null

3/31/2007 10:49:30 PM

fuck all yall. i didnt even start college until i was 26.

3/31/2007 11:09:31 PM

I'll graduate next year......when I'm 32.

4/1/2007 10:46:31 AM

I personally feel as long as you finish at some point you are golden.

I myself went to 5 schools and graduated last december...at the ripe old age of 24.

4/4/2007 12:50:06 PM

I'll be 26, damn near 27, when I graduate next May. Stupid military and coop put me 5 years behind the game.

But I'll be getting paid! (hopefully)

4/4/2007 2:08:43 PM

crazy

4/4/2007 2:19:21 PM

ill be 24 when i graduate in august. yay

4/11/2007 11:50:02 PM

^you will be making a thread about the same thing, but the number 23...will be reversed

4/12/2007 1:10:47 AM

me too!

4/12/2007 2:38:40 AM

I graduated in December of '03 with a degree in Computer Science and a GPA that was less than 3.0 after being in college for 5.5 years. I was 23 at the time. I felt like a loser for being in college that long. In the 6 months following my graduation I had 11 unsuccessfull job interviews (11 interviews over 6 months works out to a rejection roughly every 2 weeks). This made me realize that my degree was enough to get me an interview, but not enough to get me a job, so I went back to school to learn additional skills in my field. I finally got a job (with my newly acquired skills) in January of '05. Since that time I've had people tell me over and over again that I am the best young programmer they've ever seen. I have had:

-- A job interview where the guy who interviewed me told me I was by far the best candidate he's interviewed for that position
-- A technical evaluation I underwent for a recruiting company where the recruiter who conducted my evaluation told me that candidates typically don't score that high until they've had 8 or 9 years of experience in the field. I had 2 years at the time.
-- A recruiter who saw my professional test scores, and called to apologize to me for not believing me what I told him I was the best candidate for the position he was looking to fill

I am telling you all this not to brag about how good I am at what I do but to point out that I am living proof of the fact that neither the time it takes you to get your degree nor your GPA mean shit in the real world... at least in my field.

4/12/2007 12:25:01 PM

Quote :

"This made me realize that my degree was enough to get me an interview, but not enough to get me a job"

ding ding ding we have a winner!

4/12/2007 12:27:36 PM

i can't figure out whether or not IcedAlexV is saying that he had the ability to do the work but he sucks at interviews or just has absolutely no social skills whatsoever

i graduated in dec. '04 with a csc degree - i accepted a job offer in august of '04 though - what were you doing wrong?

what additional skills did you learn in school in that 1 year

4/12/2007 12:40:45 PM

^ good question.

4/12/2007 12:43:35 PM

not everyone can be as good as you o mighty omar!

4/12/2007 12:43:39 PM

i was by no means the exception - i knew plenty of people that graduated with jobs lined up - of course they were actually working towards getting a job while they were still in college

4/12/2007 1:03:43 PM

praise omar!

4/12/2007 1:05:21 PM

OmarBadu

Quote :

"i can't figure out whether or not IcedAlexV is saying that he had the ability to do the work but he sucks at interviews or just has absolutely no social skills whatsoever i graduated in dec. '04 with a csc degree - i accepted a job offer in august of '04 though - what were you doing wrong? what additional skills did you learn in school in that 1 year "

First, to answer your question about additional skills, I learned .Net when I went back to school after NCSU. Specifically, I learned ASP .Net, VB .Net, and SQL Server. I've been working with ASP .Net, C# and SQL Server for the past 2.5 years. As far as why I couldn't get a job for a year is concerned, well part of it I think is that I didn't have the necessary skills. I mean, after I completed my training in .Net, I got hired by the first company that interviewed me and had 3 job offers since then. Also, back then I was naive about how the whole interview process works. I thought that interviews were effective in selecting the best-qualified candidate for the job, and that if I just go in and answer their questions, I should be okay. I didn't realize then how horribly flawed the hiring process is in today's business world and that while most HR people and hiring managers think they are selecting the best candidate for the job when they conduct interviews, what they are really selecting is the candidate with the best ability to sell himself. In other words in interviews for computer programming jobs the person who gets the job is not the best programmer, but the person who can present the best sales pitch for his programming skills. It was after I realized that and started approaching my interviews the way a salesperson approaches sales opportunities that I became successful in my job interviews.

sober46an3

Quote :

"not everyone can be as good as you o mighty omar! "

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that. While I would rather have been spared the stress of being unemployed for a year, what happened then is irrelavant now as both OmarBadu and I have the same job and probably make comparable salaries today.

4/14/2007 1:03:56 PM

Quote :

"In other words in interviews for computer programming jobs the person who gets the job is not the best programmer, but the person who can present the best sales pitch for his programming skills. It was after I realized that and started approaching my interviews the way a salesperson approaches sales opportunities that I became successful in my job interviews. "

not always true ...

... but mostly.

4/14/2007 2:11:41 PM

25 and still not graduated... If I can pass my 100 level PE class this summer, then I get to graduate ...

4/14/2007 2:52:09 PM

^^^ Did you ever stop and think for a second that you weren't the best candidate for the job?
Regardless, if you know your shit it isn't that hard to sell yourself.

4/14/2007 3:30:05 PM

ohhhh, so Ice was interviewing for jobs he had the min qualifications for(a degree) but they wanted more......you would think after the 6th interview with no job that you would of figured out....hmmmmm, maybe I am applying for jobs i dont really qualify for......hmmmmmmm, at least you finally realized it....

[Edited on April 14, 2007 at 3:31 PM. Reason : w]

4/14/2007 3:30:41 PM

Quote :

"as both OmarBadu and I have the same job and probably make comparable salaries today."

i've never programmed a day after i graduated for work - from the sounds of it i doubt we have the same job

i agree with ^ and ^^

4/14/2007 4:18:45 PM

Quote :

"In other words in interviews for computer programming jobs the person who gets the job is not the best programmer, but the person who can present the best sales pitch for his programming skills. It was after I realized that and started approaching my interviews the way a salesperson approaches sales opportunities that I became successful in my job interviews."

Also, did you ever stop to think that they weren't looking for a programmer. Most programming, especially the kind you listed, is a very low level skill. There are a lot of soft skills required such as communicating effectively with coworkers, customers, research, and creating new products that have little to do with programming.

Judging by how you think your programming skills should be the end of the hiring process, I'll guess that you didn't convince them that you have these soft skills. As stupid as HR people are, they are smart enough to realize that team chemistry and fit is as important as anything else.

4/14/2007 9:04:06 PM

Quote :

"they are smart enough to realize that team chemistry and fit is as important as anything else."

i'm wondering how you ever got hired then.

4/15/2007 6:44:11 PM

I graduated from 4 year school when I was 28 years old. I got my GED when i was 16 years old, and I did not do anymore schooling until I was 22. Then I earned two 2 year degrees from a community college. They were accelerated programs where the trimester system was implemented and had classes from 8-5 basically, so I finished those AAs in 1 year each. After this, I decided that that was not enough, so I applied and got accepted into a small college, completed 1 year there, and completed my last 3 at NCSU. I have a really decent job right now in a very closely related field to my 4 year major, and I am sure when I go on the job hunt for the 'big job', I will find one and I have no reason to doubt myself.

[Edited on April 16, 2007 at 9:58 AM. Reason : Caps]

4/16/2007 9:57:13 AM

twas 21

4/21/2007 3:01:59 PM