U of U career services rolled out a new tool this week. At first I laughed it to scorn, but it has grown on me. I might incorporate it into my suite of tools for job searching. I believe it is technically supposed to be for only U of U students and alumni, but there seemed to be nothing which kept other people from using it as well. I am sure that will change.
The tool is a school specific version of Optimal Resume. The application guides the user through inputting necessary information for the resume and then pops out a fairly nice looking resume in a variety of formats. This, by itself, is not that neat. It is my personal opinion that if you really care about the job search, you should learn how to format your resume nicely. Plus, if all the students at the U start using this tool, a way to stand out will be to NOT use this tool and look different than the rest.
Although it is pitched as a resume builder, that is not the functionality that is cool. The cool functionality is all the additional tools. For example, it automatically adds functionality so that someone viewing the resume online will see mouse-over effects. There is also a letter builder, a skill assessment, and a few other useful builders. It also provides an easy way to publish the information on the web, hosting it for free.
You can find my web page for this site at http://utah.confidentialresume.com/coop. Right now it only contains a semi-direct copy of my resume, but I will be updating my information soon to see what it can really do!
The portal I use and that you should probably check out (especially if you are a U of U alumni or student) is https://utah.optimalresume.com. The big question is if employers and recruiters will actually look at these resumes and if the cool gimmicks and stuff will actually make a difference. I believe the answer is that only time will tell, but apparently career services thinks it will help and is worth it!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Career fair
Today I attended the career fair at the University of Utah. As I told my brother before he went to the career fair down at BYU, I am not entirely sure of the best way to approach these things. I spoke to a number of different companies, the major ones being National Instruments, Marvell, Raytheon, and Sandia. The email I received from my career counselor indicated that Microsoft was also going to be here, but they were not. I collected some interesting fliers and information, plus some need little gadgets. However, most recruiters just tell us to look at the company web site and to submit a resume there.
In other news, my proposal presentation is in its final format. It is a good thing, since I am presenting it tomorrow.
In other news, my proposal presentation is in its final format. It is a good thing, since I am presenting it tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Real-time issues
During my interview with Sandia this morning, the recruiter asked me about if I dealt with real-time issues when working with cXprop. Unfortunately, I had to explain that I did not worry about those types of constraints when working on my tool. Basically, I worry about code size, data size, and duty cycle. That seems to be it. Occasionally we used to through stack size in there as well, but John does not maintain stacktool anymore, so it does not work for TinyOS 2.
Other than that and a few fumbles here and there, the interview went fairly well. It sounds like they are doing some really neat stuff that I would be happy to work on. I just have to make sure they would be happy to have me work on it for them!
Other than that and a few fumbles here and there, the interview went fairly well. It sounds like they are doing some really neat stuff that I would be happy to work on. I just have to make sure they would be happy to have me work on it for them!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Local view
Last week I spent a little bit of time making internal information from cXprop available to Will Archer for use in his Caduceus-using tool. Unfortunately, I came at the problem with the wrong set of assumptions and it has ground the idea to a temporary halt. Hopefully we can resolve the issues during our group meeting on Thursday.
My faulty assumption was that cXprop was going to be used on whole-program code, and probably on TinyOS code. Although it works on other things, that is normally the target. It turns out Will is using it on single files that may or may not have anything to do with TinyOS. This means that I do not know any order of execution inside the functions, so I basically have to assume ALL orders of execution.
The problem is that this model does not exist in cXprop, except for interrupts. I would have to adapt that model to functions in files. Which should not be too hard, but John wants me to stop hacking on code and keep working on my "critical path" writing/presenting projects. Which is why I have not actually done it yet. There might also be little nuances I have not thought of yet. Until I create this model, Will uses a version that assumes "bottom" for incoming entry-point function state, which basically means nothing gets learned.
Entry-point functions are defined as those which are visible outside the file. This essentially means anything not labeled as static, although there are a few other less-common cases.
My faulty assumption was that cXprop was going to be used on whole-program code, and probably on TinyOS code. Although it works on other things, that is normally the target. It turns out Will is using it on single files that may or may not have anything to do with TinyOS. This means that I do not know any order of execution inside the functions, so I basically have to assume ALL orders of execution.
The problem is that this model does not exist in cXprop, except for interrupts. I would have to adapt that model to functions in files. Which should not be too hard, but John wants me to stop hacking on code and keep working on my "critical path" writing/presenting projects. Which is why I have not actually done it yet. There might also be little nuances I have not thought of yet. Until I create this model, Will uses a version that assumes "bottom" for incoming entry-point function state, which basically means nothing gets learned.
Entry-point functions are defined as those which are visible outside the file. This essentially means anything not labeled as static, although there are a few other less-common cases.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Car Mechanics
This post is mostly about car mechanics, but it also relates them to computer repair services so I feel justified in posting it here.
My car started acting up a few months ago. Various circumstances prevented me from taking it in until a week ago. Up until now I had been going to the dealer, since I knew they would know what they were doing and would have the parts. However, I called the dealer up this time and the mechanic said it would be at least a day and at least $95 to just look at it. That was such a blatant attempt to rip me off that I did not make the appointment and resolved to find someone else to fix my car.
Luckily, my wife listens to Car Talk and has often sucked me in as well. Although we have not listened as regularly as we used to, we still trust those two guys. I knew that their website had a forum for recommending auto mechanics, so I checked it out. After doing a bit more research, I settled on a group of three to try. The first one couldn't see me until next week, and my life starts getting REALLY busy again next week. The second one could see me today, so I made the appointment.
Dropping the car off this morning, I had a little apprehension as I walked away. The repair shop was definitely a lot less "classy" than the dealer. As I thought about it, though, this made sense. The mechanic actually knew how to fix cars. He didn't charge me to look at my car. As of writing, I am still waiting to hear back from him. I'll probably call him in another twenty minutes.
The point is that I realized that computer service repairmen are like auto mechanics. Places like Geek Squad know they can take the average person to the cleaners because the average person has no clue how to self diagnose a computer and fix minor problems. The only way to REALLY protect oneself when dealing with computer repair people or auto mechanics is to actually know a fair amount about what they are fixing.
Otherwise, you end up like me, getting worked over by the mechanics. When I was ignorant/scared of computers, I had a "friend" help me fix an old laptop. Only it really didn't take much/anything. Then the "friend" expected me to give him rides to school every day, even though he had only done about half an hours worth of work.
Knowledge is power, and reading up a little bit can save a lot of money/time.
My car started acting up a few months ago. Various circumstances prevented me from taking it in until a week ago. Up until now I had been going to the dealer, since I knew they would know what they were doing and would have the parts. However, I called the dealer up this time and the mechanic said it would be at least a day and at least $95 to just look at it. That was such a blatant attempt to rip me off that I did not make the appointment and resolved to find someone else to fix my car.
Luckily, my wife listens to Car Talk and has often sucked me in as well. Although we have not listened as regularly as we used to, we still trust those two guys. I knew that their website had a forum for recommending auto mechanics, so I checked it out. After doing a bit more research, I settled on a group of three to try. The first one couldn't see me until next week, and my life starts getting REALLY busy again next week. The second one could see me today, so I made the appointment.
Dropping the car off this morning, I had a little apprehension as I walked away. The repair shop was definitely a lot less "classy" than the dealer. As I thought about it, though, this made sense. The mechanic actually knew how to fix cars. He didn't charge me to look at my car. As of writing, I am still waiting to hear back from him. I'll probably call him in another twenty minutes.
The point is that I realized that computer service repairmen are like auto mechanics. Places like Geek Squad know they can take the average person to the cleaners because the average person has no clue how to self diagnose a computer and fix minor problems. The only way to REALLY protect oneself when dealing with computer repair people or auto mechanics is to actually know a fair amount about what they are fixing.
Otherwise, you end up like me, getting worked over by the mechanics. When I was ignorant/scared of computers, I had a "friend" help me fix an old laptop. Only it really didn't take much/anything. Then the "friend" expected me to give him rides to school every day, even though he had only done about half an hours worth of work.
Knowledge is power, and reading up a little bit can save a lot of money/time.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
