Resume Question

[khal]

Hi, I will be graduating this spring with a bachelor in computer science. My question is how should I go about listing my knowledge of C++. Is it better to put Proficient in C++ or 1 year worth of C++ ?

[DeXecipher]

It depends on who is hiring you.
1stly be honest enough about your experience. If your c++ experience was just learning the language and not developing tech with it then say you have basic experience with c++ (at least year + experience). You may not have to list exactly how many years you've worked with it. But definitely don't call yourself a master if you don' t have enough experience to feel like programming with the language is almost as natural as speaking a sentence.

I will be in a similiar boat as you in another year, only difference is the amount of time I've put into. Right now I'm at a point where, I'd rather earn (build) some wealth, than do something I enjoy. Not to say that I wouldn't be loyal enough to stick around long enough for them to profit (courtesy), I'd rather earn the money so I can do what I actually enjoy later.

Many companies today just use java mainly because its cross-platform and there is less code maintenance. So unless you are working under the umbrella of Microsoft, IBM, or a game company that sells games written on c/c++/assembly (lower-level) frameworks/tech then you are more likely to be doing Java work, primarily.

The problem when one over exaggerates their experience is a major problem indeed, because it affects the general requirements that employers will look for. Going with the hypothetical that Jimmy says he is an expert web developer and knows how to do HTML, Javascript, PHP, CSS, etc, but when he has to actually work and he fails to keep up it sets a bad example. It may be why there are some extreme requirements by employers such as knowing 4 or more technologies beyond a basic level. My theory anyway.

I'm going to be graduating with a BS (hopefully) next year, but before then I'm going to do some other things.

EDIT: take my advice with a caution. I have not earned any money developing (yet). But I've done a lot of research.

[khal]

Thank you, I appreciate it.

[htirwin]

Of the few people I know who interviewed for serious companies, most of them regret having put things on their resume at all that they did have basic knowledge of, but were not experts in. For example, one person who interviewed for Google put that they know C on their resume, and the interviewer drilled them on all kinds of intricate gotcha C problems, or potential security issues that they were clueless about. Basically I think it is almost better to only have a few languages listed on your resume that you know very well, and leave out most or all of the languages you dabbled in. And make sure that whatever languages you do put on your resume, do some heavy research on the strange cases that have undesirable results. Like in C, all of the ways you could accidentally allow for buffer overflows, and how to prevent it etc. Be ready to be asked trick questions; especially where the syntax looks fine, but there happens to be an edge case that you need to account for.