Searching for Programming jobs?

So… After 3-4 (or 5 if you’re really SPECIAL) years struggle with school, the time has now come for you to move your as* out of mama’s house and earn a livin’ for yourself. Yes? Right!

This guide assumes the following conjectures:
1. You’re a Geek (or a nerd, whatever, you get the point)
2. You love programming (More than you love your pet dog!)
3. You live in the Philippines
4. You’re a fresh graduate (and looking for an entry-level job)
3. and Your vision of work is writing codes

And oh, if you’re reading this, you’re the type that believes that Wikipedia is a modern substitute to encyclopedia and other valid references.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

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RULE # 1: THOU SHALL WORK FOR MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES

If you’re a fresh grad, chances are, you’ll be a SPONGE for your first 2 years at work. You’ll absorb everything from your company’s coding guidelines to your company’s work ethics and culture.
What I’m saying here is that multinational companies tends to have better processes, guidelines, work ethics and work culture over local companies, in general. (Don’t flame me, I’m just a messenger). This translates to better work condition for geeks; No office politics, and better software development processes.

RULE # 2: THOU SHALL NOT BE EMPLOYED IN AN I.T. DEPARTMENT

Geeks are really passionate about building software and an I.T. Department is the WORST place to produce softwares. Softwares produced in an IT department are just “support” softwares — softwares that aides business functions. Softwares like Data Entry Application, Report Generation Application… You get the picture. Point is, if you’re working in an I.T deparment, your softwares are not for “commercial consumption” and chances are the processes involved in creating those softwares are not top notch.

RULE # 3: THOU SHALL HAVE A HARD TIME GETTING IN

If you want to know the quality or caliber of the developers in a company, observe how they conduct their job screening. The harder it is to get in, the better. This means that the people working inside the company are the best of the breed (Look at Google). So if a certain company asks you to take a STANDARDIZED IQ TEST on the first day, walk away. They don’t know how to identify great programmers. However, if the company subjected you in a Technical Exam (Interview), that’s a sign that they care about the quality of their developers. As a general rule, the company must always ask you to write code during interviews.

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If you follow the three rules above, that should eliminate about 90% of your possible candidates. If you want to further scrutinize the remaining 10%, follow the remaining tips:

RULE # 4: THY EMPLOYER SHOULD ABIDE TO THE “Programmer’s Bill of Rights”

On every interviews that I have attended, the interviewer never failed to ask me if I have questions at the end of the interview. This is a great time to ask them if their company abides to our bill of rights. A great company should score at least (4 out of 6).

RULE # 5: THY EMPLOYER SHOULD PASS THE “Joel Test”

Famous blogger and Software Developer, Joel Spolsky, created the Joel Test dubbed “12 steps to better code”. After asking the interviewer about the bill of rights, you should then proceed to check if they will pass the Joel Test. The Joel Test includes questions such as “Do you use Source Control?” and “Do you have daily builds?”. The Joel Test is supposed to measure the “quality of a software team”. A good company should at least score 9 out of 12.