Help learn how to code and raising CS awareness

Dear Readers,

It has been a long time since my last update, a lot has happened meanwhile. 

I recently discovered a few more "learn how to code" web pages, which I find very interesting. This might obviously not be too interesting for those among you, who already have a CS degree and don't want to learn new programming languages from scratch. How cool would it be to program your own game for your mobile phone and make it accessible to your friends? Or to help your parents or friends create their own web pages for private or business use.
However, as you may know, the number of CS graduates is globally still to low to cover the actual demand. Therefore, I am always a friend of spreading the word and motivate kids, students and everyone else who is interested in CS to give it a try and show them, what they can actually easily do.

I put some sources together, which I personally found very useful to get into it.

CodeAcademy is introducing you to web programming CSS, HTML and Javascript. There are also courses about Python, PHP and APIs. Don't worry, if you don't know yet what all these languages are. CodeAcademy is for total beginners. So you don't need to know anything upfront. As long as you are interested in learning about it, you are all set. 
There are great tutorials, good explanations, it will point you to your bugs and you will learn how to create your own web page, build a small game etc. To keep it fun, you'll earn a lot of badges for completing lessons, projects and can compete with your friends. Give it a try.

CodeAvengers: Same, same, but different. Find out what you like more. CodeAcademy or CodeAvengers or just complete both. CodeAvengers is offering an AndroidApp though to support your learning on the go.

This is still too complicated or you want to even show your 4 year old kid how to develop web or mobile games? Sure, what about code.org? Can't imagine any easier way to start with programming.

LearnStreet once more, similar to CodeAcademy, but I actually like the UI (User Interface ;-)) more. 

Udacity, in my opinion. Good to sign up here once you "completed" some courses at the other pages I mentioned above. Udacity could be taken by beginners too, but I would describe it rather as advanced online courses and therewith great for following up on the other ones.

And finally, for those among you who prefer to learn from watching videos and who are really fluent in English, the Stanford Computer Science 101 course on coursera. It's for free and self speaking a high quality course.

I hope this article will contribute to raising the interest in computer science and programming. As you are one of my blog readers, please spread the word and support this effort. 

Thanks to all of you and cheers,
Andy

Learn how to code!

Dear Readers,

Today I want to write a post to all readers of my blog, who are not programmers yet, but actually interested in programming and always wanted to get the opportunity to learn it.
My friend +Tom Woolnough pointed me to +Code Academy, where I did some exercises now and went through some of the courses. I need to explain, I do not have a Computer Science degree or any other programming experience, but as a Technical Recruiter, of course I am interested in how that all works. I don't want you to waste your time on my blog, if you actually would like to learn how to program. Code Academy is giving you the opportunity to learn web fundamentals and programming in HTML, Javascript, CSS and other languages from scratch. It's a very fun and straight to the point way how they are teaching it. Highly recommended to all my readers, who always wanted to have a deeper look into it. Have fun learning how to program with Code Academy

Geeky cheers,
Andy

What does a Site Reliability Engineer do at Google?

Hi there,

There has been a lot of confusion in the past about the differences between Software Engineer (SWE) and Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) at Google. Many candidates applied for "the wrong" role and so we finally created a hangout to bring more clarity into that. So for those of you who were always wondering, what a SRE does at Google, please watch this recorded hangout and feel free to forward to your friends, who might fit into that profile.

Enjoy and cheers,
Andy

Basics of Boolean Search

Dear Readers,

Today's post is about an article every recruiter should be aware of, but also useful for everyone else, who is using search engines a lot and wants to get betters search results.
It's an article I read a long time ago and today my friend pointed me to it, whilst I totally forgot about this article in the meantime. It's just a 10min read btw...

Cheers,
Andy

A friend of mine sent me this article about "how to ace a technical interview, which I think is a great article to read to get a better understanding of what's expected from tech companies at the edge nowadays. Of course there are always some exceptions, but in general, this is a good read to get in the right mood. You still don't have the link to the article? Correct, but here we go!

Best,
Andy

Writing a cover letter

Hi there,

I just came across the interesting article "Ten worst things to put in your cover letter".

Personally I guess the resume is more important than the cover letter, because if you are able to write nice thinks in your cover letter, but your resume is not qualifying you for the role you are applying for, I won't proceed anyways, while I absolutely would proceed, if somebody applies with an awesome resume, but even without a cover letter.

So my conclusion is:

Awesome cover letter + weird resume = most likely no invitation for an interview

Weird/no cover letter + awesome resume = probably invitation for an interview

Awesome cover letter + awesome resume = invitation for an interview almost guaranteed

Cheers,
Andy

Recommendation of a great book

Hi there,

There is a very interesting book on the market, which is extremely helpful, if you plan to get a job at Google & Co. 

If you are interested, you should check out "Google Resume" 

It's not just concerning getting a job at Google, it's also quite helpful to get a job and taking career steps in other companies. 

Enjoy it,

Andy

P.S.: I am happy to get your opinion about it here in my blog! ;-)

What do you think about "Quiz me on S.E. (Software Engineering)"?

I just came across this application while browsing the web and I am wondering how good this application really is? The publisher description sounds quite promising to me, but what do you think about? Any experiences with it? Easy stuff or really challenging problems to solve?

---

Publisher's description
From Eddie Burris:

You call yourself a Software Engineer, but how much do you really know about Software Engineering? Find out with Quiz me on S.E., a quiz program for assessing and improving your knowledge of Software Engineering. The free version of the app offers 30 questions across 3 knowledge areas: Introduction to Software Engineering The Software Development Process Agile Methods The main features of the app include: Ability to work offline. Once the app is installed, you can take a quiz and get feedback on your answers without an active Internet connection. Ability to start and stop a quiz at any time. Ability to answer questions in any order. A statistics page that shows intermediate progress and final results. Option to view a brief justification or explanation for the answer to each question.

There is always a first time...

Hello world!!! :-)

This is my first post in my one & only blog. 

I will provide interesting information and tips about recruiting, software engineering, market news etc. here soon. Feel free to forward my blog adress to your friends, if you like it!

Best regards,

Andy