Jon
Terry
Position:
Application Development
Engineer
Employer:
Interactive Software Systems,
Inc.
Job description:
Assist senior engineers
in the development of tools that access information across heterogeneous
databases.
Salary range:
$30,000-$35,000
Employment history:
Graduated with an AB in
Mathematics, June 1996
High School Mathematics Teacher 09/96 - 05/97
Software Engineer 10/97 - ?
Suggestions for students:
1) Your job search will
be much easier if you have some experience working in a field relevant
to your target field of interst. Thus, the importance of opportunities
like summer internships cannot be overstated.
2) It is well worth the cost to have a professional career counselor
review your presentation materials (e.g. resumes and cover letters)
and help you focus on a job-search strategy. I saw one (3 sessions
@ $65 ea.) and it really helped me.
Advisor/student relationship:
In order to get the job
I had to make a 20 minute presentation to a group of managers and
employees. It was a technical presentation; I had to describe the
steps necessary to configure two of the company's products to work
in a new client-server environment. This turned into a 2 week research
project on my part resulting in an eight page, 2500 word report.
The reason I mention this is that I know that you want to do the best
job you can in preparing graduates for the technical job market. Hence,
one thing you might think about is to require some oral presentations
in upper division classes. The point I'm trying to make is that, regardless
of the approach is used, employers want candidates to DEMONSTRATE
their ability to solve problems. The course work should exercise this.
E-mail Jon
Date of last update: Oct. 19, 1997
Back
to Alumni List
|
