After a day of uncertainty as to if I could even make it to the city (my gentle stomach was revolting) I traveled to Columbia University at the behest of the VP for Corporate Affairs for the student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery to talk about careers in computer science. Truth be told, I had previously interviewed several of the chapter's officers while at GridApp; sadly none of these great folks were hired because the evil fingers of the economy were beginning to pinch at the company's bottom line.

Back to the topic at hand.

I had initially considered talking about dollars and sense but in the end focused on the sense part - as in common sense and using one's senses to sniff out possible opportunities. Here was my plan:

It’s not the degree nor the school – it’s your brand
What programming issues do professionals face?
What areas will be hot for CS majors?
Staying in front – listening to those on the street & prospecting for positions instead of applying to them

I've attached the PowerPoint presentation; feel free to use it but give me some credit!

Finally, here's a short video of the group - and me making a video faux pas by practically shooting up my nose. The group is comprised of sophs, juniors, seniors and a grad student or two who want an internship at your company. These are not your ordinary post-a-stupid-picture of yourself on Facebook types; we had an exceptionally good discussion about programming errors and I'll even wager that they're better than some of your current developers.

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Hey, I'm a New Yorker and I speak the truth. Let me know when you want their resumes...