Hi,

I used to say that experienced developers from overseas were usually treated as fresh graduates once hired by a financial firm. Now I see some exceptions.

One of my friends came to US in late 2006 and immediately joined Lehman Brothers as a contractor (not a permanent staff). In Feb 2007, he said the job was not difficult for a guy with years experience as a java programmer and team lead in Singapore.

In mid 2007, he said the role was something of a lead role in the testing area. He didn’t say whether his role changed in early 2007 or it was a lead role from beginning.

I interviewed a few financial firms as a java candidate. One of the financial firms was more serious than other firms and spent many hours with me to find out my experience. They were thinking whether to take me on as a senior developer.

Now I feel there are 2 simple (but non-trivial) ways to prove you are more experienced than a fresh graduate. Become

1) Familiar with sql joins, java threads (including deadlock), collections, Garbage collection
2) familiar with your past projects, at least 1