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I don't know how to get on the radar of any companies. I'd love to be given a coding challenge. Background: Received Math degree this past summer, 0 years as a

by trentmb 12y ago

I don't know how to get on the radar of any companies. I'd love to be given a coding challenge. Background: Received Math degree this past summer, 0 years as a full-stack developer. I had supporting coursework in CS, so I'm not completely unfamiliar with programming. All I want is an entry level job...

nobodyshere 12y ago
From my experience freelance at that stage is not an option at all, and the best option would be a beefed up github profile to show off your capabilities.
peteretep 12y ago
What about getting on to something like IBM or Microsoft's Graduate Developer schemes?
chaoxu 12y ago
You could have taken a algorithms class. Since you are from Uiuc, ask people around you for a referral, which would land you a phone interview or coding challenge. Certain companies send out coding challenges. I think Dropbox do.
gedrap 12y ago
You should change your attitude a bit. it sounds like you are desperate for a job, while you should be thinking that you need a job which would be mutually beneficial for both sides. The attitude helps a lot in various stages. You can start by writing some toy application. Simple blog platform is a classic example. Push it to github. Bonus points if you have multiple applications using different languages/frameworks, that shows that you are not one of the devs that learn one thing and use it for the rest of the life. Good luck.
Bahamut 12y ago
If you're in the Bay area (or any major city), go to the meetups, talk to people, and eventually you'll find someone able to help you as long as you're personable. Most of all though, you need to teach yourself the programming used in practice though - web development is probably the fastest ticket to a job. This means some Git, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and a backend language (PHP, Ruby, Python, Java/Scala are good choices) & framework (WordPress, Symfony, Ruby on Rails, Django, Node.js, Play framework are examples) or few. Try going through courses offered on sites like Code School or Treehouse. Scour the web for online tutorials, and try to veer from them to get yourself more comfortable with working with the technologies. An aside, if you live in the Bay area, I've run into plenty of fellow Illini here - I am one myself. I am a math PhD dropout from U of I ('06 - '10). Good luck - I started my career 2 years ago after 2 1/2 years of searching, so I understand the pain of the first search. A recruiter I met at a meetup helped me land my first job in 2 months - I spent a half a year attending several meetups a week before I ran into him.
atmosx 12y ago
Networking can get you a job even with no experience at all (seriously, it's very much possible). Then of course, you will have to pay the piper probably (e.g. work more hours then the rest of the team to keep up) but from what I see here, most people learn programming on the job and stick to their specific company needs (internal policies, stacks, language, etc.)... Except from exceptional programmers, consultants and some other categories who love their job contribute to open source, keep their own projects and so forth..

by trentmb 12y ago

nobodyshere 12y ago

From my experience freelance at that stage is not an option at all, and the best option would be a beefed up github profile to show off your capabilities.

peteretep 12y ago

What about getting on to something like IBM or Microsoft's Graduate Developer schemes?

chaoxu 12y ago

You could have taken a algorithms class. Since you are from Uiuc, ask people around you for a referral, which would land you a phone interview or coding challenge. Certain companies send out coding challenges. I think Dropbox do.

gedrap 12y ago

You should change your attitude a bit. it sounds like you are desperate for a job, while you should be thinking that you need a job which would be mutually beneficial for both sides. The attitude helps a lot in various stages. You can start by writing some toy application. Simple blog platform is a classic example. Push it to github. Bonus points if you have multiple applications using different languages/frameworks, that shows that you are not one of the devs that learn one thing and use it for the rest of the life. Good luck.

Bahamut 12y ago

If you're in the Bay area (or any major city), go to the meetups, talk to people, and eventually you'll find someone able to help you as long as you're personable. Most of all though, you need to teach yourself the programming used in practice though - web development is probably the fastest ticket to a job. This means some Git, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and a backend language (PHP, Ruby, Python, Java/Scala are good choices) & framework (WordPress, Symfony, Ruby on Rails, Django, Node.js, Play framework are examples) or few. Try going through courses offered on sites like Code School or Treehouse. Scour the web for online tutorials, and try to veer from them to get yourself more comfortable with working with the technologies. An aside, if you live in the Bay area, I've run into plenty of fellow Illini here - I am one myself. I am a math PhD dropout from U of I ('06 - '10). Good luck - I started my career 2 years ago after 2 1/2 years of searching, so I understand the pain of the first search. A recruiter I met at a meetup helped me land my first job in 2 months - I spent a half a year attending several meetups a week before I ran into him.

atmosx 12y ago

Networking can get you a job even with no experience at all (seriously, it's very much possible). Then of course, you will have to pay the piper probably (e.g. work more hours then the rest of the team to keep up) but from what I see here, most people learn programming on the job and stick to their specific company needs (internal policies, stacks, language, etc.)... Except from exceptional programmers, consultants and some other categories who love their job contribute to open source, keep their own projects and so forth..