Conversion Course graduate....what now?

MooShop

Well not exactly a graduate yet, but I'm expecting my final results in the next couple of weeks and expecting to receive a 1:1.

The course I did was a Higher Diploma in Software Development from UL. Now, my background is slightly different from most who do these types of courses. My original degree was in computers so I have a BSc in Computing, Level 7.

Now, I graduated from that in 2005. Included in that I did a 6 month placement, mainly using .NET stuff for a county council. I worked as a Systems Engineer in a medium sized company after that for 4 and a half years. My main role here was installing and supporting hardware/software solutions.

I left there in 2010, and since then I have travelled and lived abroad, working in a non-related field.

So now, here I am. I was wondering whether people who work in the industry could give me some advice on what I should be doing to make myself more employable?

From reading here in the past, I know there is mixed opinion of this type of conversion course and some people dis-regard it altogether. Also, I have seen people advising others on building a "portfolio". What sort of projects should I work on? Just anything I can think of to demonstrate what I have learned so far?

I have been applying for a few jobs, mainly graduate/internship level.

Any advice, thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, and sorry if this is a bit long-winded!

bpmurray

Sounds like a good mix - you shouldn't have any problem getting a dev job, although expect to start at the graduate level. One of the best hires for the past year was a conversion HDip in Dev like yourself - better than some of the other Comp Sci graduates!

MooShop

bpmurray wrote: »

Sounds like a good mix - you shouldn't have any problem getting a dev job, although expect to start at the graduate level. One of the best hires for the past year was a conversion HDip in Dev like yourself - better than some of the other Comp Sci graduates!

Yeah I've no problem starting a graduate level. Good to hear that a H-Dip graduate at your place is doing well.

Any thoughts on me having a portfolio, or is that expected at graduate level? What do companies expect of people starting at graduate level, or are they re-trained the way the company wants?

Would be good to have an insight into what happens in the industry.

bpmurray

Anything that illustrates what you have done/what you can do is good: a portfolio, participation on an opensource project, helping with CoderDojo/Silver Surfers, etc. are all good examples of this. The assumption is that a graduate has the basic skills, but knows pretty much nothing. It's nice when a newbie can be self-starting, but usually they need a lot of hand-holding - it sounds like you may be good in this area. Have you sent out any CVs yet, and to what kind of companies?

MooShop

I have applied for a few positions. Have applied for an Internship at SAP, then the rest have been graduate positions, Intel, HP and I have applied for about 3 other jobs on job-seeking websites. These seem to get sent to recruiters though, I'd prefer to apply directly to companies where possible.

bpmurray

Why not try the single biggest s/w dev organization in the country - IBM? For some reason graduates seem to miss that they do a lot of hard-core development there.

MooShop

bpmurray wrote: »

Why not try the single biggest s/w dev organization in the country - IBM? For some reason graduates seem to miss that they do a lot of hard-core development there.

I've mainly just been looking at job sites and then applying on the company website, if listed. Must have a look on their website or LinkedIn. Thanks for the advice.

Graham

MooShop wrote: »

These seem to get sent to recruiters though, I'd prefer to apply directly to companies where possible.

Does it make a big difference whether you find a job directly or through an agency? Regardless of your opinion of the value of agencies, there are always jobs that will only be available via an agency.

EamonnDunne

Graham wrote: »

Does it make a big difference whether you find a job directly or through an agency? Regardless of your opinion of the value of agencies, there are always jobs that will only be available via an agency.

To the employee not really, its possible in some circumstances that you may be in a better position to negotiate salary if going direct.

Graham

EamonnDunne wrote: »

To the employee not really, its possible in some circumstances that you may be in a better position to negotiate salary if going direct.

For a graduate position I really can't see it will make a huge difference. Agency commission is hardly likely to be a major consideration for the type of company the OP would actually like to work for.

MooShop

Graham wrote: »

Does it make a big difference whether you find a job directly or through an agency? Regardless of your opinion of the value of agencies, there are always jobs that will only be available via an agency.

No it doesn't really and I don't care about how I find a job. But one of the guys I know from my course applied for a few places and some recruiters called him back and basically said that the H-Dip was worthless.

I've applied for a few jobs through recruiters and since then some of them have been spamming my inbox with jobs that are way out of my league, like senior dev and project management positions!

As I said I have no preference but sometimes it seems that recruiters are more hassle. Just my opinion from experiences so far.

EamonnDunne

MooShop wrote: »

I've applied for a few jobs through recruiters and since then some of them have been spamming my inbox with jobs that are way out of my league, like senior dev and project management positions!

This is very common, get used to it. Basically most (all?) recruiters work on a keyword matching basis so they just spray and pray job specifications hoping to get a hit.

MooShop

EamonnDunne wrote: »

This is very common, get used to it. Basically most (all?) recruiters work on a keyword matching basis so they just spray and pray job specifications hoping to get a hit.

Makes sense but very annoying!

Raging_Ninja

Try a smaller company. You get to do a lot more than if you jump straight into a large company, where you tend to get pidgeon-holed.

EamonnDunne

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

Try a smaller company. You get to do a lot more than if you jump straight into a large company, where you tend to get pidgeon-holed.

Agreed, in addition they generally will be more open to recent graduates as there is not a HR policy set in stone that could immediately disqualify you for something trivial.

bpmurray

Send your CV out to everyone, not just a select few. That way you can always politely (and hopefully truthfully) say that you have already decided to accept some other company's offer, but that you appreciate their interest. In other words, don't limit yourself to big or small companies.

MooShop

Yeah, I'm sending my CV for any position advertised for a graduate developer.