(Part 2) Best job hunting books according to redditors
We found 818 Reddit comments discussing the best job hunting books. We ranked the 126 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
Im 28 and moved from Minnesota to Beijing for a technical writer position with no experience. Now been working here for 1.5 years. We're basically an agency that works on all of Huawei's (a top telecom company) documents. About 50 foreigners from English speaking countries spread across three sites here: Beijing, shanghai, and Shenzhen.
It's fairly easy to get a job here in China without any formal tech writing experience/certifications if you're a decent writer and fake like you're interested in/know tech. Most of my colleagues were humanities majors in college and then did like English teaching after that and got tired of it. China has tons of tech companies that are pretty solid by international standards but are just now making the push to legitimize themselves in the eyes of the West. Which I guess means not having shitty documentation.
I got a degree in philosophy and Spanish and out of college and have since worked as an English teacher in china and Japan as well as a medical scribe in minnesota. That's it. So at least I have a more marketable skill now. Also, I've been working in china about three years total, never studied Chinese before coming here, and by studying by myself/with occasional tutors for these 3 years I've gotten up to the HSK 5 Chinese level (one level below the top level) and can do translations at work. So basically I've added Chinese and technical writing to my skill set without paying anything (except for textbooks/tutors).
Also if it's relevant I make $3,000 per month and pay $550 in rent for a single, saved over $10,000 while still paying student loans and making trips to Korea, India, Vietnam, etc.
Can search technical writing jobs in china, Beijing, shanghai, and Shenzhen.
Edit:
My brother lived and worked in China for 6 years and has a website and book on getting a job, traveling, and learning Chinese in China.
Website/blog:
http://www.chinalifefiles.com/
Book:
http://www.chinalifefiles.com/free-download/
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-China-Guide-English-Chinese-ebook/dp/B01CUYT3IS
A lot of what I've read here is shit advice. There are tons of jobs you can get as an English major. I'd recommend reading "I'm an English major--Now What?"
It's a good read, and debunks many English major myths. There are tons of careers that require critical reading and writing skills. Make good use of the skills you've learned, especially if you're bilingual.
*formatting
This book was my main introduction to permaculture. I'm still learning, and slowly bringing our suburban yard back to life after years of soil erosion and neglect by a previous owner.
Another good suburban food growing system is the Square Foot Gardening (SFG) (also as Square Meter Gardening) by Mel Bartholomew. I put in three small beds this year and so far the plants are doing very well.
Here's a tour of Richard Heinberg's suburban permaculture home in California.
Videos from Huw's Nursery have been really helpful
I didn't know just how many edible plants there were honestly. Industrialized agriculture could get hammered, but a vibrant home garden with permaculture principles and diverse crops could be scaled up relatively quickly. I've started some survival crops as well (e.g., hopniss, sunchoke, tigernuts) that thrive without much human intervention. If you start growing things like comfrey (non-invasive "bocking 14" cultivar!) or some other plants in Toby Hemenway's book, you could probably sell cuttings and seedlings on the side. I've heard of several people getting started that way.
It's not too late in the season to start some containers with tomatoes if you aren't growing anything yet. You don't even have to tell people that it's a prep for collapse :) People just love good food. My wife has begrudgingly put up with my new hobby, and she knows I do it because I'm very worried about collapse events. My cousin put in some SFG beds after I explained that I was worried about instabilities in our just-in-time industrial food system. Gardening is already a popular hobby, so your family will probably be supportive. And they get some delicious healthy food out of it.
Personally, the time I spend gardening is like my collapse zen time. It's healthy on multiple levels. With that said, my wife and others would claim I've gone overboard with it, but hopefully it's viewed as a kooky hobby and not a pessimistic doom funk like I was in before I started gardening. If you have any questions I'll do my best to field them (I'm a beginner myself).
One last recommendation, this collapse-aware career book by Charles Hugh Smith is really good
Don't count yourself out. You have a lot to offer the world.
If you do go the law school route, I bet a real estate attorney will be an interesting field while the system holds up. Not sure how much law school costs, but the debt pay off horizon might be shorter than the brochures will tell you. I say it'd be an interesting field because people always need places to live and work, and with real estate in some areas being decimated, capital will flow to other areas.
I feel pulled in a lot of directions too. I'm a chemist, but I manage some real estate, and I dream of being involved with food self-sufficiency. The old ways of specialization being a sure fire path to success are fading. I can't fully comprehend what a full on crisis would do to all the professionals who have no idea how deep the collapse and climate change rabbit hole goes. So having a side gig of resiliency seems like a good idea. And the more ideas that can be tried, the higher our likelihood of hitting on successful ones that fit our changing circumstances.
This book offers sound collapse-aware career advice. There aren't easy answers in it, but it does help us shake off some of the notions that have been drilled into us about education and employment. Congrats on your progress towards your degree, you'll feel great when you get it done, and that will serve you well in any case because it's about finishing what you started and accomplishing what you set out to do.
Your life experiences and awareness of critical issues will set you apart from the crowd, and I hope that serves you well. I hope you do find your way into a leadership position. Even today, you can lead by example in preparing for changes we can reasonably expect.
>Kannst du etwas mehr zu dem Projekt erzählen, oder geht das aus Gründen nicht?
Ein bisschen was kann ich erzählen: Das ganze visualisiert einen Teil einer bestehenden Anwendung im Browser, speziell für mobile Geräte angepasst. Im Hintergrund passiert quasi das selbe wie bei der bestehenden Anwendung, im Vordergrund ist es eben HTML. War ursprünglich nur als POC gedacht, um auf Messen etc. schnell mal zu zeigen, was da so abgefragt werden kann, jetzt will der Produktmanager es aber so schnell wie möglich integriert haben, weil es zuverlässig funktioniert. Genaueres zum Produkt selber kann ich wohl leider nicht so direkt ausplaudern. :)
>Hast du da nen kleinen Einblick, den du teilen kannst?
/r/cscareerquestions hat einige Threads dazu und ich habe gerade dieses Buch neben mir liegen, die Autorin hat selber bei den großen Firmen gearbeitet und Leute eingestellt.
Google etc. legen bei Bewerbungen viel Wert auf das Lösen von Problemen mit Algorithmen und Datenstrukturen. Anfangs gibt es wohl ein Phone-Screening, bei dem relativ "einfache" Probleme gestellt werden, vor Ort gibt es an einem Tag 5 Interviews und in jedem eine (oder mal auch 2) Aufgabe. Ziel dabei ist natürlich, dass man so gut wie möglich ist, aber grundsätzlich kann man bei ein oder zwei Aufgaben auch scheitern, solange man zeigt, wie man vorgeht. Bedeutet konkret: Problem analysieren und in Teilprobleme zerlegen, optimale Lösung für die Teilprobleme finden und alles zusammenfügen. Dabei immer die Komplexität (wie viele Vergleiche führt Sortieralgorithmus x im Durchschnitt aus etc. Bubble Sort z.B. hat eine Komplexität von O(n^2), Merge Sort O(n log(n)) (jeweils im Durchschnitt). D.h., dass ich bei 10 Elementen 100 bzw. 10 ~3 = ~30 Vergleiche habe, kein großer Unterschied. Wenn man das jetzt aber auf 10000 Elemente skaliert, sieht man, dass Bubble Sort viel schlechter abschneidet) und unvorhergesehene Sonderfälle beachten. Insgesamt klingt es machbar, wenn man ein solides Basiswissen hat und sich gezielt drauf vorbereitet, einfach wird es dennoch nicht, vor allem weil ich auf dem Gebiet bisher nicht der beste war. :/
Thank you!
Here are some resources that helped me immensely during my preparation time:
Curated list of interview questions: https://github.com/MaximAbramchuck/awesome-interview-questions
A "cheat sheet" of some of the most important concepts to keep in mind: https://gist.github.com/TSiege/cbb0507082bb18ff7e4b
A great list of useful algorithms: https://discuss.codechef.com/questions/48877/data-structures-and-algorithms
This book helped me plan out my "strategy" when I was in 1st year: https://www.amazon.com/Google-R%C3%A9sum%C3%A9-Prepare-Microsoft-Company/dp/151138459X
A great site for practicing competitive programming and brushing up on your algorithms: http://coj.uci.cu/index.xhtml
A massive repository of interview questions, data structures and algorithm implementations. Includes a platform for practicing problems in your favorite language: http://www.geeksforgeeks.org/
Maybe not a very conventional resource given the nature of this sub, but a couple of years ago I was a huge procrastinator. I definitely wouldn't have achieved my objectives with that attitude. This material helped me immensely:
Maximum achievement: https://www.amazon.com/Maximum-Achievement-Strategies-Skills-Succeed/dp/0684803313
Why procrastinators procrastinate?: http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html
I wish you luck on all your endeavors! And remember to use your time wisely!
I am a physics PhD student who prepared for a quant transition and got an offer relatively soon after applying.
How much time do you have, where are you going to look, and from which university are your degrees? This book is an easy read, a bit American-centric. There are also books with preparation problems, I liked 1 2 3.
Play on your strengths - if you don't like programming just get a basic idea of how C++ work, and learn a lot of stochastic calculus if that's what you like. Eventually you should identify 1 or 2 areas which you like most and become strong in those. It's better to be so-so in some of the areas of the books above but beyond their level in 1-2 areas than being quite good at all of them but excel in none. Don't completely neglect any topic though - if you have no idea what a call option or a pointer are, you'll be in trouble. Don't neglect brainteasers.
Certain interesting areas are surprisingly ignored by those books, for example econometrics and machine learning. Good luck!
IT Security Interviews Exposed.
http://www.amazon.com/IT-Security-Interviews-Exposed-Information/dp/0471779873
Current junior who is planning to start casing for the first time this summer in preparation for full-time recruiting.
I'm planning to read Case Interview Secrets, listen to Victor Cheng's LOMS, and read How to Get Into Consulting Firms (Link). After this, I plan to run 40ish cases over the summer.
​
Does this sound like a good study plan, or should I add another book like Crack the Case System (saw it in the wiki) to the mix? I'm also actively avoiding Case in Point so that I don't end up learning the same frameworks as everyone else and I am hoping this will lead to me being a bit more creative than other MBB applicants.
> I'm looking at jobs in quantitative software engineering roles, like Jane Street, DE Shaw and Two Sigma.
Then brush up on your probability and statistics brainteasers. That, and algorithmic brainteasers (like things to do with linkedlists, arrays, etc).
Sample book is Heard on the Street by Crack or Quant Job Interview Questions and Answers by Joshi et al.
You don't need to know finance for Jane Street. They emphasize that...
Ms. McDowell covers this and many other questions in her (famous) book http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Tech-Career-Insider-Microsoft/dp/1118968085/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
edit: well the old one has more reviews http://www.amazon.com/Google-Resume-Prepare-Microsoft-Company/dp/0470927623/ref=sr_1_6_twi_kin_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449708818&sr=1-6&keywords=Gayle+Laakmann+McDowell
I guess her book Cracking the Coding Interview is more popular than the ones linked, but oh well. I forget exactly what she says.
Most BA level jobs in psychology are in human services fields and are more appropriate to clinically-oriented people. They also tend to pay poorly. It looks like you have a more research-oriented skill set, so you're going to have a harder time finding a job with just a BA. There are definitely market research jobs that use basic research skills. You also might think about jobs in program evaluation - finding out whether the services provided by a nonprofit or company are actually effective. There are a lot of of program evaluation jobs out there, but they can be hard to locate because a lot of companies do their program evaluation with internal people. I have no idea what pollsters make, but there are overlaps to your skillset there as well.
Finding Jobs With a Psychology Bachelor's Degree: Expert Advice for Launching Your Career 1st Edition is a decent book, but it does focus overwhelmingly on human service careers.
Vet techs and animal trainers need no certification. If you ever did behavioral research where you had to follow a protocol carefully, you will be well prepared for those jobs.
You might also be able to find a job that covers an applied aspect of the field that you want to do basic research in. For example, if you're interested in neuropsych, you might be able to get a job as an aide on a brain injury ward. You won't make so much money, but it'll do more to help you get into grad school. Also, those jobs tend to be more open.
It really depends on the company. Most CS-Oriented companies will probably ask you questions about code, data structures, and algorithms. For these, I would recommend looking into a book called Programming Interviews Exposed. If you look hard enough, you can find a PDF online.
Other companies might ask behavioral questions. For these it would be best to recall a few teamwork or project situations you've been in and what happened. The companies that ask these questions are usually looking for answers in the STAR format (Situation/Task, Action, Result). Some examples would be "Have you ever worked with a difficult team member? How did you handle it?" or "Tell us about a time when you faced adversity in a project. How did you overcome it?"
You can definitely find tons of example interview questions by Googling around. If you interview isn't for a while, you can also go to the CCO and do a mock interview. I've never done one of those, but I'm sure they're helpful.
My interviews were anywhere from 4-6 hours each so detailing the questions would take all day. I will say that this book helped a ton. If you are serious about getting a trading job make sure you understand and are able to do the problems in this book from front to back
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0994138695/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0
"Heard on the Street: Quantitative Questions from Wall Street Job Interviews"
One that's overlooked a lot but I found more helpful than Cheng/Consentino is "How to get into the top consulting firms: a surefire case interview method."
http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Into-Consulting-Firms/dp/0615279899
I'm about halfway through Purple Squirrel by Michael Junge. I'm going to reread the section on interviewing. Any other books you'd recommend?
One thing that I've never done correctly is find questions to ask the interviewer. I never know what to ask. I'm thinking it will be easier to find questions about this job since it's something I'm interested in, but what are interviewers expecting to hear interviewees ask?
Why You? is quite a good book that explains interviews from the point of view of the interviewer quite well, IMO. It looks like a slog (101 questions is a lot), but really there are only 15 and they're all covered in chapter 2.
Finding Jobs with a Psychology Bachelor's Degree: Expert Advise for Launching Your Career
theres no backtracking or anything, but if you want to transfer in, you'll just have to put in more effort for the resume stage and also the interview stage
https://www.amazon.com/Google-R%C3%A9sum%C3%A9-Prepare-Microsoft-Company/dp/151138459X -- this is a good book to learn how to describe your work experience in a way that they will respond to
re: the interview, theres countless resources but Elements of Programming Interviews stands out. that and tons of leetcode. you will likely have some design interviews too, i unfortunately dont have any resources to recommend for that, but others may
The Power of the Subconscious Mind is a good one. A key thing it talks about is how not to let others affect your mood negatively. It talks about heterosuggestions and autosuggestions... understanding those things can help a person right away.
I've heard great things about How To Win Friends and Influence People, but I haven't read it yet. May want to check that out.
Lastly, off the top of my head, Convince Them in 90 Seconds or Less. This teaches some basic principles for approaching new situations with a strong professional and composed manner.
Good luck! Remember, investing time and energy on yourself is time well spent.
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
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amazon.it
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amazon.nl
amazon.co.jp
Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
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Here is the desktop version of your link
Yes, let me know. I have worked in China 6 years and worked as a medical interpreter in the US. I have a website (http://www.chinalifefiles.com/) and book (https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-China-Guide-English-Relocate-ebook/dp/B01CUYT3IS/) which covers learning Chinese.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471383562
Here's the link, latest one, click using your mobile...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZVV5TFG
Your resume could use some work.
Also, get yourself this book:
Purple Squirrel. The electronic version is pretty cheap and has a lot of good career advice, and a great section on writing a resume tailored to the Software industry. The book is written by the main recruiter at Google so he knows what he's talking about.
https://www.amazon.com/Build-Real-Career-Bewildering-Economy-ebook/dp/B00JJX2KZM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526078979&sr=8-2&keywords=charles+hugh+smith
There is another one I had called "Work your way around the world"
http://www.amazon.com/Work-Your-Around-World-Edition/dp/1854583670
The first one is about the mindset of traveling and I like that. If you are young and in good health, with the internet you could travel in Europe and Asia probably mostly for free. Everyone I know who has traveled, makes friends around the world and finds places to stay and things to do for free or very cheap.
How old are you?
"Why You?" by the chairman of the Reed recruitment agency is a pretty good book - it lists 101 questions (15 of which are "fateful" questions) which are commonly asked in interviews and strategies for answering those questions. I've attended more than 200 interviews in my career and I can confirm that it does cover pretty much all of the non-technical questions I was ever asked.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-You-Interview-Questions-Youll/dp/0241970210
After reading this book, or another list of commonly asked interview questions, make notes on how you're going to answer those questions and practise practise practise.
Good luck!
I do! I am a research assistant for a big hospital on a clinical trial. I do technical writing stuff but I'm thrilled because it's not customer service and I get super good health care benefits.
As for your sister, you should get her this book "I'm an English major, now what?"
It's all about applying the basics. Now that I think about it, I've never seen a question that required more than one or two Stats/Prob undergrad courses. The tough part is figuring it out on the spot / approximating in your head.
If you haven't seen already, some examples:
I just wrote a eBook on Flipping on eBay.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C39T9YN
It is FREE until Wednesday. I know people look down upon "get rich type books", all authors use it for clickbait, so give me a break haha. There seriously is a lot of great info in here. Im sure everyone here knows how to buy and sell easily, but the 2nd half of the book I give away my tops sites that i use to source my products. My biggest one is a site where you can buy BULK returned items and brand new items called "shelf pulls" that didnt sell. If you could leave a review or just message me what you think about it or how i can improve it i'd really appreciate it!
If you've got something exciting in mind, you can buy this used hardcover for 4 dollars: http://www.amazon.com/You-Want-Go-Where-Someone/dp/1602396477/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324007862&sr=1-1
A couple more that may interest you:
http://www.amazon.com/Other-Guys-Dime-Professionals-Traveling/dp/1934690406/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324007665&sr=1-1-fkmr2
http://www.amazon.com/Work-Your-Around-World-13th/dp/1854583670/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324007815&sr=1-8
If its a windows environment you will be working in, which is the most common, there is a good list available here:
http://www.ultimatewindowssecurity.com/securitylog/encyclopedia/Default.aspx
Note that versions after xp have different codes for the same event.
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Also this may sound a little corny, but it is a really good reference for Netsec Interviews:
http://www.amazon.com/IT-Security-Interviews-Exposed-Information/dp/0471779873
One of the authors is Russ Rogers (One of my mentors), a really smart guy that has done a lot in the security community.
I took it for an undergrad management course 20+ years ago: INTJ; I took it again for the Master's degree ~13 years ago, got the same INTJ; I took it again for a bond trader position 6 or 8-ish years ago, also INTJ -- the only changes I've seen over time are the "J" expands and contracts, the "I" remains dominant, and the "N" and "T" remain nearly fixed.
 
Some believe in the test more than others, (e.g., large corporate human resources departments) and certain senior executive, trading, investment management, portfolio management, and plain management positions usually require a complete psychological evaluation that may use some form of myers-briggs.
 
From what I remember, there are many differing versions, some of which have fallen out-of-favor, but this was at a time when the brainteaser interviews were all the rage (now those are falling out of fashion)...
¯\(ツ)/¯