My group (myself, Emily Claps, and Lucinda Krahl) wrote a guide to the interview process. The guide reflected the thoughts and observations of three students who made it through the process and will be gainfully employed after graduation.
I think the most important part of our guide is the ‘Networking’ section. This section highlights and stresses the importance of using connections made in a variety of ways as a way to ease the process. This is something I really wish I had known earlier; if I’d known that my future internship and full-time job would each come about as the result of a connection I had made, I would have spent more time making connections!
The best advice I received actually had little to do with the interview process itself. I spent a lot of time worrying about my resume, and studying for interviews, and keeping up with coursework, and it put me under a lot of stress. A close friend noticed that I seemed overtired and overworked, and passed on the following advice:
You can spend as much time as you like worrying about what you think you’re supposed to worry about, but the interview process is a mental game. Take care of your sleep patterns, your diet, and your exercise habits, and the rest will fall into place.
As a result of this advice, my life got noticeably less stressful when I stopped worrying about my resume and started making sure I got enough sleep.
I do not think that colleges need to change curricula in response to a changing marketplace. A huge advantage of a four-year university over a trade school is the opportunity to diversify learning and focus on the education of the self instead of simply learning the same thing as everyone else. In fact, if Notre Dame were to change anything (which I don’t think it should) it should allow for a more diversified education to allow students to broaden their experiences. Extracurriculars and side projects come from places outside the standard curriculum, and they make a large difference in the job interview process. I think the current CS program does a good job of teaching essentials and specialties while still allowing students to develop outside the classroom.
Jack thoughts 