Back in 2012, I graduated from the University of Applied Science with a bachelor’s degree in hand. I was clueless about what I should do next. Should I take a small break after studying for so long or should I jump pursuing getting a job in the IT field?
The Starting Point
I decided to go with the latter option after pondering my two options for a while :D. I didn’t want to waste another period just having a break, even though a small break doesn’t hurt.
One day I started to think about what I love to do and what skills I have that could be useful when looking for an IT job. I needed to be more specific first. What kind of IT job I should pursue?
Luckily I have done some sort of programming with HTML and PHP because I used to have a blog about internet marketing that I ended up selling to another person because I didn’t have much time to upkeep it and I wanted to concentrate on my graduation so that I can move in life :D
Then I decided to try software development because at least they do some programming. One thing for sure at this point for me is that I don’t want to program with PHP, because for me it was quite boring and an old language that has some sort of limitations.
At this point I didn’t even know how to program well because I didn’t learn it well during University, maybe it was because of my laziness or because I had a stressful life.
Anyway, I didn’t want that to let me down.
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First Steps First
So what I did next is that I knew I need to get better in programming because that’s going to be the most important skill I need to have in order to survive as a software developer I have to study.
So I bought a book that will teach you Java from zero to advanced level. I studied it and went through all tasks. It was really worth it because I learned a lot.
I learned how things work in programming, what is Java language in more detail, what it can be used for, and the list goes on and on.
After studying it for about half a year I got my skills much better than before, but of course, I had still much to learn but this was a good starting point.
Applying For Software Development Job
I was so eager and excited to start applying for a software development job. I did my CV and send applications to many places. How many of them do you think responded or gave me a chance for an interview?
The answer is only 20%.
I was quite surprised and depressed a bit because I didn’t know I can get this little amount of response. It was a good wake-up call because I knew that something was wrong, either with my application or with my skills.
When I asked the reason for those companies that rejected me after the interview, all of them answered that you don’t have enough experience.
So I took the tool of pondering again into use. I started to think about what was wrong.
I found out that I had two problems:
- CV was not in the best shape
- I’m lacking experience
But I had a solution for both of them, yes, even with the lack of experience I found a smart way to solve it.
I improved my CV by making it more appealing, precise and custom made and for lacking experience, I did my own project in order to show my ability in programming and what I can do.
If you want to know more in detail about how I solved those main problems you can read the full post of this in my blog: https://programmingape.com/how-i-landed-my-first-software-development-job-in-the-software-engineering-field/
There I will share with you very vital tips on improving your CV and how you actually can gain experience even though you have never worked in a company and you are a graduate student! I also have this full story. You will also get lots of useful software development-related topics.
After I solved both issues, the results were quite awesome.
The Results After Improvements I Did
CV: Response rate increased from 20% to 70%. I got more interview opportunities and more companies started to contact me.
Experience: Because I was able to show some kind of experience I landed my first job after first applying. No, I don’t joke, this was real.
My First Workplace
When I arrived at my workplace I was so excited. I didn’t know what was ahead of me. People were so kind there and I had a big adventure. I didn’t know software development was this awesome.
I had only 14 months’ contract so it wasn’t a permanent job, but I was happy about it. You have to start from somewhere. I had two goals in my mind back then with my first workplace:
- Gain real experience
- Have a good picture of what software developers really do
My first project with my team was something related to data sorting and it was not any kind of data. It had a huge volume of data and we needed to invent some sort of algorithm to sort them smartly.
The second project was much more interesting, it was so huge that even one consultant company consultant was hired. We had a quite big team if I recall we were a team of 10, and also in another city, there were a few more. I can’t disclose it much but it basically was an education web application that would be used by three Universities.
I learned so many things that it changed the picture of software development in my mind so drastically that it became eventually my passion. Now while I’m writing this I have been in the field for over 8 years.
I had so many good memories of my first workplace and I thank all those colleagues that I used to work with them.
Conclusion
Do you know how happy I was when I got that phone call and they told me that they would like to offer me a job? I was jumping and even dancing after that phone call :D. I know I might sound crazy but this was a huge step in my life.
I finally was able to start my career, get a salary and improve my life, and build my wealth as well.
My first job was so awesome. It was really an adventure. I never expected a software development job could be this interesting and challenging. I share more details in my blog about my first job and how few companies started to compete to get me in and what decision I made.
When I think about it now I feel so blessed and all thanks to God. My life has changed drastically in a good way.
Having a job is not just a job, it has positive effects on a person’s health IF it is a good job otherwise can make your health worse. It will also teach you many lessons and improve your social skills because you will interact with other people.
After over 8 years as a full-stack software developer, I think we should give better chance for graduate students or junior software developers to get jobs because they are our future in this field and they can grow quite fast.
