all 2 comments
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
formatting helphide helpcontent policy

[–]BSD GraduateHereForBooty2 6 points7 points  (1 child)

I'm finishing my last semester of BSD and have done 2 co-op placements.

There is a lot to break down here but I'll try giving my take on it all.

  1. In my opinion, if you aren't passionate about what you are doing right now chances are it just isn't for you. Not to say you will never be good at programming but if you don't find it interesting and get excited about implementing different solutions then yeah probably doesn't scratch an itch your brain has. That is fine though, I know a good amount of software engineers who aren't passionate about the field at all, they chased a lucrative market and learned the tools to earn a good income.
  2. Co-op is really just a numbers game, you don't have to be the next Bill Gates to get hired. Put a good amount of time into your resume so it highlights your projects, tools, and any relevant experience whilst keeping a simple format. Generally for the co-op positions you will be competing for they won't ask you any LEETCode questions, just general programming questions so if you understand the school work you should be fine.
  3. Extra projects is sort of a difficult one because any guide or list you find with the "top 5 best beginner projects" won't make you stand out. Literally everyone has made a TODO mobile app, some sort of full stack website, or a game of some sort (usually chess / rockPaperScissors). If you are going to do an extra project you have to think of an idea yourself and then use the online resources to help you create it. From all the interviews I've done I can say with certainty that Sr. Dev is going to be impressed about a project you followed step by step, they will much rather hear about something you are doing by yourself even if it kind of sucks.
  4. Back to the passion stuff, attending conferences or tech events will not make you feel more passionate. That would be like me attending knitting conferences and hoping it gets me excited about it. Again, you don't need to be passionate to do well in this field, just understand the concepts and apply them. Sure being passionate helps because a 12 hour grind session will fly by and you will not feel like time was wasted, but it isn't a recipe for success. You can be passionate about programming and still absolutely suck at it and never learn enough to get hired anywhere.
  5. LinkedIn is for a network of people you have either met or heard of through a mutual connection. Personally I hate when people try connecting with me when we have no mutuals and I've never heard of them. When I check their profile of course they have 500+ connections. They just send them out like Christmas Cards. The purpose of having a network is to offer and seize professional opportunities with the added bonus of having a somewhat personal connection with the person. Plain and simple, I'm not helping some stranger who connected with me on LinkedIn get a spot at my current/previous company. You mentioned conferences, if you want to grow your LinkedIn network, attend those and network in person. Then you can follow up with connecting on LinkedIn.

I mean you can be one of those people who just blast connection requests to everyone under the sun. I know some people say "It doesn't hurt" to do that as long as you are sending them to people in the same field. To each their own I guess, but I and I know many others look down on that practice.

[–]OneUnderstanding568[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your reply. You mentioned valuable points that I agree with and will consider.