We could totally make career bingo outnof this...
- Attend the same convention twice in a row for different jobs.
- Work with an ivy league MBA.
- Eventually settle on a Java or C# job.
- Build a wonderful product that people won't use. For whatever reason...
- Burnout and dream of working in construction...
why is Java considered "settling"? relatively inexperienced here
I don't have a big problem with Java (it was the first language that I learned object-oriented programming in), and I like C#'s increasingly cross-platform focus. I like the things I've read about C++17 and the features planned for it, and I'd be interested in seeing Rust pick up some steam.
Other people get really excited about various functional languages, new+shiny Javascript frameworks, and Node.js. Anything that's new, related to web technologies, and solves a perceived problem.
Is this a thing? Working in construction is usually my first day dream when I'm feeling fed up with work or a little burned out.
1. Writing a professional product, from scratch to completion, by yourself or as a team lead, while doing every aspect of the project: BA, PM, design, architecture, server install, data model (if applicable), code, comments, documentation, QA, deployment, support.
2. Pick up a complete mess that someone else wrote, who is no longer available. Read it, really understand it, and be able to refactor it into something worth while.
As stated, most of the things the OP listed are really just academic and he should have done those in school, as they have been done as nausium. Rarely do you need to do those anymore.
Now, learning people with MS in CS have the same issues is what's really jarring. There were so many weed-out courses in BS CS, I couldn't imagine someone getting as far as a MS CS without knowing the basics.
Having said that, I earned most of my chops on "the street," with a great mentor many years ago. We really challenged each other want wanted to show each other how smart we were. Good times.
Do you know where they got their degree? ITT Tech or something?
In any case, the best developers I've worked with are the ones that practice the fundamentals on their own, regardless of whether they're degreed or not.
- coding while fighting the scope creep
- coding while trying to figure out the overall project architecture on the fly in endless whiteboard meetings with other devs because the high level architecture Solution Architect put together ain't worth a sh*t.
- stepping out of your comfort zone on the daily basis having to deal with the tech you have 'some' but not 'good' let alone 'expert' knowledge of because you can't possibly hire an expert for every tech
etc etc... but still delivering on time with low defect count :)