2.1. Do You Want a Job?

To get a job, you will have to get an interview and do well in the interview process. Getting the interview depends on your resume and networking. Getting the interview is step 1. Doing well in the interview is step 2. Now, here is the shocker—take note, this is important. Your resume will list the things you supposedly know. “Supposedly” is the key term here (record that in your brain right now). The people interviewing you have a job to do, and part of that job is to find out if you really know what you list on your resume. In the job interview, you don’t get to use AI or search the internet, you don’t get to take the questions home, you don’t get to ask your classmate for the assignment solutions. These are things that are likely to happen in the interview process:

You will be given a problem and asked to go to the whiteboard to work it out. You might be given a problem the interviewers know you can’t solve. The interviewers want to know: 1) will you think about the problem, 2) can you think about the problem, 3) are you willing to engage in conversation about the problem.

Nowadays, you might be asked how much of the code on your GitHub was written by AI. Don’t think they can’t spot AI-written code. Ultimately, your grades don’t matter—what matters is what you know. The interview process will flush out what you know; you won’t be able to hide.

2.1.1. Practice Works

How you do in the interview will depend on your preparation up to that point. Let’s be honest, lots of students can pass a class without learning much. My advice to you is to engage with the material, think hard about how things work, and understand the value in this motto: “Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by hiting back” (Piet Hein). You should understand that if you “just want to get it done,” you are not preparing for that interview.

When we have group activities in class, this is a time for you to practice your teamwork. In the interview process, the interviewers are asking themselves, “Can I work with this person?”

In summary, you must be able to defend your resume and you must be able to work with others (be engaged).