Howzit all!

Here's a situation, your very keen on becoming good in programming and you put in all the time you can into studying. Now you get to a point where you feel comfortable to go and do a certain programming qualification and hopefully you get employement afterwards. After passing your exams and you have done programming for a year or two for yourself, how can you prove to the employer that you have got experience? Are there ways and means to program so that people will accept your experience?

Cheerz. .. .

A good way is to build a portfolio (website or hard copy) of the best programming projects that you have created. I don't mean just printing out code and putting it in a binder, I mean include documentation describing the project scope, goal/purpose, screen shots, code, etc. Make it look real nice and professional. Then you will have something that can showcase your skills.

jayman9,

OK great, thanks! Another question then. Where would I find these projects to work on if I'm not employed. Wait, what about some freelance programming for freeware programs etc. Any other ideas?

D101

http://www.rentacoder.com <- get paid to earn professional experience.
Or try to join a sourceforge project.

This may seem a bit of a noob question (because it really is) but what is project scope exactly? I've heard it used a lot but I've never been able to put a definition to it.

Scope is essentially how far you're going to go with a project. You scope out the project to include features and such, then try to stay as close to that scope statement as possible.

This is where the term "scope creep" comes from.... because inevitably the scope of the project moves over time... usually having to add more features.

Ah, now I understand why I never could define it, I was always lumping that in with Goal/Purpose. Thanks!

Heres another tip, at your current job show interest in a it geru or such. Example, after I finished my required A+ Certification I asked to go hang out with a database designer - given he was working on access and programming the macros with VB, but it was enough of a toe hold to have my boss notice i can program and gave me the project of designing and building an applicaiton . After a couple weeks of that I was handed my own programming projects and next I was having meetings with the vice president to implement it and now have a web appllicaiton to deal with now.
But anythign you do docuemtn it totally! Make yourself a power point summary of it with screen shots and the whol nine yards of project projections, goals, imapcts(pro and con) etc .

EXCELLENT!!!!!!

Hey man,
Great thread!
I've been throwing around a few ideas along the lines of what these guys have said - its nice to hear from others though what they recommend.

Hey - good to see you got the flag right!...

Another good way, especially for college students, is internships. Internships are much different nowadays than they were when I went to college, now many of them pay a small stipend for those internships, when I was in school, around the end of the dark ages , all internships were free work, but they offered invaluable experience, and the ability to build my resume & portfolio while I was still in school.

Another good way, if you can afford it, is volunteer programming time to charities or not for profits. Once thing I did, granted the work I did has since been overwritten by newbie after newbie, was I created a website for the animal shelter in Athens while I was at the University of Georgia. Non profits and charities are always looking for someone to volunteer some good programing time, like the work I volunteered during Katrina, you just have to do the leg work to find them, but they do offer meat for your portfolio and resume as many employers today do look highly on those who do volunteer work in the community.

Another point (from one who used to hire programmers as well as write code): in anything you show to a prospective employer, COMMENT your code profusely! The employer knows that coders move on, but code has to be maintained forever. Show that you can make life easy for your future replacement, and you will make your prospective employer very happy.