Computer Science | Grinnell College

Thursday, February 22, 2018
4:15 p.m. in Science 3821
Refreshments at 4:00 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Science 3817)

This Résumé Building and Interview Preparation Extravaganza is brought to you by your SEPC and will be dedicated to helping you look as good on paper as possible.

We will be going through how to start the process of building your résumé, and, if you already have an outline, how to edit it to showcase yourself. Bring your résumés so you can get feedback! A portion of the session will address prepping for interviews, where your friendly neighborhood SEPCs will go over common questions you may encounter in interviews and how to respond to them.

This week in CS table we will take a critical look towards the technical interview process employed in the software industry. Like the industry itself, our expectations about how interviews are conducted have rapidly changed over the last decade. Our readings, spaced 10 years apart, showcase what were some of the concerns back then versus the concerns now:

• Joel Spolsky. The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0). Joel on Software. October 25, 2006.
• Jeff Atwood. Why Can’t Programmers.. Program?. Coding Horror. February 26, 2007.
• Aline Lerner. You can’t fix diversity in tech without fixing the technical interview. Intervieiwng.io blog. November 2, 2016.
• Shivan Kaul Sahib. ‘Clean your desk’: My Amazon interview experience. Pistachio Musings?. December 7, 2016.

In addition to the readings, I encourage you to reflect on your own experiences interviewing for internships or jobs and bring them to share.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00-1:00pm in JRC 224B. Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department.

On Thursday, February 20, the Computer Science SEPC will host a session on how to prepare for technical interviews. Third-year and fourth-year students will share tips, tricks, and advice they have gathered from their interview experiences. We will then break into small groups to work through some practice interview problems. Those who are interested will have an opportunity to sign up for the practice technical interview session planned for a future Thursday Extra.

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Noyce 3817). The presentation, “Preparing for the technical interview,” will follow at 4:30 p.m. in Noyce 3821. Everyone is welcome to attend!

At noon on Thursday, April 8, in Noyce 3817 (the Computer Science commons), there will be a brown bag lunch with alumnus Ian Bone 2009. We will have an informal discussion on technical interviewing, including an overview of the process, a group practice interview, and example problems. Snacks and drinks will be provided.