Questions about entry level programming jobs

[Leavingtheecstasy]

I'm trying desperately to get a programming job or entry level software engineering job before I commit all the way to it in college. I would go for an internship but I live in a small city with basically one place that I can intern. So it's me vs every other college student who can code and I can't lie Im not the best at it. I have my moments where I can code well but Im not mr robot here. I'm more of a jack of all trades, master of none right now. I have a wide variety of skills that can be useful but little experience in each area.

Anyway all I want to know is what do you really need for an entry level software development job or internship?
I am skilled in java and python and I've made some bots for reddit and I fiddled with making games in unity for a minute.

Again I'm not very deep into the programming courses besides python and java and I don't know if I want to do this yet. So I'm trying to get a job in this field at least for a minute to see if I like it, which if I do this experience is immensely valuable to me.

Also, I know there may be some students who are more qualified than me, how much do you think I've upped my chances if I tell them they can pay me less than the position offers? I currently make 10 an hour while going to school, I believe whatever I get paid at an entry software developer position is around 15-20 an hour, so I can still take less money and still make more than what I do now. PLUS, I'm solely applying for experience, the fact that I'm getting paid is just a bonus. If I like the field and graduate in it, I know I can secure a bag in the future for sure.

 

[desjardins]

How you going to get a job in a town with no opportunity?
Also you say you are not good in development but expect a company to hire you over another applicant who may be in college AND better then you. It's possible but I'm not really seeing the selling point to the company
I guess I don't see the scenario where a company hires a person with no credentials, no work experience, who is still trying to figure out if they even want to do the profession for a coveted position. (All entry level IT jobs are HIGHLY coveted, even shytty ones just for the resume boost)
Maybe work on filling up a Github account with projects so you can show companies what you can do.

 

[Leavingtheecstasy]

How you going to get a job in a town with no opportunity?
Also you say you are not good in development but expect a company to hire you over another applicant who may be in college AND better then you. It's possible but I'm not really seeing the selling point to the company
I guess I don't see the scenario where a company hires a person with no credentials, no work experience, who is still trying to figure out if they even want to do the profession for a coveted position. (All entry level IT jobs are HIGHLY coveted, even shytty ones just for the resume boost)
Maybe work on filling up a Github account with projects so you can show companies what you can do.

I am fine with getting a job out of town, after college. However it can't really happen while I'm currently in college.
You have a fair point. Idk how many people that are in my town that are better but it's possible. I still need to try.
Well I'm not gonna have credentials while I'm still in college and I'm not gonna tell the guy idk if I wanna be in the field yet.
Is there any specific helpful advice you have? I already know it's difficult, but I'm asking what I would need to know.
I do have experience in oop with java. It's not like I'm trying to walk in from high school and no knowledge whatsoever. But yes I am a bit underqualified for the position but I'm trying to bullshyt it if there's a way and then learn while I'm in the position and taking college courses.

It's not like it's a big ass tech company it's just a small clothing company that needs a couple extra coding hands.

 

[Obreh Winfrey]

A good portfolio and resume. You'd think that your competition is saddled up with internship experience and all that but they usually aren't. Make a github if you haven't work on meaningful projects and put those on your resume.

 

[desjardins]

.
Is there any specific helpful advice you have? I already know it's difficult, but I'm asking what I would need to know.
I do have experience in oop with java. It's not like I'm trying to walk in from high school and no knowledge whatsoever. But yes I am a bit underqualified for the position but I'm trying to bullshyt it if there's a way and then learn while I'm in the position and taking college courses.

It's not like it's a big ass tech company it's just a small clothing company that needs a couple extra coding hands.

My bad dawg didn't mean to be so negative, lol. I basically bullshytted my way into the industry cause the first job is hard to get since they want x years experience even for jr developer jobs. I was a "consultant" for a big consulting company on tech projects and studied and got the Java certification during that time and leveraged it into a entry level developer job at another company. This was like a decade ago though, now days I would look into github, doing open source, and honestly NETWORKING. Maybe go to local tech meet ups and kiss ass and become "friends" with somebody who maybe can reference you into a gig

 

[ImGucci]

The best way to get a entry level job in tech is from a staffing agency, that’s how I got mine.

But most staffing agencies require you to have a bachelors so you might not be eligible for all.

 

[satam55]

A good portfolio and resume. You'd think that your competition is saddled up with internship experience and all that but they usually aren't. Make a github if you haven't work on meaningful projects and put those on your resume.

Is just me or does it seem that it's way harder to get an entry-level job in programming/developing than in IT infrastructure?

 

[Obreh Winfrey]

Is just me or does it seem that it's way harder to get an entry-level in programming/developing than in IT infrastructure?

It sure fukking feels that way . I think it could be because of the applicant pool makeup. Entry level developer applicants seem to be all levels of college student plus recent grads, and then anyone trying to break in on top of that. More to that point I don't even think companies even know what they're looking for in a developer anymore. Seems like you could have the experience they're looking for exactly and get passed up for some BS reason.

For IT brehs I think most of the entry level applicants are guys hustling certs and maybe dudes with Associates degrees. I have friends with Bachelor's in the field and they're targeting network security, system engineer, things you'd need a few of the more involved certs for.

 

[satam55]

Is just me or does it seem that it's way harder to get an entry-level job in programming/developing than in IT infrastructure?

It sure fukking feels that way . I think it could be because of the applicant pool makeup. Entry level developer applicants seem to be all levels of college student plus recent grads, and then anyone trying to break in on top of that. More to that point I don't even think companies even know what they're looking for in a developer anymore. Seems like you could have the experience they're looking for exactly and get passed up for some BS reason.

For IT brehs I think most of the entry level applicants are guys hustling certs and maybe dudes with Associates degrees. I have friends with Bachelor's in the field and they're targeting network security, system engineer, things you'd need a few of the more involved certs for.

So I guess those coding bootcamp commercials I see on YouTube all the time like this...




would be a waste of money for some who didn't at least have a Bachelor's degree?

 

[Obreh Winfrey]

So I guess those coding bootcamp commercials I see on YouTube all the time like this...




would be a waste of money for some who didn't at least have a Bachelor's degree?

I don't know a lot about them but I feel it would be the opposite: a waste for someone already with a CS degree. A CS degree doesn't necessarily teach you how to code, but the science behind what we do with computers. Math, logic, concepts, etc. We can then apply that using languages. Along the way you'll take courses in databases, app development, things of that nature.

From what I understand about boot camps is that you learn how to code and how to use the popular frameworks. They train you to go through the interview process and tend to have direct connections to the industry. I don't think they're taught stuff like logic an automata, discreet math, basics of computer architecture.

To give a practical example,
float count = 0;
for (int i=0; i<10; i++) { count += 0.1; }
What's the value of count? Someone who went through boot camp might answer 1 while someone with a CS degree would answer 1.1 or something along those lines. Reason being is floating point numbers are an approximation so they don't always behave like you'd expect. Check the responses here : For loop with float as counter, increasing by 0.01, does not print expected float values

That said, if you want to inject yourself into being a developer then a boot camp might be the way to go. They'll get you up to speed and you should be able to go toe to toe with most developers in building an application. I don't think you'd be able to make as absent intelligent design decisions though.

 

[kevm3]

Github, portfolio, portfolio, portfolio. Maybe start up a blog as well. If you can show stuff you've done and talk about it convincingly, you'll be ahead of a lot of people.

 

[kevm3]

So I guess those coding bootcamp commercials I see on YouTube all the time like this...




would be a waste of money for some who didn't at least have a Bachelor's degree?

Depends. The days were guys were just coming out of bootcamp and getting outrageous salaries is over in most places. Those bootcamps have been pumping out tons of candidates that companies have enough cheap labor at the bottom. If you want to get a job starting out, you are going to have to apply to tons of companies. I told a lot of cats a while back if you don't love programming, this may not be the field for you because you have to constantly be learning. It really isn't easy to get into the door like it used to be. If you want to get in, expect to apply to at least 20 or 30 companies if not more. Can you get a job out of bootcamp? Yes. Should you expect $100,000? More like $60,000 or $70,000 and you will have to apply to quite a few companies.

 

[Obreh Winfrey]

I wouldn't be surprised if I'm over 100 companies by now and approaching over 250 applications, easy. You'll be on a first name basis with rejection.