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Navigating Life After Stonehill: Insights on Graduate School and Job Hunting

Tom Wall, a Stonehill graduate with an MS from Brown, shares his journey post-graduation. He explores the reasons for pursuing graduate school, the differences between a Master's and PhD, and his experiences at Brown, including coursework and research projects. Tom also provides valuable job application advice, emphasizing the importance of qualifications, developing key skills, crafting an effective resume, and preparing for interviews. His insights aim to help recent grads transition successfully into the workforce or further education.

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Navigating Life After Stonehill: Insights on Graduate School and Job Hunting

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Life after Stonehill CS Tom Wall twall@vertica.com

  2. Background • Graduated from Stonehill in 2009 • MS from Brown in 2010 • Straight to work in 2011

  3. PART I:GRADSCHOOL

  4. Why not • Sick of homework • Ready to stop being a poor student • Ready to put your skills to use • Ready for a change • Too difficult • Too expensive

  5. Why • Avoid real life • A chance to learn more • More jobs • Better jobs • Just to get it over with

  6. What’s it like? • Depends on the school/program • Get to know (and advance!) the cutting edge • Focus your efforts on a common topic • Coursework • Research • Internships • Great chance to network

  7. Masters vs PhD Masters PhD • Short (<= 2 years) • Little financial help • Preparation for a career in the industry • Year one: coursework, requirements • Year two: focus on an area, do a project • Long (4+ years) • You get paid to go there • Preparation for a career in research, academia or industry • First few years: coursework, requirements • Qualifications • Final years: dissertation

  8. My Experience at Brown • 8 courses. That’s it! • (or 6 courses and a thesis) • 4 Undergrad courses • Not much harder than the courses here • 4 Graduate courses • Reading and presenting research papers • Research project

  9. My Experience at Brown • Larger department, larger budget • More resources • More courses • More knowledgeable faculty (no offense!) • Industry recruiting • Lots of awesome tech talks & free food

  10. Applying • Paperwork • Transcripts • GREs • Recommendations • Essay

  11. Applying - Advice • Worth it to apply to many places, even at $50 per application • Study for the GREs • No need to bother with the CS subject GRE • Don’t slack on the essay • Research the school, contact faculty • The first application is the hardest

  12. Questions?

  13. PART II:JOBS

  14. Process • Qualifications • Resume • Applications • Interviews

  15. Qualifications • Grades are just one factor • Coursework • Extracurricular activities • Personal projects • Internships • (we’re hiring!)

  16. Skills to sharpen • Linux • Scripting • Version control • Unit testing

  17. Resume • Make it nice (LaTeX is your friend) • Keep it short • Show off your qualifications • Don’t lie

  18. Applying • Do it during school, not after • Use school’s resources • Minimize gaps • Apply to many places • Do some research for your cover letter

  19. Interviews • Do more research than you did when applying • Be ready to explain your resume • Data Structures, Algorithms, Design • They are interested in how you solve problems • Final answer not as important • Reason out loud • Ask questions

  20. Do you have any questions? • Of course you do!! • Shows you’re interested and did your homework • Good types of questions: • On their build/test/development environment • On their technology • On the employee life

  21. Interviews - Resources • http://www.glassdoor.com • http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html • http://sites.google.com/site/steveyegge2/five-essential-phone-screen-questions

  22. Thanks!

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