Software development grad Corey Johnson participates in Draft Day, lands role at BoldIQ
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We like to celebrate hustle here on the Green River Web & Mobile Developer blog. It’s a key career development concept faculty and staff in our software dev program stress frequently to students. In a nutshell, hustle is working hard and seizing opportunities. It can also be the best predictor to landing an internship or a full-time job after graduation.
While pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Software Development at Green River College, Corey Johnson mastered the basic building blocks of hustle. He demonstrated a strong work ethic in and out of the classroom, tirelessly applied for internships and jobs, routinely updated his technical resume and LinkedIn profile, and attended local tech meetups.
He also seized unique opportunities when they arose. When Corey heard about the Washington Technology Industry Association’s inaugural Draft Day, he promptly applied to participate. The result? At the event’s conclusion, Corey received and accepted a full-time job offer at Seattle-based BoldIQ . He’s now working as a support engineer with a bright future ahead of him — proof that hustle pays off in big ways.
I recently spoke to Corey about his Draft Day experience and the insight he accumulated during this innovative hiring workshop. Check out our Q and A below. Students take note — Corey offers some great pointers about leveraging hustle into that first full-time job out of college.
How did you end of becoming a WTIA Draft Day participant?
Corey: One of my software development instructors, Ken Hang, sent out a message asking us to fill out a few essay questions so that he could send in his recommendations to the Washington Technology Industry Association, so I filled those out and sent them off to Ken right away, then waited until I got a response from the WTIA saying that I had been selected to participate in Draft Day.
What were some memorable standout moments in the Draft Day process?
Corey: There were two parts of the Draft Day, Training Camp and the actual Draft Day. At the training camp we had a few seminars where the speakers gave us advice on applying for jobs, preparing for interviews, and tailoring our LinkedIn profiles. I really enjoyed what one of the speakers said: “Looking for a job is similar to dating”. It really made me think about applications and interviews quite a bit differently.
I had sent out numerous applications over the past few months with no luck, so I was getting discouraged. However when I treated it like matchmaking it seemed a whole lot less stressful and I tried to get to know the companies I was applying to a lot better. The actual Draft day was crazy busy. We had 7 minutes to sit down and talk with the recruiters and get to know each other a little bit. It was much more exhausting than you’d think, but it’s a good warm up for a real technical interview. The technical interviews I’ve had have all been 2+ hours long, so that’s something to prepare for if you’re in the market.
What about Green River College’s software development program equipped you to be successful at this event?
Corey: The software development program at Green River emphasizes real-world projects. We work in small teams with clients and we tailor the applications to the needs of our audience. By having the entire development team understand the importance of getting the right requirements from the client, rather than just being handed a project specification, we learn valuable communication and project-planning skills.
Probably the best part of the Software Development program was that we delivered working software to customers or clients, and if we for some reason didn’t entirely complete a project, we would lay down a plan of action for another team to pick it up later at some point in the future. When I was interviewing with the recruiters, they told me that it’s impressive that students in the program were so focused on delivery, and not just the development of a project. I would highly advise people to advertise the delivery of projects to the customer in your resume if you can.
As a result of participating in Draft Day, you received and accepted a job offer from BoldIQ. Can you tell us a little bit about BoldIQ and what your new role is there?
Corey: BoldIQ is a company built around the idea that optimization is critical in the ever evolving world we live in today. They are building software that can optimize employees and other assets to be as efficient as possible. Basically think of the famous traveling salesman problem. BoldIQ has a very warm and inviting work culture, and I feel very lucky to be joining such a strong, dedicated team!
My position at BoldIQ is a Support Engineer. My responsibilities will be to maintain the existing code base they have doing bug fixes or small feature improvements. I will also be working closely with customer support specialists to determine if there are new bugs or issues that arise as the customers use the product. (This is very similar to what Ken Hang had us do in IT 372: Debugging, Maintenance, and Evolution!)
You’re a great example of hustle. Can you talk about the importance of hustle in addition to developing strong technical skills?
Corey: Hustle really helps you stand out from the crowd because it shows that you’re passionate about the field you’re going into. I would take on a lot of projects outside of school. I didn’t finish many of them, but they forced me to grow my skills outside of an academic environment. I would strongly recommend that people work on a project or two outside of school each year. During my interview with BoldIQ, they asked me what challenges I faced when I worked on a web development contract outside of school. I wouldn’t have been able to have that conversation with them if I had only done my school projects. Stepping away from the safety net that usually comes with a school project shows that you have the courage to try something where you might fail. However, it also gives you the opportunity to really see what you know, and that’s what’s important.
Sign up for the Washington Technology Industry Association’s 2016 Full ConTech Conference at: http://www.washingtontechnology.org/fullcontech/
Learn more about Green River College’s Bachelor of Applied Science in Software Development at: www.greenriver.edu/software
