Ask HN: Graduating soon, where do I fit in? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Graduating soon, where do I fit in?

2 pointscltatman6 comments

Hi HN - long-time lurker, first-time poster.

I'll be graduating soon, and I'm curious about my place in the tech industry.

I've supported myself through school with contracting and internships, all fairly demanding, self-directed development work (lots of work on web apps, tidbits ranging from embedded C to reversing LabView algorithms).

I'm confident in my problem-solving abilities and I feel that I have a good amount of real-world experience, but I have no understanding of the state of the industry or the value of my skills to an employer. I'm unsure of what types of positions to look for, or what I should realistically expect from these positions.

Does HN have any advice for someone in my position, from someone with experience in the trenches?

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Well, what do you want to do? Do you like working for someone? Do you like having freedom? Do you like working on hardware, or are you a software guy? Do you have any ideas you think should be in the world? Do you have friends who are also techies like you who you'd like to work with?

It really comes down to who you are as a person. The world is open to you. You can find jobs working for someone else or you can start your own project with your friends.

My priority on graduation is to find a position working for someone else in a good environment, doing fulfilling (software) work for a fair wage. I've gravitated toward web apps over the years, so I figure I'd aim for something in that ballpark.

I'm no salesman, my contracting work has come entirely from word-of-mouth recommendations and repeat business. I enjoy the freedom, but I'm interested in the possibilities of full-time employement.

Do you know what interests you? (i.e geolocation, data analytics) If you can find a company that deals with something your passionate about it really seperates you from the rest when it comes to applying. Companies want to hire employees that are genuinely interested in what they do as it makes for a better employee. Even if you don't have a lot of experience being passionate will raise you above the other applicants.

More than getting a specific job, I'm insterested in gaining some perspective on the types of roles I might be suited for (Still internship material? Some intermediate position?) and what I should expect in return from a quality employer.

Beyond casting a wide net and 'shopping around', I'd like to learn from others' experiences.

If you're graduating established companies will generally want to get you down as a fulltime employee. But you can always get an intership with a startup. Learn how to talk up your contracting work. Try to make it sound cool or interesting.

I'm sure you could get an entry level coding position at any number of companies coding is in super high demand. Don't expect to get microsoft, apple, or FB unless you're either ungodly with algorithms or have a bunch of interships during college.

You should expect to be challenge and engaged in the work, get good benefits and a decent pay (60k minimum).

My personal opinion as a 20 year old who dropped out...

Lie through your teeth. That job that requires Magento/Wordpress/NodeJS? As far as anyone's concerned, you've been playing with that toolset for the past year or so. They want to see samples? Sure thing. Whip something up by the next day and show it off as if you've always had it done.

I've gone from working for $2 an hour to making $40 per hour, and that number's going to just keep going up but I would be a lot farther behind now if I hadn't pretty much lied about everything.

I wouldn't have gotten the first few clients or businesses to hire me if they really knew that I was just a high school graduate with about 6 months of coding experience. If they'd known I don't actually know CakePHP / Wordpress / Ruby on Rails / Django, they would've never hired me. Instead I lied, instilled confidence, learned it overnight, and basically got paid to learn.

Note this only works if you have the technical ability to learn things quickly overnight.

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