Hi Sammy,
OK, so, you wrote:
>are they going to want to see a demonstration? If yes, I could say, "look'y here I've got a demo disc" and they would reply "amazing! lets fire it up!" which would lead to me giving them my disk and then putting into their machine which is hopefully nearby and we would look at my wonderfully crafted demos.
Then here's the problem with that scenario.
1. If your demo requires any DLLs or any kind of setup, are you 100% certain that it'll easily and quickly just start and run on any computer? If so, no problem, you don't need no stinking laptop.
2. What if you're not in the interviewer's cubicle or office, what if there's no computer handily sitting nearby?
>Do they really want me to demonstrate live during the interview?
Ask a different question: Would it help show off your talents to run your demo? It's YOUR call.
>I'll admit that the demonstration would probably go a lot smoother if I brought my laptop
And that alone isn't enough to show you the wisdom of doing so??
>but do interviewers expect you to demo your stuff during the interview regardless of if you have a laptop or not?
Ask a different question: Would it help show what you've done to run your demo? If you have one and it'll help, and if you have a laptop, doesn't it make sense to bring your demo on a laptop to make the smoothest possible demo?
The question you asked is much less important than that. It's not at all unusual for an applicant to bring a demo on a laptop and make a smooth and effective demonstration. It's also not unusual for an applicant to not bring a demo, to hem and haw about the stuff he's done and say "it's on my website, you can go look at it now," then to have the interviewer rapidly get lost in an unfriendly user interface. What the interviewer expects is to learn about YOU - and it's YOUR job to help him do that.
Got a job interview coming up and I have some questions
Author
Okay, so I did the interview today and got a job offer out of it :)
As cool as that is, I'm at a delima for a couple of reasons. Here's the offer essentially:
Start at 30k
Raises every 6 months with a minimum of 10%
Bonuses every now and then on projects completed on time.
Stake in the company.
A week or two crunch time at the end of every couple of months, due to smaller projects.
2 Week paid vacations
Some other stuff that I can't remember right now :(
What are anyone's thoughts on this? I have till the end of the week to give them an answer.
Other then the starting pay, I didn't think it was all that bad. I think rasies every 6 months with a minimum of 10% makes up for that in that your pay would go up fairly quickly.
So here's my problem, there's another company in California that I would like to hear back from, that just now emailed back asking me to provide possible times for an interview next week. The problem is that the California company is bigger so they take longer to do things. If I have an interview next week and then maybe fly out there for a face-to-face interview the week after, that could possibly be 2 weeks from now and I may not even get a job out of it. I doubt that I could make the company that gave me an offer to wait 2 weeks or possible longer.
Moneywise, 30k here would be about 50k in California, which would be around what I would expect to get, so they're pretty much the same. I'm not sure how the other benefits would be though. I think it would come down to how the companies are.
I think I have a few choices:
1. I can take my current offer and give up the California one
2. I can refuse my current offer and take my chances with the California one
3. I can find way of delaying my response and see what both offers might be (possibly hard to do)
Any suggestions?
As cool as that is, I'm at a delima for a couple of reasons. Here's the offer essentially:
Start at 30k
Raises every 6 months with a minimum of 10%
Bonuses every now and then on projects completed on time.
Stake in the company.
A week or two crunch time at the end of every couple of months, due to smaller projects.
2 Week paid vacations
Some other stuff that I can't remember right now :(
What are anyone's thoughts on this? I have till the end of the week to give them an answer.
Other then the starting pay, I didn't think it was all that bad. I think rasies every 6 months with a minimum of 10% makes up for that in that your pay would go up fairly quickly.
So here's my problem, there's another company in California that I would like to hear back from, that just now emailed back asking me to provide possible times for an interview next week. The problem is that the California company is bigger so they take longer to do things. If I have an interview next week and then maybe fly out there for a face-to-face interview the week after, that could possibly be 2 weeks from now and I may not even get a job out of it. I doubt that I could make the company that gave me an offer to wait 2 weeks or possible longer.
Moneywise, 30k here would be about 50k in California, which would be around what I would expect to get, so they're pretty much the same. I'm not sure how the other benefits would be though. I think it would come down to how the companies are.
I think I have a few choices:
1. I can take my current offer and give up the California one
2. I can refuse my current offer and take my chances with the California one
3. I can find way of delaying my response and see what both offers might be (possibly hard to do)
Any suggestions?
Hello Sammy old pal, you asked if you should:
>1. take [the] current offer and give up the California one
>2. refuse [the] current offer and take my chances with the California one
>3. find way of delaying [your] response and see what both offers might be
a. Make a decision grid. (How to make one of those is outlined in http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson25.htm.)
1. You don't have an offer from California yet. You haven't even figured out yet when you might go for an interview. So you aren't giving up an offer to take another offer. You'd be giving up the possibility of an offer (if you accept the local offer).
2. Sure, what the hell. Turn down the solid offer!
3. Okay, you could do that too. Say to the open offer "when do you need an answer?" then phone California and say "how soon can we meet?" (Slow down the one while speeding up the other.)
b. What's the worst that could happen?
X. You might get two offers and have to decide between them. Do a decision grid.
Y. You might lose out on both job opportunities.
Z. Since you haven't told us everything about you, what you like, whether or not you'd enjoy moving to California as opposed to staying where you are, close to everyone near and dear to your life, we can't help you make this decision. Do a decision grid.
Addendum: It's been so rewarding to receive your gratitude for, and complete acceptance of, all the advice you've received so far that I'm on pins and needles to find out what happens! [Retroactive sarcasm alert.] [End retroactive sarcasm alert.]
>1. take [the] current offer and give up the California one
>2. refuse [the] current offer and take my chances with the California one
>3. find way of delaying [your] response and see what both offers might be
a. Make a decision grid. (How to make one of those is outlined in http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson25.htm.)
1. You don't have an offer from California yet. You haven't even figured out yet when you might go for an interview. So you aren't giving up an offer to take another offer. You'd be giving up the possibility of an offer (if you accept the local offer).
2. Sure, what the hell. Turn down the solid offer!
3. Okay, you could do that too. Say to the open offer "when do you need an answer?" then phone California and say "how soon can we meet?" (Slow down the one while speeding up the other.)
b. What's the worst that could happen?
X. You might get two offers and have to decide between them. Do a decision grid.
Y. You might lose out on both job opportunities.
Z. Since you haven't told us everything about you, what you like, whether or not you'd enjoy moving to California as opposed to staying where you are, close to everyone near and dear to your life, we can't help you make this decision. Do a decision grid.
Addendum: It's been so rewarding to receive your gratitude for, and complete acceptance of, all the advice you've received so far that I'm on pins and needles to find out what happens! [Retroactive sarcasm alert.] [End retroactive sarcasm alert.]
Quote:
Raises every 6 months with a minimum of 10%
Bonuses every now and then on projects completed on time.
Make sure that is in writing. Especially the six month raise and guaranteed minimum. You will especially want to find out how long this lasts, and what conditions gate the decision to disburse bonuses, and what the general timeframe for that is. Get as much documentation as you can, because it will help you make a decision (the bonus package that is paid out six months after the project ships is better than the bonus package paid out a year after the project ships).
There's also the potential thorny issue of being offered a carrot that vanishes later on. I've heard some horror stories and experienced a few myself. They're not really common, but they do exist.
One of the most important "getting-a-job" related skills I've picked up in my career -- and one of the ones that was the most difficult for me -- is the ability to be direct and ask these kinds of questions. I used to be afraid that asking about compensation details or trying to negotiate aspects of an overall compensation package would cost me the job, that the company would say, "Oh, this guy doesn't trust us, or he's too picky," or whatever. But so far, at least, that has never actually happened. Trust me -- it is much better to get all the details while the offer is on the table and can potentially be negotiated than to find out the details later when you are stuck with them.
Of course, if this is your first job you don't have quite as much negotiating power or security, but you should still get as much details as you can.
Quote:Original post by jpetrieExcellent advice. Doing this is really important
Make sure that is in writing.
Author
Thanks for all the help and suggestions :)
I'll try and find out more information on the pay and at the same try to get the California company to move up their interview process, if that doesn't work out at least I tried.
Will email count as getting it in writing?
I'll try and find out more information on the pay and at the same try to get the California company to move up their interview process, if that doesn't work out at least I tried.
Will email count as getting it in writing?
No, you want an actual piece of paper. Signed, and on company letterhead. It should be part of the contract you sign with them.
You should also consider what it is like living in california. I dont know what it is like in Texas but the cost of living here in CA is expensive, especially if you will be in the Bay Area/Los Angeles area. It is possible to have a 50K salary in California and end up with less spending money (after bills, rent etc is paid) than a 30K job in another state. Not to scare you off or anything but these are important things to think about when deciding on a job offer.
Quote:Original post by cmptrgear
You should also consider what it is like living in california. I dont know what it is like in Texas but the cost of living here in CA is expensive, especially if you will be in the Bay Area/Los Angeles area. It is possible to have a 50K salary in California and end up with less spending money (after bills, rent etc is paid) than a 30K job in another state. Not to scare you off or anything but these are important things to think about when deciding on a job offer.
I took my starting game programming job in CA. Starting salaries for a programmer (not tester), at least at the big publishers, are substantially higher than 50k.
The decision you are faced with is the classic bird in hand v. 2 birds in bush. 30k is crazy low, in my opinion, for a programming job. It's reasonable for a starting tester (not sure you said what the job was).
For me personally location is everything. I would die before i lived not on one of the coasts (yeah yeah texas has a coast). If the idea of working in texas or the 30k salary bums you out, i'd say wait. But i'm a risky kind of guy for job stuff. The only optimistic thing i'll throw out there is that if you got this job you're likely to get other jobs too (especially now since the industry is starving for programmers).
But definitely think long and hard. Not taking a job offer is definitely a risk; but IMHO starting out is when you want to take the biggest risks.
Try and get the company to wait a couple weeks so you can get in a position where you are at least choosing between a couple places.
-me
Well you did your interview already, but there's one sentence I would like to say something about anyway ;)
but do interviewers expect you to demo your stuff during the interview
The magic word here would be "expect". If they DO NOT expect it - all the better ;) just think about that (also for future job applications and also other people in here). Just think about going to a rock concert and seeing everything that you expect. But think about what you would feel like if you would see anything that you DIDN'T expect? Of course in the positive way ;) that would blast you away of course ;) and that would do a massively better impression to your boss, I think ;)
but do interviewers expect you to demo your stuff during the interview
The magic word here would be "expect". If they DO NOT expect it - all the better ;) just think about that (also for future job applications and also other people in here). Just think about going to a rock concert and seeing everything that you expect. But think about what you would feel like if you would see anything that you DIDN'T expect? Of course in the positive way ;) that would blast you away of course ;) and that would do a massively better impression to your boss, I think ;)
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