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Failed out of uni. Any tips on making myself more employable?

• alexandrerond 11y ago
  If your personal projects are decent, then you should have no trouble demonstrating talent, initiative and self-reliance. Market that in your interviews. Keep working on your projects. Pick the 3 CS subjects closest to the sort of job you're looking for and read the related materials to keep up a minimal theoretical background. Good luck!
  • just_a_q 11y ago
    The thing is that I went to a decent (~ top 50) university. Recruiters that end up contacting me usually start off with that; upon clarifying that I didn't actually graduate, things go downhill from there. I'm not sure how much good said projects do for me as it would require people to at least give them a look. If people contacted me with my projects foremost on their impression of me, perhaps it would be a different story. I've considered removing the year range that I spent at uni, or at least making it clear that I don't, in fact, have a degree.
    • JamesVI 11y ago
      Have you considered removing the university reference entirely? The base line assumption is that you list education you completed (graduated), so anything less is likely to 'dissapoint' the recruiter. If you can repackage what you did in university as discrete 'experience' that might give you the chance to establish a positive narrative ('I was well qualified for university but found the CS program too theoretical so decided to pursue a different path.')
      • just_a_q 11y ago
        I'll have to give it some thought. Given that I passed all of the lower-div requirements and a few upper divs, I'd have to account for a decent CS background some other way. As my projects alone aren't so advanced as to verify exposure to all foundational CS concepts, my best bet is to try to spin what university education I have in some positive way. Thanks for the advice, by the way. :)
    • JSeymourATL 11y ago
      > Recruiters that end up contacting me usually start off with that; upon clarifying that I didn't actually graduate, things go downhill from there... Avoid recruiters, if you have low-hit ratio with them. Focus instead on talking with actual hiring managers. You'll have better luck connecting with small, local companies, less than 100 people. Start building your portfolio and CV from there.
• Supersaiyan_IV 11y ago
  First: Get your interview story straight. You didn't graduate because you didn't graduate. You had a change of plans, possibly wanted to work on a side project, hobby, programming. You quit because your were ambitious about something. Two: If the interviewer is asking you to do the impossible i.e. move, relocate, have super long traveling distance you say: "I have a short term plan formulated, and working on the long term one. It's an overcomable problem". You're an engineer, you can solve problems. Three: Impress people with your CV. Write it in LaTeX. Grab some cool template here: https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/cv-or-resume https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/cv-or-resume If you list graduate courses in the left CV column, then format the course names as hyperlinks linking course descriptions. Four: Giving your CV to a future employer, despite it's good-looking, full of links, and with impressive information, it won't do unless you have someone at your past uni which you can name as your reference. That person knows you, and knows the course descriptions, so that when a future employer calls, the information is concise and complements the CV. Five: Throw yourself in deep waters (figuratively). Problem solvers work best when solving problems is literally part of their strife.
• narasimham 11y ago
  I had a very similar experience. Specific advice: grow and nurture your network. It's very likely someone you know is going to be able to help you out with a job. It's likely going to be something you're overqualified for, but it'll get you "in the door" so to speak.