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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Subject: Re: No employment available for mathematician/genius/progra From: JFW@PROTEON.COM Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!news.hawaii.edu!ames!hookup!news.mathworks.com!news.alpha.net!uwm.edu!caen!msunews!netnews.upenn.edu!nova.voicenet.com!dscmail!JFW Distribution: world Message-ID: <1.4465.2647.0N27F07D@PROTEON.COM> Date: Thu, 9 Feb 95 11:35:00 -0640 Organization: DSC/Voicenet * Ivyland, PA * (215) 443-9434 Lines: 70 Newsgroups: sci.math,rec.org.mensa,comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.lang.lisp ba.jobs.misc,misc.jobs.misc Path: nova.voicenet.com!netnews.upenn.edu!bigboote.WPI.EDU!news.mathworks.com noc.near.net!monk.proteon.com!jfw From: jfw@proteon.com (John Woods) Subject: Re: No employment available for mathematician/genius/programmer(LISP) Message-ID: <D3qw1t.H89@proteon.com> Sender: news@proteon.com Nntp-Posting-Host: kerplop.proteon.com Organization: Proteon, Inc., Westborough, Ma. References: <3geqbg$2g2@openlink.openlink.com> <3gr8bj$60m@parsifal.nando.net> <3harcf$7ko@openlink.openlink.com> Date: Thu, 9 Feb 1995 18:15:29 GMT Lines: 52 Xref: nova.voicenet.com sci.math:95481 rec.org.mensa:50064 comp.lang.lisp:16852 ba.jobs.misc:717 misc.jobs.misc:46841 rem@BTR.Com (Robert Elton Maas, 21 years experience programming) writes: >ort@netcom.com (David Oertel) said: <<maybe he simply needs to take a >grubby sys admin or QA job until he can find something that leverages >his brains.>> >I've applied >for lots of QA jobs but they always turn me down because the only >testing experience I have is testing my own software and testing >freeware/shareware I download for my own use. They want formal training >with "test plans" and formal experience testing commercial products. >...However if I ever find time to write up a formal >document summarizing the stuff I've downloaded and tested for my own >use, I may submit that to a bunch of Macintosh QA jobs and see if >anyone thinks I qualify despite lack of formal experience. Uh, a long list of software that you've compiled and tried once or twice is *not* formal experience in quality assurance (regardless of what industry practice might seem to be ;-). Genuine QA work includes designing formal tests, determining code coverage of tests, regression testing, and a bunch of subtle things that all too often are forgotten. (Of course, to all too many QA *managers*, the important deliverable of a QA effort is not the test vectors, but is instead the project plan, with b*tt coverage being more imporant than code coverage. Genuine QA experience will enable you to know how to deliver *that* while also doing some useful testing, too. :-) ><<I made that machine do things ( in terms of size of database handled >and speed with which it was handled ) that IBM said " No, you can't do >that on this machine, you need a 4301 to do that". >> >Aha, you were a "hacker", just like myself. I made computers do things >that the "experts" said were impossible with the given operating >system, I'm sorry, I have difficulty accepting the credentials of someone who refers to IBM's analysts as "experts"... :-) But in terms of advice that might help, remember to focus on that "grubby" word in the suggestion David gave you; if your sole experience with administration is 1 (one) Macintosh, there are probably several small businesses in your area where that is still 1 (one) Macintosh more than anyone else has a clue how to operate. Don't barge into IBM's personnel office and tell them they want you to be their System Administrator; barge into Joe's Plumbing Fixtures Store down the street, especially if the receptionist is currently banging on her IBM PC in frustration, and tell *them* they want you to be their System Administrator... Sometimes, SOMETIMES, going for a small job may get you a larger one; when I was a freshman at MIT, I interviewed for a job testing some software, and they gave me a job *writing* that software. But I emphasized that SOMETIMES, because it rarely works out and the process can be immensely frustrating; I was unable to duplicate that trick at home over the summer and wound up doing office temporary work... Good luck.