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> A useful asset would seem to be someone the company couldn't afford to turn away. An unpaid intern is use a valuable resource to exploit. How do you reconcile these ideas?

Both the company and the employee should be useful assets to each other. (Or, if you're more cynical about it, both the company and employee will be mutually exploiting each other.)

One of the top-selling business books - Good to Great says that the best leaders "Confront the brutal facts, but never give up hope." It's talking about CEOs, but you can apply it to new grads just entering the job market. Brutal facts for a new grad:

• You have less experience and fewer tangible skills than anybody else on the job market.
  
• You lack a track record or any public information about your past accomplishments. It's hard to convince a hiring manager to trust you when you have no data.
  
• You lack connections and a network of people that have worked with you before.
  
• You often lack a conceptual framework for what professional success in the working world looks like or what employers are looking for.
  
  Balancing that, you do have some assets:
  
  
• First and foremost, you have time. When you're a new grad, your whole working life is ahead of you. Many companies hire new grads specifically because they hope that they will get a long, fruitful career out of them.
  
• You're often willing to work very hard and try new things.
  
• You have few commitments as a young 20-something, meaning that you have freedom to take bold career moves like relocating, or the ability to work extra hours to complete a project.
  
• If you completed a 4-year degree, you have demonstrated the ability to show persistence and follow through on something challenge.
  
• You hopefully have decent social skills and experience hanging out with other people.
  
• You often have better technology skills than older people, and are more in touch with recent cultural developments than them.
  
  If you want to approach your career strategically, you should leverage the assets you have to convince other people to give you the assets you need. You do this by giving them what they want and asking for things in return. So pretty much all of the advice that the OP gave is about highlighting the assets you have:
  
  
• When you request a face-to-face meeting with a hiring manager, you have a chance to demonstrate social skills and ability to work with people.
  
• When you do this politely but repeatedly, you show persistence.
  
• When you go for the hiring manager instead of HR, you show that you are thinking of what others need and not what you need.
  
• When you talk face-to-face and offer to shadow the team, you demonstrate time and flexibility.
  
  In return, you should be looking to acquire the assets that you don't have, so that you are not so disadvantaged in your next job hunt. For example:
  
  
• By entering the workforce, you learn tangible skills that you can apply to a future employer.
  
• You get the brand name of your previous employer, which makes future ones more inclined to trust you.
  
• You can build a network of people that are personally acquainted with your skills, all of whom have their own networks of personal contacts.
  
  The OP suggested going blue-chip, which is the traditional advice. I personally didn't - I worked for a couple startups, founded my own, and then ended up at Google, relying much more heavily on skill development than the brand name. It doesn't actually matter - your actual career path will depend heavily on the opportunities that are available to you. (I wasn't looking to end up at Google, for example, but they said "yes" and I figured it was an opportunity worth taking.) The important thing is that you very honestly take stock of what you lack as an employee and then take the steps to acquire that, using all the resources you have available to you.

Don't. Do not under any circumstances say you would work for them over all other choices. There's a few reasons for this.

1. It often comes off as non-genuine. Hiring managers hear this phrase constantly
   
2. It seems desperate.
   
3. It's easy to lowball you or keep you waiting if they know you aren't going anywhere. Companies make offers very quickly to the candidates they want to take quickly before someone else does
   
   This isn't necessarily done on purpose, but I've seen it happen first hand too many times to count. It's almost like the "bad-boy" dilemma in dating- the guys who seem farthest away to reach are usually the most in-demand.
   
   Instead, communicate your passion through the knowledge you have about their company. Talk about their things they've done you admire, ask them questions about how the framework they use and why (Do your research, don't say anything obvious!). If there are company github projects, read through them all. Try to get an idea of what they might be working on next and why.
   
   In a phone interview your goal is not to get the job, just to get to the next interview. Give them what they need without sending across any red-flags. Really look closely at the job description and make sure you check each criteria. Have prepared answers for questions like: "Tell me about yourself," "Where do you see yourself in 5 years," etc.
   
   I'd also recommend buying "Cracking the Coding Interview" if you have some time to prepare: https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-Programming-Questions/dp/098478280X
   
   It's extremely helpful.

I had similar thoughts when I left the Corps.

Hard to give advice on what to study, because at some point it has to interest you, or you have be ok learning a lot about it.

The easier thing to say is don't study business/management as an undergrad. It's pointless. There's a reason why the fancy schools don't even offer those degrees. Learn skills.

Start taking classes and then chase where you excel. If you like numbers, go into math or some science program. Or if you're good at writing/talking, chase that.

The key is to keep thinking about how what you're learning becomes a useful skill set for someone who needs to hire people.

Let me suggest two books, both are likely in your public library.

The first book makes the great point that you shouldn't worry about long term goals. Get better at things, take opportunities when they come up, and put your effort into the work. My life got so much better when I finally started living that advice.

https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You/dp/1455509124

https://www.amazon.com/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2016/dp/1501274643

Sorry to hear about your troubles!

Hmm, for job hunting I'd recommend:

Break The Rules: The Secret Code to Finding a Great Job Fast

It has the best way of looking at "selling yourself" to people I've ever seen in a book. Plus it came out in 2001 and you can buy it for a penny + shipping.

If you're interested in working for yourself (starting work now, not waitin around), I'd recommend:

Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More

Or anything by Robert W. Bly. The guy's a genius.

For idea-generating for non-writing self-professions, I'd recommend:

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

If you create your own start-up, Bly has a marketing book too. I'd get that. Anything business-related written by the guy is worth its weight in gold.

If you don't see a job in sight, I would highly consider self-employment, just because you can start today. I think it's great that anyone, anywhere can say "I'm now employed" if they want to. There is responsibility for paying yourself, of course, but now no one can fire you, and they don't take a percent away from your earnings. You get all the kickback. And it's not a pyramid scheme-ish company like Amway, where layers of people are all getting a chunk of your profit (just like any other job you work for other people).

You sound intelligent and experienced; you should go for it if you've got the gumption.

For writing positions, probably a little early (I'm a writer myself). You'll probably have to wait until the second semester to lock down a job.

That being said, it's NOT to early to start building relationships and meeting the right people so that when the time comes you'll have tons of options.

Definitely take the video interview to get some practice!

I'd actually recommend reading this book called "Figure Your Sh*t Out: The Post Grad's Guide to Success in the Real World." Has a ton of great tips on networking and stuff that helped me build my network senior year, and by the time I graduated a had a few job offers to choose from. The trick is to start building relationships with people now who could hire you once you graduate.

Here's the link btw: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YL448KZ/

Hope that helps!

I would recommend this book:
What Color is Your Parachute?

The guy has written the book for 30 years. It explains how to analyze yourself and how to effectively interview, search for jobs, network as well as helping you realize your dreams and goals.

Good Luck.

I think the best way if you really want to get into the tech filed is by reading this book https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-Programming-Questions/dp/0984782850. I would also learn algorithms to allow to at least get a better shot into a entry level coding job. Also check out local tech meetups and see what they are doing sometimes there are job openings and you can directly talk to employers there. Good Luck!

Get a piece of paper, write down every job you've had. Beside each job write down the things you hated about that job.

Eg. "I hated working with kids."

This can inform your future job. If you hate working with kids, don't get a job working with kids. (Duh!)

Next write down the things you enjoyed:

Eg. "I enjoyed working on a team."

This will help you to see things you enjoy doing. If you like working on teams, get a job that involves working on teams.

If you've got no idea what you enjoy, it pays to sit down and do this exercise and get it clear in your mind.

Another thing you can do is similar. Write every skills / duties you did in each of your jobs or even in your life.

Eg. "I wrote reports. I analysed statistical data. I repaired my car. etc"

You can then put these duties and skills into order of which you enjoy most to least. The ones you enjoy most can inform what job you apply for. If you really enjoy writing reports - look for jobs where that's listed in the person specification.

There's a book named What Color Is My Parachute which has a number of these exercises with the overall result of a sheet of paper with your preferred job on it. Worth checking out if you have no clue.

Before you get way in over your head you should pick up some resources regarding wellness programs in the workplace because some recent federal laws (within the last 2 years) were passed addressing certain things that didn't exist before as wellness programs are becoming more and more common. Specifically regarding HIPPA issues and incentives as taxable income. Here'a a book I recommend you read so you know the legal ramification to the program you're creating, since your employer is asking you to do this, they should buy you this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Employees-Business-Affordable-Workplace/dp/1413316255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397235319&sr=8-1

> Does anyone know what I careers I should check out or something.

You have to narrow this down or we could be here all day, guessing at what you want to be when you grow up: fireman, cowboy, ballerina, pedicurist, what?

I recommend starting with personality. Its a different approach than interest or aptitude. Check out: https://www.amazon.com/Do-What-You-Are-Personality/dp/031623673X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523164986&sr=8-1&keywords=do+what+you+are

Any library would have this. Once you are clear on this, you can look at various careers that are always fun and eventful each day. Most are not.

if i asked you to make some =if fuctions, filter, conditional formatting, or format the cells to a particular way, could you do all of those?

I see a lot of people say they "know" microsoft office but they just know the absolute basics for everything. buy this textbook to actually learn many functions that businesses actually want you to know. I used this exact same book at a tech school and it literally was self taught. The book pretty much teaches you everything. Buy it used and get office for like $120 or whatever if you don't have it.

Don't put "Excel skills on resume." In your objective or summary field (whatever you call it) just put "intermediate/advanced knowledge of Microsoft office applications." then when they ask you in the interview what extent that this is, explain to them that you can do various things that matter to them. most companies don't care that you know how to make a pie chart. they care that you know how to use it as a data entry tool.

I'd go to your local library and check out some career-testing books. I was your age and tried doing it based on my gut intuition, and ended up going back to grad school for a $35k degree that I never used. I ended up in a boring writing job for 5 years, and really wish I would have done more research before wasting all that time and money. I found this book to be super helpful. Now I'm back in school for something that interests me AND is super practical!

You might want to try cross posting this to /r/cscareerquestions, to get more discussion. However, since you posted this here, I will try and answer your question. First off, some software engineering job interviewers will have unrealistic expectations. However, it's unfair to say that all or even most software engineering interviewers have too high expectations. After all, there are huge differences in quality between good and bad developers. The issue is that there isn't a great way to tell how good of a software engineer someone is in a short interview. Asking technical questions about algorithms or aspects of programming related to the job is one of the best ways of measuring a developers quality within the constraints of an interview.


By the way, if you feel that your skill as a developer isn't coming through in interviews, you should buy the book "cracking the coding interview". I have found it very helpful in preparing for technical interviews. One great piece of advice that it has is that for preparing for technical interviews you should write code on paper not in an IDE or text editor. This is the kind of thing that separates being a good developer and seeming like a good developer in an interview.

Tl;DR Some interviewers have unrealistic expectations, but not all or even most.

It is definitely something that you can pass without taking a course. I used this book back when it was in it's 4th edition haha It is really good though and had a disc with loads of practice test questions.

http://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Certification-Edition-220-801-220-802/dp/007179512X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368555413&sr=8-1&keywords=Comptia+A%2B+Certification+All-In-One+Exam+Guide

Me too since September. It has been a terrible experience. It is a bit comforting to know that I'm not the only one. I found What color is your parachute? to be a reassuring source. Good luck with the search if you haven't found anything yet.

Education has become so available and loan money so free that anyone and everyone can go to college. Because of this, when workers want, say, a top 25% worker, that worker now has to have so much more education to signal their intelligence, hard-workerness, and ability to get along with others. Before money was free, employers had no basis to demand a better-educated worker, but now they can. The fact is that employers don't actually expect you to have learned marketable job skills...waiters who earned a 4 year degree in archaeology still make more than those who didn't. Employers are paying for the signalling value that a 4 year degree suggests.

Learn more about signalling in education in this fantastic and mind-blowing book:

https://www.amazon.com/Case-against-Education-System-Waste/dp/0691174652/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541368181&sr=8-1&keywords=the+case+against+education

I think you already have a good outline. Look at this book: http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-Programming-Questions/dp/098478280X.

I'm sure you can find a pdf of it somewhere. ;)

If you give up easily, programming is not for you. It's a very mentally-intensive field that requires a lot of thinking and discipline. That being said, you're very young still and have a lot of time to figure out what you want to do. Try different things to find out what you like, then try and make a job out of it.

If you're good at music, put some videos on YouTube. That's how Justin Bieber was discovered. Try programming again. It's a lot more fun if you have a project to work on, so try building a simple website or a simple game. Try job shadowing people (following someone around at their job to see what their day-to-day tasks are like).

Here's a website that lists off IT jobs. You can browse this site to get a feel for the types of jobs out there and the types of responsibilities they come with.

There's also a book called What Color is your Parachute? I've never read it, but it's helped a lot of people find out what they wanted to do with their lives.

I used this one: http://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Certification-Edition-220-801-220-802/dp/007179512X

But honestly if you have been playing around with hard ware and know the windows OS well, you'll pass without too much studying.

Looking at your post and your other replies in this thread, I feel like you simply don't do that well in coding or technical interviews.

Now, I'm IT, not development, but a few people I've met swear by this book:

https://www.amazon.ca/Cracking-Coding-Interview-Programming-Questions/dp/098478280X

Buy it or find a PDF and get cracking :)

The only way to become good at programming interview questions is to practice questions.

Some good resources:
http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-Programming-Questions/dp/098478280X
www.careercup.com (run by the author of the above book)

Find a whiteboard and work through the questions as if you were doing an interview IRL. Talk your way through problems. As you do more and more problems, you'll get better at solving them on the spot during interviews.

talking to people whose jobs sounded really enjoyable was a good start. matching up my skill set with different career tracks. (i took 0 marketing and communications classes in college, but it's something I'm decent at and have now worked in for 5ish years). Also, read this! https://www.amazon.com/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2016/dp/160774662X

Yes, you are clearly right. The hundreds of negative reviews on glassdoor are all part of some anti McMaster propaganda lol. There is an entire book written outlining the oppressive environment

http://www.amazon.com/McMaster-Carr-Interview-Process-Work-Environment-ebook/dp/B0190S4VAM/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1449446468&sr=8-8&keywords=mcmaster+carr

but I guess that's all bogus too lol

If you already are familiar with programming I really like C++ for Java Programmers http://www.amazon.com/C-Java-Programmers-Mark-Weiss/dp/013919424X generally I usually just put C instead of C++ in my resume since I've never programmed in C++ outside of college.

I work near a large federal base (FAA). I had a Masters in a writing intensive major and they needed a tech writer ASAP.

Make sure to read:

Pocket Guide to Technical Communication (5th Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0135063965/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_5FUDCbRHGVHD1

It gave me enough back ground info to pass a writing test.

There are a whole series of books on the place. If the interview was any indication of what it's like working there, I would say it's a really strange place.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019LPXRUE?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

http://www.amazon.com/McMaster-Carr-Interview-Environment-Management-ebook/dp/B0190S4VAM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1450728955&sr=1-1&keywords=mcmaster+carr

Um, it's What Color Is YOUR Parachute.

Solid advice though.

achoo

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Employees-Business-Affordable-Workplace/dp/1413316255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397235319&sr=8-1


|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Spain|amazon.es|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Germany|amazon.de|
|Japan|amazon.co.jp|
|Canada|amazon.ca|
|Italy|amazon.it|
|China|amazon.cn|



This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting).

https://www.amazon.com/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2016/dp/1501274643

Read this.

Dude, you have four years worth of programming for a company, regardless of if it went under, you have the skills (skills that i want, :/) and the experience. go subscribe to /r/cscareerquestions for help, ask them questions and show them your resume. Most of them will say to buy cracking the coding interview, and study hard. if you haven't already, make an app, any app to show case in an interview. I notice you dont have c++ in your languages, from what I understand, it's not a deal breaker, but it is almost always preffered that you know a bit of it, as it's what most college applicants learn. TBH, i envy you at the moment, you dont need the degree, though you could probably get it in 2-3 years.


https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-Programming-Questions/dp/0984782850/ref=pd_sim_14_6?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0984782850&pd_rd_r=Y0VQM2V7EA06TTHXG0XA&pd_rd_w=mYvth&pd_rd_wg=HQWyV&psc=1&refRID=Y0VQM2V7EA06TTHXG0XA

I agree with you on some businesses requiring low financial capital to start. I read The $100 Startup to learn about that, but I found that many still require cultural capital or social capital. Also, too many of use can't afford to spend the time associated with failing and would rather spend time trying for standard jobs.