I was often told this back in university, and you've probably heard it a lot, but it's worth repeating: connections can be incredibly useful. Having been on bo

I was often told this back in university, and you've probably heard it a lot, but it's worth repeating: connections can be incredibly useful. Having been on both sides of the interview table, I can tell you that having the recommendation of someone already on the team can make a huge difference. It's not enough, of course - you still have to know what you're talking about and do well on the interview(s) - but having someone vouch for you that you are reliable and not a psycho can give you the edge you need, especially if your resume isn't outstanding. I think this can be especially true for small, tightly knit teams - a middle manager at BigCo. might not even care who they're hiring, but a manager of a small, good team will be more paranoid about who they bring on board. Working on personal projects is also great. It shows that you actually enjoy what you're doing and you're not just going through the motions of getting your degree and a job. If you don't think you'll have something to show with your commercial projects, consider getting involved in an open-source project - you won't have to develop the entire project from beginning to end, and you'll get experience working in a large team which you can't really get by working on your own. Programming certifications... useless or worse than useless for a "small up-and-coming organization" (at worst, they might be seen as a red flag that you don't really know what you're doing and are trying to hide behind a certification).