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I'm currently in the job hunting situation out of college and, along with sending out resumes, I'm working on a bunch of different side projects to try to show

I'm currently in the job hunting situation out of college and, along with sending out resumes, I'm working on a bunch of different side projects to try to show that I can a) actually execute, and b) learn new things. Not sure if it's the best way to work on getting hired, but I don't want to practice "interview questions". I know I don't do as well in interview because of my lack of specific preparation, but I feel like I'd be a better candidate than someone who just prepares for an interview. Curious to see how that might affect potential employers.

vinceguidry 13y ago
You don't need to "show" that you can learn new things, you just need to learn new things. And keep doing it. At first you have to do it on your own, but eventually you'll get paid to do it. The biggest trick to getting there is inspiration. You need to be excited about the possibilities. You'll get ten times farther in an interview if you can enthusiastically tell your interviewer how much fun you're having with Angular.js. Or that project that kept you up til 3am because you just couldn't put it down. You need to stop looking at your career as some set of criteria you have to fill and start looking at it as the most fun you're going to have, like ever. Seriously, building shit is fun.
- jackschultz 13y ago
  I think you have to show that you can learn new things. How else can someone justify hiring someone if they haven't demonstrated that they're capable of picking up a new piece of technology? I was trying to say that I wanted to show my value by producing actual things rather than being able to write code on paper. It's also funny that you mentioned Angular since I wrote launched a little app using it today.
  - vinceguidry 13y ago
    > How else can someone justify hiring someone if they haven't demonstrated that they're capable of picking up a new piece of technology? Demonstrations are nice, but you're generally not going to get the chance to. I interviewed four times in the past year for jobs and got three offers, and I'd have gotten an offer on the fourth if I'd shown more interest in the position. The people interviewing me never took more than a glancing look at my portfolio website. I've never written code on paper. I've never had to live code. It's only very few pure-software shops that do things like that. Chances are you'll be interviewing at banks, or marketing companies, or at any of the vast majority of coding jobs that aren't supporting businesses in the technology sector. The people that run these businesses don't care half as much about technical chops. They do want to know if you can do your job, but in the non-technology world, attitude is more important.

vinceguidry 13y ago

You don't need to "show" that you can learn new things, you just need to learn new things. And keep doing it. At first you have to do it on your own, but eventually you'll get paid to do it. The biggest trick to getting there is inspiration. You need to be excited about the possibilities. You'll get ten times farther in an interview if you can enthusiastically tell your interviewer how much fun you're having with Angular.js. Or that project that kept you up til 3am because you just couldn't put it down. You need to stop looking at your career as some set of criteria you have to fill and start looking at it as the most fun you're going to have, like ever. Seriously, building shit is fun.

jackschultz 13y ago
I think you have to show that you can learn new things. How else can someone justify hiring someone if they haven't demonstrated that they're capable of picking up a new piece of technology? I was trying to say that I wanted to show my value by producing actual things rather than being able to write code on paper. It's also funny that you mentioned Angular since I wrote launched a little app using it today.
- vinceguidry 13y ago
  > How else can someone justify hiring someone if they haven't demonstrated that they're capable of picking up a new piece of technology? Demonstrations are nice, but you're generally not going to get the chance to. I interviewed four times in the past year for jobs and got three offers, and I'd have gotten an offer on the fourth if I'd shown more interest in the position. The people interviewing me never took more than a glancing look at my portfolio website. I've never written code on paper. I've never had to live code. It's only very few pure-software shops that do things like that. Chances are you'll be interviewing at banks, or marketing companies, or at any of the vast majority of coding jobs that aren't supporting businesses in the technology sector. The people that run these businesses don't care half as much about technical chops. They do want to know if you can do your job, but in the non-technology world, attitude is more important.