What should I do to make myself marketable after I graduate?

Question

I'm going to graduate with a CS degree in a few months, but I'm concerned about my prospects. The required classes for a degree at my school are not giving me as many real-world type skills as I would like, and they don't offer very many electives that teach tangible skills. Theory and abstract programming is nice, but I'm not getting experience applying any of it.

The classes I've taken have stressed data structures, algorithms, etc. In 3 years the only language they've even given me a taste of is Java, and that was not as thorough as I would have liked.

I've done some programming on my own, but I'm not going to graduate knowing all those lovely acronyms employers want: J2EE (and Java et. al), C/C++, VB/C#/.NET, etc.

I've got some basic RDBMS experience, but don't have any experience (or access to) Oracle, MS SQL, etc. Most employers aren't looking for MySQL/Postgre.

What should I do? Will I be able to find a job? Do recent CS graduates make very good money? Thank you.

Answer 1

If I were in your shoes, I would decided upon the kind of sub-industry I would like to be involved in (graphics, database, security, etc.) and do some research on it.

I would then write an application in that arena and bring a laptop with my demo to the interview.

Nothing says know-how and initiative like a working sample of your skills.

Answer 2

When I hire someone, I am interesting in a good attitude, and the ability to learn. Having experience in the technologies listed in the job posting is necessary, but this experience could be from coursework or from hobby work. I mostly want to know that the applicant could hit the ground at least walking -- because they have book learning on the subject, or have been hacking away at home on it with a passion.

If you are finding a lot of the same acronyms on the job postings you are surveying, then download the dev tools and play with them. Get books and do some tutorials and build simple applications.

Then when you get your resume ready for a job posting, TAILOR it to the job. Always do this. You should print resumes one at a time, never by the dozen. Highlight your experience in the technologies, and don't be afraid to be really brief if you have only read a book and done one tutorial. Mention the technology in your resume, get yourself in the door, then explain that you have done just a tiny bit, but that you are a great worker and could learn more about the technology and be productive in just a week's time. If you get the job, don't let me down.

BTW, if you are not truly passionate about programming, change your major and be an artist or whatever. You gotta be happy!

Answer 3

It's tough to get a good engineering job with out any relative job experience. Even harder with software as they want people who can be off writing code in a week. I would focus on broadening your skill set and get some LAN/WAN, Wi-Fi experince and basic PC knowledge. You should be able to install all standard PC components into a bare system, install the OS and have it connected to a LAN in no more than 3 hours...

Answer 4

Well from personal experience I've managed to get jobs with 0 experience before. PHP and Oracle? never done them before.. though I did do Ruby and MySQL, and was able to relate that during the interview.

I recently wrote a couple of posts on getting into video game programming jobs:
http://compsci.ca/blog/thoughts-on-video-game-programming-jobs/
http://compsci.ca/blog/more-on-video-game-and-programming-jobs/

Though I think they can relate to any programming career - be diverse, passionate, and having something to show for yourself. Contributing to Open Source communities can help you demonstrate all of the above.

Answer 5

there's a severe call for for ESL. There are 2 issues that could make you greater marketable, a larger degree (Masters, EdS, EdD) or national instructor Certification. All colleges pay greater for progressed levels yet some additionally pay greater for the NTC.