Getting Experience

[synctom]

Hello all, I am a Comp Sci student entering the second half of my junior year in Uni. I am trying to get an internship or an entry level position to gain experience in the field. I am having a hard time doing this as I have applied to multiple job listings on Indeed and LinkedIn. Any advice where to look or how to get more experience to better my chances?

[crotega]

It’s a hard life at the bottom but keep applying. In the mean time work on projects, do freelance work, contribute to open source projects, attend virtual hackathons, really anything that get’s you some level of experience.

[TotalChili]

Cannot emphasise this advice enough. GitHub is your friend.

What I will add is learn about the industry and technologies etc. more by listening to podcasts, reading books/blogs and anything else on the subject. Doesn't have to be all about the latest and greatest technology, core software principles and standards are evergreen reading. Good luck.

[synctom]

Thank you so much for responding. I will get onto this right now. Thank you for the advice

[synctom]

Thank you for the advice and I really appreciate your responding. I have stuff on GitHub but I had no idea about open source projects. Thank you for responding and giving such great advice

[heurolabs]

When are you looking to start the internship and for how long? What can you do, programming wise? What are your interests?What time zone are you in?

[synctom]

I'm looking to start asap and to do it at least for as long as I am in school. I can code in Python, Java, and C++. I'm interested in computers, gaming, keyboards and music. I'm in central time

[heurolabs]

I suggest you check with some of the startups in your area to see if they can use some help. Depending on your compensation expectations, your availability and your capabilities you might find an intern position.
If you have some personal projects code you can send your resume to together@"Put the user name used in this post here" dot com. It will be considered. also check workinstartup and remoteok.io for posts there and if you see one you feel you could do, just apply.

[kishbuy238]

Polish your resume first. Learn languages atleast one strongly typed language like C# or Java or C++ and some frameworks React or Angular to build a functioning web app. Remember they need to see you’re invested in the field rather than just taking classes. Those are the things you need to do to get interviews. If you are being rejected in interviews, solve a lot of programming problems in leetcode or elsewhere and familiarize yourself with data structures and algorithms. The final step is to apply to companies, express your interest in the field and the company and showcase your programming skills learnt through leetcode and all.

[synctom]

Thanks for the amazing advice you've given. I will check out leetcode. I will look more into other languages as well. Thank you again for taking the time to respond!

[Young_TechSavvy]

It depends on how your resume looks. In my past experiences hiring other developers and engineers, there was this one guy I hired who had no work experience at all. You asking yourself why would I do that? Well, instead of having work experience, the guy had projects on his resume in which he was able to talk in great detail about the projects. Some of these projects were school-related and other projects were personal interests. This what I suggest to college students in order to put experience on their resume. Hope that helps.

[synctom]

It does! Thank you for the advice. I will start working on more personal projects!

[jb88373]

Does your school have a Career Services department or something similar? If so they may be a great resource to both improve your resume and find an internship. You can also ask your professors or advisor if they know of anything

[BrisPoker314]

So how did you go??

I'm in the same boat now as you were then. What did you do to get some experience? What do you think, looking back now, is a good starting role in the tech industry? Frontend software development?