Looking for a dedicated programming team
9 08 Jul 2016 18:41 by u/OPTIMUS_LINE
Hello! Probably many of us /v/programming users are students looking for internships and opportunities in top companies, a very frequently asked question is what is needed to be accepted for these internships and companies, an awesome and interesting Portfolio is always the answer given. My intention in this post is forming a team to dedicate 1 year to creating awesome Portfolios together and greatly improve our chances for internships and getting hired at awesome companies. The projects we would work on would be voted (Web apps, Mobile, Crypthography software?,perhaps Voat bots?) but I feel like teamworking would make motivation easier as well as ensure top quality in our programs.
The goal is to turn from student level programmers to top level programming students in 1 year. PM me if you are interested in getting this going!
4 comments
1 u/RevanProdigalKnight 08 Jul 2016 20:33
No longer a student, and I have a job, but here's my two cents after a few years in the industry.
You need more than just a portfolio, you need to know people. If a portfolio of work was enough to get a job, anybody who teaches themselves to write some code and then participates in a whole bunch of projects could get a job in the field. Knowing people already in the field is key - as one of my professors put it when I started looking for jobs, "Who you know is worth more than what you know sometimes." If you know people, they can recommend you for things that you would never have found by yourself, or if their experiences with you are good enough, they'll recommend you for things that you don't consider yourself qualified for, and even sometimes for things that you aren't actually qualified for, because they know that you can adapt to situations well.
Now, some people at this point will just say "But the people we're working for are enough, right? They can recommend us!". Not necessarily. If the team is large enough, the people you're working for will only get to know the people that are in constant contact with them - the "Project Managers" or "Sales" people, per se (even if you don't actually have those positions). So when it comes down to the moment of recommendation, they'll only be able to say "Well, I only really interacted with <person or persons>. I can't really speak for the rest, but they seemed to do good work overall." If you're forming a team, you'll want to have volunteer(?) mentors for the team. Mentors can act as contacts for after the year is up, because they have the freedom to interact with anybody who comes to talk to them. Another nice thing about having mentors is that you have somebody (or some people) to bounce ideas off of, review code, and offer design suggestions. They don't have to be an integral part of the team, but it's a good idea to have some advisors for spreading awareness of your efforts.
Another, slightly more minor problem I have with (the wording of) your post:
"Top level" programmer is a lofty goal for one year. Like I said, I've been in the industry for a few years and neither I nor my coworkers are "top level" programmers, not even the ones that have been working with code their entire adult lives. I would like to believe that most of my coworkers and I are at least above average, maybe even towards the top end of the spectrum, but I wouldn't place any of us even in the top 10%. Even if I worked at a more prestigious company (e.g. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc.) not everybody is a "top level" programmer. Some people aren't built for it, some people never see their full potential, and some people simply don't care. At the end of one year, you still won't be a "top level" programmer. You'll be a highly desirable recruit, but nobody is "top level" within a year, no matter how good they are. "There will always be somebody who knows more about something than you do", as the saying goes.
2 u/OPTIMUS_LINE [OP] 08 Jul 2016 22:04
I definitely miswrote the top level part, of course I don't intend to pretend that one year can put you ahead people who have been coding all their adult lives, I meant top level compared to other bachelor level students in order to have a better chance at the best entry level positions.
Given your experience would you be interested in mentoring? Also, how does one go about networking? Teachers? LinkedIn?
0 u/RevanProdigalKnight 09 Jul 2016 04:14
I would definitely be interested in mentoring, though I may not be able to invest more than a few hours a week sometimes; my schedule doesn't vary much but my workload does.
As for networking, I've built up my (small) network by communicating with people and working with them. Some of my references are old classmates that I stay in touch with, some are professors, some are former coworkers. It's always a good practice to stay in touch with people, even if it's just the occasional message asking "Hey, just thought about you.", "How are you?", or "What have you been up to?", etc.
0 u/captbrogers 09 Jul 2016 16:10
I started in tech support and moved into coding websites nearly a decade ago. One of the best ways to build up a network of people is to go to local meetups or conferences. If you are lucky enough to live in an area that has moderate sized conferences usually you can volunteer to be a gopher for them and then get in for free. You spend a few hours just running around, take a cable to this presenter, double check that the camera is recording, ensure the presenter has their mic on and it is recording, bring water to that presenter, help people check in and get their badges in the morning. Then you spend time during the lunch/dinner socials just meeting people. Exchange email addresses, follow them on Twitter, connect on LinkedIn, whatever they have. Don't go crazy asking every person who says "hi" for this information, but if they do strike you as someone you want around you then do so.
What language(s) are you looking to learn? Did you also want DevOps experience (setting up a LAMP/LEMP server)?