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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Become the applicant Google can't turn down Cracking the Tech Career is the job seeker's guide to landing a coveted position at one of the top tech firms. A follow-up to The Google Resume, this book provides new information on what these companies want, and how to show them you have what it takes to succeed in the role. Early planners will learn what to study, and established professionals will discover how to make their skillset and experience set them apart from the crowd. Author Gayle Laakmann McDowell worked in engineering at Google, and interviewed over 120 candidates as a member of the hiring committee - in this book, she shares her perspectives on what works and what doesn't, what makes you desirable, and what gets your resume saved or deleted. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are the coveted companies in the current job market. They field hundreds of resumes every day, and have their pick of the cream of the crop when it comes to selecting new hires. If you think the right alma mater is all it takes, you need to update your thinking. Top companies, especially in the tech sector, are looking for more. This book is the complete guide to becoming the candidate they just cannot turn away. * Discover the career paths that run through the top tech firms * Learn how to craft the prefect resume and prepare for the interview * Find ways to make yourself stand out from the hordes of other applicants * Understand what the top companies are looking for, and how to demonstrate that you're it These companies need certain skillsets, but they also want a great culture fit. Grades aren't everything, experience matters, and a certain type of applicant tends to succeed. Cracking the Tech Career reveals what the hiring committee wants, and shows you how to get it.
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CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1: Life at the World's Greatest Tech Companies
Life at Infinite Loop and Microsoft Way
The Differences
Big versus Little: Is a Start-Up Right for You?
The Job Title: What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
It's Not for Everyone
Chapter 2: Advanced Positioning and Preparation
A Positioning Framework
University
Graduate School
Career Graduate Degrees
The MBA
Part-Time Graduate Programs
Work Experience
Extracurriculars
Questions and Answers
Chapter 3: Getting in the Door
The Black Hole: Online Job Submission
Getting a Personal Referral
Career Fairs
Professional Recruiters
Additional Avenues
Networking
Social Networking
Questions and Answers
Chapter 4: Resumes
How Resumes Are Read
Nine Hallmarks of a Powerful Resume
The Structure
How Do I Shorten My Resume?
Resume Action Words
Questions and Answers
Chapter 5: Deconstructing the Resume
Resume #1
Resume #2
Resume #3
Resume #4
Chapter 6: Cover Letters
Why a Cover Letter?
The Three Types of Cover Letter
The Structure
Five Traits of a Strong Cover Letter
The Daring A+ Cover Letter
The Traditional A+ Cover Letter
The So-So Cover Letter
Questions and Answers
Additional Resources
Chapter 7: References
How References Are Used
Whom You Should Select as a Reference
Make a Good Reference Great
When Things Go Wrong
What If Your Bad Reference Is Your Former Boss?
Questions and Answers
Chapter 8: Interview Prep and Overview
Interview Questions
The Tech Interview Culture
Do Your Homework
Working with Your Recruiter
Communication and Behavior
Special Interview Types
After the Interview
Following Up with Your Recruiter
Dealing with Rejection
Questions and Answers
Additional Resources
Chapter 9: Define Yourself
The Pitch
Why Should We Hire You?
Why Shouldn't We Hire You?
Why Do You Want to Work Here?
Why Are You Leaving Your Job?
Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?
What Are Your Strengths?
What Are Your Weaknesses?
Layoffs, Firing, and Unemployment
Questions and Answers
Chapter 10: Behavioral Questions
Evaluation
Mastering the Content
Mastering the Communication
Common Mistakes
Five Example Questions
Questions and Answers
Chapter 11: Problem Solving
Types of Problem-Solving Questions
Estimation Questions
Design Questions
Brainteasers
Questions and Answers
Additional Resources
Chapter 12: The Programming Interview
What's the Point?
What's Expected—And What's Not
How They Differ: Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Yahoo, and Apple
How to Prepare
Must-Know Data Structures, Algorithms, and Topics
Coding Questions
Algorithm Questions: Four Ways to Create an Algorithm
Object-Oriented Design
Scalability Questions
Testing Interviews
Questions and Answers
Additional Resources
Chapter 13: Getting into Gaming
The Culture: Is It All Fun and Games?
Job Positions: What Can You Do?
College Candidates
Reaching Out and Getting In
Personality Fit
The Gaming Interview—Three Tips to Doing Well
Questions and Answers
Chapter 14: Women in Tech
On Men and Allies
The Harsh(ish) Reality of Being a Woman in Tech
Advice for Women from Women (and Allies)
It's Friction, Not Obstacles
Questions and Answers
Chapter 15: The Offer
How to Evaluate an Offer
How Can You Negotiate an Offer?
Tricky Issues: Deadlines, Extensions, and Declining Offers
Questions and Answers
Chapter 16: Crafting Your Career
Define Your Career Path
Being Great
Manage the Review Process
Play a Bit of Politics: Build Strong Relationships
Identify a Mentor
Promotions and Raises
How and When to Quit
Questions and Answers
Chapter 17: On Luck, Leverage, and You
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Figure 11.1
Figure 11.2
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
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Cracking the Tech Career
Insider Advice on Landing a Job at Google, Microsoft, Apple, or Any Top Tech Company
Gayle Laakmann McDowell
Cover image: © iStock.com/min6939
Cover design: Wiley
Copyright © 2014 by Gayle Laakmann McDowell. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
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ISBN: 978-1-118-96808-6 (pbk.)
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1Life at the World's Greatest Tech Companies
Everything you've heard is true. Almost.
Tech companies are known for brightly colored walls, ball pits in the office, free food (organic and gluten-free, of course), and shuttles transporting you to and from work. They're engaged in a constant game of one-upmanship, the latest and greatest company taking what its predecessor does and morphing it into something even better.
With an obvious focus on technology, their engineering divisions are presumed to be filled with nerds who eat, sleep, and breathe code. Some started coding early in life and some not until much later—but nearly all are passionate about technology. It's not just a job to them; it's something they love.
Outside of engineering—and in fact most employees at tech companies are not coders—intelligence is still prized. The focus on academics is hotly debated; some companies value elite institutions, while others recognize that many of the most brilliant people never finished college. After all, the founders of many of these companies dropped out of college.
Landing a spot at these companies can be challenging for some people, but it's absolutely doable.
Job seekers who attended strong universities are fairly technical (even if they don't want to be programmers), have strong and demonstrable skills in their chosen profession, communicate well, have solid work experience, have a strong network, and can pull this all into a nice resume—they'll probably find it not terribly difficult to land a job at a prestigious firm. They might still get rejected by their top choice, but there will be other options.
That's the ideal candidate, but most successful candidates aren't ideal. You're likely missing several of those attributes. Don't count yourself out—there's still a path in to these hot companies.
Life at Infinite Loop and Microsoft Way
Even their addresses are suggestive of company stereotypes. Microsoft, at One Microsoft Way, screams big and mammoth. Google's 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway address is understated, like its user interfaces. Apple, of course, takes the bold “think different” step with One Infinite Loop—a play on words that could come back to bite a less beloved company.
Youthful
Despite the little eccentricities of each company, these companies are much more alike than they are different. Software companies are youthful—at heart, if not in actuality. They scorn the stuffy suit-and-tie atmosphere of their predecessors and elect to wear just jeans and a T-shirt. In fact, this casual attitude is so potent that it's pervaded even the social scenes of tech hubs; only a handful of restaurants in Seattle and San Francisco would request anything beyond jeans.
Perks
Desperate to attract and retain the best and the brightest, tech firms shower their employees with perks. Microsoft offers free drinks, a heavily discounted membership to a deluxe gym, and a multitude of extracurricular sports teams. Google matched and then one-upped Microsoft on almost all of these. Free sodas? Try free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Free gym membership? Use the on-site gym and pool. Facebook cloned many of Google's perks and added a few of their own, such as an on-site bank.
Cynics argue that there's another side to this. They argue that the perks are just there to ensure that you'll stay at the office longer, and to infantilize employees to the point where they no longer feel self-sufficient and able to quit.
That might be a nasty spin on things, but there's some truth to it. When you get your dining and daily errands done on campus, you spend less time off campus and more time working.
Work/Life Balance
Despite rumors to the contrary, the biggest tech companies generally offer a pretty reasonable work/life balance. It's not a 9-to-5 job—in fact, the office is relatively quiet at 9 a.m.—but few people work more than 45 to 50 hours per week on a regular basis. Many people work around 40 and are considered strong employees.
Hours are flexible, too. Come in early or come in late—it doesn't matter, so long as you get your work done and are there for meetings.
To a large extent, the flexibility and the work/life balance is a reaction to the difficulties these companies have in finding talented engineers. There's a shortage of great engineers in the United States. If a tech company overworked them, the company would have even more trouble hiring engineers.
The exception, as in most jobs, is during crunch times. Software releases will be stressful on any team.
Moving Up: Individual Contributors
Although other industries push high-performing employees into management roles, technology companies tend to be more open to the individual contributor role. Many companies have promotion tracks that offer a great salary and more individual responsibility without becoming a manager. After all, great engineers do not necessarily make the best managers.
An employee, particularly in engineering, can continue to get promotions and increased technical responsibilities, without becoming a people manager. Eventually, this employee can grow into an architect or a distinguished engineer, earning one of the most respected positions within the company. It's perhaps not as glamorous as being a VP, but for some people, this is just right.
The Differences
Cultural differences between companies can often be traced back to the company's roots.
Amazon
, many would argue, is more of a retail company than a software company. It faced extremely hard times during the dot-com crash and continues to battle profit margins that are levels of magnitude lower than those of a core software company. Amazon is consequently extremely frugal, and refrains from providing the lavish perks that other software companies might. Additionally, some employees have suggested that the company does not value technical innovation for its own sake, and instead looks for an immediate and causal link to profits. But, do not let that deter you too much; indeed, Amazon is leading in multiple industries (retail, cloud computing, etc.) largely because of its technical innovation. The company moves at a rapid pace and pending deadlines often mean late nights.
Apple
is just as secretive inside as it is outside. When your innovation lies so heavily in your look and feel, and your market share depends on beautifully orchestrated hype, it's no wonder. The company can't afford to let its secrets slip. Employees are die-hard fans, just as one would expect, but rarely know what coworkers from other teams are working on.
Microsoft
has dabbled with search and the web, but a large chunk of its earnings come from Windows and Office. Live patches to these products are expensive, so the company tends to operate on longer, multiyear release schedules. This means moving slower, taking fewer risks, and making sure to get everything right the first time. The bright side is that the company tends to have a good work/life balance, as ship dates are relatively infrequent. Many former employees say that though they loved the company, its mammoth size could stifle innovation and risk taking. However, individual team cultures are all over the map, and some may be more innovative than others.
is the nerdiest of the nerdy. Founded by two former Stanford PhDs, the company still prizes engineers above nonengineers. The company moves quickly, shipping products weekly, and can value technical innovation even to a fault. As a web-based company, it can afford to take some risks on products; after all, shipping a new application to the web is so much easier than boxing up and mailing software. Google values its flat hierarchy, but there's a downside as well. Your manager may have too many people under her to fuss about the progress of your career, and moving up can be a challenge.
has learned from Google's example and modeled much of its culture after it—with a few differences. Whereas Google tends to be more science-y and academic, Facebook prioritizes getting things done. Its original mantra—“move fast and break things”—speaks volumes about the attitude of the company. It doesn't want to let an opportunity go by because it moved too slowly or was scared of taking risks. It looks for this sort of attitude in its employees. As the company has grown, it has seen the value in getting more things right the first time, but it still retains hacker culture.
While these generalizations are fairly consistent, some companies have a great deal of variance across teams. For example, Microsoft and Amazon tend to be fairly team based and therefore less consistent in their cultures. Always investigate both your company's culture and your team's culture.
Big versus Little: Is a Start-Up Right for You?
Go to almost any business school and you'll find that there are about three times as many people who claim to be interested in start-ups than people who actually end up pursuing this career path. Why? Because start-ups are sexy.
Newspapers splash stories about start-ups that made it big, or crashed and burned, and we always think we can do that or we can do better. Start-ups are a high-stakes game, and you're gambling with your time as well as your money.
For the right person with the right opportunity, however, a start-up environment can be fantastic.
The Good
Many say that for true start-up people, this high-risk career is just in their nature. They get that entrepreneurial itch, either in college or at some big company, and know they need to be somewhere much, much smaller. And their new career path offers a ton of value to them in return:
Diversity of skills.
Whereas big companies have designated marketing and finance people, start-ups never have enough people to fill every role. And the smaller the company, the more hats you have to wear. Unless you are truly narrowly focused on just one field (in which case you should avoid start-ups), this can be a great thing. You'll get to develop a more diverse skill set, which will help you in your future job search.
Leadership opportunities.
When—or if—your start-up grows, you'll be in a great place to lead your own team. Many people join a company and find that within months they're expected to manage several new hires. You'd have to be at a bigger company for years to get such an opportunity.
Control and influence.
Would you rather have a tiny influence on the error reporting tool at Microsoft, or drive a major pivot for an obscure start-up? Both are valid answers, but some might lean toward the latter. They'd rather have big, meaty things to show for their work even if their employer is unheard of. At a start-up, you are not only shaping the company in how you perform your immediate responsibilities, but you're also offering feedback on all aspects of the business. Think the newsletter should have some content about related tools and plug-ins? It's your job to speak up, and everyone will listen. You always know the decision makers in any department.
Rapid results.
You won't have to wait years to see your work out in the real world; it'll happen within months. That holds true for any decisions you make as well. For better or worse, the outcome is visible within months, enabling you to learn from your mistakes (and successes) much faster.
High reward.
Hey, we don't take on all this risk for nothing. Start-ups can make you very, very rich if you get very lucky. Of course, it could just as well do absolutely nothing for you financially—and usually that's the case.
Some people love start-ups. The speed. The innovation. The risk. The learning as you go. The impact. For as much as start-ups are glorified though, it's also reasonable to decide that they're not for you, or to at least have mixed feelings.
The Bad
Start-up burnout is a very real thing. Sure, you may be passionate about your new social-location-group-buying-thingy-dot-com, but things change and passions die. The following stresses tend to wear on people the most.
Long hours.
With the amount of money and careers depending on a start-up's success, long hours are critical. Those who do the bare minimum don't last long, and start-ups don't have the fear of firing underperformers that bigger companies do.
Unclear job description.
You were hired in to be a tester, and now you're helping look for office space. Well, tough. Someone's got to do it. Start-ups don't have the time and money to hire a specialist for each and every task, so employees are expected to chip in on projects that are outside of their roles. That may mean you spend less time doing what you love and more time doing what the company wants you to do.
Lower pay.
With very few exceptions, start-ups tend to pay below-industry salary and compensate for the difference with stock options. If the company fails (which it usually does), your stock options are worth nothing. Unfortunately, it's difficult to understand the worth of stock options.
Limited credibility.
The earliest employees of Google and Facebook have lots of credibility, but let's face it—what are the odds? You may join a start-up, only to have it fail in six months. And all of a sudden you're back on the job market with some no-name company on your resume.
Less mentorship.
Big companies have invested time and money in understanding how to train new employees; start-ups lack both of those things. They probably won't invest in growing you into a great leader in three years because they'll be lucky if they make it that long. Big companies can teach you a structured way of solving problems, under the guidance of more experienced professionals, while those at start-ups are learning on the go. And if your coworkers have never spent time at a big company, they may have never been taught how “real” companies do things.
Instability.
Start-ups are inherently unstable; it comes with the risk. If it's easy for you to find a job, you might not be too worried about job stability—yes. What happens, though, when you go through four jobs in five years? At some point, you might just want to settle down.
Interestingly, many ex-employees of big companies find that the lack of credibility was the hardest for them to deal with. They spent years where the name of their company meant something to anyone on the street. Now, they're in the same grouping as everyone else fighting for credibility and reputation.
The Ugly
In Ryan's first four years after leaving Amazon for the start-up scene, he'd worked for four different companies. He left one company because of a personality mismatch between him and the CEO. Words were exchanged. It wasn't pretty. The next start-up folded. The third one started to veer in the wrong direction, and he decided to get out before it was too late. Lucky number four is a company he started himself.
Whenever you join a start-up, you're rolling the dice. Things tend to get messy.
Broken promises.
“As soon as we raise our next round of funding,” one start-up CEO promises, “you'll get a promotion.” It's a familiar story. The CEO likely means well. Perhaps he's being overly optimistic, but he's probably not lying. But, very often, the promotion—or the assistant, or the team, or the project—is never a reality.
Bad management.
Many start-up CEOs and managers are first-time managers. Sometimes they're fairly fresh out of college and barely even have work experience. They're going to screw up—a lot.
Working for kids.
Are you prepared to have a 25-year-old as your manager? It's unlikely at a bigger company, but it could happen at a rapidly growing start-up. This can be a problem not only in terms of the aforementioned management issues, but it can also be a blow to someone's ego to have someone so much younger manage him.
Lost work.
Projects getting canceled before or after launch is just part of the tech industry. It'll happen at big companies, too, but it's especially common at start-ups. A start-up might need to make a rapid change in direction and cut everything you poured your time and effort into. In fact, it's not unusual to meet someone with 20 years of experience and
zero
“surviving” projects. You typically won't get laid off if it's just a project change. The bigger concern is the effect on company morale.
It's going to be a bumpy ride. People joining start-ups should be mentally prepared for this constant change.
The Job Title: What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
The question every kid is asked over and over again: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” We answer definitively as kids, but as we get older, many start to think I really don't know.
Few, especially outside of engineering roles, have a laser focus on their long-term career goals. That's okay. Talk to people, research positions, and start figuring out what's important to you. Ask yourself the following questions to start understanding what career path makes sense.
What Do You Need?
Our society contradicts itself every day. On one hand, we are told over and over again, “Money doesn't buy happiness,” and we have the disastrous lives of celebrities to drill this into us. On the other hand, we're also told that we really do need that new jacket. Let go of what you think should matter, and be honest with yourself. How much do the following matter to you?
Money.
Money may not buy happiness, but it does buy your kid's college tuition. And a house in a nice neighborhood. Or maybe just a nice bottle of wine after a hard week. Does that matter to you? Be careful with looking too heavily at money. While you can be fairly confident that your teaching dream will never bring in the big bucks, you can't be as certain about many other career paths. Passionate, driven people can earn a good living in unexpected ways.
Recognition and respect.
Many people who shun the spotlight still desperately crave the admiration of their fellow people. How much do you care about what others think of you? Would you be okay with people giving just a courtesy smile when you share your profession?
Work/life balance.
There is nothing wrong with wanting a nice, stable, 9-to-5 (or in the tech world, 10-to-6) job. You want to be able to enjoy a nice day out on the boat during the summer, and that's fine. You don't have to decide to prioritize your career above everything else.
If you find your answers leaning away from a job for some reason, ask yourself why. Is there something you need from the job that you wouldn't get?
How Do You Enjoy Working?
Job seekers think so much about their project, responsibilities, company, and other factors. Few think about the actual style of work though. How do you enjoy working?
Teamwork versus independent work.
Everyone loves to say, “Teamwork is the best!” but deep down, you see the problems. Coworkers letting you down or just getting in the way. Needing a consensus just to make a decision. Managing everyone's emotions and expectations. Is this really something you enjoy?
Creating versus maintaining.
While software development is creating a new product, testing is maintaining it. There are no tangible results of your work; it's more like pulling the plug in a sink while the water's still running. It'll just keep coming and coming. How important is it to feel that you built something? Remember that even “maintenance” jobs (like being a surgeon) can have huge impacts on the world.
Leading versus joining.
Leading is great, but it's the joiners who get their hands dirty. Do you want to lead, with all the joys and responsibilities that come from that? Or would you rather relax a bit more and join someone else to accomplish a task?
What Are You Good At?
Even if you don't know what field you want to go into, you probably have an instinct as to what your skill set is. Which of the following are your strengths?
Numbers.
Numbers come more easily to some than to others. Are you the kind of person who can understand real-world word problems and whip up a spreadsheet to demonstrate?
Writing and communication.
Don't worry about prose and poetry; it's rarely relevant to the professional world. It's more important to be able to communicate effectively, both in speaking and in writing.
Creativity.
Creativity stretches beyond artistic skills; it's also about how you solve problems. When faced with an issue of releasing a software product in China, can you brainstorm other revenue streams to dodge the nearly 100 percent piracy rate?
People skills.
Being good with people is more than just being likable (though that's certainly part of it). It's also about reading people, knowing how to encourage them, and knowing when you might be pushing them too hard. Those who are especially good with people may find themselves well suited for management positions.
Most people's college majors have little to do with their eventual career path, so don't feel constrained by your major. Your skill set is so much more than your raw factual knowledge. Analyze your success and failures. Think through actual projects or jobs where you've been particularly happy or unhappy. What was it that made the difference? The answers to these questions will help point you in the right direction.
It's Not for Everyone
For many people, technology is the best field they could possibly be in. They love the culture, the world impact, the hard problems, and the fast pace.
But tech isn't universally the best, and it's not for everyone.
Some people decide to take their job, pack up their San Francisco home, and move away from the tech industry entirely—literally and figuratively. They were sick of what they felt was a college mentality. They were frustrated by constantly working under 25-year-old kids. They were turned off by an assumption that the world revolves around these tech firms. Or, perhaps they just didn't want to live in Silicon Valley anymore, where the majority of big tech companies are.
Tech is a wonderful place for the right type of person. If you think this is you, then read on…
2Advanced Positioning and Preparation
Landing a job at a tech company may start with an interview, but to land an interview, you need be thinking months or years in advance. Waking up one morning and saying, “You know what? I'd like to work for Google,” doesn't work—not if you haven't already done the right things.
In this case, doing the right thing means establishing, ideally, all four parts of a framework:
Relevant skills
Prestige/credibility
A technical connection
Something special
Let's talk about each of those—and how to obtain them.
A Positioning Framework
The exceptional candidate has coverage of all four areas: skills, credibility, technical connection, and something special. A typical successful candidate, however, has only two or three of these—but is hopefully exceptional in one of these areas. You can compensate for weaknesses in one with strength in the others.
Relevant Skills
If you want to be a software developer, you need software development skills. If you want to be a marketer, you need marketing skills. These skills can come from your college work, volunteering, launching your own business or side project, or your professional life.
These skills can include the following:
Field-specific skills.
You'll position yourself best for these companies if you develop a specific, tangible skill. If you want to be a marketer, learn about marketing. If you want to be in sales, help a local organization raise money. Without a tangible skill, you'll likely blend in with everyone else—everyone else who's waiting at the door to be let in.
Numerical/quantitative skills.
Quantitative skills can be important by themselves, but they can also be important because people think
good with numbers
equals
smart.
You can leverage this assumption. Take some classes, either at your school or online, that require math: engineering, calculus, statistics, economics, and so on.
Communication skills.
Communication, whether written or oral, is vitally important to your career success. If you aren't comfortable with public speaking, get practice with it. If your writing is weak, take a writing course or start a blog to get more practice. You don't need to be able to do dramatic readings or write elegant prose, but you do need to be able to write in a way that is clean and professional.
Initiative.
Initiative is shown through starting things, so start something. This can be a new club at school, running a meet-up on SEO (search engine optimization) skills, or launching a new project at your current job.
Accomplishment.
Develop a track record of achievement. Recruiters want to see that you have a pattern of setting ambitious goals and accomplishing them. Your successes could be in academics, project work, volunteer work, employment, or athletics.
Leadership.
You don't need to be the president of a club or the manager of your team (though those are nice, of course), but find something you can lead. Kevin, now a Google employee, led the fund-raising process for a local entrepreneurship club. His team of three raised 17 percent more money than they did the year before!
Think broadly about which skills and attributes makes someone good at this role, and then find activities to match them.
Don't spread yourself too thin though; depth is more important than breadth. You don't need to play sports and sing and volunteer and teach classes. Pick something and throw yourself into it. You will have much more to show for an activity when you have the time to really pursue it.
Prestige/Credibility
You don't have to have attended an Ivy League. In fact, most applicants did not attend an exceptional university. However, it sure helps.
Finding a way to associate yourself with something prestigious can offer you credibility.
Attending a great university
Working for a well-known company
Working for a start-up funded by a well-known venture capital firm
Working for a company with prestigious clients
Winning an award
Creating a successful side project
Sometimes, candidates actually have prestige but don't do a great job showing it. Did you mention how selective that award you won was? Did you specify that you managed the sales account for the top three finance companies?
Prestige is often the hardest for candidates to establish. It is not strictly necessary—most candidates do not have prestige—but it dramatically helps your chances. Do the best you can here.
Technical Connection
Marketing skills are great (for marketers), but if your whole resume is about health care marketing, you're not in the best position. Your resume will blend in with all the other people who just don't seem like the right fit.
It's important to establish some relevance to technology. If this isn't immediately obvious from your background, you can start building a connection:
Attend start-up weekends.
Take some online classes.
Build a project on the side (outsource if you need to).
Start a blog or website about technology.
Learn to code.
Your goal is to help someone envision you as a person who lives and breathes technology. You want to show passion, knowledge, and curiosity about technology.
If you don't know much about technology, now is a great time to start reading websites like TechCrunch and CNET, as well as company-specific blogs. Think about what the major topics are—social networking, mobile applications, cloud computing—and ask yourself, who are the leaders in this field, and why? In what ways are these fields changing technology, and therefore the world?
Something Special
Ah, the “something special” part!
Finding a way to be unique can be valuable, particularly when establishing skills are less quantifiable. In other words, being unique as a software developer is less important; there are clear, established ways to prove your software development skills (and there's a severe shortage of qualified software developers). If your specialty is marketing, though, establishing your skills can be more complex. This is where having something special on your resume comes in.
Ideally, this “something special” will relate back to a skill, even if indirectly.
“Completed 60 miles of a 100-mile marathon, after being injured at mile 30.” Shows extreme persistence and eagerness to tackle hard challenges.
“Founder and lead singer of rock band. Wrote all songs and performed in 20 concerts annually.” Shows charisma, initiative, leadership, creativity, and public speaking.
“Teaching online class on marketing and published five articles in major media websites (Forbes, CNBC, and AOL).” Shows marketing skills, written communication skills, and initiative.
Far too many candidates brush off that “extracurricular” activity, assuming that it's irrelevant. If there's something you do that your friends think is cool, there's a good chance an employer will, too—if you word it the right way.
If you don't have this “something special,” find it. Sometimes it's as easy as saying yes to the right opportunity.
University
Academia is merely one way to distinguish yourself, and there are plenty of other ways. So if your GPA or your school doesn't stand out, look for additional avenues. Besides, you'll need to excel in multiple areas to get your resume selected.
Elite Schools: What's in a Name?
A degree from an elite college doesn't get you in the door, but it does make it easier for you to get noticed. If you go to a smaller or lesser known school, there are still plenty of avenues.
Ben, a student at a small liberal arts school in Indiana, got recommended for a Microsoft internship through his professor. Once he was in the door, his college name stopped mattering, and it all came down to his interview—and his internship. “After I finished my internship, they worked hard to recruit me for a full-time position,” Ben says. His coworkers couldn't care less about what college name was on his diploma.
If your school isn't nationally known with the prestige of a Harvard or MIT, reach out to your professors or your college's alumni network for connections. Or, you can try to build those connections yourself by seeking out mentors or advice from people in the field.
Majors
Although some well-meaning people will advise you to find a major that you love, that isn't the best career advice.
If you want to get a job at a top tech company, some majors will simply make it easier to get in. The more directly applicable your major is, the better. Computer science, marketing, finance, and accounting majors will have a much easier time getting their resume noticed than, say, a history major. After all, they have academic experience, and possibly other work experience, that lends itself to a specific role.
Even majors that aren't necessarily directly applicable (like mathematics, in most cases) can still show rigor.
But there are all kinds. Paul landed an internship at Microsoft as a music major from Berkelee College of Music. Not a dual computer science and music—just a plain old music major. And even he had a directly applicable role: making sound effects for Xbox. He spent his days using ordinary household objects to mimic sounds like a golf ball hitting the grass.
Minors
If you choose to major in something less applicable, like history, your minor is your opportunity to add an applicable skill to your resume. Seek out a relevant minor that complements your path, whether that's finance, marketing, computer science, or one of several other career majors.
A minor is also a great place to prove that you're quantitative. A minor in math or engineering will do that, but so will a minor in economics, finance, or accounting. Whether fair or not, many techies associate the ability to work with numbers as a sign of intelligence (as well as an important job skill), and a minor is your chance to show that.
Learn to Code
Learning to code is, of course, essential for software development roles, but it's valuable for far more than that. After all, this is what software firms are all about: writing software.
Learning to code has a number of benefits for the noncoder:
It shows that you can communicate with developers.
It shows that you understand technology, including what's hard and what's easy.
It shows rigor and persistence—and even intelligence, to some people.
It shows a passion for technology.
You can learn to code through a major or minor in computer science, but it's not the only avenue. There are plenty of tools online that will let you start writing your first lines of code within minutes.
Get Project Experience
Project-heavy courses are an excellent way to add tangible accomplishments to your resume, even before you have the credentials to get real work experience. While other students are trying to dodge these rigorous courses, you should seek them out. You should cherish them for all the grueling, pizza-and-coffee-filled late nights that they bring.
Peter Bailey, a software engineer from Denver advises:
Remember the projects you work on. Understand them. Deconstruct them. Save samples of particularly tough problems you've solved. Improve them, even if only on your own machine and on your own time. Because in the future, interviewers will ask you many, many questions about the projects you've worked on. They don't want to know that you're smart. They don't want to know that you can figure out anything with 30 seconds of Google time. They want to know that you can solve problems and produce results—sometime before Christmas. And this holds true whether you're fresh out of college or a 20-year IT veteran.
Grade Point Average: Does It Matter and What Can You Do?
Of all companies, Google is perhaps the most renowned for being GPA snobs. Hysteria surrounds the recruiting process, screaming that Google takes only candidates with at least a 3.7. Like most myths, there's some truth to it, but it's mostly just hot air.
The top companies look for the top candidates—people with a track record of success. Your GPA is one point on that graph. But there are other points, too, and you can recover from any low point, whether that's your GPA, your college degree (or lack thereof), or even work experience.
Here is how two candidates with unusually low GPAs scored offers with top companies:
John
John applied to Microsoft with a mere 2.55/4.0 GPA, placing him around the bottom 9th percentile in his class at Dartmouth. Though brilliant, he was never terribly interested in his classes. They were dry and too removed from practicality; he liked to get his hands dirty.
His junior year, John discovered that the robotics team was the perfect fit for his nerdy-yet-practical side. He led the Robotics Club the next year and came in second in a robotics competition. He showed that he was, in fact, a high achiever, even if homework and tests weren't his thing.
He came off to his interviewers as your classic tuned-out geek, who finally found his passion in building things—or taking them apart. His robotics and other projects gave him plenty to talk about in interviews, and he knew the intricacies of nearly any gadget.
Though he got rejected from more by-the-books consulting companies, Microsoft was thrilled to offer him a position as a program manager.
Beth
Beth started off strong in Berkeley's computer science program, getting As or Bs in every course, until family issues derailed that. Her grades sank, but before that happened, she got a position as a teaching assistant (TA) for one of the toughest computer science courses.
Her low-to-mediocre GPA was offset by other successes: president of her sorority, a bachelor's and master's degree in just four years, serious project work beyond the bounds of her required courses, several TA positions. On top of all that, she got a personal referral to Google, Amazon, and Microsoft from friends who graduated before her.
Between the referrals and her other experiences, Beth had no problem landing a phone screen and then a full round of on-site interviews. Her interviewers gave her the usual range of software engineering questions, and never gave her GPA a second look. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon were all practically begging for her to join them.
Though their reasons for the low GPA may differ, as well as their compensation strategies, Beth and John found that their GPA really only mattered in the resume selection process. They were both able to compensate for poor academic performance by excelling in other areas. Companies care about what you can actually do, and your interview performance is generally considered a better indication of that than some silly number.
Doctor Who? Getting to Know Professors
Getting to know professors can help you in so many ways. They can help you navigate the school's bureaucracy and help you bend—or break—the rules. They can give you advice on the best classes and professors. They can give you opportunities for research positions, sometimes even leading to publications. And they often have hundreds of prior students whom they can connect you with when needed.
Despite what many students assume, excellent grades are neither necessary nor sufficient to establish a close relationship with a professor. The truth is that regardless of how much professors emphasize studying, few professors will be impressed by academics alone.
To get to know professors, you need to go above and beyond.
Get involved in their research.
Professors usually welcome assistance with their research projects. For freshmen and sophomores, research positions can also be a great way to get a bit of experience before the biggies like Facebook and Google will open their doors to you.
Ask them for help.
If you're doing something on the side—whether it's building a software application or researching a new market—your professors' research may intersect your project. Asking them for guidance is a win-win; you get expert advice, and they get to geek out on a novel application of their favorite topic.
Become a teaching assistant.
Not only do you (usually) get paid for this, but your professor gets to see you in action. This makes for a much stronger letter of recommendation if you need one down the road.
Take advantage of lunch, coffee, or office hours.
Many universities offer some sort of take your professor to lunch program. If yours doesn't, you can seek your professor's suggestions on course selection or career direction over coffee or during office hours.
Your relationship with professors can be immensely valuable. If possible, select one professor each semester to try to connect with. Some of those will naturally fizzle out, but by graduation you should have two of three strong relationships. Maintain those.
Graduate School
Whether we long for the days of beer pong or for the (potentially less memorable) intellectual stimulation, many of us dream of going back to school. The grueling schedule of three hours of class four or five days per week no longer seems so bad after years of 40- or 50-hour workweeks. What's harder to stomach, however, is the cost: $40,000 of tuition for a typical private university, plus another $100,000 or more perhaps in lost salary.
Still, it tempts us. Maybe we can switch careers. Maybe we can move up in our current career. Maybe it'll give us the credibility that we need. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
The choice is complex because we never know exactly what we'll gain or give up by going back to school.
The True Cost of Graduate School
Costs for graduate school range widely, but the important thing to remember is that your tuition is only a fraction of the true cost. The full costs include:
Tuition.
Tuition varies based on whether a school is public or private; if public, whether you are in state or out of state; and what the field of study is. Tuition can be anywhere from $10,000 to $60,000 per year.
Lost salary.
Every year that you're in grad school is salary that you could be getting but aren't. Depending on your previous job and the length of your graduate program, that might be $200,000 or more. This is usually the biggest factor of the costs.
Lost promotions.
In addition to lost salary while you were getting your master's degree, you also lost two years of experience. That's two years of lost promotions and lost raises.
By this math, a typical two-year master's degree could cost effectively $300,000 ($100,000 in tuition and $200,000 in lost salary).
You do get a small salary bump for a master's degree, but it's usually less than $10,000. A master's degree is generally only worth it if it opens up a career option that you couldn't have obtained with two years of work experience.
Career Graduate Degrees
Career graduate programs, such as in statistics or marketing, offer you the ability to either switch into a new field or obtain a specialty in your existing field. They are often intensely academic programs, where students are often expected to juggle multiple graduate courses while doing additional research.
As rigorous as these programs can be, they can offer you a leg up on your (future) coworkers. You're no longer just any other entry-level employee; you have a specialty. You have unique knowledge that you can offer that relatively few people can compete with. That knowledge can offer the ability to contribute in a way that other people cannot and to therefore get ahead faster.
The flip side of this is that you may not want this specialty anymore once you've invested two or more years studying in it. In fact, this is exactly what many PhDs find; after five years researching a tiny aspect of their field, the last thing they want to do is work in that one, narrow aspect.
Before enrolling in your master's or PhD program, ask yourself the following:
Do you want to work in this field afterward? If you don't plan on directly using the knowledge from your graduate studies, it may not be worth it.
Is the pay worth it? Look up your desired postschool jobs. How much do they pay? Is the cost of graduate studies compensated for by your expected salary?
Are there other ways you can get this experience? If all you want is some additional knowledge in a field, there may be more affordable and efficient ways to get it. You could, for example, just enter at a lower level and hope to move up.
Preparing Now
Positioning yourself for acceptance differs based on which graduate program you are enrolling in and what your background is. If you're applying to a computer science program with only an electrical engineering degree, you may need to refocus your professional work on coding or enroll in additional courses. Other people may already have the right background and can get accepted whenever they apply. Regardless, analyze the following four areas:
Academics.
If you're still in college, focus on keeping your grades high. If you have already graduated but have low grades, you might consider taking some classes part time at your local university and really, really focus on getting good grades. This will help show that you can indeed perform well academically.
Professional.
The more closely your professional experience matches your graduate field, the better off you'll be. Seek out graduate students in your field and talk to them about what they did before.
Extracurriculars.
