Hi there, long time reader first time poster here...
I just thought I'd ask how some of you got your start?
Perhaps a bit about me... I graduated in May with a BS in CS from a decent state school (our state's are, I think, perhaps a little above average, but I know it still doesn't look nearly as good as a private school). I'm afraid my GPA is not very impressive as I had a lot of trouble with Discrete Math and a few others. Our school had very few internship opportunities; I tried out but couldn't get into anything, so I essentially have no experience.
I guess I'm what you'd call a nerd, though I've never had much affection for the term. I've been interested in programming since I learned BASIC in 4th grade and I've written things for my personal use as a hobby ever since. I have a .com set up with a few examples (mostly PHP and some shell scripts), but it's really minor stuff and it's a personal site with a blog so I haven't really felt comfortable putting it on my resume or anything like that.
I really do enjoy programming and learning about all sorts of technology. I set up a Linux box a few years back and tinker with it on and off. I just recently added a Mac to my collection and use it primarily, though I try not to mention this in interviews as I think people don't like Mac users. I try to play up the fact that I've used Windows exclusively for most of my life.
I went to several career counselors, who alternately told me to try out for Software Testing or Tech Support positions, just to get my start. I've managed to get interviews for several of each, but obviously nothing yet. The Software Testing people don't like me because I have no experience, and the Tech Support people don't like me because they're almost all sales positions in disguise (slimeballs) and I'm not likely to make a good salesman (I'm somewhat an introvert).
It seems like all the postings I see require not only a huge laundry list of languages (my specialty is self-taught PHP; my education focused almost entirely on Java, with some C). In particular, everyone seems to want C# which I've had no exposure to. I suppose I could boot into Windows and teach myself, but I'd still have no proof of knowing it.
I've been looking for more than six months without success and I'm desperate. At this point I'm applying at retail stores because rent is starting to drain my savings, but even those interviews don't seem to go anywhere, I suspect because people can tell I'm sort of introverted, or maybe they're suspicious of the recent college degree. I'd be beyond thrilled to get a full-time position that has anything at all to do with computers, basically, even at minimum wage.
I'm within commuting distance of a moderately-sized city (sorry for the vagueness, but I'm a little paranoid about revealing anything regarding my identity), which isn't doing very well economically I think. People tell me I should move to someplace like Virginia or Utah, but I don't see how I can pick up everything and go someplace without a paystub to show a landlord or any more guarantee of a job, especially with my dwindling savings.
I guess I kind of rambled there, sorry about that. I just wondered if maybe someone had some ideas I hadn't thought of, or wanted to share their story of how they started in the industry.
C
Coriolis
@Coriolis
0
Reputation
1
Posts
16
Profile views
0
Followers
0
Following
Best posts made by Coriolis
This user hasn't posted anything yet.
Latest posts made by Coriolis
-
Starting out, or trying to (advice?)