4 ms·

Oh dear. I find that almost all job adverts ask for people with 2+ years experience, plus rather a lot of skills. There don't seem to be any aimed at recent gra

by Tycho 16y ago

Oh dear. I find that almost all job adverts ask for people with 2+ years experience, plus rather a lot of skills. There don't seem to be any aimed at recent graduates. My plan is to work whatever crappy job I can find for a couple of years, while making sure I genuinely practice website/webapp development in my spare time, so that eventually I will be 'qualified' for the majority of job postings (for developers/engineers). Of course it often crosses my mind that the requirements are some sort of elaborate bluff and the abundance of expert programmers (in Scotland) is a complete myth.

ig1 16y ago
Where are you looking for jobs ? There are at least a couple of hundred companies recruiting for graduate level developers in the UK. I'm guessing location might be the primary thing holding you back if you're only looking for jobs locally, have you considered looking for jobs elsewhere in the country ?
- Tycho 16y ago
  I'm not really looking at the moment admittedly, just concentrating on my MSc, but when I have a browse the job websites or notice boards that's the impression they leave. Plus I know CS graduates who have never managed to get a job with their 4 year degrees and don't work in IT at all. But yes graduate programs is probably my best bet (I live in Glasgow which has a few big operations locally, eg JP Morgan), although I wonder what the ratio of places to applicants is. It just seems a shame that the normal job adverts are strictly aimed at experienced professionals, when an intelligent and enthusiastic beginner/graduate could probably pick up the skills needed relatively quickly; but I'm not complaining, I realise how greatly productivity varies from programmer to programmer and how risky hiring could be for teams/companies.
  - ig1 16y ago
    Check the graduate recruitment job boards and go to careers fairs. By and large most mainstream job boards are dominated by professional recruiters, and companies don't generally use recruiters for graduate level roles, hence mainstream job boards aren't the place to look. Generally applicant:place ratio for most grad tech roles is typically 50-100/place (that's for London; I'm guessing it might be less for Glasgow), but about 90% of applicants fail at the CV review stage. So if you make your CV compelling you've got a decent chance. There are a lot of graduate developer roles available, the financial sector in London alone takes 500-1000 CS grads/year. Most banks recruit from across Europe, because they simply can't hire enough good CS grads from the UK.
    - Tycho 16y ago
      Thanks very much for the info. Actually there was a careers fair and one of my classmates got a good job out of it straight away, without even having stay on for a full MSc (ie. not just Post-Grad Diploma). It was Black Rock in Edinburgh. So that was heartening. I think I'd fair better in interviews than a lot of people (CS grads I know can't explain OOP or design patterns and basic stuff like that), but perhaps my CV wont be the best. I have some experience doing VB scripting for a previous office job, but I hope to add a few pet projects/web-apps and websites made for acquaintances to my resume by the time I graduate. P.S. I can pass the FizzBuzz at least ;)

by Tycho 16y ago

ig1 16y ago

Where are you looking for jobs ? There are at least a couple of hundred companies recruiting for graduate level developers in the UK. I'm guessing location might be the primary thing holding you back if you're only looking for jobs locally, have you considered looking for jobs elsewhere in the country ?

Tycho 16y ago
I'm not really looking at the moment admittedly, just concentrating on my MSc, but when I have a browse the job websites or notice boards that's the impression they leave. Plus I know CS graduates who have never managed to get a job with their 4 year degrees and don't work in IT at all. But yes graduate programs is probably my best bet (I live in Glasgow which has a few big operations locally, eg JP Morgan), although I wonder what the ratio of places to applicants is. It just seems a shame that the normal job adverts are strictly aimed at experienced professionals, when an intelligent and enthusiastic beginner/graduate could probably pick up the skills needed relatively quickly; but I'm not complaining, I realise how greatly productivity varies from programmer to programmer and how risky hiring could be for teams/companies.
- ig1 16y ago
  Check the graduate recruitment job boards and go to careers fairs. By and large most mainstream job boards are dominated by professional recruiters, and companies don't generally use recruiters for graduate level roles, hence mainstream job boards aren't the place to look. Generally applicant:place ratio for most grad tech roles is typically 50-100/place (that's for London; I'm guessing it might be less for Glasgow), but about 90% of applicants fail at the CV review stage. So if you make your CV compelling you've got a decent chance. There are a lot of graduate developer roles available, the financial sector in London alone takes 500-1000 CS grads/year. Most banks recruit from across Europe, because they simply can't hire enough good CS grads from the UK.
  - Tycho 16y ago
    Thanks very much for the info. Actually there was a careers fair and one of my classmates got a good job out of it straight away, without even having stay on for a full MSc (ie. not just Post-Grad Diploma). It was Black Rock in Edinburgh. So that was heartening. I think I'd fair better in interviews than a lot of people (CS grads I know can't explain OOP or design patterns and basic stuff like that), but perhaps my CV wont be the best. I have some experience doing VB scripting for a previous office job, but I hope to add a few pet projects/web-apps and websites made for acquaintances to my resume by the time I graduate. P.S. I can pass the FizzBuzz at least ;)