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

#YOW13 Career Advice for Programmers Trisha Gee, Java Developer @ MongoDB @trisha_gee

About Me 1998 - 2000 Undergraduate @ Ford Motor Company linkedin.com/in/trishagee 2001 Graduated (Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence) 2001 - 2002 Web Engineer @ Common Purpose 2002 - 2004 Analyst Developer @ Ford Motor Company 2004 - 2005 Java / Web Developer @ Touch Clarity 2005 Business Engineer @ Credit card company 2006 - 2008 Principal Consultant @ Evolution / Detica 2008 Java Developer @ well known media firm 2009 - 2012 Java Developer @ LMAX Financial Exchange 2011 Principal Consultant @ ThoughtWorks 2012... Java Developer / Evangelist @ MongoDB Inc

Photo courtesy of @sufw

What about you? >

You Own Your Career

Manage Your Career • Requirements: What do you want? • Implementation: How do you get it? • Iterate: What’s next?

You Own Your Career

What do you want? >

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Developer Seeks Next Step 5 years commercial Java experience Primarily web (JSP / Servlets) HTML / CSS / JavaScript Usability & User Experience Some exposure to “Agile” Some team leading Manufacturing, Education, Ad Serving

Identify Your Values

How do you get it? >

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skuds/ Insert Picture/Table/Chart Here (but if picture doesn’t have a background, be sure to remove gray background, border, and shadow!) Visibility

Internal Visibility • High visibility project • In house extra-curricular activities • Brown bags/internal user groups • Update the wiki • Introduce/manage a process/tech • The Pub

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

Getting what you want

Senior Developer Wants More 7 years Java Front- and Back-end Most recently Financial Markets Waterfall & Agile Some team lead experience

It’s all about the People

Experienced Consultant & Blogger Given a Shove 10 years Java experience Consultant & Developer Range of domains Experience of Agile & Continuous Delivery Tech blogger Leader in a London User Group

Staying ahead of the curve

Staying ahead of the curve • Conferences • StackOverflow • Google Reader. Oh, wait... • Use Twitter for Good • Mailing lists • Join a User Group. Or more than one. • Hack days • Books • http://is.gd/stayingAhead

Remember • Be Different • Ask For What You Want • Remember What’s Important

What’s next? >

When do you leave?

Finding your perfect match • Job websites • Recruitment agents • Friends • User groups • Conferences • Stalk your heroes

Your CV / résumé • The reader is very busy • Stand out • You are more than a list of technologies • http://is.gd/cvAdvice

Interviews • Do your homework • Interview them • Be yourself • http://is.gd/HireEd

Saying yes...

Ex-Consultant Needs a Job 8 years Java experience Mostly back-end Financial Markets consultant ...during the credit crunch

...or no

Apprentice Seeks Mastery 3 years Java experience JSP / Servlets, HTML, JavaScript XML / XSLT Mentor to experienced developers cross-training into Java Some exposure to Good Practice

What’s the worst that could happen?

What happened to those developers? • 5 years experience wanting the Next New Thing? • Changed job in 3 months • Consultant who needed a job? • Changed job in 3 months • Java developer with 10 years experience? • Recruited (twice) to do Evangelism

In Summary? >

1. Do Your Homework

2. Be Yourself

3. Do Not Be Afraid

4. It’s Up To You

#YOW13 @trisha_gee trisha_gee@mongodb.com Questions?

Choose your own adventure • Investing • Staying Put • Moving On • • • What do you Visibility (pt 1) Visibility (pt 2) • • want? Getting what you Finding your • Bootstrapping want perfect match • • • Staying Technical Getting promoted CVs / resumes • • • Switching Roles Salary negotiation Interviews • • • Other Skills When to leave? Salary negotiation • • Staying ahead of Acceptance • the curve What could • Relocation possibly go • wrong? Work / Life Balance • Being Different

What did I miss?

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

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

Switching Roles

Staying Technical

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

What about...? • Relocation • Work / Life Balance • Being Different

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

Salary negotiation (Part 1)

Salary negotiation (Part 2)