Those of us who have been through the job hunting process know that there are many companies out there whose recruitment procedures have multiple layers, which are all meant to screen their possible candidates like a sieve. These layers are supposed to weed out the qualified from the unqualified, as well as to bring out the one most suited for the job among those who are qualified.

In the period that you are seeking a job in the tech industry, there will be times that a person from a company you submitted your resume to would call you up at home or on your mobile to ask you a few questions about the information you have put in your resume. This is a technical phone interview. It does not matter whether you are expecting this phone call or not, but it is important that you should take this phone call seriously. This is a part of the screening process of the company to which you applied for a job.

The technical phone interview can take you by surprise, but it is possible for you to breeze through it and get to the next stage of the process, which is the face-to-face interview. Here are pointers you need to bear in mind when doing a technical phone interview.

1. The person calling you would want to put a gauge on what computer programming language that you know and how well-versed you are in the software development process. As thus, you should be prepared to answer a number of basic technical questions about your chosen programming language. You do not have to recite your textbooks to your interviewer. If you know your subject matter and if you speak with confidence, you will be able to wing it.

2. Your interviewer would also ask you a few things about your resume, as if to verify some of the information you have put in there. Your interviewer may also ask you to elaborate on some points in your resume that he or she may have found interesting. So, it is important that you should be familiar with everything you wrote on your resume. Perhaps nothing is more embarrassing in a job interview than forgetting what you have put in there. Forgetting the contents of your own resume may also turn off your interviewer and score you negative points.

3. Because you are speaking over the phone, it is possible for the reception to be garbled. This is especially true when you are using a mobile phone or an Internet call client like Skype. Regardless of the case, you should speak clearly when talking with your interviewer. Do not mumble or eat your words, and get to the point of what you are trying to say. Doing this will not only prevent any difficulties with communicating with each other. It is also a show of your respect for your interviewer’s time, as you may not be the only applicant he or she has to call for the day. Also, smile during the phone interview. Your interviewer will not see you smile, but he or she will hear it in your voice.

Once you have submitted copies of your resume to the companies that you would like to work for, the next thing in store for you is to play the waiting game. That is, the next thing you should do is to wait for these companies to give you a call for an appointment for a job interview.

While the purpose of your resume is to introduce yourself to your prospective employers and to create a favorable first impression of yourself to these people whom you would like to work with, the job interview is the time you are supposed to nail what your resume has supposedly achieved for you. This is the one opportunity you have to convince your possible employers that they need not look at any other candidate for the job, and that the one they are looking for is sitting right across them. The job interview is your chance to shine with your future employers.

Many people get nervous with their job interview, and they have cause to be so. The job interview can be a tricky process, and although there are many sources on the Internet listing likely interview questions for a technical job interview, you would never really know what to expect. You should therefore prepare yourself for your job interview.

To up your chances of scoring high with your job interview, here are a few pointers you may want to keep in mind:

1. Look presentable. It is not just your knowledge and your competence that will be tested during your job interview. It is also how you present yourself. You will be selling yourself at your job interview, and packaging counts a lot. You would not buy a pack of noodles at the supermarket with lousy packaging, would you? There is no reason why your possible employers should, as well.

So, on the night before your job interview, make sure you get enough sleep so you would look fresh, rested and relaxed on your appointment. Wear a conservative business suit; make sure that your suit is clean and neatly pressed. If you are a woman, the job interview is not the time to wear your flashy clothes and jewelry. A few toned-down pieces of accessories would do, but do not overdo it.

2. Do your homework. Before you show up at your job interview, be certain that you are armed with as much information as you can get about the company you are doing this job interview with, as well as the requirements of the job and the technical aspects that make you qualified for it. Letting your interviewer/s know that you know what they are all about and what is to be expected of you should you be hired gives you confidence and eases the flow of the conversation during this appointment. It also signifies that you are really knowledgeable with the job, as well as competent and a self-starter.

3. Ask and be asked. During the job interview, you should expect yourself to be asked unusual questions. These questions may throw you off a little, but that is the purpose of these questions. They are supposed to test how you will behave when faced with unusual situations, which you definitely will encounter in the course of your career.

A software tester is an IT person who is involved in checking the integrity and functionality of a software as it goes through the various stages of the software development cycle. In a nutshell, a software tester is someone who analyzes code in order to catch bugs.

Although a software tester is often a part of the team responsible for software quality assurance, it is not always his or her responsibility to assure the quality of the software, unless he or she is specifically tasked to do so. The job of a software tester is to ensure that the software will be running smoothly and efficiently.

Typical Activities of the Software Tester

A software tester usually does the following activities on the job:

1. Develop designs, tools or procedure for testing software and update them on a regular basis

2. Take part in product designing and reviews to check for possible problems in development

3. Create a schedule for testing software

4. Test the compatibility of software with programs, network environments, hardware or operating systems

5. Document and report bugs found during testing to the software developers

6. Create and maintain a catalogue of bugs and defects that were discovered during software testing

7. Monitor efforts in removing and correcting bugs in software

8. Monitor software performance

9. Look into problems reported by users of the software as referred to by the software’s technical support

Industry Prospects for the Software Tester

As our society becomes more and more dependent on technology and its uses, and as the end users of software become more and more demanding and discerning about how their gadgets and their software should work for them, the need for good, high-quality software becomes greater. Such software that answers to the growing needs of people nowadays, however, is also growing more and more complex. The need for software testers who can skillfully wade through pages of code to catch whatever bugs in them remains great.

How much does a software tester earn catching bugs in code? The average falls at around $73,412, with bonuses amounting to around $4,802 as of the fourth quarter of 2006.

The Necessary Skills

Because it is a software tester’s job to catch bugs in code, using bug-catching software that he or she probably designed, the software tester needs to be a master of one or two programming languages, just like any computer programmer. It is also necessary for a software tester to have a good grasp of the software development cycle, the different methods and tools of software testing and the current trends in the industry. An analytical mind and the knowledge of proper documentation, as well as the ability to communicate and to work with other people within the team, are also skills that a software tester needs to cultivate. Report writing and technical documentation, and working with word processors, spreadsheets and HTML documents are also needed.

Finding the Job

Typical Activities of the Software Project Manager

The usual tasks that a software project manager undertakes are:

1. Acts as liaison officer between the team and the company management for the project.

2. Drafts a working schedule for the planning, completion and implementation of the project, as well as the budget and materials needed

3. Writes reports and documentation concerning the project

4. Draws up a budget schedule and ensures that this schedule is met

5. Participates in the testing of the software and addresses quality issues

6. Participates in the training needed for end-users of the software

7. Keep abreast of industry trends

8. Provides technical support for the software developed when needed

Industry Prospects for the Software Project Manager

As consumers’ needs and demands for the software they are using become more and more complex, it is becoming necessary for the software project manager to be versatile. Not only should the software project manager know the technical side of the software project he or she is managing, but he or she should also have a good grasp of the business side of the deal. Being a software project manager is not an entry level position. Typically, the people who are called in to become software project managers come from software development. The more experienced a software project manager is, the more desirable he or she gets for the job. Project management certifications are also the norm now for software project managers.

In 2006, software project managers earned an average of $89,766 for the entire year, with bonuses amounting to around $7,222. Software project managers are highly compensated and very much in demand.

The Necessary Skills

Software project managers need to be a master of one or two programming languages, with an excellent grasp of how coding and the software development process works. In addition to the usual computer programming skills necessary, software project managers need have leadership, training and management skills. An analytical and critical mind is essential to the job, not to mention a wide experience in software development. The ability to work with people, to communicate with them in both verbal and written means, is a must. The knowledge of word processing and spreadsheet applications, basic Internet operations and documentation is also needed.

Finding the Job

The position of software project manager is not an entry level position. People get this job through promotion or through personal networking. There are, however, many headhunter websites that post company openings for this job.

1. You must first decide on which sector of the computer programming business you want to specialize in, whether on gaming, database, website development, small business applications and whatnot. Making this decision will help you figure out what computer programming language to master because each field uses its own language. Many, however, use Java and C++ so those two are safe choices.

2. Train yourself in this language of your choice. This should be easy if you already have the rudiments of the language, and you probably already do. However, you should still try to stretch your knowledge on this language as far as you can. Review your programming books or do a number of projects on your own. If you have the time, you can enroll in a refresher course.

3. Grab every learning opportunity you can get. Buy or borrow as many computer programming books dealing with the language of your choice as you can lay your hands on. Study every line in them, and learn how all the commands and the syntax works. Use what you have learned to solve programming exercises and challenge yourself by making and solving your own projects.

4. Find a study buddy. You do not have to undertake your learning on your own. Having a study buddy is handy. You will have someone to compare notes with on how some programming problems ought to be handled and to check up on your progress. Finding a study buddy can be done by joining a programming user group in your local college or university.

5. Join a computer programmer’s community forum on the Internet. Community forums have many links and resources that could be quite handy with getting your mastery on the computer language of your choice. They are also frequented by experienced computer programmers who are often generous with dispensing their knowledge to the greener members of the community. You will certainly find a treasure trove of knowledge there.

6. Take a certification test. Taking a certification test will force you to study harder and enroll in review classes. The effort is certainly worth it. Passing a certification test is a sure sign that you have achieved a level of mastery in the computer programming language of your choice. It certainly adds to your credibility as a computer programmer and makes a nice and impressive entry in your resume.

Gaining experience counts a lot towards getting ahead in a career at computer programming. The more experience a budding computer programmer gets in his or her chosen field, the higher his or her expertise level rises. With greater expertise come more jobs, and eventually a higher level of expertise will enable the computer programmer to command a higher pay rate.

Practice makes perfect, and perfection takes work. If you are seriously thinking of launching a successful career in computer programming, the more work you do enables you to hone your skills some more until you achieve mastery of your chosen field.

How do you get your licks in computer programming? Everyone has to start with baby steps, and so do you. Your first step towards gaining experience in computer programming has a lot to do with doing your homework diligently and completing all the programming exercises and projects that you can find in your books on computer programming. Challenge yourself and gleefully dive into the harder projects as your degree of knowledge in computer programming gets further. Discover new ways of solving a programming exercise if you can.

Once you start feeling that the computer programming problems you find in your books are becoming rote to you, then it is time to begin putting your knowledge to the test. Get yourself into an internship or apprenticeship program where you will find opportunities to apply what you have learned and have someone see how far you have come in your studies. Eagerly seek feedback on your work and maintain an open and positive attitude towards whatever criticism the person coaching you may have on your output.

And then, once your internship or apprenticeship is done and you have come to believe that you have learned enough to start stretching your wings, you can start presenting yourself as a volunteer computer programmer for a non-profit organization and work on whatever computer programming projects they may have for free. Of course some non-profit organizations do give some sort of allowance, payment or a token of gratitude to people who have worked with them, so you may end up not leaving empty handed after your stint with a non-profit organization. But then again, the experience you gain from working with them should be reward enough, because that was why you did work for them in the first place.

After you have gotten a handful of feathers in your cap in terms of small computer programming jobs with non-profit organizations and when you feel that you can stretch your wings even further, you can start shooting for low-fee computer programming and consulting projects. You can find postings for these projects on college and university bulletin boards, in recruitment websites and in freelancing websites.

3. Let your prospective employers know what skills that you have, what courses you have taken and what projects you have completed that make you qualified for the job.

4. List down whatever special accomplishments you may have that will impress your prospective employers.

If you already have gained some experience from a previous job or from a project you have handled, list them down and describe them using short phrases in active voice, as stated above. State what each job or project was all about and include in the description what your role there was. Also include the outcome of the job or project as well as the results.

You should make note whenever you upload your resume to a headhunter website or email it to your prospective employer, it is likely to end up in a searchable database. So, in order for your resume to gain a bit of an edge over those of your competitors, insert relevant keywords that you think possible employers are likely to use when searching their database or the headhunter websites they subscribe to whenever they are hiring.