The Back to School Thread

I've ignored all of those offers. They just seem silly to me, and most people I've talked to feel the same way. Putting it on your resume is no different than just listing your GPA since I believe that's the only thing they use as a requirement.

chaos_sl said:

What is the consensus on honor societies? I got offers from a couple, some Golden Key shit and Phi Kappa Phi, and the internet seems split on whether these things are worthwhile or not. I am leaning towards no just on the basis of them charging money.

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I joined Phi Alpha Theta (History Honor Society) and some other bullshit one just for the references. I need to join them as part of my hoop jumping that is teacher training. I have no idea except that professors pleasure themselves to the thought of honor societies and book clubs. For anything else I can't see any reason they are useful.

I joined Eta Kappa Nu or whatever, the EE honor society. I put it on my resume but no one ever once asked about it, so I took it off when other things needed more space.

chaos_sl said:

What is the consensus on honor societies? I got offers from a couple, some Golden Key shit and Phi Kappa Phi, and the internet seems split on whether these things are worthwhile or not. I am leaning towards no just on the basis of them charging money.

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Definitely join. Yes, they're silly... but all you need is some hiring manager to be part of the same group and suddenly you're "closer" than the other applicants. I've gone on a few interviews on wall street after graduation and maybe half of those referred to an honor society I had been part of. It's not going to get you an interview if you're terribly underqualified, but firms often end up with a number of applicants who are pretty hard to distinguish (especially right after graduation). So it's going to be little things like typos on a resume or familiar affiliations that lead to a hiring decision.

The cost is generally pretty trivial and was always associated with some appetizers & open bar... can pay for itself if you go with friends.

edit: oh, sometimes there are scholarships or research grants available only to members of a particular society. Less useful if you don't go on for a Masters, but maybe you later decide to do that.

Soriak_sl said:

little things like typos on a resume or familiar affiliations that lead to a hiring decision.

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I don't have a lot to add to this thread, but holy shit, please please please pay attention to the quoted part. I see tons of resumes in my job and I can't even begin to count how many stupid, idiotic typos, spelling, and grammar mistakes I come across. This shit is absurd. I'm talking about stuff that would be fucking underlined in red by Microsoft Word.

If you're preparing to finish up school and start sending out resumes, double and triple check that shit to make sure it's professionally written.

Fraternities and sororities in North America - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically, first fraternity used them because the founder was Greek and a nod to classical education. Stuck ever since.

McCheese_sl said:

I don't have a lot to add to this thread, but holy shit, please please please pay attention to the quoted part. I see tons of resumes in my job and I can't even begin to count how many stupid, idiotic typos, spelling, and grammar mistakes I come across. This shit is absurd. I'm talking about stuff that would be fucking underlined in red by Microsoft Word.

If you're preparing to finish up school and start sending out resumes, double and triple check that shit to make sure it's professionally written.

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I automatically throw away a resume if there is typo or misspelling. So many have the same rough qualifications, it is the only way to weed through the sheer amount of resumes.

First week back and I already want to throttle one of my instructors. I think it is mostly just me. I have a lot of shit going on at work and am taking the CISSP on Tuesday so I am cramming and trying to knock out the bs work they give at the beginning of the semester. I'm taking a php class online, this dude is killing me. He lectures like a teacher off of Charlie Brown. He gave us a 40 question test on the syllabus that you have to get 100% on to open up the rest of the course. But half of it does not come from the syllabus, and about half of them are multiple option answers. One question had 15 different answers with multiple options available. I really, really just want to kick this guy in the fucking balls.

It literally took me 15 attempts to do that test. One of the answers was supposed to be blank. Who the fuck does that? What kind of sadist does that? In addition, it is considered a violation of the honor code to use ANY materials outside the official book in this class. So if I go to the library and look at a different php book, violation. And an F. Google an answer or question, F. Give me a fucking break with this shit.

Hey bros, looking for maybe some suggestions. Been on the job hunt for about 3 months now, and haven't even gotten an interview. Now I realize this could be due to a number of different factors, but I feel maybe I need make a change, and was considering going to school for a certification, or at least something I could add to the resume. My time frame is between now and June 2015, so it fits pretty well with the spring semester somewhere.

I'm a nerd, so I feel I'm pretty tech savvy, however coding has always been boring. But I had a couple thoughts.

My 2 thoughts were either cramming for a CCNA cert between now and June. Most the community colleges around me have programs for it. Involves 14-18 credit hours, so that would be quite the cram while I'm working full time.

Other option I know far less about, was Big Data, or Hadoop. Coursera seems to have some stuff on it, and about as much as I know now, after looking for jobs for 3 months is that Hadoop skills seems to be in pretty high demand.

Now there is always the idea of saying F it, going back to school, finish an undergraduate, and going for a Masters in Big Data, Data Science, or some other business degree, but I'm not ready to take that leap just yet.

Any other suggestions or thoughts? I'm away from the wife and kids working until I get a job, or June 2015, whichever comes first, so I easily have the time to take night classes right now.

I don't know what sort of academic courseload you'd need to pursue, but Big Data and Hadoop are humongous right now, that shit is like saying you can turn turds into solid gold ingots on a resume.

chaos_sl said:

It literally took me 15 attempts to do that test. One of the answers was supposed to be blank. Who the fuck does that? What kind of sadist does that? In addition, it is considered a violation of the honor code to use ANY materials outside the official book in this class. So if I go to the library and look at a different php book, violation. And an F. Google an answer or question, F. Give me a fucking break with this shit.

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That is pretty stupid. Modern development is half knowing what you're doing and the other half is knowing how to use google effectively.

Noodleface_sl said:

I don't know what sort of academic courseload you'd need to pursue, but Big Data and Hadoop are humongous right now, that shit is like saying you can turn turds into solid gold ingots on a resume.

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Ya, Big Data, or a degree in data science would be going for graduate work, so much more a committment of time and money. CCNA can be had with 4 classes at a community college, and then take the test. Quite possibly go for my CCNA, and then work towards a degree in data science.