Meetings

Advice for Open Source Job Seekers

Andy Lester

Tuesday September 14th 2004 at 7:00pm
Wheaton, Illinois Institute of Technology - Rice Campus, Room 103

Abstract

You don't have to live on the West coast to get a great job and still give back to the open source community. Unlearn the conventional wisdom that cripples most job hunters. Forget what you think you know about getting a great job.

This 90-minute interactive session is in three sections, with plenty of time for Q&A.

* Finding your job

The right job for you is out there. You just have to find it, or have it find you. Learn the right search techniques: Only 1% of jobs are filled through job boards! Learn to grow and use your circle of contacts, including in the OS world, to help in your search. Take home techniques to find out about the company you're interested in: Google is only the start.

* Get an interview

A pretty resume is worthless if the hiring manager doesn't see what he needs. Use your Open Source background to get in the door. Find out what the manager wants. Learn how to read a job posting. Create a resume and online presence that lets potential employers know about you. Does your online footprint help or hinder you?

* Get the job

Learn the three crucial mistakes not to make in your interview. Find out how to turn the old-style Q&A interview into a working session to prove that you are the right candidate.

Speaker Bio

Andy Lester has been a professional programmer for eighteen years and a Perl evangelist for a decade. By day, he manages programmers for Follett Library Resources in McHenry, IL. By night, he spreads the gospel of automated testing and maintains over a dozen CPAN modules. Andy also writes for The Perl Journal, and three of his hacks have been published in Spidering Hacks by O'Reilly.

Getting to the meeting

The next JavaSIG meeting of UniForum Chicago will be:

        IIT Rice Campus
        Room 103
        201 East Loop Road
        Wheaton, IL 60187-8489

Directions to IIT - Rice Campus in Wheaton
The 19-acre campus is located just northeast of the intersection of Naperville and Butterfield roads in sou th Wheaton's Danada development. The campus is three miles west of the Butterfield Road interchange of the N orth-South Tollway (I-355) and two miles north of the Naperville Road interchange of the East-West Tollway ( I-88).

From the North or South: From I-355 (North-South Tollway), exit westbound at Rt.56/Butterfield Road and proceed west 3 1/2 miles on B utterfield Road to East Loop Road. Turn right onto East Loop Road (Phillip's 66 Gas Station on the corner); the campus will be on your right about a block north of Butterfield Road, behind Cozymel's. Park in the Student parking lot behind the building. Room 103 is the first room inside the north enterance.

From the I-294 (Tri-State Tollway), take the I-88 (East-West Tollway) westbound and follow directions "From the East or West" below.

From the East or West: From I-88 (East-West Tollway), take the Naperville Road exit. At the traffic light, turn left onto Naperville Road and continue north for 1\275 miles to Rt. 56/Butterfield Road. Turn right onto Rt. 56/Butterfield Road and proceed 1/4 mile to the first traffic light (East Loop Road). Turn left on to East Loop Road, ( Phillip's 66 Gas station on the corner); the campus will be on your right about a block north of Butterfield Road, behind Cozymel's. Park in the Student parking lot behind the building.

Room 103 is the first room inside the north enterance.

Contact David Young at (630) 362-5963 or president@uniforum.chi.il.us for additional information.