CHAPTER 12 | How to get a job?

Getting a job in IT begins with knowing what employers look for in potential candidates. The first step in this process involves researching labor market requirements and identifying the skills and knowledge employers post in their job offers.

So how to do it? A simple method would be to review the job offers on websites where they are posted. You can analyze the requirements for candidates, and at the same time look for the proposed benefits, such as social packages, and all the advantages and opportunities that can be offered by the employer.

So take a specific job description from a job-offer site and analyze what the requirements are, what are the employer's expectations, and what we can offer or how we can prepare to fit in the job description because all the requirements written by the employer more or less comply with certain projects, certain industrial processes that the company has and respectively it expects them from candidates.

So here I have selected a job description for a software developer (Figure 7). First, it shows the two years of experience required by the employer. Almost all job offers emphasize years of experience, but this is not the most critical point, because your personal knowledge and abilities matter more.

There are many people who are discouraged by this, the years of experience. How can a beginner or even an IT graduate start his career without years of experience? You should not be discouraged by this because this job description does not always correspond to reality. Sometimes the employer is determined to hire people who only have knowledge, but an in-depth knowledge of the field.

Moreover, there are also job descriptions that do not require those years of experience. Specifically, the positions that start with the word junior, respectively, are for people who are at the beginning of their career path. As you can see in the following job description (Figure 8), those required years of experience have disappeared.

In this case, the employer is looking for young talents with in-depth knowledge in the field, as well as positive interpersonal skills. So, by applying for positions such as junior developer, that include the keyword jun, you have a real chance of being interviewed.

In programming, hands-on experience is extremely valuable. The two best ways to gain this experience are through internships and freelancing.

Internships can help you gain valuable real-world experience, improve your programming skills, and better understand how the industry works. You can also search for vacancies on job websites or directly on IT companies' websites, which periodically post them.

The internships, the so-called practical training courses organized by companies for a duration of two or three months, aim to select future specialists and highlight the best candidates who, at the end of the internship, are employed within the company. As you can see in Figure 9 the required years of experience disappear, only knowledge and interpersonal skills are required. In general, internships are intended for junior developers.

Freelancing can also be an excellent way to gain experience. There are many online platforms that connect software developers with clients who need help with their projects. This can be a great way to improve your skills, add projects to your portfolio, and make an income on the side. I would personally recommend you look for offers on Upwork or Freelancer. Although the competition is very high, and there are a lot of registered freelancers, it won't hurt to create a professional profile and hunt for something routine, simple tasks aimed at the beginner level. The goal is to assert yourself if you're just starting out, so any experience is valuable.

Talking to professionals in the field can be extremely helpful when trying to get a job as a software developer. They can advise on how to improve your skills, what to expect from a job, and how to prepare for interviews.

You can start by attending networking events or developer meetups. You can also seek mentorship from an experienced developer, or try to connect with professionals on social networks such as LinkedIn. Once you have composed your CV, you can also upload it to LinkedIn, and connect with friends, employers, or other specialists in the field. Discussions, announcements, articles, job offers, and internships, as well as many other interesting things, are published regularly on LinkedIn.

Remember that professional relationships can be invaluable in developing your career. So invest time and effort in building and maintaining them. Real colleagues will support and recommend you throughout your professional activity, which is very valuable.

Your resume and cover letter are essential tools for getting a job. They are your first chance to make a positive impression on employers and showcase your skills and experience. Your CV is your business card as a professional, and your certifications and portfolio are proof of the quality of your work and aptitude.

Highlight your skills and knowledge that are relevant to the job you are applying for in your CV. It should include your education, work experience, programming skills, certifications earned, and completed projects.

Here are some recommendations for a professional CV:

• If you are just starting out and have no experience, highlight your professional studies, courses, and certification programs. But if you have some experience in the field, place this section first, immediately after your personal details and contact information, after professional experience place the studies section. The employer is interested in your experience and will look for it first. Likewise, when you describe your experience, list immediately after the period of activity, the details about the projects, your contribution, and the applied technologies. Your knowledge is reflected here, in the project description, because you indicate what you have applied in practice and with what you know to work.
• In your statement, you should emphasize the most important studies you have, such as college and university studies, which take precedence over vocational studies or certificates.
• List the personal qualities the employer is looking for. Often interpersonal qualities such as good communication skills, foreign languages, friendly person are also listed in the job description. It is important here to indicate the foreign languages you know and at what level. In terms of international communication, English is the most requested language.
• You should list all the technologies you know, even if they are not required in the job description you are applying for. In the future, employers will consider your mentioned skills, so knowing several programming languages and other frameworks is an advantage.
• Don't forget to add references to certificates you hold and your portfolio, or just links to some more relevant works from your portfolio that were done with the technologies the employer is asking for.
• I recommend adding a photo to your CV, preferably a friendly one. A photo with a beautiful smile, where you look like a communicative and friendly person. As a general rule, CVs with a photo take precedence over those without a photo.
• Avoid grammar or punctuation errors on your CV. It is important that your CV has a pleasant appearance, is well organized, error-free, and grammatically correct. As a rule, CVs with many errors are not reviewed. This is your professional face, your business card. Make sure your phone and email address are current and working. The email address must have a professional appearance, it is desirable to be composed of your first and last name, and the electronic emails you send should contain your signature composed at least of your last name, first name, and contact information.

When composing your resume, keep these recommendations in mind, and you'll be fine. You can edit some parts of the CV according to the job description specifics, for example, the role field. You will always need to edit thisfield for each new application, according to the name of the job description for which you are applying, like Software Developer, Java Developer, .NET Developer, Senior Engineer, etc.

A cover letter allows you to connect on a personal level with the employer. You can express in it your passion for programming, explain why you're interested in the company and what makes you unique compared to other candidates, why you want this position, and why you think you fit the job description. Try to be persuasive, simple, and at the same time modest, no one likes letters written in superlatives with pathos and over-appreciation.

Technical interviews are an essential part of the hiring process. These can range from questions about your technical knowledge to solving practical tasks in real-time.

To prepare effectively for these interviews, a good idea would be to train by solving practical problems and tests. You can find a lot of resources on Udemy, W3Schools, and Tutorialspoint. These websites also include typical technical interview questions categorized by technology. There are many other online resources that you can find with a simple Google search.

Preparing for behavioral questions is also important. It is important for employers to understand how you work in a team and how you adapt to different situations. Therefore, it is important to consider the psychological aspect as well, be confident but not cheeky. If you don't know the answer to certain technical questions it's better to say you don't know than to answer wrongly. It's impossible to know everything and you don't know what questions you will receive, but if you can handle at least 70% of them, you have a chance of being hired.

Interviews are not only about theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Many so-called experts and seasoned professionals failed interviews not because of their capabilities but because of their personality and the bad impression they made on the employer. No one likes smug, overconfident, or condescending people. During the interview, it is important to impress the employer on a personal level and inspire confidence, so that he feels the need to invest in you, and in your career, as well as feel secure relying on you as a responsible and serious person.

The last step to getting a job is to apply for job offers. This can be quite intimidating, but it's important to remember that every attempt is an opportunity to learn and improve.

During my career as a software developer, I have participated in more than 100 interviews, so I advise you not to get discouraged if you don't get an answer right away or if you don't get one at all. The process of finding the right job may take some time. You should remember that hundreds of candidates apply for the same job, and any job is obtained through competition and several stages of the recruitment process. As you wait for an answer, work on projects, improve your resume, and perfect your portfolio.

Keep in mind that the most important thing is not to give up. With persistence and a positive attitude, you can achieve your goals and fulfill your dream of becoming a software developer.