Recently while filling out a bank form online, I had the option to receive emailed statements rather than dead trees in the mail. The checkbox looked like this:

I preferred the dead trees, so I left the box unchecked and clicked “submit.” The page came back with an error and pointed out that checkbox actually looked like this:

Of course, I wasn’t being given the option to receive emailed statements, but rather the bank needed me to acknowledge that I would receive emailed statements, despite my preference.

It doesn’t make sense when you think about it. A checkbox field is always a required field, whether or not it has a little red asterisk. It only returns true or false; it can’t return null. It doesn’t make sense to give the user an error saying they didn’t give an answer for the checkbox, because not checking it is an answer.

My grievance is not that the bank was forcing me into emailed statements (though I am miffed about it). Rather, it annoys me that requiredness is not consistent among field types. Making any other kind of field required means that the user must give some answer. Making a checkbox required means that the user must give a particular answer.

I realize that using a checkbox is the normal way for a user to agree to some stipulation, but usually there’s an explanation such as, “Please indicate that you have read our terms and conditions by checking the box.” In this example, the box was mixed in with other input fields, and I don’t think that the red asterisk was sufficient to replace that instruction.

It would be great if browsers were more consistent about what required input means. In the meantime, if you must use a “required” checkbox, don’t expect your users to understand that from a red asterisk alone.

Kareen Troussard, a student in Paris, said the episode might have saved her. “I want to major in computer science,” she said in an e-mail, “and Vassar doesn’t even know how to use a computer on the biggest day of our lives.”

I know it’s just a quip, but it unfairly blames the computer science department for a mistake in the admissions office. The quote stems from three common misconceptions:

Misconception #1: The computer science department is responsible for all of the college’s electronic activities.
Reality: Very few, if any, college computer science departments are also responsible for IT at the school.  Teaching computer science and maintaining a system are very different jobs, and Vassar has an entire Computing and Information Services department to handle their IT. (Even Vassar students don’t understand this distinction. The CS department had to put a sign on the door saying saying visitors looking for IT help were in the wrong building.)

Misconception #2: Learning computer science is the same as learning to use a computer.
Reality: Writing software and using software require vastly different skill sets. Computer science students learn about math, logic, algorithms, and programming languages, not how to use Microsoft Word or admissions software. You can’t assume that a “good computer scientist” is “good with computers,” or vice versa. (As I’ve blogged before, this is one of the misconceptions that keeps people away from studying CS.)

Misconception #3: The mistake arose from someone not knowing how to “use a computer.”
Reality:  Someone “used a computer” very successfully to send an admissions decision to 76 applicants. However, they neglected to update the text that the candidates would see. The culprit is forgetful, not technically-impaired. Moreover, using “You’re accepted” in filler text rather than, “This is a test,” was just asking for trouble.

While I certainly came upon cases in school when it seemed like “Vassar didn’t even know how to use a computer,” I hate this vague accusation that my department is somehow responsible for the error. Vassar students and faculty are amazing people, and studying computer science with them was a blast. Even though a Vassar website was at fault, I’d hate to think a student passed over studying computer science there because of it. Go ahead and blame the institution, but leave my department out of it.

Well, I haven’t been. Senioritis has gotten the best of me. It’s been very difficult to bring myself to work my thesis and Japanese assignments knowing that in 11 days it will all average out to a grade on my transcript that’s mostly predetermined by now. It doesn’t help that I have already secured my post-graduation job. I felt weak and unmotivated yesterday as I struggled to write and prepare my thesis presentation. I needed a boost, but didn’t know where to get it.

I eventually realized that I wanted a couple more features in my research project’s map application for presentation purposes. Boom, I opened my IDE! Boom, I code got banged out! Once I had a task closer to doing what I love, I was suddenly able to focus and be productive. 

While I don’t agree with everything he says, I love motivational speaker Marcus Buckingham‘s adage that your strengths aren’t what you’re good at, but instead “your strengths are those activities that make you feel strong.” Writing code is one of my strengths because when I develop a clever function or overcome a tricky bug, I feel like I can do absolutely anything.

Once I finished writing the extra functions for my presentation, I had a renewed drive to be productive which helped me get through writing the rest of the presentation. From now on I’ll keep my side-projects in mind for when I need an extra burst of productivity.

Don’t even think about doing it in a coffee shop. Quiet, clean room. Absolutely no environmental hustle and bustle, none.  Oh, and when I say “quiet, clean room?” Assume I mean “quiet, clean room with no weird crap in the background.”

Two years ago I interviewed for a lead instructor position at a kids’ tech summer camp. Since I was still finishing my spring semester in college in New York and the job would be back home in the Bay Area, we did the interview on Skype. However, living in a dorm with a roommate and lots of friends who came when they pleased meant that my living space wasn’t going to cut it as an interview location. (The dorm room also violated the “no weird crap in the background” advice.)

I considered academic buildings and dorm parlors, but since I couldn’t reserve them, I still ran the risk of interruptions. When I mentioned my dilemma to my advisor, she suggested I reserve a study space room in the college library. Not only did that space let me have an uninterrupted block of time, but it also had bright lighting, a well-maintained internet connection, and the added bonus of shelves of books for my backdrop.

Libraries are a great option for non-college students, too, but make sure your local library’s study rooms are well lit and offer internet and electricity before you reserve one.

I can’t guarantee that the interview location will make or break your application, but it worked for me – I got the job!

A notable article on hacking oneself a standing desk made the rounds of Hacker News and Lifehacker this week. Tonight, I needed the energy for one last push to get some work done and stop slacking off. Lacking the motivation to actually put my desk chair atop my desk, I pulled some cardboard boxes out of my closet and made do. It’s a little rickety, but it gets the job done, and I got my work done.

• “If you had to work in a different group or department within your company, what group would you join? Who is working on something you’re interested in?”

Hands down, this question got the most, “Ooh, that’s a good question,” responses. I like it because it tells me what groups have exciting new projects within the company, and whether the employees are excited about their company’s up-and-coming projects. I get excited when engineers are excited about what their coworkers are doing. I think interviewers like this question because it’s a little out-of-the-box and because they get to talk about their own experiences with and opinions of the company.

This is also a great question because you can easily ask it of every interviewer you get. When I meet six different interviewers from one company over the course of a day, it’s hard to come up with more questions I haven’t gotten answers to already. It’s also a question that isn’t usually answered already over the course of the interview.

• “Do project managers tend to come from technical or managerial backgrounds?”

This question says that even though I’m a programmer, I’m thinking about going into project management, and I want to make sure that track is available for me at this company.  I don’t know if this always comes across, but when I talk about the answer with the interviewer, I like to express my relief that the project managers have technical degrees. It can also be a warning sign if managers are overwhelmingly non-technical, but I have yet to hear that answer in an interview.

• “What kind of software development process do you use? Agile? Spiral? Waterfall? Something else? Do you think it works well for your group?”

I actually had a couple interviews at the Grace Hopper Conference last year where the interviewer didn’t know what I meant by development methodology – not a great sign. I happened to be interested in companies that use the Scrum method, but even if you don’t have a preference, the interviewer’s answer gives you an idea of whether the company has company-wide programming guidelines. If the interviewer responds, “Well, it’s a big company, so different groups do different things,” I like to follow up by asking what their group uses. If the interviewer is an HR rep, I ask if they can get back to me with the answer.

Of course, make sure you read up on different kinds of programming methodologies before you ask this question. Even if the interviewer answers with something you haven’t heard of, all you have to do is ask them to tell you about it, and say, “Oh, that sounds like [another methodology you do know about].”

• “How is writing code for your company different from writing code at other companies?”

I also like to phrase “other companies” as “normal companies” (though you can’t get away with that everywhere). This question is really another way of asking, “What makes your company special?” without using such vague wording. I like hearing about the programming challenges particular to the company, and I want to communicate to the interviewer that I’m interested in more than just “ordinary” programming (whether or not that’s what the company has to offer).

Have any other great interview questions to suggest, or any improvements on mine?

The format is always the same: a research librarian comes to class, loads the PowerPoint deck, and proceeds to tell us how to search the library catalogue, order books from Interlibrary Loan, cite a source, and use Google Advanced Search. They’ll probably throw in a few slides on why Wikipedia is unreliable as a scholarly resource. We’ll get more research sources related to the class context (like specialized history databases and science journals), but for the most part, the content is always the same. The class is pretty informative the first time, but by the third or fourth time, the repeated basic information is unbearably tedious.

Obviously, in the same way college students should have a basic understanding of mathematics and a foreign language (both graduation requirements at my college), we should know how to do scholarly research. If a background on basic research is going to be a class requirement, my preference would be for the library to host a lecture on the subject a few times a semester. Everyone would be able to attend the seminar once and receive a note on their transcript. Students would attend the lecture concurrently with or as a prerequisite for research-based classes, and professors with extra resources to introduce could do so without wasting excessive class time teaching us stuff we already know.

What really gets me is that the information the librarians present in these lectures is already listed online with links and step-by-step instructions. Even though I’ve posted before that I prefer attending a lecture and taking notes over getting notes online, I think online instructions are adequate in this case, especially for students in our generation who already understand how to build search terms.

I realize I’ve griped about my college enough in the past few weeks to change the name of my blog to “Carolyn Complains.” I just think that if research tools really need to be presented in class, the presentation does not need to take the entire class period. The professor can skip showing us Google, Wikipedia, and the library catalogue, move right onto the Interlibrary Loan and specialized databases, and refer students to the reference librarians if more help is needed.