CS371p Fall 2022: Matthew Escobar Blog #11
What did you do this past week?
The more I look at it, the more I believe that this is probably the grainiest picture I’ve ever taken. This past week I did a TON of recruiting. I didn’t even apply to a lot of companies, I just did interviews for two. And, as it turns out, scheduling “meet the team” interviews are a nightmare since they’re about 3 hours long each. So, unfortunately, some of my responsibilities had to get the short end of the stick. Sorry part-time job, you’re just a stepping stone to further my career.
What’s in your way?
Right now I’m still catching up on lectures and doing homework. That’s what this weekend is dedicated towards. At this point I’ve given up trying to watch the videos and instead I glean what I can from the slides. That way I can speed-run my way back to a normal workload. Right now there’s a couple of projects on my plate with the Darwin project being the freshest one off the grill.
What will you do next week?
Next week I have a machine learning exam and I’ll be working on the Darwin project. By next week the goal is to finish all of my projects. With the workload that I have, I am surprised at how well I’m handling everything. Fingers crossed I’ll meet my goal!
What did you think of Paper 11. More on getters and setters?
I like the insight that these papers give along with the concrete advice and examples. I actually used these papers as a talking point in one of my interviews by guiding the conversation towards object-oriented design. While they are fun to think about, I’ve yet to apply a majority of what I’ve learned from them.
What was your experience of initializer_list and vector? (this question will vary, week to week)
I never knew how useful constructors could be. And how commonplace multiple constructors are amongst classes. The whole implicit, explicit, read-only, read-write, copying, etc is a lot to think about but, for when I do need them, it’s good to know that those tools exist.
What made you happy this week?
So, as it turns out, all that recruiting wasn’t in vain! I got my first full-time job offer this past week a a physics laboratory! I’m still weighing the benefits but, from what I’ve gathered, this is an absolutely phenomenal opportunity. I’ll probably just jump on it. Additionally, I’m grateful for my friends and especially my girlfriend. I don’t think I would be as happy as I am now without their smiles.
What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
I suppose my tip of the week should involve recruiting after all of the recruiting I’ve done. I think a big thing that helped me through the interviews was just being relaxed. My favorite thing to do is just to vibe and crack jokes with recruiters. Even if they ask serious questions. One of my favorites was: “Are you familiar with linux or windows more?” I replied: “I’m more familiar with linux… Actually, now that I think about it, all I use is linux. I did get a windows machine once — and I tried to install linux if that answers your question.” If you can make them smile, they’ll remember how you made them feel.