Backround: I am currently a Junior in college working towards a degree in MIS. I
ID: 642840 • Letter: B
Question
Backround: I am currently a Junior in college working towards a degree in MIS. I've been interning with a compnay for a 3 summers and a winter break in there. With only 11 months to go before I start marketing myself to potential employers I've decided to teach myself as much as possible about languages and platforms that are currently in high demand.
My school offers job placement, but I've heard stories where it doesn't work out so well for applicants. Its this reason I've started doing searches for jobs online - Dice, Monster, CareerBuilder, etc. It seems that the only jobs I can find reequire at least up to 5 years experience. I also know not every requirement needs to be exact.
Situation: Although I've not been in the field for 5 years, I would like to assure employers that I'd be able to keep up with someone who was. Experience is critical to self-development but I need somewhere to gain that experience. If you were an employer looking for someone with 5+ years experience, what would you expect them to know? How can you tell a 2 year from a 5 year besides a resume?
I know this question is very general and it could apply to many different levels. I'm mainly concerned with programming languages such as C#, Java, etc. I won't be an expert on either but I want to know what I can at least set as a goal?
Explanation / Answer
Usually if someone says 5+ years of experience, they actually mean it.
It takes time to get the experience necessary make some decisions with a level of confidence. 5 years is a mid level to senior position and should not be considered entry level (unless the job poster has no idea about job requirements of programmers, which definitely happens - like "5 years experience developing for iOS devices"). If you're to show them that you can keep up with the 5+ year people with having the equivalent of 2 years, then I would suggest showing adequate side projects and community activity (user groups, giving talks, etc), that can hopefully compensate for the difference.
Here's a couple of things that will help you:
Find and join your local user group (if there's not one, start one!) - User groups are a great way to meet other developers and better your craft. Most of all, you can network with potential employers and will gain connections to the teams you will potentially work with someday. Many local consulting firms and IT departments (including me) will search for new candidates at the user group first. Anyone who takes their time to come to these monthly obviously cares about what they do and will likely produce quality work.
Do freelance work on the side - Find family members and friends who have businesses or a local charity organization that doesn't have an IT budget or a website (trust me, there are a TON). Build software for them, or a website at a reduced rate or even free for charities. What you want to focus on here is not necessarily making money, but creating a project that is visible to the public and that you can point to on a resume. This self-starter experience is huge early on and will give you an edge.
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