4 ms·

> And again, if you worked at NG, what possibly interesting things you could have done? Applicant: Well, I wrote a code to optimize a UAV flight path to avoid

• vonmoltke 11y ago
  On top of that, hope your title was never "Systems Engineer"[1] at one of these companies. If it was, prepare for a whole lot of clueless recruiters and managers to misunderstand your experience. [1] At Raytheon, if you were the one developing radar avoidance algorithms[2] and code, that was probably your title. [2] "Algorithms", another word that has slightly different meaning leading to major misinterpretation.
  • s_q_b 11y ago
    Hmm... That probably does have a lot to do with it. At my company, you're permitting to choose a public title of either your job description (e.g. Lead Data Scientist), your "engineering rank" (e.g. Lead Scientist/Technologist/Developer/Engineer) or your consulting rank e.g (Lead Associate). All of these are equivalent in rank and promotion opportunities, but it does give you some flexibility on what you can place on your resume.
  • Jemmeh 11y ago
    I frequently put my title on resumes as whatever the company I am applying for is calling it. There's so many names for the same thing. If we call it "programmer" at this job and they call it "software developer" at the place I'm applying to-- well, I can read the requirements in the ad. Usually it is similar enough to not matter. So I just put software developer even if that's not the title on my paystub. Gets me past computer and HR filter, but when they call me/past employer no one balks at the slight difference.
    • vonmoltke 11y ago
      I may start doing that. I was, effectively, and embedded software engineer for most of the time.
    • jghn 11y ago
      I sometimes put both, but never the full switch like that. I'm too paranoid that I'll come across someone who does balk at the slight difference.
      • Jemmeh 11y ago
        I've never met someone who was like "Programmer" and "Software Developer" are too different! Same with "Coder". "Software Engineer" in some countries would be a no-no but many places it's interchangeable. Further, I've done some research on the psychology behind it and usually "software developer" and "software engineers" is a better way to put it for negotiation if that's possible because you're seen more as someone who makes something rather than "really expensive computer guy".
        • jghn 11y ago
          I've seen companies that are real sticklers for that sort of thing claiming that if one falsifies that what else are they about? Yes,nit is asinine but it does happen
          • Jemmeh 11y ago
            Well if anyone can be a stickler it'll definitely be that programmer that was once burnt by a rogue semicolon. I'm sure it happens sometimes. I just haven't personally seen it with the roles "Software developer", "coder", and "programmer". That is effectively the same thing everywhere I've seen it. Now if I'm a programmer and say I worked in primarily QA or database position we have a problem, but there's no real nuance between those three titles.
• s_q_b 11y ago
  Couldn't like this enough. People extoll the virtues of a solid university COS degree, not because it explicitly teaches skills for industry, but because it creates a background to help new and novel problems. Certainly your previous work background provides a similar advantage. If you can perform those tasks, certainly whatever the consumer-focused needs you can learn. As Aristotle said, "For the things we have to learn before we can do, we learn by doing."
• istvan__ 11y ago
  Welcome to California! :) You know you are absolutely right. Some companies care only about what is hip and nothing else. "I saw the best minds of my generation... writing spam filters." — Neal Stephenson, Solve For X