VT Recruiting

It's recruiting season at Virginia Tech. I spent a few hours on Monday and Tuesday on the Virginia Tech campus hanging out with computer science students. On Monday through our membership in the Computer Science Resource Consortium at Virginia Tech I attended a luncheon for all of the CS majors who won scholarships over the last year. I'm not sure how I didn't know this, but it turns out the number of CS majors is dropping every year. And the percentage of CS majors that are women is dropping every year too (I actually knew this part). Women only account for 6% of all CS majors. I'm sure that means that in many CS classes you will be the only female in the class, not good.

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity (again via our membership in the CSRC) to join a panel that would attend a junior level CS class and answer questions from the students. It's funny how I remember doing this as a student back in 1999. Back then our class size was triple the size of the class I attended on Tuesday. It's pretty scary how few CS majors are out there and how huge the demand is going to be over the next few years.

The other members of the panel were from:
Vanguard (11,500 employees)
MITRE (6,000 employees)
Microsoft (61,000 employees)
Northrop Grumman (24,000 employees)
Lockheed Martin (135,000 employees)
SWIFT (1577 employees)

Webmail.us has 40-ish employees.

Needless to say I had an unfair advantage over all of these companies. One, I was the highest ranking person on the panel. Two, our company is local, so they can stop by and see me whenever they want. Three, poking shots at Microsoft is almost too easy. Four, start talking about time tracking at a defense contractor and you can almost get the recruiter to start looking for a new job. :)

Perhaps the most interesting question was "What don't you like about your job?". I was the only one who said "Nothing." And it's true, I love my job. We were also asked:

1. What's your opinion on the job market?

Crisis. The U.S. over the next five years will see the largest shortest of (wo)manpower in it's history. Good for students, bad for employers.

2. Define computer science.

The other members gave good definitions, I just added: CS is a discipline that allows you to solve problems in a creative and artistic manner. Beauty is in the eye of the code reviewer, tester, and user. (I just thought of that last part, but it sums up my long winded answer nicely.)

3. How do I keep my skills sharp and stay on top of the latest technologies?

Find the right job. Find a job that allows you to do this type of stuff during work. Wouldn't that be awesome? (I can see the defense contractors squirming in their chairs, hahaha). But, if you do accept a job with one of these other companies, stay on top of things during your free time, it will be well worth it when it comes time to find a new job.

4. When looking at resumes, do you favor students with master degrees over bachelor degress?

NOPE. We hire smart people who like to get things done.