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So it's been about 6 months since I graduated last December with my Computer Science degree and still no job. Between interviews, side projects of my own, etc I'm beginning to come to the sad conclusion that I might not be all that good at this programming stuff. When I'm actually programming, I enjoy it and can do it for hours without losing motivation or tiring. Hours later realizing I'm awfully hungry when I take a break from coding.
However, when I go onto programming forums and try to glean some information from the discussions I often find myself somewhat lost in their more advanced jargon.
So, how to proceed? I knew I didn't seem to have as much of an aptitude for programming in college and when 99% of my friends jumped ship to easier majors I stuck with it since "that was what I wanted to do." I made it out and really picked up my grades in the last 2 years, pushing into the 3.7-3.9 range which I was quite pleased with. Now I'm faced with a similar conundrum. I'm again feeling like I may not be in the field I am best suited to but it's what I want to do. Do I keep powering through the difficulty and keep my eye on the prize or do I figure that perhaps this isn't for me and try to start something else from scratch? If I proceed to work harder, do any of my fellow Comp Sci/Software Engineers/Programmers have any tips or resources they would suggest? I'm aiming to be a game programmer by the way, but any programming job would be absolutely stellar at the moment. If I were to start all over from scratch... I wouldn't even know where to start. All my other hobbies don't seem to pay very well and I don't want to put in a ton of time and effort then realize "Wow, this isn't for me either and now I've forgotten most of my Comp Sci stuff. Damn I'm screwed now."
So, yeah. Feeling a bit confused. Probably not a good time to feel confused since I've got 1 interview incoming and another potentially coming up. If I get either job, problem solved though. If I don't, back to square one.
Thanks for reading my ramblings, good day TL.
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invest all your moneys into lottery tickets and pray a lot.
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keep applying for jobs, take some additional courses, etc.
don't stray too far from CS else all that time/money goes to waste :d!
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it sounds like you really like programming, which is good since you'll be motivated. i would definitely go to those interviews before making any major decisions though. also is it only difficult alone, or do you become better when you work with other people? some people i know are much more productive in groups where they can bounce ideas back and forth.
myself, i have no idea what i'm going to be doing with my life after school, and your blog reminds me of this :S
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On June 04 2008 10:05 paper wrote:
keep applying for jobs, take some additional courses, etc.
don't stray too far from CS else all that time/money goes to waste :d!
Agreed. Right now you are only lacking in experience. You will learn these things on the job, just keep at it.
Is it really that difficult to find a CS job? I was under the impression that there were plenty of programming jobs out there.
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On June 04 2008 10:13 fight_or_flight wrote:Show nested quote +On June 04 2008 10:05 paper wrote:
keep applying for jobs, take some additional courses, etc.
don't stray too far from CS else all that time/money goes to waste :d! Agreed. Right now you are only lacking in experience. You will learn these things on the job, just keep at it. Is it really that difficult to find a CS job? I was under the impression that there were plenty of programming jobs out there.
Oh, there are tons of jobs out there for CS. However, my skills are sorely lacking in comparison to my peers and I made the absolutely dumb ass mistake of not pursuing an internship during my time at college. Thus no internship = no experience, lack of skills = screwed on interview. Thus, I've failed to land any jobs yet. If I were to answer a "Why should they hire me" question, I'd say that I'll put in 10x the effort and determination as the next guy. However, that's obviously just talk if you have zero evidence to support that. Looking back on my past interviews, I don't think I would have hired me either. Thus me working on coding projects of my own now to give myself the knowledge and experience I need, the hard way.
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Snet
United States3573 Posts
Just keep going at it dude, don't let your career be your "dream", let it be what finances your dream. Just have a shit-ton of fun outside of work, if you didn't have some revolutionary dream before college like becoming a doctor or fireman or something, then you probably won't now and you'll just waste more time trying to discover it.
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Hmm keep trying! I think first job is always going to be hard, don't give up!
while ur at it try hack cia and tell them they're nub and hopefully they'll hire u.
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Have you tried a site like this so that you can earn some money while doing those side projects?
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go back and get an internship dude
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EPT
