Writing 02: Employment

               I have prepared for the hiring process in a variety of ways. Practically, I have reviewed the past projects on my resume in order to be able to speak competently about them and brushed up on some of the languages I use less often. On a more personal level, I have reevaluated what it is I want from an employer and what my priorities are going to be through the next few months. I know that I want to work for a company that values employees who don’t spend every waking moment behind a screen, and whose hiring process reflects that. I know I want to be back in the South, somewhat closer to home.

               As the process gets underway I have found myself leaning on the advice of my brother, who has been through the process himself and is aware of the pitfalls. He is always a level head and good listener, even though we are taking very different paths in the industry. Notre Dame’s resources have been a mixed bag. I have found that unless you are the student taking the most advantage of those resources, they become much less effective. I am not the most ardent job searcher, and as such have not been entirely impressed with campus resources. This is not necessarily a fault of the school, but rather a potential point of improvement on my end.

               The Computer Science department has been my strongest resource, not necessarily as a pure career services resource, but rather as a resource for improving both my skills and my confidence. Imposter syndrome is incredibly real in a field as technical as ours, and my interactions with the incredibly talented professors in the department have managed to help me navigate that headspace instead of diving farther into it. Confidence is a huge factor in applying and interviewing for a job and I have grown in confidence more each year.

               My largest frustration with the current hiring process at large is that of artificial meritocracy. Companies wish to appear as meritocracies and as such overvalue personal projects. Companies now expect Computer Science to be your first priority and greatest passion. As someone who has many passions outside of computers, this poses a problem. Earlier I used the term artificial meritocracy and would like to quantify that by explaining that who you know will always be more important than what you know and that personal projects are not always incredible projects. The illusion of meritocracy allows companies to make bold claims about their workforce and to set unreasonable expectations for new employees.

               All things considered, if I could tell First-Year me a few tips, I would. I would tell him to start on a single large personal project sophomore and to stick with it through college. I would definitely rework his sophomore resume, which is terribly formatted and incredibly sparse. I would also tell him to be more confident. He has skills to offer and the ability to learn quickly. I am confident that together we could do better than I did alone.