Applying for jobs after college and getting job experience....

[R-Tistic]

This question is definitely for those who have a B.S. in anything such as Computer Science/CIS, Engineering, or anything technical...but I'm sure that some of you could still help me out a bit.

I graduated with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems last week, and I have been searching for jobs online since I won't be able to meet with anyone or interview until I move back to L.A. Online, there are many jobs open, but most of them aren't entry level. My question is...I see that many jobs will say things such as "Three years experience with C#" or "Five years experience with Oracle Database" "Two years of C# experience necessary"...but how do you gain experience with these things if there are no entry level jobs that seem to hire you for these things? Most entry level jobs I am seeing are for computer tech work, and most of these are things that may require a B.S. or some degree, but really don't have you doing anything that relates to the courses you take in college for this major.

Another question...I passed all of my programming classes, but they were all basic intro classes, and I can only do simple things with some of the languages, if that. With some of them, I passed because of simple programs and passing tests that were based on small code tidbits and terminology, but never required any heavy coding. Therefore, would any job possibly hire me, whether it's entry level or not, and train me on these languages in order to have that experience, or would I have to study them on my own and then apply for the jobs? If I did focus on one, such as C#, and learned it to where I was an expert, would I be able to find a job using this if most job postings say "3 years experience with C#" required? That makes it sound as if you would have had to use this on a job, versus just doing it on your own.

Thanks for anyone that can help.

[The Watcher]

your best bet is to look for junior positions or to take a year off and do nothing (seriously) except learn c#/java/ruby/whatever. if you want to be a developer then you face some pretty tough competition in my opinion. i had a friend of a friend finish uni and was looking for work (before the www boom) for about 2 years before i got him a job at the company i was leaving.

other than that, there are plenty of areas in IT (security, admin, helldesk, pre-sales(?)) you could get into.. but in this day and age, if you're working in IT it pretty much needs to be your life if you want to get anywhere

[MarkCruz]

Computer Science/CIS

DON'T CONFUSE YOUR DEGREE WITH THAT OF A COMPUTER SCIENTIST.


LOOK FOR A COMPUTER INFORMATION SYSTEM CAREER, MINIMAL PROGRAMMING.
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos258.htm

[R-Tistic]

your best bet is to look for junior positions or to take a year off and do nothing (seriously) except learn c#/java/ruby/whatever. if you want to be a developer then you face some pretty tough competition in my opinion. i had a friend of a friend finish uni and was looking for work (before the www boom) for about 2 years before i got him a job at the company i was leaving.

other than that, there are plenty of areas in IT (security, admin, helldesk, pre-sales(?)) you could get into.. but in this day and age, if you're working in IT it pretty much needs to be your life if you want to get anywhere

Damn...the thing is, when I was taking these courses, I figured that there were many areas in IT that meant I wouldn't have to be good at programming, but just from doing the online job search, it seems like there are a lot of job openings for coders, and I didn't think it was like that. I figured that there was stiff competition, and that many companies outsourced these jobs to other countries where they do the same thing for $25,000 and less.

I have always thought about doing security, as well as database. With security, I was definitely thinking about the whole experience thing...it seems like a company would want someone to come in and know exactly what they are doing, versus having to train someone to do it. I know that security is a major issue, and it is not a "fad" type of job that will become extinct anytime soon. I took three courses in it, and they all gave me a basic background on it...but it seems like I'd basically have to know how to hack just to be an efficient IT security worker.

Thanks for the input.

[R-Tistic]

Computer Science/CIS

DON'T CONFUSE YOUR DEGREE WITH THAT OF A COMPUTER SCIENTIST.


LOOK FOR A COMPUTER INFORMATION SYSTEM CAREER, MINIMAL PROGRAMMING.
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos258.htm

Oh yeah, it is a major difference, and I am Information Systems...I just listed it that was because most people still group them together. At my univ, we were in the same dept. and took about 60% of the same courses. One was called Computer Information Systems, and the other was Comp. Information Science.

[The Watcher]

your best bet is to look for junior positions or to take a year off and do nothing (seriously) except learn c#/java/ruby/whatever. if you want to be a developer then you face some pretty tough competition in my opinion. i had a friend of a friend finish uni and was looking for work (before the www boom) for about 2 years before i got him a job at the company i was leaving.

other than that, there are plenty of areas in IT (security, admin, helldesk, pre-sales(?)) you could get into.. but in this day and age, if you're working in IT it pretty much needs to be your life if you want to get anywhere

Damn...the thing is, when I was taking these courses, I figured that there were many areas in IT that meant I wouldn't have to be good at programming, but just from doing the online job search, it seems like there are a lot of job openings for coders, and I didn't think it was like that. I figured that there was stiff competition, and that many companies outsourced these jobs to other countries where they do the same thing for $25,000 and less.

I have always thought about doing security, as well as database. With security, I was definitely thinking about the whole experience thing...it seems like a company would want someone to come in and know exactly what they are doing, versus having to train someone to do it. I know that security is a major issue, and it is not a "fad" type of job that will become extinct anytime soon. I took three courses in it, and they all gave me a basic background on it...but it seems like I'd basically have to know how to hack just to be an efficient IT security worker.

Thanks for the input.

you'll find most companies worth anything (fortune 500?) will outsource their security, probably 75% of them outsource to the company i work for. you can quite easily get a job in IT with no programming knowledge (i know C and python, nothing else), so there are jobs out there. database admin is fairly mind numbing work, but can get you well paid. helldesk is probably somewhere to start out if you want to get into network/system admin work. like i said, the easiest way to get into any IT work is by taking up a junior position. you will start out at the bottom of the ladder, but if you're any good after a year you can work your way up the ladder.

if you want to get into security and dont mind moving to Virginia send me a PM, i can probably hook you up with an interview

[Don Jacob]

i'm a business major and an offshoot of my major that some dudes have in some of my classes is Management informations systems , try looking into those jobs as well. i know  a dude who's not even graduated and has an internship with chevron and is going to be making 60 g's once he graduates....in BAKERSFIELD. so dude's already rich. but yeah try looking into something like that they're not that particular when it comes to internships and degrees.

[Jip]

get your head in the books and do some other qualifications that involve programming?