Greetings from Massachusetts,
I'm writing this while watching Monday Night Football where the Patriots are playing. Sports in this area is easy-- the football team is the New England Patriots (they play in Foxboro Stadium, 20 miles from downtown Boston), the baseball team is the Boston Red Sox (who play in Fenway Park, in downtown Boston (although one of the big controversies is that the Red Sox owners want a lot of public money to build a new stadium)), hockey Bruins, basketball Celtics, there's a soccer team (New England Revolution), and an Arena Football team (New England Sea Wolves). If you live in New York, how do you decide whether to root for the Mets or the Yankees? And, (yes, I know the real answer is the Sabres) the Rangers or the Islanders? And, (yes, I know the real answer is the Bills) the Giants or the Jets (Is it my imagination, or do both of these teams actually play in New Jersey?).
There are a lot of colleges in Boston. The city is practically infested with students. Per capita, there are probably just as many students in Buffalo, but the main difference is that most, and the most prominent, colleges are expensive private schools. This, plus the legacy of the Boston Brahmin, gives the city an unpleasant, elitist feel. I am beginning to suspect that 90% of Bostonians believe that they are among the top 10% of Bostonians.
In other elitist education news, in the United Kingdom there is currently a controversy that universities like Cambridge and Oxford are snubbing public high school students in favor of admitting those from private schools. One student, Laura Spence, a top student who lives in Tyne and Wear, (from what I can tell) a poor industrial area (think Trainspotting?) (actually, the area is near Newcastle where the beer is made, I believe), was rejected by Oxford and ended up getting a full scholarship from Harvard). See news.bbc.co.uk, Education, Hot Topics, for more info.
Elitism is a favorite topic of mine. I'll try to write more in later columns about elitism, my experiences attending Foolish U., my experiences living with housemates who attended a different Foolish U. while I was attending community college, and your opportunity to become a member of the Buffalo Digerati (cyber elite).
You are all wasting your time in Computer Science. While at the Pheasant Lane Mall last weekend, I discovered a much better opportunity. "Earn an average of $32,000 to over $125,000 with only 8 months of school!" Ranked by Money Magazine as one of the hottest, most desirable jobs to have through the year 2005, cosmetology is where it's at. This is all according to a brochure for Blaine!, *the* Beauty Career Schools. The Blaine! beauty career line is 1-800-562-5464 and there's a location conveniently located in Lowell.
Also conveniently located in Lowell (with other campuses in Quincy and Malden) is the Xintra computer certification provider. "Get certified- get the job." Not only do they offer the usual A+/PC Technician, MCSE, Oracle DBA, E-Commerce, and Web Design certification, but for only $4495 you can become a Certified Webmaster of Science. And, for only $5995, you can get it all-- 18 months of unlimited learning valued at over $40,000. Guaranteed job placement assistance.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2000 IS THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT RESUMES FOR ON-CAMPUS INTERVIEWS WITH THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES.
Ace the Technical Interview, by Michael Rothstein (ISBN 007054039X), 1996. This book is utter crap. It has very little content about how to interview. Instead, it ends up being a cheat sheet for antiquated technologies like MVS, CICS, Delphi, and Cobol II (they made a sequel?). To wit,
"Nonetheless, most people would agree that 'client/server' represents the computer architecture model of the 1990s and beyond." (Ask your professors about why there has been a shift to the three- and n-tier architecture.)
Q: Name some other Browsers [other than the popular Mosaic].
A: Netscape, Spry, Hot Java, Lynx, Viola, Perl, Midas.
Q: How is an SNA network defined to VTAM?
A: Each of the components of an SNA network is defined in a member of a partitioned dataset SYS1.VTAMLIST. For NCPs, VTAM also uses the Resource Resolution Table (RRT), in SYS1.VTAMLIB, to map logical unit names to network addresses.
In case you end up in an interview with a Massachusetts-based company, here's a list of topics you can talk about, to make small talk.
Job seekers, by now you should be ready to hit the recruitment season when it starts next week. 1) Finish the second draft of your resume and have it printed out for a final proofing. 2) Simultaneously, get the electronic version of your resume ready. You should prepare 3 different versions of this resume: a) Adobe Acrobat (PDF), b) web-viewable (HTML), and c) text (ASCII). Check with Career Planning because you might need a MS Word version in order to use the OCO. 3) Put your resume online and sign up for Week 1 interview slots (and possibly Week 2 slots, though you should be revising a third draft). 4) Plan now to ditch classes to get to the Technical Job Fair early. 5) Purchase any needed clothing to finish your job-getting outfit. 6) Do you have a job-getting bag? An attache or briefcase looks more professional than a backpack. Get one large enough to stow the loot you get at job fairs.
Insider Tip: The Technical Job Fair on October 3, 2000, has historically offered opportunities for student volunteers to assist company representatives before and during the event. This is a good opportunity to suck up to potential employers. Also, Career Planning also likes to provide a volunteer student "host" to help company representatives at their on-campus information sessions. If you are interested in a company that is coming on campus, consider volunteering to give you more exposure to potential interviewers (I volunteered to be a student host for the company that later hired me). Contact Career Planning to inquire about either of these opportunities.
Here are job ads found in the Sunday Boston Globe. I've selected some of more prominent and/or amusing ads:
This week's Sunday Boston Globe is their special "Big Help" edition. It is a hefty 154 pages long. I've selected the biggest ads.
RSA Security: full-page ad, page 1 (front page) of Help Wanted section. www.rsasecurity.com
Sun Microsystems: full-page ad, page 2 of Help Wanted section. (Disclaimer: I work for Sun.) www.sunboston.com (Also checkout www.zoneinonsun.com, the college recruiting site.)
Palm (on behalf of AnyDay.com): full-page ad, page 3. "$2k bonus received if you're hired!" www.palm.com/jobs
Harvard University: two-page spread, pages 4 and 5. All sorts of opportunities.
Lucent Technologies: full-page ad, page 6. www.lucent.com/hireme
John Hancock: full-page ad, page 7. www.jhancock.com
Allmerica Financial: full-page ad, page 8 (back page of section).
Siemens Business Services: full-page ad, page 9, (front page of section). www.sbs-usa.siemens.com
Analog Devices: full-page ad, page 13. www.analog.com
Lucent Technologies, InterNetworking Systems Division: half-page height but two-page spread, pages 16 and 17. www.lucent.com/ins
Maple Tree Networks (www.mapletreenetworks.com) and Motorola (www.motorolacareers.com/mass/) are currently advertising on WBZ.
If you have any questions about academics, job hunting, or the Boston area, please email me at ( bfan2 "at symbol" yahoo "dot symbol" com ) and I'll try to answer them.
Until next time,
Ben