Feeling lost after graduating with a BS in Software Engineering? Worried about the saturated job market and lack of opportunities? Puzzled by the value of your degree and unsure of your next steps? Join the conversation with others facing the same challenges. Discover tips and advice on navigating the post-graduation job search. Explore options for gaining experience and standing out to potential employers. Is the traditional job hunt not yielding results? Let’s brainstorm alternative paths to success together. #GraduateStruggles #JobSearchWoes #SoftwareEngineeringHelp #CareerAdvice #NavigatingTheJobMarket
You’re cooked if you just have a degree from a no name with no internships
Might I ask what general region of the world/country you might be in?
Also one tip I give to everyone looking for entry level is stop looking at indeed/linkedin/etc, if that’s what you are doing. Make a list of every company in your area or areas you are looking for work in. Go to each and every one of their career pages and look for positions there. You’ll find a lot more opportunities.
And if you spent time networking through school (which you should have been doing) start working it.
I don’t know. I’m in the same situation.
I feel the same way. Exact same degree and rough time frame. I had family obligations over summer so internships were out of question over summer the only plus side to that was no college debt for that sacrifice. I’ve been applying the past 6-7 months and the jobs have significantly dried up to even apply for the past few weeks. My area had 10 just 10 job postings the entire last week for entry level IT, analyst, software engineer in a city with a population of a million and fast growing.
Probably look into government work if you can pass clearance checks or move to any place that will be in office and wants you.
Epic the medical company always seems to be hiring too.
Also look into SDET, QA or help desk but realize your coding skills will degrade if you don’t use them.
Data annotation tech is another company to look into.
Sounds like you’re at a really tough stage, you are not alone.
Don’t lose faith in yourself, or in the tech industry.
There’s a role out there for you, you just have to have persistence to keep firing off the applications and a shit load of luck to have it land on the right desk at the right time.
Rejection is horrible, but keep the faith, it will pay off soon. Good luck
It’s a highly competitive market at the moment so if you don’t have education/projects/internships that make you stand out from the crowd, it can be tough to get your foot in the door.
The days of graduating CS and just walking into a job are gone. I would be applying for grad roles, and be working on a project that has real world value. Data Migration, ERP software, things that you can point at as having actual relevance towards a job / industry you are applying for. Government is a good one. Lots of opportunity in that space.
Freelance
If you’re a US citizen, I would seriously recommend you to focus on Data structure and algorithms and solve a lot of leetcode problems for a while. Go full on prep mode for 3-4 months. Trust me there are new grad openings at big tech and if you’re are able to clear the technical coding round you’ll get it, the companies wont have to go through the hassle of sponsorship which gives you a lot of advantage.
Have you connected with your (former) professors in search of networking connections? They typically are well connected to local CS employers and can really help your search. Networking is the only way to stand out in this crowded job market.
Did you make any relevant connections in school? Classmates who found jobs and can refer you past the resume filter? Professors or TA’s who have industry connections and can refer you? Internship(s) where you can work old coworkers for a connection and referral?
Gotta up skill bruh. The bars are set higher now. Degree means jack poop if you have no projects to show off, or if you can’t even talk about how to develop applications
Talk to everybody you know who works in/ adjacent to the industry. Ask them what it’s going to take to work on the kind of teams you’re interested in. work for free if you have to. You have to use your connections in this market. I quit my job 2 years ago to pursue software development and have been working shit internships and contracting jobs and just got a full time offer with a very respectable company. I’m fully self taught, it can be done.
And also, the market is only “over saturated” with people that WANT to work in software development but have zero experience. If you get any amount of professional experience, even for 6 months, you have an in.
You have two options:
– Create your own startup, ideally with others
– Dedicate yourself to open-source work, ideally on a popular project
Good luck.
Consider grad school. This isn’t a great time to get into the market, but it will probably recover over time. If you can get into a phd program you will have a (low) stipend and gain more experience, and then can do a job search at a future date.
Did you do an internship? That’s the easiest way to get an offer
‘i just had an interview with a startup and I was told im not what they’re looking for. at what point do you become what they’re fucking looking for? what was the point of my degree?’
Ya I get this new type of rejection emails saying that I am not the type they are looking for but I have an interesting profile, then fucking hire me. Dont sugarcoat it. Or just say NO and send me.
I completely understand how you feel. I also had to take 2 extra years because of my illness, and feel extremely bitter that I graduated into such a shit market
go to code meetups in your local city or area if its possible. in person is best but theres also communities on places like discord. being part of a group, collaborating on projects and supporting each other can be helpful for staying positive.
networking skills are extremely valuable and shaking hands or having a beer with the right person can make all the difference.
the bar for getting that first job, maintaining the current job, and/or obtaining the next job has risen for most of us.
btw what skills and projects are you listing on your resume?
Go back to school and become a doctor.
The fastest way to get hired is to find a staffing agency in your area and let them apply to thousands of places. They usually find the shittiest jobs available, but treat them as a “long post grad internship”. Until you get 3 years of experience AND a bunch of cloud certs, it is very hard to stand out.
Additionally, do leetcode non-stop for 2-3 months.
The unfortunate reality is that you’re probably gonna have to hurry up and wait.
Remember you’re playing the long game, keep your skills relevant and do things now that will help you stand out later.
It’s a competitive market. I wouldn’t wanna be graduating right now without an internship and too tier grades. People def care about that starting out but care less further in your career.
I’d say look at big cities to move to and be open to moving.
use career fairs, you should still have access to them as a recent alumni
The ideal path is to find a small company. Don’t let people recommending big tech to you fool you. It’s not worth it. Find a boring company like insurance or healthcare and become part of their dev team. You apply at least 10 jobs per day.
You need to network and be sociable. CHA is completely OP right now in engineering. Small boring companies would rather have a personable dummy than genius asshat.
Try pivoting into more blue collar roles like welding or pipefitter since some trades are always in demand esp after you get your certs
I feel ya. Graduated 2020 and went right into the job offer I’d received from my 2019 internship making $117k as data pipeline/software engineer. I did that for a year and a half until I couldn’t stand remote and took several months off.
Coming back the job market was completely different. My experiences was basically worthless. My success at my university already irrelevant.
If you want a CS job I’d recommend two things:
– find a specialty. Find something where you can track down job openings, find the niche requirements that are specific to that company, and check if you can tell them in your interview “yes I can do that I did it like this last time etc etc”
– find a mixed workforce that will train you or allow you to transition. This is what I did. I ended up getting hired at a Managed IT service provider that also does web development and since they were aware of my background I have made that transition and now after a training as a tech I feel even more valuable and knowledgeable.
You need to be getting development experience, even if it’s just personal projects, you need to be able to convincingly tell someone you’ll be able to work independently. In my opinion the days of “hire a junior expecting him to be half a developer for the first year” are gone. They want you to be competent and have initiative. The whole “work for two years then move and get a raise” culture destroyed the junior developer role, most companies aren’t risking it right now.