Meeting on Nov 17

Our next meeting is on Thursday (Nov 17) at 12:00 PM in 2030 JKHB. This is the same room we Angela Jones' talk. The semester is fast approaching to an end. So the agenda of our meeting is going to be to come up with ideas on how to advertise the club among undergraduate women in CS. Irene had some good ideas about approaching women enrolled in CS 142. We can concretize some ideas and implement them too. We will also talk about how to set up a mentoring program within the department.

See you all on Thursday,

Excerpts from Angela Jones' Talk

Angela: To be a good programmer be willing to diversify. Don't be averse to learning Microsoft products like visual studio. Become comfortable with diverse platforms. Learn different debugging tools. Be very detail oriented in your approach. Work hard. Earn your co-workers respect, if you take initiative then your co-workers will be interested in you. Be willing to think both outside and inside the box. Document well but not excessively because then it runs the risk that nobody read its. Learn to help other people. It is important to form study groups in college. If you teach others you will learn yourself too. Apply the same technique in workplace. Don't shirk from helping your colleguages. Be proactive in trying to get projects. Don't worry if its a small project. Just make sure you have "a" project to work on. Because if you have layoffs then the person with the most admin hours. Be flexible in the type of work you are willing to do. Don't think that some things are beneath you. Write down your accomplishments as you go. So during the time of annual reviews you are not wondering, "oh what did I do?"

Question by Moriah : What is the difference between academia and industry?
Answer : More praise and money in industry. But in academia there is more freedom in what you are working on.

Question by Moriah: Did you have to work more than 40 hours? Did you get paid overtime?
Answer: When you start a job is good to find out the expectations. The company Angela worked at did pay overitme.

Question by Joel: Is it common to be paid overtime?
Answer: No, its not common

Question by Krisitine: How to do well in an interview?
Answer: Make sure you have a good resume, be honest, and make sure the job's a good fit for you. Be informed about the company you are interviewing. Be calm
Barbara: Study for the interview like an exam, and make a good apperance.

Question by Kristine: Should we know different languages?
Answer: Prove to them if you don't know a language that you can pick it up

Question by Neha: What is your experience as a woman in computer science
Answer: Very good.

Be willing to talk to your professors. Talk to a professor about grad school, go to the lab meetings. There is a lot of ugrad research money at BYU. Use it.