terriko

This may have been the most directly practical of the sessions I attended! My raw notes are on the GHC12 wiki (and they're quite interesting, including a lot of questions from the audience) but here's some take home messages:

When job hunting, make sure to excel at the following:

(The speaker joked about this as "win all steps, all the time")

1. Resume and web presence

If you don't have an online presence, you can get passed over. Nowadays, this includes LinkedIn, and the speaker (as a LinkedIn employee) told us that filling in more information is generally better, and that your LinkedIn profile can be used to supplement a shorter resume with greater detail if you so desire.

2. Meeting the recruiter

A recruiter is interested in your passions, your fit with the company and company culture, so articulate your interests and show your personality!


3. Phone screen.

Be prepared and do research on the company. The worst thing is to be unprepared, so make sure you learn about the company and have questions ready. Show your passion during the interview, and let the interviewer push you in the right direction -- if you're not a great fit for one position, they might know of others. And make sure, even if you're not sure if you want the job that you treat it seriously: it's good practice and you don't know if you might want to apply for another position in the organization.

4. Onsite interviews.

For tech interviews, you need to be comfortable writing on a whiteboard, so practice doing it, and practice articulating your ideas as you write. This is the way to show your interviewer how you think!



When writing a Technical resume, make sure to excel at the following:
1. Fundamentals.

Make sure you've proofread and had others proofread for spelling and other mistakes, and make sure the formatting is organized and consistent.

2. What did you contribute or learn

Women especially want to focus on the team effort, but companies want to know about you, so focus on what you did to affect the outcome of a project. Make sure to differentiate yourself: don't just list skills, talk about how you applied them.

3. What value was added in the end result?

Think about the bigger picture and talk about how your work impacted the project, your company, the world. If you can, quantify what you did whether that's percent speed up, dollars saved, or increased value of the project.

4. Differentiate yourself, authentically

Highlight ways you stand out, especially as a leader. Did you take on additional responsibilities? Negotiate between two groups? Do exceptional community service? You shouldn't over-embellish, but make sure you demonstrate what makes you awesome and unique.

5. Does your resume convey your personal brand?

One way to check this is to have someone read it and ask them to summarize you in two sentences or 5 keywords. If what they say doesn't match up with what you'd hoped to convey, maybe you're sending the wrong message and need to revisit.


There were a lot of really interesting questions at the end of this session, and if you're interested my raw notes are on the GHC12 wiki, including all those questions.

Note: If you're one of the speakers and feel I accidentally mis-represented your talk or want me to remove a photo of you for any reason, please contact me at terri(a)zone12.com and I'd be happy to get things fixed for you!

The job: Postdoc at the University of New Mexico

I'm going to be starting a postdoc at the University of New Mexico this fall.

I was fortunate enough to have some great interviews and offers, but I chose UNM because I was guaranteed to be doing the sort of research I find most interesting there, and because the people are fantastic. It was actually the only place where I got much chance to meet my prospective colleagues so I know I'm joining a very interesting team of biologists, software engineers and security folk. Part of my job will involve being the glue between the 4 teams, so I'm likely going to work with a lot of different people on a regular basis!

One of the researchers compared the project to skynet, and it's actually disturbingly apt, although thus far without the homicidal AI. Maybe that's where I come in? More seriously, I'll be working on biologically-inspired artificial life / computer immunology for security applications. Their early results are insanely promising, and I'm really excited about working in a space where no one will be fazed by my use of biological metaphors for things. (I was raised by wolves biologists, recall.)

And yes, for those of you who heard about some of my other contract negotiations: this postdoc does mean that I'll be able to continue working in open source and more specifically that I'll be able to continue working on Mailman. I'm all excited about doing some informal user testing on the work our Summer of Code students have produced, so expect to see me asking for help with that once I'm settled.

The move: Albuquerque, NM

John and I were down house hunting this past week, and have secured the most beautiful apartment for Sept 1st. I wish I'd taken pictures to show you; it's really gorgeous with high ceilings, this nifty kitchen, and even a hammock in the backyard. The landlords actually knew and could name their neighbours, which makes me feel better about the neighbourhood, and it'll be an easy bike ride in to the university which alleviates my need to buy a car right away. It'll be just me there for at least the first few months, but there's enough space for John to move in later. There is also a full guest bedroom, so please consider coming to visit!

Moving is... going to be a pain. The quotes I've got today run $5-6.5k, and I've been allotted a $1.5k moving allowance. The cheap quote is from PODS, assuming I move a 8x8x16 pod which they recommend for a 2-bedroom, but I may phone them again for the 8x7x7 sized quote since I'm planning on leaving a lot of my furniture behind. Currently planning on taking my bed, a couple of the good bookshelves, clothes, kitchenalia, and a few boxes of books. It may make more sense to ditch the bed and just ship small boxes, though; we'll see. Moving recommendations appreciated.

The thesis

Is not yet complete -- my supervisor just got back from a family event last night and is back to editing today, so I'll be back to revisions later this evening. I really hope this can be done soon!