I am doing Computer Information and Systems Engineering. I am an addicted web developer, looking forward to be a programmer as I complete my graduation. I see other engineering field students( Petroleum and Mechanical Engineering) fighting badly for GPA. Is Software Engineering really different in this regard and do companies really don't give much about GPA?
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closed as off topic by Bernard, gnat, Robert Harvey, Mark Trapp, TMN Oct 16 '12 at 17:53
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I find that most companies won't even look at your GPA. They are generally much more concerned about your work experience. A lot of people find that their academic training doesn't translate well to working in industry. You could have a really high GPA, but still struggle to be a good software engineer in industry (the opposite is true too). This is why most places hiring software engineers will try to look at your previous work experience and see how successful you were there. You GPA is more important if you want to continue on to additional studies after your undergraduate degree (Graduate degrees, Doctorates, etc.). |
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As with most things in life, this varies. Companies I've worked at use GPA as a baseline for filtering new grads. Once you've been invited for an interview then your GPA is no longer relevant and coursework and intern experience are the deciding factors. |
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I have seen companies that pay attention to your GPA before they invite you to an interview. They use it as a simple filtering mechanism, especially when the number of applications is high, and the amount of "resume noise" is overwhelming. Once you are invited for an interview, however, your GPA does not enter the conversation. Despite that, maintaining a reasonable GPA has enough value to worth your attention:
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You're putting the cart before the horse. You don't want to get a high GPA in order to have a pretty number for a job application. You want it because it means you got the most possible out of your education. The GPA is just a side effect of the real reason you're there. In other words, if you're purposely trying to get the lowest possible GPA to get the job you want, you're doing it wrong, and potential employers will notice. That being said, employers know that GPA is only a useful metric in the absence of other information. It won't be a deciding factor unless they have nothing else to go by. If your GPA is a little lower because you had a family and held down a job in the industry to put yourself through school, your work experience is going to weigh much more heavily. If you got a lower GPA despite living with your parents and not working at all, that's going to reflect very poorly. |
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If your a new comer and have not working on anything yet. Your GPA is the only thing the company has to go on. But if you have worked on shipped software before like: open source projects, iPhone/iPad/Android/Window app, or websites your GPA will not be a big deal. |
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Starting out of the gate from college, you really don't have the tools to perform at the level that the big companies need: exposure to business practices, understanding of their various source-control systems (I never saw a single college course that included use of any VCS system), etc. One of the reasons that companies are looking more often, I believe, at an applicant's open-source involvement is so they can gauge a few key elements:
Getting involved in an open-source project while you have the time to, now, can only serve to give you something to point at when you're in that interview, so you can say, "Hey, I worked on these projects. I learned these things, and contributed these benefits to the projects." If you cannot get involved in open-source projects, then you have to fall back on whatever soft-skills you have. Most importantly, you need to make sure that your communication skills are at the top of your game. Programming tasks are made many times easier the better you are able to communicate with your fellow programmers, your managers, and sometimes, even your clients (if your managers allow you to do so). If you don't think this is important, check out this link: http://tinyurl.com/c4gzee7 Aside from that, showing a willingness to learn and adapt, an ability to communicate with those soft-squishy things (called "other people") and translate their speak into computer-speak (and vice versa), all of these attributes can help you secure a good job, and unfortunately, they're not always emphasized in traditional institutions. This all boils down to my personal thoughts on "higher education" and the workplace. The numbers on a piece of paper provided by your college of choice only mean one thing: how well you were able to "win" at their system of teaching. Out here in the business world, there are a lot of ways you get graded, and only very rarely do they ever remotely resemble the halls of academia. Good luck! |
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People looking at the resume hardly see the GPA. Its what you can do and what you have done in the field BEFORE that will count more than how good a book worm you've been. I have a terrible GPA, but a good track record of programs I have written/supported/helped develop. I can still land a job and so can many others in the field without a good GPA. Go to any "top" companies websites and look for "openings for fresh graduates" and you won't see any "must have x.y GPA to qualify for a job here". Companies like Google don't care if you have a degree even. They want people who can DO things, not just read and write tests on it. |
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