Point of View

Well, I am still a final year student in a uni (you american call it senior). Having read JoelOnSoftware for quite some time and analyzed market condition in Singapore, I get the conclusion that market is in the very bad shape. It is true, especially for new graduates who wishes to enter the glamorous IT professional world.

My academic grade is not Fantastic at all, My ECA (Exta Curricular Activities) is almost to none (except for my first year), therefore I need to get a strong point and differentiate myself.

I am not eyeing for BIG MNC like IBM, Accenture, etc. I just only want to enter the "world". It is kind a bit frustating when I see the statistics displayed in the online job application like www.jobstreet.com.sg. They will mention the statistics like how many applicants apply for the job, how many are under consideration, and even how many times my resume has been read.

I do not want to blantantly apply for 300-500 vacancies, however I do not want to be sided. So far, I have applied for 20 vacancies, and guess! Only 4 resumes has been read by the HR/recruiter/etc. The rest do not even read my resume, since the statistics say clearly that there are 500 resumes for that vacancy.

OK, that's enough for the "Sorry feeling". I tried to be positive and constructive. Now I am trying to get a feel and networking to the professional world. I have been attending to the networking event and activities conducted by software developer body (in Singapore, it is www.scs.org.sg)

Uuh, When I attended that two weeks ago, I felt a bit of akward. I was the only students there, the rest are developers from various companies. A moment of embarrasment occured when the exchanging of business card happened.  I had not made my business card at that time (now I have). :-) Well, actually it was a nice event, and I enjoyed it vey much. Today I attend the lecture for the CITPM (a certification lecture for the Project Manager, similar to PMI). The lecturer asked us to introduce ourselves, and during my turn, he said "Ooh, you are a student, the youngest right? I hope we don't bully you".  He's nice, a middle-age man, a senior developer.

So, guys, what is your point of view if you  are the "professional developer"? Any advice for my career? Any comments are appreciated. I have followed this board for about one year.

Richard Sunarto
Friday, February 20, 2004

Ooh, no one has responded to my view. So sad :-(
Never mind

Richard Sunarto
Saturday, February 21, 2004

You are blabbering, break your paragraph into 4 clear and distinct open-ended questions. Loading it all into a paragraph is making the questions a loaded one.

Li-fan Chen
Saturday, February 21, 2004

You stated your points of view, but you might have had more responses if you had asked some more specific question.

> Any advice for my career?

Write a resume and apply for jobs. Get to know other people (fellow students, and professionals) in the profession ... called 'networking'. Talk with your career counsellor while you're still at school. Learn marketable skills: language, operating system, and problem domain. Talk with employment agencies too.

Specifically, I'd guess you should perhaps be looking for Singapore-specific resources.

Christopher Wells
Saturday, February 21, 2004

"the glamorous IT professional world"

Bwahahahahahaha! Warning, brick wall approaching at high speed...

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Sunday, February 22, 2004

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