NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/lang/c++-part1/5647

Text File | 1996-08-05 | 6.1 KB | 152 lines

Path: in2.uu.net!nectec!usenet
From: [e-mail] (PCO at BOET)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Getting real world marketable experience in C++
Date: Mon, 05 Feb 1996 02:10:09 GMT
Organization: National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, Bangkok
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Micah K Yoder <[e-mail]> wrote:

>Hi!

>I'm a CS major at a small university and am wondering what it takes
>to get marketable experience in C++.  Our CS department has some
>strong points (few students means more involvement on the campus
>network development), but I'm a little worried because we haven't had
>any real experience.  I've heard of other college students having to
>write Pascal compilers, but our homework is generally little snippets
>to help us understand concepts.  I'm a senior now and will be
>graduating in three months, and our school has only intoduced C++
>this semester!  (We'd been using Pascal before then, but I started
>teaching myself C++ a couple years ago.)
etc.

Micah,

You've asked a good question and I think it deserves a good answer.  I
only wish that I had one.
I've seen no replies to your USENET message so I'll post what answers
I have.  The following
comments relate more to general experience and are not c++ specific.
First a disclaimer:  I have
not lived or worked in North America since the late 80's so have no
first-hand knowledge of the
OO/c++ job market.  I may be way off base, in which case you may learn
something from the
flames thus provoked.

"There is no substitute for experience".  I don't really think that
even the world's best OO board
game will cut much ice with an employer.  Unless, that is, you're
applying for a job writing board
games.  This brings us to the all too familiar catch-22 of the late
80's and 90's: not being able to
get hired and gain experience because you don't have enough experience
to get hired.  What to
do?

My suggestion is to stop worrying about getting a job and start
thinking about how to get some
real world experience.  What you can do is to find a small business or
organization that could
benefit from your skills, but which could not afford to hire a
professional.  Local volunteer or
charitable organizations would be a good place to start looking.
Approach them with an offer to
do projects for them just for the experience.  Start with something
small, learn from it, then
tackle something a little larger.  Be upfront with them about your
lack of experience so that they
know what the situation is and won't expect more than you might be
able to deliver.  Have
consideration for them: don't agree to do a project if you are not
sure that you will be successful
and that project is so crucial to their work that it will hurt them if
you fail.  Honesty and integrity
will pay off in the long run.

This will take longer than three months of part-time work, but it is
better to be unemployed and
learning than just unemployed.  Keep in mind that your compensation
for this is experience and
all that you will learn. If you manage to do a good job, word will get
around and you might find
that you get a paid jop directly!  Here are just a few thoughts on how
you can maximize your
benefits from this situation:

1) Don't think just of the coding.  Your objective in this should not
be just to learn or prove that
you know C++.  Employers have more concerns than just that (or the
good ones do anyway).
This project ought to involve analysis, design (reading a few books on
OOD first would  be a
good idea), coding, debugging, testing, producing technical and
end-user documentation, and
end-user training.  This covers a wide range of very different skills,
all of which you will likely
need in your professional life.  Push yourself and try to learn as
much as possible about all of
them.  Aim to produce a professional result from beginning to end.

2) Do the project with a team of fellow students, say 4 - 5 (and
ideally a mentor, but don't hold
your breath looking for one).  Programming is rarely a solo activity
and the human interaction
aspect of it is important.  Doing it as part of a team will force you
to consider many issues, such
as: division of work, communication (can't stress this enough), design
documentation, code
documentation, maintaining a common coding style (for ease of
maintainence), source control
and code reviews.  You could look at a Microsoft press book called
"Code Complete", it is an
excellent overview of the software development process.  Think of the
skills needed in the point
above when you approach people to join your group.  If you can, try to
include in the group at
least one person that you do not like: you won't always work with your
buddies.  The group
dynamics can be fascinating and will affect the project more than you
might expect.

3) Be prepared to not use c++.  Non-OO experience is better that none
at all.  (I hope that last
statement does not start a religious war).  A lot of stuff out there
is done without c++ and you
should not expect to rework someone's workplace just to suit your own
interests.  Using non-OO
methods on this sort of project will give you a real appreciation of
what the benefits of OO are!

4) Write a critical report of how your group does in implementing the
project and what you learn.
You can not learn from your mistakes if you don't know what they are.
Writing a report will force
you to fous on what you are learning rather than what you are doing.
Well done, it might also
serve as a resource for your CS department (object reuse!).  The mere
fact that you bothered to
do this might well impress a prospective employer, though I doubt
they'd be interested in the
report itself.

Some other points to consider.  It would be an advantage to yourself
to learn another OO
language such as Smalltalk or Eiffel, even if you do not plan to use
them.  You can never know
too much and it might spark off some ideas in your head or give you a
new approach to OOD.

Chuck Hill

<No cute tag line.>
<Please send mail and flames to me at [e-mail]  -
thanks>