How to get programming experience?

funkymonk

Hello got a question:
Finished college with a degree in computer science over a year ago. Since then i've been doing call centre tech support. Had enough of it at this stage, the shiftwork, pay, nature of work - a phone monkey as they say.;)
I would like to move into a different area of IT hopefully some type of development job, maybe even web design ,
Will prob go for a course in multimedia to get a kick start in webdesign knowledge.

In college i got exposure to a host of languages c++, java, eiffell, sql
However all the job ads i see require "experience" in the languages.
My questions is after all this ranting is
How do u get experience if u cant get a job to get experience-catch 22 .
Perhaps design a webpage to showcase some apps i've to show potential employ maybe?


Thanks

Auburn

Originally posted by funkymonk

Perhaps design a webpage to showcase some apps i've to show potential employ maybe?

Exactly, create a portfolio of work to show prospective employers. Maybe you could ask around locally if anyone wants you to do a website for them for a low price... Or participate in open source projects maybe

yop

That is a good suggestion about asking about the local businesses and doing work for them, if you make money from it all the better but if u got 2 or 3 small projects together from them while doing the call centre work then u will have got some experience. You can play with the period of experience you have gained with then and increase it but as long as you have the references you can start to get on the ladder.
From what I have heard it is very hard to get into dev work at the moment. Where are you exactly, I can send a mail out to my mates to see if there is anything either short contract, placement or what ever goin in their places.

gluck with it anyway.

Sposs

Do some development certs etc in the evening to compliment your degree , also no harm in offering free web design to some local businesses it's a way of building up a large portfolio quickly.

casper-

Originally posted by funkymonk
Hello got a question:
In college i got exposure to a host of languages c++, java, eiffell, sql
However all the job ads i see require "experience" in the languages.
My questions is after all this ranting is
How do u get experience if u cant get a job to get experience-catch 22 .
Perhaps design a webpage to showcase some apps i've to show potential employ maybe?

Do you want to go into website (and website programming) development, or desktop development, etc?

The ideas about doing websites for free are good if that's your aim .. and it may be an easier market to break into. It would be good if you get a few of those under your belt to approach some local firms and see if you could get an 'internship' of some sort as well. I have no idea what the details on that would be, but it would give you some real world experience.

As for the other side of the coin, desktop development (not .NET stuff either), your best bet there is to pick a project and finish it. If it's writing a little ftp client for windows, or tetris, or whatever -- it could be as simple as re-writing dope wars to begin with. You just need to learn the WIn32 api (for now), and start actually using those c/c++ skills you learnt in school.

Chr1s

I don't think the web design is quite good for you. because you have learnt c++ language and java, as you know that is very difficult language to people. the guy above said right. to try .net framework programming is good choice.
also I suggest you to gain some certification like MCSE or CCNA something like that. also you could try some company aboard.

Cake Fiend

As an aside from the main thread of discussion, with regards to the whole portfolio thing - does anyone know much about copyright bits and pieces? I.e. how does one go about putting together a portfolio of things such as programming projects, web design projects, etc and making sure any prospective employers they send this portfolio to can't nick some of it?

casper-

Originally posted by Sico
As an aside from the main thread of discussion, with regards to the whole portfolio thing - does anyone know much about copyright bits and pieces? I.e. how does one go about putting together a portfolio of things such as programming projects, web design projects, etc and making sure any prospective employers they send this portfolio to can't nick some of it?

For programming projects, it's hard unless it's just your own work. If it is though, just including an executable on a CD is enough for a start.

Web design - pretty easy if the websites are live. If they're not, and it's just concept stuff you've done, you could again provide screenshots of several portions of it and then perhaps just setup a live demo on a home machine if they want to see it during an interview.

You can definitely put (c) 2004 Your Name on anything and everything you send out...that's not to say some unscrupulous company may not try to re-do what you've done, but I would hope for the most part it's not something you'd have to worry about. I think the main thing would be to send images instead of code (C or HTML) and not to demonstrate anything completely brand new that no one has ever seen before

As a side note, I have several friends who are designers of one type or another. They compile either DVDs with a collage of their film work, or 'books' (PDF or otherwise) of their own personal drawings, illustrations, etc. and that's practically their resume. I guess there's a chance in that industry people might try to steal a drawing, but it's more of a generally accepted medium.