What are you looking for in an entry level programmer or intern? | Hacker News Reader

What are you looking for in an entry level programmer or intern?

2 pointsdaychilde5 comments

Inspired by this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1677218 - "Creating an internship program", I thought I'd ask for your advice on how to prepare for an internship or entry-level position for the types of companies represented here on HN. In my specific case:

I've been a computer enthusiast since 1987; on the internet since 1994; creating and hosting websites since 1997; with my own dedicated servers since 2004. I've been programming in PHP since 2004 (not full-time) and Python since spring 2009. I'm about to man up and learn Javascript after putting it off too long. I'm competent in HTML and CSS; I do alright in Photoshop.

I interned last year with the US Forest Service, writing a Python front end to a framework also written in Python; and worked on a couple of web applets in PHP (with JS that I did modify a little) that displayed smoke and weather data.

I'm working towards getting my Bachelor's in Computer Science, but it's slow going.

If you were looking for entry level or interns, what would you want to see from me? What skills are you looking for? What kind of project might I show you that would get me in the door so I could contribute (i.e. make myself useful) and learn (i.e. make myself more useful)?

While I'm here, I might as well add: For the record, I am looking for an entry level position or internship. Seattle would be a plus if there's a chance for a permanent position, but I'd move anywhere for the right job. Certainly anywhere for a good internship.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

We're not looking, and we're in Australia :P

However, in my previous role we hired a lot of grads and entry level developers. I was, in part, responsible for interviewing and hiring these grads.

When you ask a grad to rate their skills out of 10, they almost always have unrealistic impressions of their skills. Just about every kid whose done a year of C call themselves "expert" or rates themselves 9/10 for skill. I want to laugh at them. Nothing wrong with enthusiasm, but if you claim you are an expert, I need more than your self-appraisal. Show me project you worked on, show me a product that you contributed to, show me somewhere you volunteered "just to get some experience".

For the most part"skills" are redundant in an entry level/grad position. Enthusiasm, a history of "having a go" and an ability to learn are the most important traits to me. The reality is that you learn most of what you need to know whilst on the job, so the ability to learn is critical. If you've learned half a dozen languages, there's a pretty good chance you'll learn more even if you don't know them now.

In short, nobody expects a grad to be expert, the worst thing you can do is pretend to be one! :)

Aww, I always wanted to find out how to type upside-down. :-(

Joking aside, thank you very much for the feedback. You've given me some things to think about and directions in which to head.

Passion! Willing to learn!

You already have plenty of skills if you've been doing this since 1987 you shouldn't have any problem whatsoever to find your internship. If you're in or near Seattle how about Microsoft? I can see they're not exactly overrepresented in your skills at the moment but it wouldn't be too hard for you to pick that up given what you already know.

Also, If you're looking for an internship it would help if you flesh out your profile to the point where someone would be able to contact you ;)

Thank you very much for the reply and advice.

I actually did open a dialogue with a Microsoft recruiter - they want more than I have right now, but it's a possible direction, for sure.

Thank you especially for the profile advice - didn't realize my email didn't show, but I updated with a little more info.

On an unrelated note - notice you listed ww.com - I saw a reference on Reddit today: someone claimed to have seen a male in a bit less clothing than they desired. Nice coincidence to have you post here. :-)

> someone claimed to have seen a male in a bit less clothing than they desired.

Yes, it sucks. This happens with some regularity, we do what we can to get people to label their content properly but there are some characters that seem to enjoy shocking people. We throw them out of course but by that time the damage is done.

Good luck with your hunt!

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