01-04-2008, 12:55 PM
I have been in the IT field for about 20 years, and I have conducted many employment interviews as part of a team. You are right that we tend to want experience, even more than training, certification, and degrees. But there are ways for you to build some experience in order to get your foot in the door.
First, you should design and build a few applications for your personal use. The tools and languages don't matter as much as the coherence of the finished product. And even that doesn't matter as much as getting it done.
Next, put up a web site with a database back-end. Do it to support some hobby or community group you're involved in. Try getting involved in some community open source project -- look at freshmeat.net for ideas. Choose a relatively high-profile and mature project to start (it will be better organized than a new start-up) and contribute in small ways. Write some documentation (this is something that almost always needs doing). Find the list of bugs that need fixing, and pick out some to try. Don't be discouraged if your fixes don't get accepted the first time -- keep trying. While you're doing this, study the code in some of these projects. Endeavor to understand it -- why did they do it that way? Read the developer mailing lists. Spend most of your time reading and "listening" but actively. Pick out some details to focus on and understand thoroughly.
Next, try to get involvement and feedback with people who are currently working in the field. You can join users' groups, online forums, or just start going to lunch with the IT people where you work now (or go to school or whatever). Pick people's brains about how they got into the field. Find out some more ways from them to get involved in projects and get some experience.
After you've built some experience in those ways, change your resume to a portfolio style. Prepare print-outs of the most interesting parts of your code, and be prepared to discuss how they represent your skill. Be prepared to tell some stories in your interview -- how the toughest challenges presented themselves, and how you overcame them.
If the activities I've described don't sound like fun to you, then to be brutally honest, you have chosen the wrong field. Your competitors are already doing all of these things, not to make more money, but because they love it. If that's not you, then you would certainly be happier doing something else.
-Gary-
First, you should design and build a few applications for your personal use. The tools and languages don't matter as much as the coherence of the finished product. And even that doesn't matter as much as getting it done.
Next, put up a web site with a database back-end. Do it to support some hobby or community group you're involved in. Try getting involved in some community open source project -- look at freshmeat.net for ideas. Choose a relatively high-profile and mature project to start (it will be better organized than a new start-up) and contribute in small ways. Write some documentation (this is something that almost always needs doing). Find the list of bugs that need fixing, and pick out some to try. Don't be discouraged if your fixes don't get accepted the first time -- keep trying. While you're doing this, study the code in some of these projects. Endeavor to understand it -- why did they do it that way? Read the developer mailing lists. Spend most of your time reading and "listening" but actively. Pick out some details to focus on and understand thoroughly.Next, try to get involvement and feedback with people who are currently working in the field. You can join users' groups, online forums, or just start going to lunch with the IT people where you work now (or go to school or whatever). Pick people's brains about how they got into the field. Find out some more ways from them to get involved in projects and get some experience.
After you've built some experience in those ways, change your resume to a portfolio style. Prepare print-outs of the most interesting parts of your code, and be prepared to discuss how they represent your skill. Be prepared to tell some stories in your interview -- how the toughest challenges presented themselves, and how you overcame them.
If the activities I've described don't sound like fun to you, then to be brutally honest, you have chosen the wrong field. Your competitors are already doing all of these things, not to make more money, but because they love it. If that's not you, then you would certainly be happier doing something else.
-Gary-
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