Career Advice for Programmers Trisha Gee, Java Driver Developer - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Trisha Gee, Java Driver Developer

#GOTOAar

Career Advice for Programmers

@trisha_gee

Wednesday, 2 October 13

About Me

1998 - 2000 Undergraduate placement at Ford 2001 Graduated 2001 - 2002 Web Engineer @ Not for profit organisation 2002 - 2004 Analyst Developer @ Ford Motor Company 2004 - 2005 Java / Web Developer @ Web analytics firm 2005 Business Engineer @ Credit card company 2006 - 2008 Principal Consultant @ Evolution / Detica (FS) 2008 Java Developer @ well known media firm 2009 - 2012 Java Developer @ LMAX financial exchange 2011 Principal Consultant @ ThoughtWorks 2012... Java Developer / Evangelist @ MongoDB Inc

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What about you?

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Choose your own adventure

• Investing
• What do you

want?

• Getting Started
• Staying Technical
• Switching Roles
• Skills
• Staying ahead of

the curve

• What about...
• Staying Put
• Visibility (pt 1)
• Getting what you

want

• Getting promoted
• Salary negotiation
• When to leave?
• Moving On
• Visibility (pt 2)
• Finding your

perfect match

• CVs / resumes
• Interviews
• Salary negotiation
• Acceptance
• What could

possibly go wrong?

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What did I miss?

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Investing in You

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What do you want?

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Insert Picture/Table/Chart Here (but if picture doesn’t have a background, be sure to remove gray background, border, and shadow!)

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What do you want?

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Getting Started

• Internships / sponsorship
• Third year project
• Pet projects / open source
• Make your CV special
• See: Moving On

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Switching Roles

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Staying Technical

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Staying ahead of the curve

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Staying ahead of the curve

• StackOverflow
• Google Reader. Oh, wait...
• Use Twitter for Good
• Mailing lists
• Join a User Group
• Book recommendations
• http://is.gd/stayingAhead

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Important Skills

• Research Skills
• Scientific Method
• Asking Questions
• Listening and Learning
• Interpersonal Skills
• English

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What about...?

• Relocation
• Work / Life Balance
• Being Different

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Staying Put

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Visibility part 1

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Visibility part 1

• In house extra-curricular activities

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Visibility part 1

• In house extra-curricular activities
• The Pub

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Visibility part 1

• In house extra-curricular activities
• The Pub
• High visibility project

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Getting what you want

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Getting Promoted

• See: Visibility Part 1
• Know the system
• Keep records
• Pick your friends wisely

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Salary negotiation

(Part 1)

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When do you leave?

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Moving On

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Visibility part 2

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Visibility part 2

• Work for a well known company

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Visibility part 2

• Work for a well known company
• Publicly visible projects

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Visibility part 2

• Work for a well known company
• Publicly visible projects
• Github / open source

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Visibility part 2

• Work for a well known company
• Publicly visible projects
• Github / open source
• Blogging

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Visibility part 2

• Work for a well known company
• Publicly visible projects
• Github / open source
• Blogging
• User Groups

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Visibility part 2

• Work for a well known company
• Publicly visible projects
• Github / open source
• Blogging
• User Groups
• Conferences

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Visibility part 2

• Work for a well known company
• Publicly visible projects
• Github / open source
• Blogging
• User Groups
• Conferences
• Write a book

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Finding your perfect match

• Job websites
• Recruitment agents
• Friends
• User groups
• Check out conferences
• Stalk your heroes

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• The reader is very busy
• Stand out
• You are more than a list of technologies

Your CV / résumé

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• The first page is the most important
• Spelling, punctuation and grammar!
• Exact guidance? “It depends”
• Be specific
• Cater for search engines
• (But don’t pander to them)
• http://is.gd/cvAdvice

Your CV / résumé

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Interviews

• Do your homework
• Interview them
• Be yourself

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Salary negotiation

(Part 2)

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Saying yes...

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...or no

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What’s the worst that could happen?

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In Conclusion

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• 1. Do

Your Homework

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• 2. Be

Yourself

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• 3. Do Not Be Afraid

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• 4. It’s Up To

You

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#GOTOAar

Questions?

@trisha_gee

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Resources

• Conferences
• User Groups
• Books
• Mentors
• Blogs
• Stack Overflow
• Twitter

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Oscar Speech

• Barry Cranford
• Brent Plump
• Dan North
• Dave Farley
• Joel Spolsky
• Martijn Verburg
• Martin Fowler
• Martin Thompson
• Matthew Hussey
• Michael Lopp
• Robert Annett
• Simon Brown

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