[#47]

Hello all!, I decided to start this post in hopes of answering what I
think is a pretty common question among the aspiring self teachers out
there, "just how much time and experience is needed to truly land a
job?". Searching the job market I know all of us have seen this "B.S in
related field or equivalent", my question is just what does that mean?;
does that mean one must have four years coding a certain
language/languages or could that mean equivalent to the broad spectrum
of overall exposure of subjects leading up to the B.S, i.e Math, English,
...etc. I personals hold a B.S in computer science with focus on
Networking and I am here to say it hasn't increased my job hunting
ability's at all, so the question is does the o'l mighty degree really
hold as much clout as once thought?.

Thanks D.I.C.

Wow guys sorry for the layout of the post I don't know what happened.

[JackOfAllTrades]

This is not a Java question...I will move this to the Corner Cubicle.

[#47]

JackOfAllTrades, on 02 June 2010 - 02:45 PM, said:

This is not a Java question...I will move this to the Corner Cubicle.

Sorry about that thanks mate!

[nooblet]

Reference this.

[numberwhun]

As a self-taught coder myself, my feeling is this....

If you can hold your own, then you shouldn't have a problem. Allow me to elaborate on the "hold your own" thing.

By "hold your own", I don't just mean be able to code, there is a lot more that goes into it:

• Be able to code, and code well - This means good coding style, knowledge of the language(s) you know, good commenting, etc.
  
• In an interview, be confident enough to answer any question that is asked of you. Just remember, most good coding jobs will have you code in the interview. If they don't, I would (personally) question it.

If you have those skills in more, then in my opinion, you should do fine. One of the better coding jobs I had asked me to code in the interview, and it was fun. I actually got stumped and was able to take the code problem home to finish. (I tend to us a fair amount of online references. Knowing where to find things is important) I finished the code that afternoon and emailed it to my (soon to be) boss and was hired a week later.

After starting, we discussed the Joel on Software Test. We scored about a 4 on the scale. I have since seen plenty of job adverts that have the companies Joel rating in it. Look for it.

Anywho, I have strayed enough off topic, I hope this helped.

Regards,

Jeff

[NickDMax]

Experience is king! Do Programming! Build a portfolio. Be able to write about projects you have been involved in on your resume.

You can listen to the experience of a DIC-Graduate on the DIC-Podcast.


That is actually one of the neater things about programming as opposed to many other fields... you can get "experience" (even "professional experience") without necessarily having a job. You can do free lancing, you can join open source projects, you can start open source projects, you can enter contests... there are LOTS of different ways to put yourself out there to get experience that will count on your interview.

You are correct though that most job postings require a degree in CS or a "related field" (which pretty much means any field where programming *might* be involved -- mathematics, physics, just about any engineering degree, even accounting or many IT related business degrees -- even "fine arts" for many web development jobs) So you can read "a bachelor's degree" and leave it at that -- so long as you can back that up with experience.

Note you *can* get around the degree if you can somehow circumvent the human resources folks and get your resume to the technical folks... I know that there are some legal issues involved with those job postings -- but generally if you impress the right people you can get a job.

DO PROGRAMMING!

[m-e-g-a-z]

100% agree with NickDMax, experiance means alot. Even if it means atleast getting up 7 o clock everyday spending 1-2 hours programming, do it. It will be worth it at the end when you look back.

[no2pencil]

I am a self taught programmer, & I can say that it certainly agree that it comes down to experience.

Getting a job with no professional schooling & trying to prove that "I know what I'm talking about" is a very difficult task. With no credence to back up the claim, the would-be employer is taking a huge risk, especially if they need instant output from your assigned projects.

Now, granted I didn't get my 1st couple of jobs in a programming field, but I was able to prove experience by the typical volunteer work & rent a coder. The problem with these is now you pose a risk to use the employer as an experience/resume builder & move onto higher ground &/or you now have expressed an interested in outside of the office work.

My best piece of advice is to make a plan & stick to it. This way you are not trying to field questions for the 1st time in an interview, nor are you tripping over your own words.

Best of luck.

#47, on 02 June 2010 - 04:45 PM, said:

just how much time and experience is needed to truly land a
job?

If you can find yourself a niche, you'll immediately increase a need for your services. Any beginner can write 'hello world' or simple input output processing. But learn API's from major websites (such as PayPal, eBay, UPS, FedEx) & it shows that you are not afraid of documentation, a little trial & error, or the ability to learn something new.