On 20/08/2012 3:44 PM, Invisible wrote:
> I'm supposed to give a presentation. /Clearly/ I don't stand a
> snowball's chance in hell of getting this job.

Here is an idea: Prepare beforehand a presentation about something you 
know very well, say Haskell. Make it short and keep it simple. If you 
can do some power point slides then save them onto a flash drive. It is 
good to say that you have done some preparation. They might not be used 
but brownie points anyway. Don't over prepare, though, send a maximum of 
a couple of hours on it.

Good luck and the best of British. :-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Don't worry. I already know I won't get the job.

Good.  Now that you got rid of that pressure for not failing, you can fail so
epically and beautifully that they feel hard-pressed to give you a chance.
Instead of trying and failing to be another bozo in a suit, just try your best
to show them you are a computer geek at heart.

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Am 20.08.2012 20:14, schrieb nemesis:
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> Don't worry. I already know I won't get the job.
>
> Good.  Now that you got rid of that pressure for not failing, you can fail so
> epically and beautifully that they feel hard-pressed to give you a chance.
> Instead of trying and failing to be another bozo in a suit, just try your best
> to show them you are a computer geek at heart.

Word!

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On 20/08/2012 07:14 PM, nemesis wrote:
> Good.  Now that you got rid of that pressure for not failing, you can fail so
> epically and beautifully that they feel hard-pressed to give you a chance.
> Instead of trying and failing to be another bozo in a suit, just try your best
> to show them you are a computer geek at heart.

Hmm. In every job that must be done, these is an element of fun. You 
/find/ the fun, and SNAP... the interviewer's gone insane!

No, wait...

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On 20/08/2012 04:19 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> Good luck with it, Andy.  Remember to breathe, and one of the best pieces
> of advice I received from a friend of the family before my last in-person
> interview was this:  keep your pants on. ;)

Marcus suggested the following: At least they can't string you up by 
your balls with a cheese wire.

That guy is slightly odd...

> The only people who are "interview experts" are people who can't keep a
> job.

I didn't say they're good employees. I said they are more likely to get 
hired.

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On 20/08/2012 06:59 PM, Stephen wrote:
> Here is an idea: Prepare beforehand a presentation about something you
> know very well, say Haskell. Make it short and keep it simple. If you
> can do some power point slides then save them onto a flash drive. It is
> good to say that you have done some preparation. They might not be used
> but brownie points anyway. Don't over prepare, though, send a maximum of
> a couple of hours on it.

Heh, I remember that time I had to do a presentation at uni. You 
remember the old projectors with the light table and the mirror? Do you 
know what it looks like when you puke on one? :-S

At any rate, it might be amusing to try to put together a presentation. 
I very much doubt I could do it in front of actual humans though. (How 
do you get over the fact that your audience doesn't give a damn, for 
example?)

> Good luck and the best of British. :-)

Heh, thanks.

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Am 21.08.2012 11:17, schrieb Invisible:
> On 20/08/2012 06:59 PM, Stephen wrote:
>> Here is an idea: Prepare beforehand a presentation about something you
>> know very well, say Haskell. Make it short and keep it simple. If you
>> can do some power point slides then save them onto a flash drive. It is
>> good to say that you have done some preparation. They might not be used
>> but brownie points anyway. Don't over prepare, though, send a maximum of
>> a couple of hours on it.
>
> Heh, I remember that time I had to do a presentation at uni. You
> remember the old projectors with the light table and the mirror? Do you
> know what it looks like when you puke on one? :-S

Please, tell me you didn't! >_<


> At any rate, it might be amusing to try to put together a presentation.
> I very much doubt I could do it in front of actual humans though. (How
> do you get over the fact that your audience doesn't give a damn, for
> example?)

If you're positively excited about it, you might have a chance.

Best advice when standing in front of a crowd looking at you: Find a 
friendly face. (And then talk to that face, or whatever other friendly 
ones you can find. Don't address the audience - address the individual 
people sitting there.)

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>> Heh, I remember that time I had to do a presentation at uni. You
>> remember the old projectors with the light table and the mirror? Do you
>> know what it looks like when you puke on one? :-S
>
> Please, tell me you didn't! >_<

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exMCfpUG5r4

>> (How
>> do you get over the fact that your audience doesn't give a damn, for
>> example?)
>
> If you're positively excited about it, you might have a chance.

Perhaps. But it's difficult to come across as excited and passionate 
when you're terrified to your mortal core.

> Best advice when standing in front of a crowd looking at you: Find a
> friendly face. (And then talk to that face, or whatever other friendly
> ones you can find. Don't address the audience - address the individual
> people sitting there.)

I don't know, man. If you're in a small gathering of people and you're 
having a private conversation with just one of them, that might come 
across as rude.

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Invisible wrote:
> >> (How
> >> do you get over the fact that your audience doesn't give a damn, for
> >> example?)
> >
> > If you're positively excited about it, you might have a chance.
>
> Perhaps. But it's difficult to come across as excited and passionate
> when you're terrified to your mortal core.

People have empathy. If you are excited and passionate, those in your audience
will feel some of that themselves. Having been in your situation themselves,
they will also understand your nervousness.

> > Best advice when standing in front of a crowd looking at you: Find a
> > friendly face. (And then talk to that face, or whatever other friendly
> > ones you can find. Don't address the audience - address the individual
> > people sitting there.)

One of the best things I learned at instructor school is that it is normal to be
nervous.

And indeed, after a few months of daily presentations, I found that I'd give a
lousy lecture if I didn't feel any butterflies at the lectern. Since then I
cultivate a small degree of stage fright, if necessary.

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On Tue, 21 Aug 2012 10:14:02 +0100, Invisible wrote:

> On 20/08/2012 04:19 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Good luck with it, Andy.  Remember to breathe, and one of the best
>> pieces of advice I received from a friend of the family before my last
>> in-person interview was this:  keep your pants on. ;)
> 
> Marcus suggested the following: At least they can't string you up by
> your balls with a cheese wire.
> 
> That guy is slightly odd...
> 
>> The only people who are "interview experts" are people who can't keep a
>> job.
> 
> I didn't say they're good employees. I said they are more likely to get
> hired.

Maybe before they've had a bunch of short-term jobs, but employers tend 
to look at employment history, and being a 'job hopper' tends to rate a 
prospective employee much lower.  There are costs to bringing someone 
onboard that if they don't think they'll make that back, they're less 
likely to make the investment.

Jim

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