Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee.
8
votes
9answers
691 views
Will taking a year out reduce my employability
I'm just coming to the end of my BSc Computer Science degree, and I'm faced with a choice.
My dream has always been to do independent game development, and I'm considering taking the next year to try ...
7
votes
8answers
771 views
Are you obliged to provide old employers with access to protected resources?
Firstly, a disclaimer. This question is not because I'm a disgruntled employee planning to hide some malicious code which I can later blackmail my employer with. I actually quite like the people I ...
2
votes
8answers
539 views
Is it usual if my employer asks me to get MCP certificates for higher salary?
I just got a salary negotiation this morning (I passed three interviews last 3 weeks), and it was like a game. I was stubborn with my expectation, or that number, or I leave. OK, to be honest, it's ...
2
votes
4answers
655 views
Applicability of the Joel Test to web development companies
QUESTION: How can you re-write the questions of the Joel test to apply to web developers?
1. Do you use source control?
(source control for all aspects of your app, including configuration, ...
8
votes
11answers
650 views
What repercussions a developer might expect after informing current employer that he is active in the job market? [closed]
A lot of developers, especially those that stay with the same company for many years and especially those working for large corporations with very healthy HR presence probably end up in this situation ...
9
votes
15answers
733 views
Is it appropriate in a developer's job description to have “error free” as a key output?
As part of a review of all job descriptions, my company has decided to include the following as a key output:
website development completed on
time, within specification and error
free
Given ...
6
votes
8answers
406 views
Is it better to be specialized in a few areas or have general abilities in many?
My situation is this. I will be graduating soon with a degree in Computer Science. I did have a job for a while working as a Web Developer for a small graphic design company. During this time, we ...
9
votes
7answers
774 views
How well should a fresh graduate know a language?
I am CS student and have just few months before I graduate. I can write programs, but use pretty many manuals in the process. It's almost 50% writing/50% reading (maybe even more reading). What I want ...
1
vote
3answers
159 views
Reviews of Company Codebases
Does anybody know of a solid source of information regarding the quality/details of a company's codebase? I'm asking as a potential employee of some companies, having been highly dissatisfied by the ...
4
votes
5answers
1k views
Are you a functional programmer? [closed]
Are you a functional programmer?
By that I mean
employed full time
paid by someone else
using a recognized functional language (Haskell, Scala, Erlang, F# etc, not just using FP techniques in an ...
1
vote
3answers
324 views
To maximize chances of functional programming employment
Given that the future of programming is functional, at some point in the nearish future I want to be paid to code in a functional language, preferably Haskell.
Assuming I have a firm grasp of the ...
5
votes
4answers
523 views
How to price a programming consulations for IT company?
It's not very rare programming question, but it's about a work of a freelance programmer and I think you can help me so maybe it's ok to pust it here?
So one dev-company asked me for doing a ...
12
votes
6answers
2k views
What stands out on a Junior's CV
I am looking for advice, hopefully from people more experienced that me. I am going to start applying for junior positions for .net development in the summer. At the moment the only thing on my CV is ...
9
votes
3answers
241 views
Intellectual-Property Question
Like almost everyone here, I have a handfull of scripts and software that I have developed and am enthused about. I will be looking for my first job as a software designer / coder. It seems natural ...
10
votes
7answers
1k views
How employable am I as a programmer?
I'm currently a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in computational biology and am starting to think about what I want to do after graduate school. I feel like I've ...
1
vote
6answers
2k views
Please guide this self-taught Web Developer [duplicate]
One of the major regrets in life is that I didn't do something with my introversion. I didn't manage to get past the first year of college because of that. I have chosen the path where there are no ...
5
votes
2answers
278 views
Is it better to have publicly viewable FOSS code even if it is not your best work compared to none at all for employment?
I have a number of foss tools I have written and have released but under aliases. I guess I am worried that the code is not my absolute best and is not the most robust code around. So I have always ...
17
votes
5answers
692 views
Do you contribute to open-source software?
Recently John Resig (creator of the jQuery library) wrote on his twitter that "When it comes to hiring, I'll take a Github commit log over a resume any day.".
As much as I respect that (motivating ...
4
votes
7answers
290 views
Is there such a thing as “closure” with software work?
I burned out last year (after a decade of fulltime programming jobs) and am on a sabbatical now. With all the self-examination I've started to figure out some of the root causes of my burnout, and one ...
13
votes
11answers
832 views
Are these company terms good for a programmer or should I move?
Here are some of the terms and conditions set forward by my employer. Does these make sense for a job like programming?
No freelancing in any way even in your free time outside company work
...
2
votes
3answers
428 views
How to explain a project for a potential employer
I went to an interview last week for a junior programmer and mentioned that I have been working on a project with a buddy of mine. Tomorrow they would like to see this project in order to decide if ...
61
votes
20answers
4k views
How forgiving do you need to be on new employees?
Recently we have a new developer in our team. We are getting him up to speed and he is picking it all up quite fast, but a new developer means new (foreign) coding styles and ways to solve things.
It ...
11
votes
6answers
696 views
If you take a year or two out from being a developer, is it really that hard to get back into it? [closed]
I've been working as a developer for about 3 years now (straight from uni), I'm wondering, if I take a year or two out would it be impossible to get back into the industry?
I didn't get the gap year ...
15
votes
8answers
2k views
How useful are IT headhunters/recruiters when looking for a new job?
Since they exist for several fields with varying degrees of usefulness, I'm curious as to the reputation of headhunters/recruiters that focus solely on IT professionals (e.g. programmers, software ...
26
votes
21answers
1k views
Perception of a developer that uses a pre-packaged web implementation for their personal site?
Lets say you're a web developer/programmer and you want to set up a personal portfolio site.
Unfortunately, like most people with a full time job and a family, your time is hard to come by. You make ...
6
votes
6answers
531 views
Would you partially give up programming for good money?
Lets say you were employed by a company (not a long time ago), that suggested good money and social package. Though while you are occupying a developer position (i.e. java) you do not spend much time ...
16
votes
14answers
2k views
Should I ask/tell my boss before freelancing?
I am currently working as an intern at a consulting firm. I am soon to move to a full time employee once I graduate next semester, and I love working there. However, as a student, I lack money and I ...
28
votes
21answers
3k views
Working for free? [closed]
I came across this article Work for Free that got me thinking.
The goal of every employer is to gain
more value from workers than the firm
pays out in wages; otherwise, there is
no growth, ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views
Is it appropriate to offer a “finders' fee” to existing staff when looking for new staff?
A lot of big companies use recruiters to find new hires, and there's obviously an associated cost.
Existing staff are likely to know people looking for work through their professional networks. The ...
11
votes
4answers
649 views
How to get people involved in your project?
I have many project ideas and unfortunately all require a team of at least 3-5 developers. I've started a project by myself too many times without reaching the end.
The point is to involve people in ...
5
votes
1answer
330 views
Economics of a career in bioinformatics
I am a software developer looking for a new set of challenges. I am therefore seriously considering undertaking study towards a Masters of Science in Bioinformatics (I have a bachelor degree in Comp ...
6
votes
3answers
181 views
If you had more freedom and flexibility, what would you change in your employment contract?
For example, code ownership/authorship rights, non-compete terms, vacation/holidays, working hours, termination notices from any of the sides, etc.
3
votes
3answers
165 views
Open Source Projects Leading to Uniquely Interesting Opportunities
Not sure if I asked this at the right place (it's development related). It would be great if you can direct me to the right place if I did ask in the wrong place.
I was encouraged by hosts during ...
3
votes
2answers
187 views
Ideas for developer management software?
(I posted this at serverfault and it was suggested I post here instead)
I'm looking for an application recommendation to help me keep track of the discussions I have with the members of my team ...
5
votes
3answers
704 views
How long should you wait before interviewing at the same company a second time? [closed]
Suppose you've had a recruiter contact you about a position at a medium-large to large company, and went for an interview and such, and seriously considered the position but ultimately you decided ...
22
votes
16answers
4k views
Do companies care about university grades when hiring programmers?
Most of my fellow students that I've talked to claim that aiming for good grades is useless as the companies don't care about them when hiring programmers. To them, it's enough to have simply attended ...
16
votes
4answers
795 views
What to look out for in employment contracts
I thought of this today after a co-worker looked through the contract they had signed several years ago and was quite alarmed.
What should one look out for before signing a contract, as most ...
28
votes
6answers
796 views
Should companies consider remote employees or stick to local employees?
Elite developers can be 10x more productive than an average developer.
Clearly it's easier to find an elite developer around the whole world than in a company's backyard.
If a company is not ...
70
votes
37answers
3k views
How to handle people who lie on their resume [closed]
Moderator comment
Please note that this is a two year old question that has just been migrated from Stack Overflow. Please take your time to read all the answers and ask yourself "would my ...
60
votes
28answers
644 views
Am I too young to be worrying about college right now? [closed]
I'm 19 and have been a hobbyist programmer since I was a freshman in high school (2002). I recently graduated in May of '08. Right out of high school I had my first job programming contract work for a ...
