This week in Software Engineering was pretty hectic in trying to finish up Netflix and making sure all the requirements were met and acceptance tests passed. It was a relief to finally turn the project in on Thursday with a good enough RMSE of 0.96. Although this was not under 0.95, it was a definite improvement over the 0.99 we had last week.

Other than the project, this week was also the Career Fair. Having applied to several places before school started, this was the first year I didn’t really rely on the Career Fair to find jobs, so the whole experience was pretty relaxed for me. I only went to the FoCS brunch in the morning to talk to a couple of people before bailing out when the lines got too long. I do hope my classmates got a lot out of attending all the career events and were able to get interviews!

I unfortunately missed class on Wednesday due to being out of town for interviews, but I heard that someone from Jet Propulsion Labs came and gave a talk to the class. I would have liked to hear about what it’s like to work there, but I had fun at my interviews. (Yes, it’s possible to have fun while getting whiteboard marker dust all over your hands).

My tip of the week is related to interviewing. From my interview experience this year especially, I felt like the interviews were more about conversations on what I liked doing and how well the team fit into my interests. Even with the technical questions they gave me, I felt like it was more about the discussions we had and less about the correct (or incorrect) answers I gave. I realize that everyone gives the advice that the interviews are about how your approach and think through the problems, but there is definitely truth in that. Of course, you do have to be in the ballpark of the answer and know what you’re talking about to some extent, but it’s not all black and white.