[codeprada]

As a student that has just finished college per say what would be some valuable achievements employers want to see. So far all I can think of is the payroll application I did for school.

Would being an expert on here be a valuable achievement? After all to be an 'expert' here you must show that you know at least something in a particular language.

This post has been edited by codeprada: 15 August 2011 - 10:49 AM

[Martyr2]

Anything you can translate into saving money or boosting revenues. For instance, did you creating this payroll application which resulted in saving the company $25,000 a year in labor costs so that someone didn't have to input the data manually? Did it free up an employee who then was able to do another project that netted 3 million?

Think of projects that also show off any particular skill. Did you develop a news feed which required you to write a script to parse RSS and atom documents? Did you have to redesign a database or normalize an existing one?

And yes, being an expert here can be used as a selling point. I would highlight a couple of threads where you specifically shined with a supreme answer. I typically use examples of DIC in interview questions for "Tell us about a challenge you came across and how you had to solve it". Solving problems on DIC is still solving problems.

What your resume will want to show is:

1) Experience and expertise in difficult problems
2) The size and scope of financial gains because of your solutions
3) Any big names that have called on you for help. If you built a website for the Dow Jones index or the government of Antigua, then by all means tell everyone all about it!

Biggest tip I can give you for helping with job interviews... build a portfolio of your work. This would be sites, scripts, program source code, graphics, letters of recommendation etc. Bring it with you to all interviews to show potential employers. Even if they are class assignments you scored well on.

This post has been edited by Martyr2: 15 August 2011 - 11:17 AM

[codeprada]

Now that you've put it that way I've done a lot more than I originally thought.

Thanks a lot that answer was perfect!

[tlhIn`toq]

Get experience while you find yourself

[codeprada]

I'm afraid I'm not a US citizen.

[Nightfish]

When you're fresh from school, people usually do not expect a lot of achievements from you, yet. Depending on how you put things, trying to inflate something small to epic proportions can actually make a bad impression. I'm not saying you shouldn't put stuff there, but try to think about how this will seem to a stranger. Try to anticipate whether what you wrote is actually "worth writing" or if it's forced and there just for the sake of having said anything at all.

I'd suggest to read up on writing resumes on the internet and maybe even get a book on that topic. What I would definetly not do is put threads from a forum on my resume. That's something you can mention if you get invited to the company and the conversation goes that way, but on a resume, it seems out of place to me. Maybe it's different in other places, but around here, only the major things go on a resume. "I once gave a smart answer in a forum"... not so much.

I wouldn't expect people to spend more than 5-10 minutes with your resume before they make up their minds whether they will invite you or not. Sometimes all they do is look at the picture and quickly gloss over the CV and that's that.

Imho, the main point you want to bring across in your application is that you like working with other people, are easy to integrate in a team, are reliable and enjoy learning new things.

Just my 0.02$. YMMV.

[ShadowsEdge19]

I just recently got my first programming job after about 2 months of job hunting and interview taking and there is one lesson I learned that will be invaluable.

You need to have a passion for programming.

What this means is that your not a guy who goes through uni and programs because you have to for projects, and then once uni is finished you never touch programming again and carry on with your life.

You need to be someone who takes it into their own initiative to develop programs in your spare time and also to expand you range of languages beyond just a couple you previously learnt, or improve your skills with one of those to the point you're comfortable with all it's offering you. If a job advert says what language experience they are looking for then try your best to learn it so it won't be completely unreadable when it comes to an interview test.

One last thing, if you haven't already I really suggest you learn OOP (if you don't know what that means then I must really stress this last point, it's Object Oriented Programming).