Code Oregon, is it still happening?

I will definitely go through the career program. Thanks!

Charles Ratkie: See my comment to Bobby Martin above about Code Oregon. I'm a Code Oregon student, too, & I'm trying to keep everyone in the loop on Code Oregon on the General Discussion page hear when I learn something. Get connected to other Code Oregon students!

Thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction! I'm following them on twitter now so I know when the next job fair is happening.

Kristopher Van Sant:

See my comments to Bobby Martin above about the latest on Code Oregon.

I just saw that the job fair was happening today. I wish I would have known about it earlier! I'm glad to hear that it was a success. I'll definitely be going to the next one to do the same thing. Was there a fee to attend?

Jeremy Franklin:

I attended the Code Oregon job fair yesterday afternoon, too. There were 12 technology companies & 4 code schools or colleges there. It was quite a BIG crowd in a small space, but I think it was highly successful in terms of attendance by employers & job seekers. Stay tuned for another one in the future!

I'll follow them on facebook as well. Thanks for the insight!

James White:

Yes, points do count for something, but having a positive attitude counts more & so does developing relationships with people at the companies you wish to work for in the future. It's also a good idea to watch for technology trends that interest you & the companies that are involved with those trends. Volunteer work (at technology conferences such as Techfest NW, Viewsource, & non-profit organizations) also counts as many of the technology companies want to see what value you bring to their companies as far as contributing to the community where you live & work. Volunteer for employers' fund raising events for the non-profit organizations they donate to & support, if they are in line with your own personal values. It's who you know, what you know, & when you know it, & who do you share your knowledge with when they need it. I take time daily to read business news so I can learn something to share with other people. Being resourceful & helping other people by sharing information with them when they need it will gain you respect quickly.

You might have missed what I heard yesterday. At least 2 of the employers present at the Code Oregon job fair planned to hire people between January-March 2016. There were many job seekers there, so it's no surprise there's lots of competition. There are internships, too, & I don't think they are strictly for college graduates. I also know David Duncan is planning another Code Oregon job fair. Another of his Worksource Oregon colleagues told me personally that they hope to alternate which side of the Willamette River (west or east) to site them. (There are 9 people in Worksource Oregon in the Portland metropolitan area that coordinate job fairs & arranging a job fair for 1 individual employer at a time is too much work. It's more efficient to get a group of them together in one place.) I know that David Duncan had 33 employers RSVP to participate in yesterday's job fair, & 2/3 of them were "maybes." That's a lot of employers responding to his personal invitation to participate in the job fair. (They have to pay a fee to have a table there, too. It costs them time & they have their employees there to talk to job seekers. That's a benefit vs. applying online via human resource applicant tracking software. You still have to do that, too, but at least talking to a person face to face will give you a name to contact directly to see where your application for employment is in the process.) Any time you have 1/3 of the invitees respond to any event is a good outcome. David had over 300 Code Oregon students RSVP, too. I think the outcome was successful.

Team Treehouse, Inc. is a private company & they don't promote themselves as an accredited technological academic institution. They are not a temporary or permanent employment agency. What they do is train people over the Internet how to code. (They even hire instructors.) Colleges & universities are doing more online training. I took a Community Education class through PCC SE which was really an EdtoGO class. It was my 1st online course. I enjoyed it & knew I liked this kind of self-paced online training. I like teaching myself. Taking the incentive to learn new job skills on one's own says something positive about an individual. You're seeking to improve yourself.

I prefer to be a "balcony" person who encourages people & lifts them up, & not a "basement" person who discourages people & pulls them down to the pit of despair or the slough of despondency. (A reference to the book entitled, "Pilgrim's Progress.") There's more camaraderie in life if you respect people & there's less discord. I prefer to have as peaceful a life as possible.

There are a lot of other aspects to getting a good job. Check out episode 245 of the Software Engineering Radio podcast. He has a lot of hints on how to own an interview and get the job you want.

http://www.se-radio.net/2015/12/se-radio-episode-245-john-sonmez-on-marketing-yourself-and-managing-your-career/