Total of 6 years (my fault), graduated with honors. Can’t get a job because I don’t have experience. Countless applications out. Zero interviews.

  • blackstampede
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    1 month ago
    1. Get GitHub pro (4$/mo) and do two or three side projects. Try to space out commits so you have a little activity every day or so instead of a few big ones. Add a nice readme for your account.
    2. Update your resume. Use an online service, or ideally, run multiple drafts by some sort of career advisor at your school. It should be short, clear, and include a side projects section. Put your GitHub URL in it too.
    3. Clean and update your LinkedIn. It’s a shit website, but managers, HR, and c-suite people use it a lot. Make sure you have a nice headshot- it doesn’t have to be professional, but nice.
    4. Make a list of companies you’re interested in, find them on LinkedIn and connect with everyone you can from them. Prioritize management, HR, and company founders (for startups).
    5. Tell everyone you’re looking for work. The people you connect with on LinkedIn, friends, family, whatever. Be personable, somewhat funny, and don’t act desperate.
    6. NOW apply for positions at the companies you’ve got on your short list. Apply to every position you think you’re a fit for, give it a few weeks, and then apply to everything you might be able to figure out given some time. If you’ve had friendly interactions with people through LinkedIn, tell them you applied to a position at their company.
    7. Practice interviewing, but don’t feel like you have to be smooth and charismatic. Feel free to go off on nerd-tangents about related tech that you’re interested in. Most of the people interviewing you don’t have the expertise to tell if you actually know what you’re doing, so the way they identify good tech people is through stereotypes. If you act a little autistic or geeky, they’ll eat it up (most of the time).

    Good luck.