I'm not studying philosophy, so I don't have advice directly related to that.

With that said, career-wise, with a BA in Philosophy you will likely be no better or worse off (in a financial sense) than with a BA with any other humanities-related degree. And at the PhD leve, you can do lots of things with this other than being a professor, but you have to get creative with it.

Remember that your degree doesn't necessarily equal your career. Sure, you could become a philosophy professor, but you never know where life will take you. And just because you don't get a job directly related to your major doesn't mean you wasted your time, as long as you learned something that you personally value. Let your education enrich you as a person; even if it doesn't lead to an amazingly high-paying job (not that it couldn't) you'll probably be happier if you pursue something you love.

My extremely non-expert advice is to keep your options open and to jump at opportunities when they come at you.

That means being adventurous about the electives you're taking. You never know what will capture your interest. As far as your service goes, that's another wonderful way to make career connections and get inspired.

Join nonprofits in your area that you're passionate about, and if there's someone that works there whose job you are interested them, talk to them about it and ask them for advice. You can easily get an internship this way. Yes, it will likely be unpaid. But this is how you explore and find what you do and don't like. If you're considering law, find a local law office and intern there. Or find your local legal aid society and volunteer.

As far as joining the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, that's great. But I just want to add, keep your options open and remember that there are a billion other ways to get involved in service, even if you don't go those routes. Again, be flexible, and look for opportunity in unexpected places. If you catch yourself thinking, "This would be a cool place to work!" when you're at, say, a museum, go ask someone if they have an internship or volunteer program. Or wherever it is. Don't be shy.

If you're really concerned about this, I'd check out some career advice books for recent graduates or soon-to-be-graduates. There are some good ones targeted towards liberal arts grads. For instance, You Majored In What? is a nice book that in sum, basically just tries to take some of the anxiety off about having a degree that doesn't exactly lead directly to a specific career.

Hope this helps at least a bit.

This is a great book (since I saw them being posted): https://www.amazon.com/How-Score-Your-First-Game/dp/1543279236

I've gone through it and I can attest to it pretty much nailing everything. Especially the importance of getting your personal projects out there noticed doing networking.

This is a great resource once you've already established some kind of body of work: http://www.lizengland.com/blog/2014/05/from-student-to-designer-part-1/

The TL;DR of all the advice you'll get I bet:

1. Specialize in something, but be interested in everything. You will not get your first job as a "game developer", you'll likely be specializing in something specific like programming, level design, technical designer, art, etc. Do know that programming and art positions are hired significantly more than specialized design roles, which tend to rarely need more than a handful of per studio. Programming is the "safer" path in that you are likely to find more stable work doing it, as many industry artists need to live the freelance and/or contractor lifestyle.
   
   
2. Develop a portfolio and body of work starting now. Your ability to get hired depends on the personal projects you make on your own time, and not all of them will be winners (but you want to be able to show winners).
   
   
3. Develop a network starting now. This is huge! Do NOT take it lightly! It can take years of interacting in game dev circles, going to meetups, working on online projects with other devs, etc... to the point where you have a secure in once positions open up somewhere. It's not an instant process, you have to build a working relationship or a sense of trust with people who can get you in somewhere, which takes time to develop. This is the #1 thing I wish I started doing early. I worked on a major award winning mod project with some folks who all got jobs in the industry while I was still in school. Didn't keep in touch at all, now I'm graduated and they are all outside of my circle. Made some great new friends this year involved in game dev but it's back to square one.
   
   GDC is huge for networking and don't underestimate just how beneficial it can be. It is important to be seen as an equal with other developers, doing things other developers do in order to be thought of as one. There's a great talk done a few years ago at GDC about breaking in tips, and every single one of the panelists except one got their first job because they knew someone. It's a small industry with a very fluid, talented workforce that switch companies often as studios and projects finish. This makes it pretty hard for anyone who is an unknown to even get noticed.

Maybe not so many employers really invest in their people, but guess what? You have your personal lessons available every day no matter what your employer says.
Daily commuting to and from work? Smoke breaks, lunches? Waiting during lengthy installations/scans? Don't know what to do in some afternoons during your free time?

• Read books! Listen to podcasts!
  
• Go through case studies!
  
• Volunteer in small projects nobody else wants to work on!
  
  There is never enough time to learn everything that you can sell later on.
  
  Please note that I work currently as team lead so my view might be biased, however if you are more a people person, enjoy making people around you happy and not everything is just about "you", team lead can be very rewarding for you personally and career-wise. Why?
  
  Forget about micromanaging people, monitoring their numbers and telling them what to do. This-does-not-work. This is not a job for a team leader. Team leader LEADS and might have a supervisor to do some of the necessary evils so he can focus on finding a way how to motivate his support team to its maximum potential. To find the right career path for them so they will have a chance to grow, but still have the desire to stay.
  
  You will learn about how actually people cooperate at their best, what motivates them, what are their strengths and how you can leverage them to make them shine. This will help you to be a better team member/leader because only technical knowledge is not enough. For a senior support people maybe, team lead needs even more than that.
  
  You need soft skills. Do you know how to listen? I mean REALLY listen and not just wait until the other one shuts up so you can finally share your idea? Do you know how to deliver positive and corrective feedback? How to get your message across? How to teach with questions instead of telling? How is your time & stress management?
  
  In the long run you can also earn about incident & problem management, you will be finding bottlenecks of your support, having opportunity to talk to stakeholders and building up your network that might eventually (among other things) help you do your job better. And to move on to become manager. Maybe :)
  
  
  Ah! At last! Some real links and not just blabbering :D
  
  
• Having trouble to learn on super fast pace and still remember everything?
  Read this: http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Rules-Principles-Surviving-Thriving/dp/0979777720
  
  
• Feeling that knowledge of MBA would be helpful for moving from the team lead role in some time? No problem!
  http://www.mysliderule.com/learning-paths/mba
  
  
• Need some leadership skills? BAM!
  http://www.mindtools.com
  
  
• Not feeling so comfortable while speaking in front of more people? Or are you boring as a speaker? :)
  https://www.coursera.org/course/publicspeak
  
  
• Already want to leave your current company and get the job you deserve?
  Practise this: http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Guide-Hiring-Getting-Hired-ebook/dp/B00B9JZMKE
  
  What I have described might not be for you. And that's ok. But think about this and think about this hard, create a mind map about your career path if you need to, but make sure that every single step you take from now on is forward, not backward anymore: http://youtu.be/uyaJ8eR9tzw?t=2s ;)
  
  Source: Thousands of incidents on help desk, hundreds of hours spent on developing other tech support specialists, tens of people interviewed for various positions in less than 2 years.

Pete, setup informational interviews at organizations near you, professional and college. This is a form of networking that will help you learn who holds positions who will give you 10-30 minutes of their time to learn about duties and skills in different roles at different ballclubs.

You have to ask, ask, ask, but you will learn of many ways you know someone who works at these clubs. Use your networks to find connections that are 1,2,3 levels deep. You will find its likely that over time you'll only have to go 1 or 2 levels of connection. Ask the athletic departments at your university. A lot of clubs have spring training in AZ, so you're likely in a good spot to find connections. Here is an example of what you could ask:

> I'm so_and_soap, a senior here at NAU. I'm interested in working with MLB and am wondering if there are some staff here who can help me setup informational interviews at the Diamondbacks, MLB?

There are three goals (or however many you make up) for informational interviews.

1. Get answers to the questions you have about skills and duties. Skills are valuable to learn; by knowing the required skills you will interview well and likely do the job well. Duties help you think about the jobs you would like.
   
   
2. Get the word out that you want to get an entry level job when you graduate, titles might include coordinator, analyst, associate, etc. Be open, say yes to things.
   
   
3. Build your network. It is nice to meet people and is the most likely way to get anything done in business. Don't feel an obligation to be close with informational interview people. Keep it light and focussed, having fun. You will run into the same people over time and relationships will build from it. In the meantime, they might be able to help you with making introductions to people who have the power to hire you. It is these people you who can hire you that you want to meet.
   
   
   Patience
   You might find something at your ballclub within your search timeframe quickly. Most likely, though, you will need to include more companies in your search. Whatever the job, focus on developing those skills you think ae most important to land you at MLB or other targetted companies.
   
   
   Networking ideas:
   Linkedin, parents, university alumni, directories, friends, friends' parents, guest lecturers, professors, bosses
   
   
   Say Yes
   In your replies to comments you have said 3 times that you don't know something or don't have requisite skill for something. That is not productive nor useful to your efforts. Instead think of a question that might get that piece of information answered.
   
   
   Resources
   
   Highly Effective Networking by Orville Pierson
   
   Use your head to get your foot in the door by Harvey Mackay
   
   Nonviolent Communication
   
   Spin Selling
   

1. Is Python good to start? And is it difficult? It is not difficult to start, however biggest issue I had when starting out programming with this language is getting the syntax right, the formatting on it tends to be fussy compared to other languages and it can somewhat be tedious to code in Windows 10 compared to other languages.
   
2. Does programming require a lot of "intelligence"? As someone who studies intelligence, the term intelligence can be very subjective, here would help to break down components, you have intelligence quota and emotional quota, in my opinion I believe you have to have a strong balance of emotion and actual intelligence in order to reach the arkasia effect / satisfactory reward to avoid procrastination and such. This is a working hypothesis of mine however. Then you could say as well, being good with math would be beneficial so to be intelligent in mathematics area would help you a lot. It is a really hard thing to define and I have tried to narrow it down best as I can in terms of programming. Problem solving intelligence would also be a good one.
   
3. Do you know quality youtubers that make good videos about it?
   
   ​
   
   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw
   
   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9-y-6csu5WGm29I7JiwpnA
   
   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr-5TdGkKszdbboXXsFZJTQ
   
   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClcE-kVhqyiHCcjYwcpfj9w
   
   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeQhZOvNKSBRU0Mdg7V44wA
   
   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMy_zy0dw4fCfs2cL7UPBQA
   
   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxzC4EngIsMrPmbm6Nxvb-A
   
   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYaNsGvyvIupxpecr4rZY9A
   
   
   
   
   
4. Do you know any books that can help me?
   
   - Exercises for programmers: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/1680501224/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_vAMPCbVG5MBP5
   
   - Daily coding problem: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/1793296634/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_2AMPCbT6F7Q4S
   
   - Any book on 'programming logic and design' however I like the book by Tony Gaddis titled 'starting out with programming logic and design.': https://www.amazon.fr/dp/0134801156/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_2BMPCbEG3XSET
   
   
5. Do I have to learn a new language for programming (in the sense or maybe there is a country that works very well in there and that could help me on that)?
   
   There are some variants of programming languages in other languages, however I find pretty much every country will usually code in English with the exceptions mainly being in Russia and China who I believe have strongly developed programming languages in there native languages, not to sure about French, see here for more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-English-based_programming_languages
   
   
6. What are the most useful programming languages for you?
   
   The ones I use in my work mostly is usually Python and Matlab for more scientific like stuff, but I also use C and C++ a lot.
   
   
7. What are the best programming languages to start? In my opinion, anything that originated from C is good, I personally started with C++ and Scratch MIT (although many would argue this is not really programming but its good to learn the very basics) and this has allowed me to learn other languages a lot easier, I started around 2012 and I now know how to code kinda decently in about 10 languages or so.

This book was my main introduction to permaculture. I'm still learning, and slowly bringing our suburban yard back to life after years of soil erosion and neglect by a previous owner.

Another good suburban food growing system is the Square Foot Gardening (SFG) (also as Square Meter Gardening) by Mel Bartholomew. I put in three small beds this year and so far the plants are doing very well.

Here's a tour of Richard Heinberg's suburban permaculture home in California.

Videos from Huw's Nursery have been really helpful

I didn't know just how many edible plants there were honestly. Industrialized agriculture could get hammered, but a vibrant home garden with permaculture principles and diverse crops could be scaled up relatively quickly. I've started some survival crops as well (e.g., hopniss, sunchoke, tigernuts) that thrive without much human intervention. If you start growing things like comfrey (non-invasive "bocking 14" cultivar!) or some other plants in Toby Hemenway's book, you could probably sell cuttings and seedlings on the side. I've heard of several people getting started that way.

It's not too late in the season to start some containers with tomatoes if you aren't growing anything yet. You don't even have to tell people that it's a prep for collapse :) People just love good food. My wife has begrudgingly put up with my new hobby, and she knows I do it because I'm very worried about collapse events. My cousin put in some SFG beds after I explained that I was worried about instabilities in our just-in-time industrial food system. Gardening is already a popular hobby, so your family will probably be supportive. And they get some delicious healthy food out of it.

Personally, the time I spend gardening is like my collapse zen time. It's healthy on multiple levels. With that said, my wife and others would claim I've gone overboard with it, but hopefully it's viewed as a kooky hobby and not a pessimistic doom funk like I was in before I started gardening. If you have any questions I'll do my best to field them (I'm a beginner myself).

One last recommendation, this collapse-aware career book by Charles Hugh Smith is really good

Don't count yourself out. You have a lot to offer the world.

I can only say my experience doing the university thing and this is US based. Choose your major wisely... and finance it wisely (often masters you can get some support in my day 1/2 support, and PhDs should be free i.e. full support). Typically masters degrees pay and PhDs don't in the long run do much better than masters... PhDs are more an interest thing... do you want to do that or does your field need that. PhDs often start at a higher salary, but masters degree people start working sooner and can work their way up in the company. For full disclosure I did the PhD thing and I'm somewhat recently retired so my perspective has some age to it in US... I know less about now.

Once your working employers will often pay for advanced degrees like MBAs, or a masters, or some even PhDs. This is company specific of course and I'm speaking in US. This however can take a long time and be difficult -- both working and going to school.

Starting your own company. Not saying no... I use to work for a startup company. But what others have said -- it's risky -- and so it has to be what you want to do and you have to be prepared to work at it... i.e. most business fail on the first go and maybe many times. The old joke... the reason why most successful entrepreneurs succeeded is that didn't give up. In many businesses a hit rate of one in five for new projects is pretty good. So people talk about wanting to fail fast. The other thing I say about starting businesses -- if you didn't put in all or at least the majority stake of the capital you don't own it -- and your working for someone else... i.e. your a manager not an owner.

The other direction in the US that gets paid pretty well is the trades. Bottom line whatever you choose do something that is highly skilled so you have good negotiating power OR work your way up in management OR run your own business... my opinion these are often the best options in terms of being paid. They all have their own pros and cons.

Also don't do something just for the money... it has to be you too... but it's good to consider pay too. I often suggest as a strategy getting a jobs book like https://www.amazon.com/Jobs-Rated-Almanac-Best-Them/dp/1511528850 and just go down the list from high pay to low, and pick one the the higher paying jobs you like, think you can do, or can get the training for.

If you want to go into web development then I'd suggest the following resources. If you start a course, finish it before starting any other. The books are for reference. Feel free to read through them once you've finished a course.

Online Courses

1. App Academy has made their entire curriculum available for free from this year. They use Ruby & Rails but the concepts taught are easily transferable to other languages and frameworks. This will give you a strong foundation. You can choose which path to take later on.
   Even if you don't go into web development, complete the first 2 modules to get a basic understanding of programming.
   
2. The Complete Web Developer Course is a less comprehensive but still pretty good course. Do this if you want a shorter course to see whether you like web development or not.
   
   
   

   Online Practice
   

3. Watch and Code
   Good for learning JavaScript
   
4. Solve the algorithm problems on Free Code Camp
   
   
   

   Books
   

   The first two can be read for free online.
   
   
   

5. Eloquent JavaScript
   
6. You Don't Know JavaScript
   
7. Learning Web Design
   
8. CSS Secrets
   
9. Cracking the Code Interview
   Solve the problems before going to interviews. You'll solve quite a few similar problems in the courses above.
   
10. The Complete Software Developer's Guide must read
    
    
    

    Computer Science Curriculum
    

    This will help you understand what is taught at universities. You don't need to know everything here to get a job. Learn the basic algorithms and data structures (taught in the 1st course) and you should be fine.
    
    
    OSSU CS Curriculum
    
    
    Hope this helps.
    
    
    edit: added more resources

Hello!

Last week I was interviewed for an internship role at BCG. This was my first ever case interview, and actually the first time that I've solved a case by myself. I study engineering physics, I don't have much of a business sense and I had practically no time to prepare, so I went in with the mindset that this wouldn't be one of my greatest performances. But to my surprise, it actually felt like both of the case interviews went alright (they also have an "online case" with multiple choice questions, which went horrible, but it seems like the result from this test doesn't really matter too much).

Yesterday I got the info that I didn't make the second round, which I expected, but that they "saw a lot of potential in me". They therefore gave me the ability to apply again this spring, even though their protocol says that you can only apply once a year. They told me to prepare as much as possible, and that's what I intend to to, but I'm no really sure how to go about it. I've bought this book (which hasn't arrived yet) based on a recommendation from BCG, and I've found a friend to study case solving with.

So now to my questions:

• What are your recommendations as to how I should prepare?
  
• How should me and my friend go about case studying? Are there any good resources of example cases that we can use?
  
• Do you have any other book recommendations?
  
  Based on the feedback I got I should focus on improving my case-solving structure, polishing my business judgement and acquiring some more "business savviness". The things they specifically like about me include analytic abilities, mental math, drive and curiosity.
  
  Thanks in advance!

If you do go the law school route, I bet a real estate attorney will be an interesting field while the system holds up. Not sure how much law school costs, but the debt pay off horizon might be shorter than the brochures will tell you. I say it'd be an interesting field because people always need places to live and work, and with real estate in some areas being decimated, capital will flow to other areas.

I feel pulled in a lot of directions too. I'm a chemist, but I manage some real estate, and I dream of being involved with food self-sufficiency. The old ways of specialization being a sure fire path to success are fading. I can't fully comprehend what a full on crisis would do to all the professionals who have no idea how deep the collapse and climate change rabbit hole goes. So having a side gig of resiliency seems like a good idea. And the more ideas that can be tried, the higher our likelihood of hitting on successful ones that fit our changing circumstances.

This book offers sound collapse-aware career advice. There aren't easy answers in it, but it does help us shake off some of the notions that have been drilled into us about education and employment. Congrats on your progress towards your degree, you'll feel great when you get it done, and that will serve you well in any case because it's about finishing what you started and accomplishing what you set out to do.

Your life experiences and awareness of critical issues will set you apart from the crowd, and I hope that serves you well. I hope you do find your way into a leadership position. Even today, you can lead by example in preparing for changes we can reasonably expect.

Thank you very much for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful response. I didn't know food patents existed before, other than for chemicals, like pesticides and fertilizers, and for machinery. I always assumed that an apple seed or a flower were public domain, after all no one invented them and we could argue prior art. Patenting chemicals and machinery would make producing food more difficult, especially at an industrial scale, but you would still be able to grow the vegetables you need for yourself and your family.

Still, that food patents exist beyond chemicals and machinery doesn't mean that they should still hold, it just moves the discussion from "preventing" to "stopping". I understand that patents are necessary because of how the world works. We can always work on creating a better world, but we need to work with what we already have. We need to incentivize innovation, but not all incentives are good or achieve the goals they are set to achieve (this book is full of examples). That's why, on my original post, I said that they are dangerous and require better regulation, not a straight ban on all patents.

About the second point, now I see that my example was poorly phrased. My concern has actually more to do with the fact that they are not new species. It's not so much the possibility of the new "specimen" taking over wild areas, which by your response seems very unlikely, but the risk of the new specimen breeding with wild specimens and spreading maladaptive genes.

The best example is a new specimen with a gene that makes it resistant to some insect/disease. Considering that evolution is not directed, that specimen and hybrids with wild specimens will have better chances of spreading their genes as they could potentially survive longer than their purely wild counterparts. Short-term, there might be no impact from this slight change, but long-term it could have the same effects as the rabbit overpopulation. You have a variant of some plant that is immune to the insect/disease that was keeping it in check in the wild. And in addition to an overgrowth of that plant variety, you might also eradicate the insect it became immune to, causing potentially more damage to the ecosystem.

In general, I'm not against GMOs, but I don't think is just a black or white matter. On both sides you see mindlessness, people defending GMOs above everything and people vilifying them with no valid arguments. I stand somewhere in between, leaning more towards pro-GMO. I have my concerns, I don't think it's a panacea or it's flawless, and things like the business model around it or the impact it will have on the ecosystem should be very carefully considered.

Just because we can do it and it seems to solve some issues doesn't mean that we have to fully embrace it. Watchful, informed skepticism is required.

>Do you believe we should not keep and selectively breed pets then?

I'm ok with having pets, as long as they are not caged or confined to small spaces, and I'm definitely not ok with selectively breeding them. What they have done to pugs and other breeds is completely inhumane. I'm not vegan or an animal rights activist, I do believe we need animal protein in our diets, but I don't believe we need as much as we are consuming and I advocate for a humane treatment of our farm animals.

> GMOs allow us to focus on that 3bn with less land use and environmental impact than ever before.

Less land use probably, the environmental impact is questionable.

I've changed careers a few times.

> What made you do it, did you have to retrain

In my 30s, I was basically a combination auto mechanic and electronics technician. More and more tasks around the shop needed to be computerized, so I was starting to do more software development on the side. When I got run over by a car, I could no longer bend in the middle so I had to stop being an auto mechanic. While it was expensive and painful, I was fortunate that I was already transitioning towards a different career only because there were gaps in what the shop needed that could only be filled by computerized tracking and databases.

At this time I was also working on my 2nd bachelors which was mostly intended as prereqs for a masters in computer engineering (my first bachelors is in electrical engineering). The second bachelors also included lots of fun courses like statistics, women's studies, music theory and Japanese. I never finished the masters degree.

Software development is an industry where having actual credentials, especially degrees, are considered negatives. That said, I continued to spend a lot on programming books over the years in order to keep up with changing technology.

I've been a programmer for past 15 years. I just completed my 3rd bachelors (this time in accounting) because there is too much age discrimination in software development. My estimate is that a CPA with a background in IT should have a good career in auditing (and a few other things).

Looking back, one of the good things I did were to always be learning. People who treated education as a vaccine (once they've had it, they never needed to do it again) ended up unemployed in their later 50s.

Some books I recommend are on this post at a programmer specific site. If you aren't in IT, then the books to read from the "being a better programmer/employee" section are: The Passionate Programmer (this is about keeping your mind and skills up to date). Corporate Confidential, Death March and Spreadsheet Modeling. All the other sections I still recommend reading (your library should have many of these books), although I usually tell folks to read The Righteous Mind instead of Moral Politics (while still good, Haidt's book gives a better framework for understanding the differences between "liberals" and "conservatives" and why they think differently).

Other books that may help you find what you want to do:

Zen and the Art of Making a Living. About how to figure out what you want to do and how to turn that into a career.

Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar. About learning on your own and how to give some structure to it so that it isn't "all over the place". His website.

Tell Me About Yourself. One good way to get your message across in interviewing is to be able to answer questions that start "tell me about a time when..." or "how do you..." . Those questions tend to get asked more commonly these days in the competency based interviewing style. It is much harder to slide through that type of interview by claiming knowledge you don't have.

> I'm starting to find the culture of the organisation a bit toxic

Generally, when things get tight, the struggle for power and resources (commonly called "office politics") gets very ugly. I've included some suggested books on office politics in the link above. If you don't learn at least how to recognize and deflect it, then you may as well have WELCOME tattooed on your forehead because you're gonna become a victim of it.

When it comes to office politics, this joke should be your motto:

> Steve and Mark are camping when a bear suddenly comes out and growls. Steve starts putting on his tennis shoes
> Mark says, “What are you doing? You can’t outrun a bear!”
> Steve says, “I don’t have to outrun the bear—I just have to outrun you!”

http://boyslife.org/jokes/6953/you-cant-outrun-a-bear/

Finally, I'd recommend learning some programming. Every field of industry has been affected by software and automation. I call Access and Excel "the gateway drugs to programming" because so many developers got started by automating some spreadsheet to make their job easier and as the thing got more complicated it also got more essential to getting work done at the company.

>Does anyone have any words of encouragement?

A lot of schools don't hire until August. I've gotten hired the day before classes start and I know other people who have as well. Education is a shitty career.

>Any tips on how to really stand out during interviews, or what to add to applications to dazzle?

Every question needs to be answered in general and specific. When you are asked about engagement, say things like "Kids care what you know when they know that you care" but back it up with a short narrative of how you have engaged students before. Its good to have stories about specific students you've helped and how you helped them. "Last year I had a student, lets call him Bobby, and here is how I got him to finally do his homework and learn to read."

If you haven't already, check out this book. It will give you a general idea of what kinds of questions will be asked and what answers you want to prepare.

You need to be feel (act) comfortable and be extremely "on" from the first few moments of the interview. Even your body language when they walk over and invite you into the conference room is important.

>Do I need to just shut up and wait or do I need to be worried?

Can you live off subbing for another year? Even after school starts, there is a chance something will open up.

The thing about your situation that seems crazy is not being able to move. Do you have family in the state you could live with for a few months while you put together rent and a security deposit? If so, that would open up another big circle you could search for jobs in.

This is a little awkward to mention, but race matters in how teachers are hired. A lot of urban districts look for teachers that "reflect the diversity of the students" and can be a "strong XYZ role model." If you don't look like the students, there is a good chance you will automatically be a second-tier candidate.

Before I do anything I read two books:

Never Eat Alone! and 20 Minute Networking. Because relationships and networking are pretty much the arbiters of success in business.

1. I subscribe to and read the Harvard Business Review, the Economist, the Financial Times and either the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. Because to be successful in business one must understand the business climate and how current events impact that climate. This advice is the same if you want to stay in the corporate world and succeed there. You have to be knowledgeable about the world.
   
   
2. I subscribe to a local business journal from http://www.bizjournals.com/ because knowing the general business climate is great, but knowing what is happening locally is also important.
   
   
3. I make sure I read a couple of basic books on accounting, finance, and general business in that time.
   
   
4. I become an active member in local professional societies relevant to what I am interested in doing. I use these connections to begin to network heavily.
   
   
5. I utilize Linkedin like a pro and network my ass off. I make sure that I'm having at least one networking meeting a day -- it can be coffee, lunch, whatever. But I network. I never waste an opportunity to develop and maintain business relationships -- the kind where people know my name and think of me when it comes to my area(s) of expertise.
   
   
6. Which should be #1 -- I make sure that as long as I'm not in a non-compete, I start working on my idea TODAY. I also make sure that I am not in anyway covered by a non-compete, or that my company has no claims on my work outside of work hours because the worst thing in the world would be to become successful and have your current company sue you and win.

I am a physics PhD student who prepared for a quant transition and got an offer relatively soon after applying.

How much time do you have, where are you going to look, and from which university are your degrees? This book is an easy read, a bit American-centric. There are also books with preparation problems, I liked 1 2 3.

Play on your strengths - if you don't like programming just get a basic idea of how C++ work, and learn a lot of stochastic calculus if that's what you like. Eventually you should identify 1 or 2 areas which you like most and become strong in those. It's better to be so-so in some of the areas of the books above but beyond their level in 1-2 areas than being quite good at all of them but excel in none. Don't completely neglect any topic though - if you have no idea what a call option or a pointer are, you'll be in trouble. Don't neglect brainteasers.

Certain interesting areas are surprisingly ignored by those books, for example econometrics and machine learning. Good luck!

I do! I am a research assistant for a big hospital on a clinical trial. I do technical writing stuff but I'm thrilled because it's not customer service and I get super good health care benefits.

As for your sister, you should get her this book "I'm an English major, now what?"

Your resume could use some work.

• Add a career objective and tailor it to the type of company you want to apply and summarize what you know and what type of job you are looking for.
  
• Move the education and skills sections to the top.
  
• Get rid of the "Function-oriented" - I've never heard anyone use that term when referring to programming with C++
  
• Have a section labeled languages and list both Java and C++. Remember only add the stuff you are comfortable in. If its in your resume then it's fair game for me to ask about it.
  
• Add a section labeled "Tools" and add what you used during your classes i.e. Visual Studio, Eclipse, make, Linux, etc.
  
• Remove the part of being fluent in Spanish. It's not relevant to the type of job you are applying.
  
• Add the name of the companies where you worked.
  
  Also, get yourself this book:
  
  Purple Squirrel. The electronic version is pretty cheap and has a lot of good career advice, and a great section on writing a resume tailored to the Software industry. The book is written by the main recruiter at Google so he knows what he's talking about.

"Why You?" by the chairman of the Reed recruitment agency is a pretty good book - it lists 101 questions (15 of which are "fateful" questions) which are commonly asked in interviews and strategies for answering those questions. I've attended more than 200 interviews in my career and I can confirm that it does cover pretty much all of the non-technical questions I was ever asked.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-You-Interview-Questions-Youll/dp/0241970210

After reading this book, or another list of commonly asked interview questions, make notes on how you're going to answer those questions and practise practise practise.

Good luck!

If its a windows environment you will be working in, which is the most common, there is a good list available here:

http://www.ultimatewindowssecurity.com/securitylog/encyclopedia/Default.aspx

Note that versions after xp have different codes for the same event.

------

Also this may sound a little corny, but it is a really good reference for Netsec Interviews:

http://www.amazon.com/IT-Security-Interviews-Exposed-Information/dp/0471779873

One of the authors is Russ Rogers (One of my mentors), a really smart guy that has done a lot in the security community.

Im 28 and moved from Minnesota to Beijing for a technical writer position with no experience. Now been working here for 1.5 years. We're basically an agency that works on all of Huawei's (a top telecom company) documents. About 50 foreigners from English speaking countries spread across three sites here: Beijing, shanghai, and Shenzhen.

It's fairly easy to get a job here in China without any formal tech writing experience/certifications if you're a decent writer and fake like you're interested in/know tech. Most of my colleagues were humanities majors in college and then did like English teaching after that and got tired of it. China has tons of tech companies that are pretty solid by international standards but are just now making the push to legitimize themselves in the eyes of the West. Which I guess means not having shitty documentation.

I got a degree in philosophy and Spanish and out of college and have since worked as an English teacher in china and Japan as well as a medical scribe in minnesota. That's it. So at least I have a more marketable skill now. Also, I've been working in china about three years total, never studied Chinese before coming here, and by studying by myself/with occasional tutors for these 3 years I've gotten up to the HSK 5 Chinese level (one level below the top level) and can do translations at work. So basically I've added Chinese and technical writing to my skill set without paying anything (except for textbooks/tutors).

Also if it's relevant I make $3,000 per month and pay $550 in rent for a single, saved over $10,000 while still paying student loans and making trips to Korea, India, Vietnam, etc.

Can search technical writing jobs in china, Beijing, shanghai, and Shenzhen.

Edit:

My brother lived and worked in China for 6 years and has a website and book on getting a job, traveling, and learning Chinese in China.

Website/blog:

http://www.chinalifefiles.com/

Book:

http://www.chinalifefiles.com/free-download/

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-China-Guide-English-Chinese-ebook/dp/B01CUYT3IS

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

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amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Why You? is quite a good book that explains interviews from the point of view of the interviewer quite well, IMO. It looks like a slog (101 questions is a lot), but really there are only 15 and they're all covered in chapter 2.

Yes, let me know. I have worked in China 6 years and worked as a medical interpreter in the US. I have a website (http://www.chinalifefiles.com/) and book (https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-China-Guide-English-Relocate-ebook/dp/B01CUYT3IS/) which covers learning Chinese.

> I'm looking at jobs in quantitative software engineering roles, like Jane Street, DE Shaw and Two Sigma.

Then brush up on your probability and statistics brainteasers. That, and algorithmic brainteasers (like things to do with linkedlists, arrays, etc).

Sample book is Heard on the Street by Crack or Quant Job Interview Questions and Answers by Joshi et al.

You don't need to know finance for Jane Street. They emphasize that...

A lot of what I've read here is shit advice. There are tons of jobs you can get as an English major. I'd recommend reading "I'm an English major--Now What?"

It's a good read, and debunks many English major myths. There are tons of careers that require critical reading and writing skills. Make good use of the skills you've learned, especially if you're bilingual.

*formatting

IT Security Interviews Exposed.

http://www.amazon.com/IT-Security-Interviews-Exposed-Information/dp/0471779873

This book is scary:

• https://reviewmeta.com/amazon/B07C7V7T9S
  
• https://www.fakespot.com/product/activate-your-agile-career-how-responding-to-change-will-inspire-your-life-s-work