Job ad requirements (?)
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I've only had one job after college (for about 3 years), and I've only ever interviewed for a few entry-level positions. So I don't know much about hiring in the software world. My question that maybe some more experienced people can answer is this: how serious about "requirements" are companies that ask for X years of experience in technology Y. For example, say an ad wants "1+ year of Perl experience." Does that have to be hands-on at work? Or does it count if I know Perl and have used it in my spare time at home? Any insights would be appreciated.
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I've only had one job after college (for about 3 years), and I've only ever interviewed for a few entry-level positions. So I don't know much about hiring in the software world. My question that maybe some more experienced people can answer is this: how serious about "requirements" are companies that ask for X years of experience in technology Y. For example, say an ad wants "1+ year of Perl experience." Does that have to be hands-on at work? Or does it count if I know Perl and have used it in my spare time at home? Any insights would be appreciated.
Most will mean commercial experience, some may count non-commerial experience if you can demonstrate it (like a good website you did for your local scout group or something). When I was looking for a job in .NET for the first time I took my laptop along to show off my skills. (Just make sure you make the desktop clean and remove that picture of your favourite pin-up or movie) If you are going through an agency then remember that they are keyword finders. They know nothing about the technology, so if you say something like: I've got 2 years experience of C#, they'll often come back and say sorry, their client is looking for someone with Visual C# and .NET and no amount of persuasion will shift some of these idiots once they've made up their mind that you don't have the skill they need and are now trying to talk your way out of it. If you are applying directly to companies then they tend to be more flexible, unless they have been overwhealmed with CVs.
"If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him, for an investment in knowledge pays the best interest." -- Joseph E. O'Donnell Not getting the response you want from a question asked in an online forum: How to Ask Questions the Smart Way!
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I've only had one job after college (for about 3 years), and I've only ever interviewed for a few entry-level positions. So I don't know much about hiring in the software world. My question that maybe some more experienced people can answer is this: how serious about "requirements" are companies that ask for X years of experience in technology Y. For example, say an ad wants "1+ year of Perl experience." Does that have to be hands-on at work? Or does it count if I know Perl and have used it in my spare time at home? Any insights would be appreciated.
Also i have seen listings where they want 5+ year in .Net or they will not look at you. I have chatted to them and they believed that there are people out there will 5+ years in it. I would not put something done on my resume or on an application where I had not done either a perfessional project using the technology or unless I use it heavily for my home business. Just using Perl in your spare time at home does not sound like you have coded up or debugged alot of sites with it. Everyone can lookup information on Perl, but they want someone that has used it. Even if its a person site/project. I also know a guy that could not get hired as a programmer with only an associates and no experience. He eventually did get hired because he was a go-getter and learned things fast. I also gave him a good recommendation, and that turned out good for everyone involved. So I think its also who you know too. For my current job, one of the things that I think helped me is that I try to keep up on the latest technology (hardware and firmware) and so did the hiring manager. So now after meetings we talk about his X800 video card and his A64 FX51 cpu and how well it plays Doom3. Being a geek can help too. Steve Maier, MCSD MCAD