" then after you finish, you have a discussion about it. making someone do it a very specific way in a specific language is not a good way to guage someone's talent imo. i want to work somewhere that they just want to get the job done with the best tools available, not somewhere that fights their current tools to get the job done. i've been in both and the former is much more fun and you learn a whole lot more.

i definitely agree at the higher level of your stuff though, that it's good to know those things and be able to explain them like the back of your hand. things like lists, maps, sets, and being able to explain the difference between all of them. obviously knowing OO stuff is a must have now a days and how polymorphism works.

i guess what i'm saying too is that you can know all of that stuff in your bullet point list and that still doesn't mean you are a good developer. it just means you have book smarts. there are much better ways to interview someone to find out if they are a good developer than asking them what a BST or tree graph is, or what the bigO of a function is. whether you know that stuff or not would take a backseat to whether or not you could solve a technical problem in an interview.

I pretty much agree with everything you've said. I've had one interview in my life that was anything like "What is the Big-O for this algorithm" and it was quite the intense interview. I didn't end up getting the job but I heard much later that it was a shitty place to work.

The last couple jobs I've had also involved them giving me a computer and telling me to solve a problem, or asking me how to solve it and if I gave the right answer to go ahead and implement it. I also think that's a great way to interview.

Memorizing all that BST and Big-O bullfeces is a waste of time, IMO. You may come across a couple intense companies requiring that, but by and large I agree with purbeast0 that it's overkill.

 

[Maximilian]

I'm not sure I like listing your grades for each course. If you want to show off your grades and it's very good list your overall GPA. I also don't like your skills section. You're basically saying I'm just an ok Java programmer and I kind of know some other stuff. At most I'd make it two categories, primary and secondary, name it however you want.

But I am just an ok Java programmer that knows some other stuff :$ Very willing to learn though, I work well in a team.

Instead of doing math courses either start a new project (on github or similar of course) or contribute more to some projects and mention it in the CV. Eg. practical experience.


Remove the relocate sentence. You already say in which are you are looking and if a recruiter contacts you anyway for a job in London, his fault. IMHO the sentence makes you look like you could be a complicated employee.

maxpower.rocks is also pretty cheesy.

EDIT:

Site doesn't fully work without JavaScript (Links tab). IMHO a no-no for a software developer using the site for job application purposes. Make it fall back to work without JS.

Done. Should be fine without JS now :thumbsup:

Im trying to finish the site I built for my final project. Holy god some of the things I did a year ago to make it work After that ive got a new idea for a website that I will make as a SPA since I think I should probably know about that kind of thing. I just need to figure out reactjs tbh.

 

[chrstrbrts]

Not to be a jerk or anything, but I think that this thread should be moved to some kind of general discussion or employment forum.