Ask HN: I can't find a First job, now what? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: I can't find a First job, now what?

10 pointsnotMe88813 comments

I have graduated with a Master's degree over 6 weeks ago. I have been submitting for job openings for over 3 months now, with no luck.

Overall, I have submitted a little under 100 job applications. I started with a selective attitude, but recently I have been submitting to everything that fits the technology stacks I know.

I have kept an updated resume, a personal website, another website for my open-source projects (+ Github), a (not very active) blog and created a profile on all major job platforms such as Linkedin.

I'm starting to question if I'd ever find a fist job, and what to do if not.

I thought I was doing everything the right way, and was wondering if someone here has been in this dark place and what did you do to get out of it?

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It's curious because all the companies in France are looking for developers. Specially in web development. What's your stack?

Since you have studied in France, I assume you have done one or several internships (usually 6 months) or even one or several years of apprenticeship (really common here in IT)?

If yes, did you try to get a job in the same company? Did you ask for references to your manager, your product owner, your team members, your CTO?

If no, you should start with an internship I think. Unfortunately, what your learn at school is rarely useful in your daily job. I don't know any company that hire candidates without some real xp.

Thank you for your input, indeed I have interned in an R&D lab of prestigious European company.

However they are in a hiring hiatus. I was given a very positive recommendation. However, they didn't offer any position to any intern.

    >what's your master, your school and the technology stacks you know?

- Masters (IFI) : Computer Fundamentals and Engineering

- School : Polytech Nice

- Stacks:

PHP (Native, Laravel, Symfony)

Node (MEAN, Sails.js)

Frontend HTML/CSS/JS/jQuery

.. and some JAVA

Your stack seems fine to me (PHP & JS are the most used technologies in web dev).

Did you look for any jobs in Paris (99% of the companies are here)?

Did you try any startups/small companies?

But, as you said, the VISA sponsorship is surely a factor. :(

Yeah, I'd probably revisit HOW you're marketing yourself. Your hit rate should be much better than virtually 0 out of 100. Generally, from my 5 years of experience since college, if I'm not getting responses it's because I need to refine my resume, punch up my cover letter, or tweak my LinkedIn profile. In your case it will also be very advantageous to complete some of your open source projects. Working products is critical. Try to make sure that your repo is essentially a showcase for your abilities. If your repo is filled with unfinished stuff, or other crud then you'll want to clean it out and make it presentable. The other tip I picked up somewhere is to try and exercise your intelligence by determining who the hiring manager and/or HR representative is for the company, dig up their email, and email them your resume and cover letter directly. When you do this make sure you convey poise, and confidence (without being arrogant), and illustrate why you think you're a good fit for their position (without being overly verbose).

Good luck!

OP here: Just more information, I'm looking for jobs mostly in Europe (Since I have studied in France) but I require VISA sponsorship.

Which might be a factor in my situation.

Well, It is hard to know what is happening without more information. It seems you are applying to a right amount of jobs, it could be that maybe your CV doesn't stand up among other CVs. First thing I would is to improve the CV somehow, try to get feedback from recruiters or other people with experience looking for jobs. It must show you have built something by your own, so you can work on something related because you have already probe you can. If you don't have anything, them start spending sometime working in a pet project and put it open source in GitHub.

Other thing it can happen is that maybe you are not applying to the right places with the right CV, for example it doesn't make sense for me to apply to companies in france with a CV in english, but I would keep my LinkedIn in english. If you are looking for a job in London them you need to now the local websites the recruiters use for this. The are different per country. Do some research on this.

About sponsorship I think this could be the key factor too. I think it is almost impossible for a company justify a VISA for a junior profile. So first you need experience in your local market in order to not be a junior developer. If you want to do something abroad you might want to search for summer interships, summer camps or similar. But don't expect to make money with them, they barely cover the costs.

Thank you for your input.

I have a Github with a couple dozen projects that I have made over the years, however none of them are "completed products", most are a few thousands lines of code that I put together during the weekend.

Do you think that I should be pushing more finished and cleaner projects?

I'm mainly applying in Europe because the local market for developers/engineers in my Arab country is very poor and under-developed. It is very rare to find a junior position that would allow me to enrich my CV, plus with a starting average salary of 400$/month it very hard to make any long-term economies.

Applying for a sponsored job in Europe is going to be difficult. You are a high risk, you do not have any experience and you come from a different country with a different culture. If I am a recruiter with several candidates, I would consider someone else before. (Sorry to be honest with this)

So, as I said they are special program from big companies for international students/recent graduates. Try to find them and apply to them. You will gain experience and you will probe you can work with people with different culture. Meanwhile it is not going to hurt you to get a local job in something you like. You will get some money and experience.

Things are not going to come from one day to another, but if you have more or less clear what you want, then you can make a plan to accomplish it. It will take time, but focus in making small steps. Get some local experience in the things you like, try to get some international experience, then try to find a better job, probably in a different country, and keep moving. It is going to take some years, but it pays off. Just remember it is a long trip and you have to focus in small steps.

UPDATE: I have just read you have a master in another country. That is good. And also a interview with a company of one of your friends. That is also quite good. Don't give up! It takes time but it seems you are closer than what I was picturing in my mind.

You were a masters student, and an undergrad presumably in a field that may have lent itself to CS, so you had fellow students, and maybe even undergrads you taught or did research with. Are there local firms nearby with alumnus from your schools, that you might reach out to? All of that is a network of people who might help you. Have you been able to leverage that network to find opportunities?

I have asked for some friends to recommend me, I got 2 emails from their companies, but one didn't respond to my response and for the other I will have a second interview with them next week.

1.- You need to call them again.

2.- complete a project, make a blog about it.

Basically, sell yourself.

Good luck with the interview next week, I hope it goes well!

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