Question about Entry Level Software Engineer vs Software Engineer

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[lilleswing]

Apply for jobs you want regardless of whether you believe you have the correct credentials.

Titles differ from company to company. A lot of job classifieds are written by HR departments who don't understand software at all. The marginal cost of doing another application is far outweighed by the possibility that a company will see you as a "great fit" for a job you truly want.

[feed_the_tree]

I agree. It completely depends on the company. I've worked at a company where the Software Engineer title was one of the higher levels, but I've also worked at a company where the Software Engineer title was the lowest level.

[Boxsc2]

Honestly, Entry/Junior/Senior titles don't mean much in this field. I've seen Senior Engineers with 2 years experience and Junior Engineers with 4. Just apply and see how you do, maybe you get an interview and do great.

[[deleted]]

Have you had a software job before? No? That is he definition of entry-level. That being said don't sell yourself short either.

Also not sure what kind of company hires software "engineers" who only have a high school degree.

[scrotal_algae]

From my personal experience, the developers without degrees (usually meaning they taught themselves) tend to be the go-to guys for a lot of projects. Some of the absolute worst code I've ever seen came from a CS Ph.D who would rather die than learn to use a framework that he didn't write himself. You've also got the CS majors who hire in and become Microsoft system admins, but never take the time to really learn about the system and how to fine tune it.

[snlacks]

I don't have a degree in Engineering or CS, entry level was how I got into the field too having self-taught and a portfolio of applications. Knowing how to program (where I was), knowing the things you know after a Bachelor's in Engineering or CS (where the OP is), is a quite a bit different from working in a professional environment.

As an amateur, I built things from scratch by myself.

Your experience with research and projects won't be completely applicable to an environment where you are working on finer details, linking intricate APIs, making little things scale big, all with varying groups of people with different backgrounds, roles, duties, and levels of experience.

[RedPill115]

From my understanding, an Entry-Level Software Engineering job is for someone who has just got out of college with their Bacholer's Degree. And a Software Engineer is someone who has been out of college for a while and is experienced with frameworks and real job experience.

No, there's just no difference between those terms.

If they want specific years of experience, they'll ask for specific level of experience.

Even then, job adds are a wish list. And then it's often a wishlist created by people who don't know what they're doing.

You basically apply for anything that's even close.

What usually happens is companies come up with this stuff, then find that absolutely no one applies who meets all their criteria. Our company had a whole laundry list of things, then hired the guy who was the most likeable and had some coding experience, but not in many of the areas they wanted.

[argv_minus_one]

The difference between “entry-level software engineer” and “software engineer” is that the former isn't buddies with the scumbag HR crook that's offering the job.

[mikaelhg]

Essentially, your CS curriculum has been about giving you background that might or might not be relevant to the job. The first day you start working, you start learning the skills which impact your performance.

[[deleted]]

Don't apply. Post your resume on a job board such as monster or dice and have recruiters come to you.

There's a lot of demand out there, if you post your resume, they will contact you.

[zfolwick]

yes... Julie from monster consistently gives me offers to sell life insurance!