Rainbow Studios Q & A (part 7)
Sunday, December 13, 2009
In part 7 of the Rainbow Studios Q @ A session, Mark talks about the interview process at Rainbow Studios. He also talks about the best things you can have as an applicant for a game programming position and comments on the lack of availability of writer positions at game companies.
Rainbow Studios Q & A (part 6)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
In part 6 of the Rainbow Studios Q @ A session, Mark talks about the development process for the game Pool of Radiance 2 and comments on the role of database / tools programmers at Rainbow Studios.
Rainbow Studios Q & A (part 5)
Monday, December 7, 2009
In part 5 of the Rainbow Studios Q @ A session, Mark talks about where the most opportunities for game developers are and also spends a lot of time answering a question about design positions.
Rainbow Studios Q & A (part 4)
Friday, December 4, 2009
In part 4 of the Rainbow Studios Q @ A session, Mark talks about things you should take into consideration when applying to Rainbow Studios and when looking for your first game job. He also briefly talks about how those with no game development experience can get started developing a portfolio.
Rainbow Studios Q & A (part 3)
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
In part 3 of the Rainbow Studios Q @ A session, Mark talks more about what you need to know when it comes to the mathematics of game programming. He also talks a little bit about the art side of creating games and mentions how those with audio skills fit in.
Rainbow Studios Q & A (part 2)
Saturday, November 28, 2009
In part 2 of the Rainbow Studios Q @ A session, Mark spends a lot of time answering questions on what you should take into consideration when developing a portfolio / demo. He also talks about the hiring status of the Rainbow Studio's internship program and how those with hardware oriented skills are utilized at gaming companies.
Feedback
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Being that tomorrow is a holiday and a lot of people will be busy with their families, I'm going to skip a post and instead take the opportunity to gather feedback from people about the blog. What do you like? What do you dislike? Do you have any ideas for future posts? If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section of this article. I hope everyone has a very safe and happy Thanksgiving!
Rainbow Studios Q & A (part 1)
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Recently, I was able to attend an information session with video game studio Rainbow Studios at my school. Rainbow Studios is a subsidiary of THQ and is one of the largest video game developers in the Southwest United States. The event was hosted by lead designer Mark Buchignani who conducted a question and answer session with students. I tape recorded the event and will be posting the entire transcript in a multi-part series over the course of the next 4-6 weeks.
On-campus Interviews (part 3)
Thursday, November 19, 2009
In part 1 of this series on on-campus interviews, I provided the definition of an on-campus interview and talked about its role in the technical interview process. In parts 2 and 3, I'm going to give specific examples of on-campus interviews that I had while I was in school. In this post, I'm going to talk about my experiences with Microsoft and Cerner.
Other Internship Interviews (part 2)
Monday, November 16, 2009
Previously, I've talked about my internship interview experiences with Microsoft, Intel, IBM, and Lockheed Martin. Aside from these interviews, I also had some brief encounters with other companies while I was searching for an internship. In my last post, I talked about my interview experiences with Honeywell, Boeing and Stryker.
On-campus Interviews (part 2)
Friday, November 13, 2009
In part 1 of this series on on-campus interviews, I provided the definition of an on-campus interview and talked about its role in the technical interview process. In parts 2 and 3, I'm going to give specific examples of on-campus interviews that I had while I was in school. In this post, I'm going to talk about my experiences with National Instruments, Raytheon, Honeywell, General Dynamics, and IBM.
Resume Development (part 3)
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
On-campus Interviews (part 1)
Saturday, November 7, 2009
An on-campus interview is an interview that is conducted by a company at your school. Like a phone screen, it’s a first round interview that will decide whether or not you get invited to interview on-site. Companies that recruit heavily at your college usually are the ones that will offer on-campus interviews.
Other Internship Interviews (part 1)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Previously, I've talked about my internship interview experiences with Microsoft, Intel, IBM, and Lockheed Martin. Aside from these interviews, I also had some brief encounters with other companies while I was searching for an internship. In this post, I'd like to talk about my interview experiences with Honeywell, Boeing and Stryker.
Phone Screens (part 5)
Sunday, November 1, 2009
In part 1 of this series on phone screens, I talked about how phone screens fit into the programming interview process and defined the three types of phone screens that it’s possible to receive during first round interviews. In part 2, I presented a flow diagram which illustrated the many different ways that companies can conduct phone screens. In parts 3, 4 and 5, I’m going to give specific examples from my technical interview experience on how certain companies perform their first round phone screens.
Resume Development (part 2)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
In part 1 of this series on resume development, I talked about how to effectively develop the education section of your resume. In part 2, I’m going to talk about how you can develop the experience section of your resume.
Phone Screens (part 4)
Monday, October 26, 2009
In part 1 of this series on phone screens, I talked about how phone screens fit into the programming interview process and defined the three types of phone screens that it’s possible to receive during first round interviews. In part 2, I presented a flow diagram which illustrated the many different ways that companies can conduct phone screens. In parts 3, 4 and 5, I’m going to give specific examples from my technical interview experience on how certain companies perform their first round phone screens.
IBM Internship
Friday, October 23, 2009
My internship at IBM turned out to be a great experience (click here to read about my interview with IBM). The location I worked at was formerly known as Object Technology International – a company that developed the integrated development environment Eclipse – until IBM bought them in 1996. After the merger, the office would eventually switch its focus to providing mobile Java solutions for major cell phone carriers such as Sprint, Nokia and others. It also worked on porting IBM application software to mobile platforms.
Phone Screens (part 3)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
In part 1 of this series on phone screens, I talked about how phone screens fit into the programming interview process and defined the three types of phone screens that it’s possible to receive during first round interviews. In part 2, I presented a flow diagram which illustrated the many different ways that companies can conduct phone screens. In parts 3, 4 and 5, I’m going to give specific examples from my technical interview experience on how certain companies perform their first round phone screens.
Resume Development (part 1)
Saturday, October 17, 2009
As I’ve mentioned previously in the post Start Your Technical Job Search Early, it’s an excellent idea for you to start writing your resume as soon as you begin college. Though you don’t have any content to put on it yet, you should still pick out a template and write out headers for the five main resume topics: education, experience, class projects, skills and activities. This will allow you to develop your resume gradually and put you in the mindset of making academic and life decisions based on how they’ll affect your future job search.
Phone Screens (part 2)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
In part 1 of this series on phone screens, I talked about how phone screens fit into the programming interview process and defined the three types of phone screens that it’s possible to receive during first round interviews. In part 2, I’m going to talk about how phone screens are actually conducted by companies.
IBM Interview
Sunday, October 11, 2009
In early March of 2007, about a month and a half before my Microsoft interview, I was contacted via e-mail by a software engineer from a local IBM office about an internship opportunity. The position was for developing mobile applications in Java. I submitted to the job requisition that was given to me and waited over a month and a half without receiving a response. Finally, I sent an e-mail to the original sender asking if the internship was still available and didn't get a response.
Phone Screens (part 1)
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Phone screens are the first step in the programming interview process and are used by companies to determine whether or not they want to invite a candidate to interview on-site. How it works is that someone (usually a recruiter) will contact you via phone or e-mail to express interest in interviewing you. You’ll set up an appointment for the interview and a representative from the company will call you at the scheduled time. The interview could last anywhere between fifteen minutes to an hour and could contain behavioral questions, technical questions, or both.
Start Your Programming Job Search Early
Monday, October 5, 2009
You’ve just arrived on campus for the beginning of your freshman year and your mind is racing with anxious thoughts. You worry about your dorm, your roommate, your classes, your teachers, and many other things. The last thing you’re thinking about is where you’ll be working at when you finish school in four years. But the truth of the matter is that it’s never too early to start thinking about your future. Below, I’ve written a short check list of things that I recommend doing when you first start school. Most of these tasks aren't very time consuming and I guarantee that if you complete them, it’s going to help you immensely when you apply for jobs later on.
Choosing a School to Study Computer Science
Friday, October 2, 2009
In this post, I’d like to talk about two things that you should take into consideration when choosing a school to study computer science. It should be noted that the following information might be more applicable to those who are applying to graduate schools or those who are transferring to four year schools from junior colleges. However, it may also be pertinent to high school graduates who have programming experience and are pretty decisive about choosing computer science as a major.
Lockheed Martin Interview
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Just three days after I got home from my Microsoft interview, I had an on-site interview scheduled with Lockheed Martin. Though I was still bummed about Microsoft, I knew I had to shake it off and have a good performance because I was running out of time to find a summer internship. In the past, I had applied to Lockheed Martin through their online job site and at career fairs. I hadn’t heard anything back from them until they contacted me about a week before my Microsoft interview. They had sent me an e-mail that contained information on a recruiting event for entry level engineers. To be considered, I had to send in a resume, an unofficial transcript, and answers to some application type questions. A couple of days after I responded I received an invitation to the event.
Defense Company Interviews
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Before I get into my Lockheed Martin interview, I want to spend some time talking about defense companies. A Defense company is a business that develops military technologies for a particular government or country. These technologies include electronic systems, space systems, information systems, aeronautics, and much more. In the US, many defense companies provide job opportunities for entry level engineers. Places like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Boeing, and Honeywell all actively recruit on campuses looking for talented new college graduates.
Teach Yourself Programming
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
One of the best decisions I ever made was to teach myself how to program. It reignited the initial passion that I had for technology when I was younger and helped solidify my decision to pursue a career in software. It also put me way ahead of the curve during my initial coding classes. For those who are interested in teaching themselves how to program, I’d like to offer you some advice on how to get started.
Dealing with Programming Interview Failure
Sunday, September 20, 2009
You spend years building up your resume so that one day you might have a job opportunity with your dream company. You finally get that opportunity and spend weeks preparing for the interview. The day of the interview arrives and you perform well enough to feel like you have a shot. You agonizingly wait for the decision. Finally, you receive an e-mail from the recruiter. You open it up and find out the news: you didn’t get the job.
Microsoft Interview (part 5)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
(Continued from part 4, part 3, part 2, and part 1) My fears were eased when finally my second interviewer came out and escorted me back to his office. He apologized for the inconvenience and began to tell me more about Exchange and how he’d been a manager in the group for numerous years. We talked about the software engineering process at Microsoft and how developers aimed to design algorithms that ran in linear time. He briefly asked me about one of the projects on my resume and then proceeded with a coding question which went as follows: “Write a function to reconstruct a chain of linked nodes that has been severed. Each node is missing the link to the node that it’s supposed to point to, but contains the value of the node that points to it.”
Best Tech Companies to Work For
Monday, September 14, 2009
Every year in late January / early February, Fortune releases its US 100 Best Companies to Work For list. While the list is usually a good indicator of which places are currently making the most effort to keep their employees happy, one of its downfalls is that it’s only a year snap shot of a companies performance. With that in mind, I decided it would be interesting to see which tech companies have performed the best over the twelve year history of the list. In order to make this determination, I went through every list since 1998 and recorded the position of each tech company that appeared. I then compiled my data into two lists which ranked the companies based on their amount of appearances and their average position on the list when they appeared.
Microsoft Interview (part 4)
Friday, September 11, 2009
(Continued from part 3, part 2, and part 1) I spoke with the recruiter for about 15 minutes. He provided me with more information on the groups that I’d be interviewing with and told me about the agenda for the day. There would be 3-4 interviews – the first 2 with Exchange and the last 1-2 with Real-Time Collaboration. He also told me that I’d find out about my results 3-4 days after the interview. After we finished, he called a shuttle for me and I was driven over to my first interview (Microsoft’s campus is so large that they have a fleet of cars which transport employees from building to building).
The Microsoft Interview Loop
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
When you interview on-site with Microsoft, you're scheduled to interview with two product groups or two teams within the same product group. On the day of the interview, you start out by having two interviews with the first group and then you have one interview with the second group. What happens next is based on your performance up until that point. One of the more unique things about the Microsoft on-site interview is the fact that your interviewers share your results with each other while the day is still in progress. During the interview, your interviewer will take notes on you and forward them to your subsequent interviewers for review. If the feedback during your initial three interviews is positive, you’ll continue to have as many interviews as it takes to reach a decision.
Microsoft Interview (part 3)
Saturday, September 5, 2009
(Continued from part 2 and part 1) Initially, it was difficult for me to figure out how to go about preparing for the interview. My school semester was extremely hectic and left me with little or no time to do anything but study. There was no way I’d have sufficient time to get ready for the interview if I left my schedule the way it was, so I ended up dropping my computer systems engineering major (which also allowed me to graduate one semester earlier). Even so, I was still pretty busy with school and had to force myself to spend any free time I had studying for the interview. As for the preparation itself, I decided the best course of action would be to focus on my resume, common data structures and algorithms, and coding questions.
The Microsoft Scholarship Program
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
If you've read part 1 and part 2 of my Microsoft interview, then you know how big of a role the Microsoft Scholarship Program played in helping me acquire an on-site internship interview in Redmond. For those that go to school in the US and are interested in working at Microsoft, the Microsoft Scholarship Program is a great way to get your foot in the door. Below, I've listed some reasons why it's beneficial to apply for a Microsoft scholarship:
Microsoft Interview (part 2)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
(Continued from part 1) I waited patiently for about twenty days until I couldn’t take it anymore. I e-mailed the recruiter to see if a decision had been reached. She replied back to me with some good and bad news. The bad news was that I didn’t get the scholarship. The good news was that Microsoft wanted to fly me out to Washington for a software development engineer interview. This was surprising to me because I thought my only chance at an internship was through the scholarship. She also said the following:
Tell Me About Yourself
Thursday, August 27, 2009
It's a huge goal of mine to have as much interaction as possible on this blog - not only between myself and the readers, but also amongst the readers. In order to achieve this goal, I'll be posting shorter, more interactive posts in between the main content articles. These shorter posts will generally include discussion topics, commentaries, polls, and contests.
Microsoft Interview (part 1)
Monday, August 24, 2009
It was December of 2006 when I finished the first semester of my junior year. In the two years that had passed since my Intel interview, I had been inactive in my job search and hadn’t acquired any relevant work experience. With graduation right around the corner, I knew that I had to turn the heat up and start looking for an internship pretty aggressively.
A Beginner Programming Example
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Of the many inaccurate generalizations that exist about programming, there are two that bother me the most. The first one says that those who aren’t mathematically inclined will not be successful. From my experience, I’ve seen plenty of people who were great programmers but only average at math, and vice versa. This is just another bad label that should be ignored. The second one says that if you don’t spend most of your leisure time in front of a computer, then you probably won’t enjoy coding. This is also very false. It’s conceivable that someone might have hobbies outside of computers and still be able to be passionate and successful.
Intel Interview
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
My first technical interview experience occurred during the spring semester of my sophomore year in 2005. During the previous summer, I had registered with my school’s career services department with the intention of finding an early job opportunity. My goal was to find an internship at a local company or a position on campus doing IT work. I had written my resume with the help of career services and began applying to positions at the start of the fall semester.
Why Choose Computer Science?
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Computer science is an extremely rewarding major for those that enjoy creative problem solving. If you’re the type of person who likes to build, who likes to be efficient, and who likes to make things better, then I highly recommend considering programming as a career path. Unlike other engineering disciplines, software engineering allows you to be involved in all phases of the product life cycle. There’s very little monotony as no two coding problems will ever be the same, and no two programmers will ever solve a problem in the exact same way.
My Story
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Before I jump into the main content, I’d like to tell you a little bit about myself and what lead me to pursue a degree in Computer Science. If you haven’t already read the introduction post, I recommend doing so before continuing further.
Introduction
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Welcome to My Technical Interview Experience! In this initial post, I’d like to explain the purpose of this blog. However, before I do that, let me first tell you a little bit about myself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Monday, July 20, 2009
Who Are You?
I’m currently a computer science master’s student at a large state school which is located in one of the top ten metropolitan areas in the United States. I received my bachelor’s degree at the same school. I’m also doing a software engineer internship at a company that specializes in designing and manufacturing computer hardware. For more information about me, please read My Story.
I’m currently a computer science master’s student at a large state school which is located in one of the top ten metropolitan areas in the United States. I received my bachelor’s degree at the same school. I’m also doing a software engineer internship at a company that specializes in designing and manufacturing computer hardware. For more information about me, please read My Story.
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