3 ms·
> I'm a self-taught programmer who recently decided to finish my bachelor's degree in Computer Science. I'll be finishing in a month or so, and I'm trying to do
by Mc91 5y ago
> I'm a self-taught programmer who recently decided to finish my bachelor's degree in Computer Science. I'll be finishing in a month or so, and I'm trying to do some planning in advance.
If I was you I would apply to internships right now to a lot of companies as a college student. It might be too late if you're about to graduate.
Internships are the easiest way into a company as a junior. You intern somewhere for a summer between junior and senior year, if they like you, you might get an offer when senior year ends. You seem past that, but can apply any how.
One thing, if you're considering getting an MSCS, is say you want an internship between the BS and MS. Even if you wind up not doing the MSCS, you'll have some experience under your belt. If you decide to not do an MSCS while interning, you can apply to other companies while interning, and if you get an offer tell the company you're interning with that you will postpone or not get your MSCS and that you got an offer and will not being going back to school right after the internship - you might wind up getting two offers (the company you applied to while interning, and the company you're interning at). You can be candid during the internship application right off the bat that you're applying for an internship between a BSCS and MSCS, but also have in the back of your mind that you might jump into a career after the BSCS and there is the possibility you might postpone the MSCS.
You can apply as a junior as well alongside this. The main thing is getting some offers and getting your foot in the door.
- bigrightmiss 5y agoi went internship route after completing a bootcamp. also worked for the company that put on the bootcamp. but the only reason i got the internship was bc i went to a ReactJS workshop/meetup that the company hosted at their office. i showed up, presented the work i had completed in the few hours of the class, and made sure i shook hands and said "hello, my name is ... thank you for ... can i leave my contact info with you for any opportunities here?" to those running the event. it made a big difference and i was told that shortly after i was hired. make it easy for companies to hire you by making connections with people. im now in a position where i'm interviewing people for open positions here, and it is not a fun task (especially for entry level jobs). if someone can show up, demonstrate some level of competence, and an enthusiasm for learning, it is such an advantage over the faceless resume-senders. some technical advice would be to demonstrate your understanding of the underlying tech of whatever popular framework, library, etc. the company you're applying to is looking for now - its important, and Sr. devs will appreciate it more than you think (especially if you're self-taught).
- culopatin 5y agoThis might be a long shot, but if you’re still looking for candidates, how may I get in contact with you outside of HN? I’m a self taught dev currently working in IT for a federal agency and going to school at the same time. I got this far in IT as self taught and I’ve really enjoyed the experience of learning through challenges. I’m trying to get in Software the same way to grow from within. I am very resourceful and I am used to learning on my own, so I am convinced that I will take off with just a bit of mentoring.
- bigrightmiss 5y agounfortunately we don't have any openings right now. we may soon though, and summer internships are right around the corner. if you feel comfortable dropping your contact info on this thread, i'll be sure to reach out if we do start looking. roles could range from devops, full-stack, frontend, or backend web, or QA engineer. anything in particular you're experience/interested in out of those?