Job boards and where to look
General platforms such as LinkedIn, Indeed and ZipRecruiter remain the largest sources of technology openings, but niche boards often surface better-matched roles with less noise. Dice and Built In focus specifically on technology roles and are strong for engineering, security and data positions, while USAJobs.gov lists federal IT and cybersecurity openings, including roles with the Department of Defense and CISA that value professional certification and clearances.
For entry-level and internship searching, Handshake — used by most U.S. universities — and the ACS careers board, which lists roles from member employers across the Texas Tech Triangle and nationally, are worth checking weekly. Setting saved-search alerts on two or three boards is more effective than manually browsing a dozen.
- General: LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter
- Technology-specific: Dice, Built In, community and specialist group boards
- Government: USAJobs.gov
- ACS members: roles curated from ACS employer partners
Resume and portfolio guidance
Technical resumes should lead with concrete, quantified impact — systems built, performance improved, incidents resolved — rather than a list of tools, since most technical hiring managers skim in under 30 seconds. A single page is standard below ten years of experience; two pages are acceptable beyond that. Tailor keywords to each job description, since many employers screen with applicant tracking systems before a human reads anything.
A portfolio matters as much as a resume for software, data and design roles: a public repository with a few well-documented, complete projects demonstrates real ability far better than a list of credentials or dozens of abandoned tutorials. UX candidates should build short case studies showing problem, process and outcome for two or three projects rather than final visuals alone. ACS chapters run resume-review evenings where working professionals give direct, role-specific feedback.
Interview preparation
Technical interviews vary widely by role: software engineering loops typically include live or take-home coding exercises and system-design discussions; data and ML roles add case studies and statistics questions; security and IT support roles lean on scenario-based troubleshooting. Free practice platforms such as LeetCode, HackerRank and Exercism are widely used for coding rounds, while Pramp and interviewing.io offer peer mock interviews with live feedback.
Behavioral interviewing is consistently underprepared relative to technical rounds. Using a structured format such as STAR — situation, task, action, result — to prepare two or three strong stories about conflict, failure and leadership pays off across nearly every interview loop. ACS chapters host mock interview sessions ahead of major hiring seasons, pairing candidates with volunteer engineers and hiring managers from local employers.
Salary benchmarking
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program is the most rigorous public source for median pay by occupation and metro area, and is the benchmark ACS uses throughout this hub. For real-time, self-reported market data, levels.fyi is widely used in software and product roles, while Glassdoor, Payscale and Built In's local salary reports fill gaps for roles and regions BLS does not break out granularly.
Texas context matters: Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston each have distinct cost-of-living and salary bands, and BLS publishes metro-level wage data that is far more useful for negotiation than national medians alone. Compare at least two sources before entering a negotiation, since self-reported sites skew toward large employers and can inflate perceived market rates for smaller-company roles.
Mentoring
ACS runs a structured mentoring program pairing early-career members with experienced professionals in a similar discipline for a six-month cycle covering goal-setting, skill development and career transitions. Matches are made on stated interests — a mentee moving from IT support into cybersecurity is paired with a working security practitioner rather than a generalist.
Beyond the ACS program, national efforts such as ADPList (free, volunteer-driven) and MentorCruise (paid) provide additional access to mentors across disciplines including product management and UX. Members are encouraged to seek both a technical mentor for skills and a career mentor for navigating promotion and workplace dynamics, since these are rarely the same person.
Chapters, specialist groups and events
ACS organizes its membership through regional chapters — including active chapters in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston forming the core of the Texas Tech Triangle — and national specialist groups covering cybersecurity, data and AI, software engineering and IT leadership. Chapters host monthly meetups, technical talks and the career support described throughout this hub, and dues are reduced for students and members between roles.
The Society's events calendar carries chapter meetups, specialist group sessions and ACS Satellite Days held alongside major industry conferences, several with dedicated career-fair hours. Members can register for chapter mailing lists through their local chapter page and see everything upcoming on the events calendar.
- Chapters across the Texas Tech Triangle and nationwide
- Specialist groups: cybersecurity, data and AI, software engineering, IT leadership
- Career-fair hours at ACS Satellite Days and chapter job fairs
- Reduced dues for students and members between roles