Posscon2011

Enabling Students to Become Professionals https://github.com/atmos @atmosTuesday, March 29, 2011It’s an octocat, not a cat-o-pus.

Corey DonohoeTuesday, March 29, 2011It’s a me! I’m a software developer.

Enjoy LifeTuesday, March 29, 2011I live in SF, I like biking, surﬁng, snowboarding, beer. Normal hacker stuff.This is a beautiful day from earlier this season at lake tahoe.

Participating since 2000 http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/27316226@N02/3000888100Tuesday, March 29, 2011I stumbled upon open source and linux in 1999, I was contributing to projects within a year.I strongly believe that ﬁnding open source early on opened up a lot of opportunities for me.

Undergraduate Degree http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/mybloodyself/2225047118Tuesday, March 29, 2011Unlike a lot of my coworkers, i attended and graduated college

Work @ GitHubTuesday, March 29, 2011Now I work here, it’s probably the best job I’ve ever had.A lot of my open source work and enjoying what I do led to me landing the job i wanted.We build software collaboration tools.

Open Source and Students http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/knittymarie/3542395756Tuesday, March 29, 2011The majority of college graduates I meet aren’t ready for “the real world” when it comes to software developmenttoday’s talk is enabling students to be ready for real software jobs after graduation.Here’s what it was like for me...

Young dumb and full of visionTuesday, March 29, 2011I bummed around for two years after high school, went to a local college, graduated in 4 years.I did not program before college, most of my classmates had.So I had to work hard.

Undergraduate in CSTuesday, March 29, 2011pretty small CS department, some truly amazing educators.a “computer lab” full of visual studio stuff, a linux box that i had to beg for access to.

EnlightenmentTuesday, March 29, 2011I got to learn about library management, release cycles, collaboration, design discussionsWe were all passionate about making pretty things for Linux workstations.My formal education was complemented by this participation

Hacked ShitTuesday, March 29, 2011we built things we used, we were involved with the users of our stuffwe were all friends, and we helped each other out where possible

GraduationTuesday, March 29, 2011i stuck to my studies for theory, hacked on open source projects as practice, i got better.i debated grad school but decided to ﬁnd real work, a lot of that drive came from real world stressesi decided it was time to ﬁnd a job.

Get a Job http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/49938597@N00/5223416841Tuesday, March 29, 2011In my naivety I thought my education, open source contributions and passion would get me a job.Boy was I in for a reality check.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/lwr/517712577/Tuesday, March 29, 2011The catch 22 is that employers typically want N years of experience6-7 years ago, open source didn’t count, so you couldn’t even get your foot in the door“We’re sorry but I just can’t put someone without experience into this position.”

Take a Hike http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/slieschke/4149185893/Tuesday, March 29, 2011“We’re sorry but I just can’t put someone without experience into this position.”Unfortunately experience means, years of “professional” work.Even if your professional work is complete crap.

Independent StudiesTuesday, March 29, 2011There were actually lots of opportunities here to help with researchers and their grants.As an undergrad I was lucky enough to have two, much more challenging than my normal curriculum.Buuuuuut, employers don’t care.

InternshipsTuesday, March 29, 2011There aren’t enough internships.Kicks off reputation management but little to show at the end.We’re accepting intern applications for this summer at GitHub.

Why Did I Go? http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/bex_x_pi/3180576600/Tuesday, March 29, 2011It wasn’t just my school, almost everyone I meet had similar experiencesOr they just dropped out because they found an opportunity w/o the degreeDid I only go to make my mom proud?

Work for Big Guys http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjb/38571308Tuesday, March 29, 2011After a depressing 3-4 months, someone hired me in an area that I didn’t really enjoy.I was underpaid and contracting for a fortune 5 company.Normal corporate ladder bullshit, I didn’t find this fulfilling.

What Did I Miss? http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/bex_x_pi/3180576600/Tuesday, March 29, 2011I couldn’t help but wonder why I’d worked so hard but found a job that was unsatisfying.Looking back, I realize I understood what was necessary, the market didn’t yet.It does now, and a lot of that can be achieved by participation.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011Collaboration is one aspect of software development that doesn’t happen enough in education.The days of the wizard in the basement building everything himself are over.Collaboration is a day to day thing in every shop out there right now.

Contemporary Software http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/wonderlane/2316339816/Tuesday, March 29, 2011Collaboration is what modern software is about.Peer review of patches and design decisions, testing and deployment involve the whole team.Exposure to new things through working with others.

Geographically Distributed http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/andresmusta/5492899843Tuesday, March 29, 2011Teams are becoming more and more geographically distributed.People need to have good communication skills in order to be effective.I remote pair programmed with a co-worker in NZ for almost 2 years, very rewarding.

Coding is Social http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/atmos/175465956Tuesday, March 29, 2011Large projects are using it with a lot of success, Rails, Jquery, Node.Users begin to interact with each other and in a lot of cases it’s a meritocracy.The picture is a lot of early adopters to rails, we built projects, but the ﬁrst time we’d all met in person.

Reputation ManagementTuesday, March 29, 2011In this social media crazy culture we’ve seen develop over the past few years, hackers need a rep.Students/Graduates need a way to stand out when they go looking for jobs.It’s not just what you know, sometimes it’s who you know too.

Encourage Involvement http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/ozarksredcross/5152044443/Tuesday, March 29, 2011Educators should encourage involvement.Have them create a GitHub or BitBucket in some of their early labs.I’m still unsure about how to do labs, my CS labs were nothing like real software development.Help your students understand that reading source code is invaluable.

Travel http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/bhenry/124519641/Tuesday, March 29, 2011Open Source conferences put you in a great place to meet other passionate people.There are free conferences available and often student discounts.You can learn about emerging tech as well as meet people who might need employees.Let them know that the job they want, might not be in the town they’re from.

*SOC http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/mjb/38571308Tuesday, March 29, 2011Google Summer of Code and Ruby Summer of Code offer students money to improve the ecosystem.They have mentors and are required to explain their efforts over the summer.Looks good on a resume.

Student’s Responsibility http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/toastkid/4316891537/Tuesday, March 29, 2011The best you can do is tell your students that they need to make it happen.Recommendations are nice but they don’t help if people are basing employment solely on years experience.It’s basically collegiate or extra-curricular activities, and they need to practice.It can be really rewarding.

OSS & BusinessesTuesday, March 29, 2011there’s a huge surge in businesses being created by talented open source hackers.we’re professionals in probably the most exciting time in computing.the work that we do can directly impact our friends and family, great ideas are adopted.

Regular People http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/samgrover/36998596/Tuesday, March 29, 2011The socially inept nerd stereotype is slowly going away, normal people are computer savvy.Often start as boutique consultancies, move on to create products with recurring income.You don’t need mega global partnerships to make good money and have fun.

Working with Friends http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/holman/5383038805/Tuesday, March 29, 2011These businesses end up hiring friends from projects, because you know their friends skill-sets.This is fun because it tends to be a ﬂat organization and everyone’s opinions are equal.These are my friends, coworkers, and my “bosses” are in there too.

Corporate Ladder? http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/vkx462/3013865271/Tuesday, March 29, 2011Climbing the corporate ladder is of no interest to me.The likelihood that you’ll become an exec at some fortune 50 is pretty low.If I’m going to spend much of my adult life working, I want to enjoy it.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011Software developers can enjoy a much higher quality of life than a lot of other people.The difference comes from people ﬁnding jobs they’re passionate about.I think happiness is undervalued and often overlooked in employment.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011Chad highlights patterns that have helped him through his career.Ongoing exploration/learning, ﬁnding work that you love, enjoying your life outside of your work.

The Jobs are Out There http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/suzan-a/114046250/Tuesday, March 29, 2011There is a shortage of talented people in technology.The job you want exists in mobile/web/media, but you need to make it happen.Find work that’s rewarding because you spend so much of your life doing it.

Enabling your Students http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/pedestriantype/4789244416/Tuesday, March 29, 2011I can’t think of anything more fulﬁlling than helping people live wonderful lives.If 5% of your students are successful w/o OSS, what if you could get them to 50% w/ OSS involvement.Think of how amazing all of those “thank you for helping me” emails will feel.

So, WTF, Man. http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/bearpark/3149679619Tuesday, March 29, 2011Some of my friends/coworkers went to school, some didn’t.You can survive in this industry without a formal degree.I’m glad I got one, but I think that a CS degree alone isn’t enough.

So, WTF, Man. http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/bearpark/3149679619Tuesday, March 29, 2011I think the lessons learned in open source give students a competitive advantage in the job market.I also think it gives them a competitive advantage in life.

So, WTF, Man. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bearpark/3149679619Tuesday, March 29, 2011The most fulfilling part of my job is putting smiles on people’s faces.Students, if you hustle, I swear that fulfilling work is out there.Educators please motivate your students to work on things outside of the classroom.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/danielslaughter/64038881/Tuesday, March 29, 2011Thank You.If you have any questions, feel free to talk to me.(Plug GitHub free for educators, and the drinkup tonight)

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Posscon2011

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Posscon2011 — Presentation Transcript