I used to recruit fresh graduates for a fairy high-end consultancy. What mattered: - personal projects. Those can be anything from a game to a database engine

I used to recruit fresh graduates for a fairy high-end consultancy. What mattered: - personal projects. Those can be anything from a game to a database engine, in any language too. They show personal investment in the field, not just money-driven career choice. - enthusiasm for (new) tech. A "C expert" that will only do C (and often very specific stuff in C) is in a very narrower niche than someone who just wants to learn stuff and have fun. There is some justifiable verticality (front end, back end, database, network, surely AI nowadays), but limiting oneself by language, framework,... just means you'll be obsolete in 4 yrs. - interpersonal skills. Programming is, as any job, at least 30% communication. If colleagues, bosses, clients like you you'll be a much more valuable team member. This does include NOT being a people-pleaser, and NOT hiding failures/issues. Anyone who had of 3 of these stayed with us. Tech knowledge can always be acquired... actually, always has to be acquired, so doesn't matter that much once you've proven you can indeed imbibe it.