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A man takes his place in the theater, but his seat is too far from the stage.
He whispers to the usher, "This is a mystery, and I have to watch a mystery close up. Get me a better seat, and I'll give you a handsome tip." The usher moves him into the second row, and the man hands the usher a quarter.
The usher looks at the quarter, leans over and whispers, "The wife did it."
/ravi
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I recently graduated with a BS in Information Technology - Network Security emphasis, but I have always enjoyed the courses I took in software development far more than any infrastructure or hardware courses. I would like to enter the industry as an entry level developer but I'm having a hard time since I have little or no commercial experience. Therefore I wonder if anyone in the Code Project community knew of a way I could work on an actual project to gain some skills that I could put on a resume. My current work situation doesn't really allow me to physically be available but I could easily do telecommute type work. Any advice on building some skills and viable experience to put on a resume would be helpful.
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bradfortner wrote: Any advice on building some skills and viable experience to put on a resume would be helpful.
- Open Source Projects of interest to you
- Volunteer to write some software for an NGO of your choice
You are in the same position we have all found ourselves in after being graduated with a Bachelors Degree.
When I went to university, long before there was anything like an IT degree, we had a saying in the Mathematics Department.
Q - What can you do with a Bachelors in Mathematics.
A - Drive a truck.
It took me 8 months of serious looking before I finally got a job in IT. Many can tell a similar story.
Don't get discouraged. It takes a long time to get your first IT job.
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am.
JimmyRopes
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Thank you for the advice, I will have to look into different open source projects and see what I feel comfortable trying. Unfortunately I have found that schoolwork does not equal real world 90% of the time. I've been in several courses that cover decent material but they never seem to get into things like deployment / .dll's / or getting involved with printing or formatting other than on screen.
I will definitely start looking into some open source projects though.
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I think Jimmy Ropes gave you excellent advice, and I'd like to add to his thoughtful words the idea that you don't necessarily need a job, or internship, in the formal sense, to get busy developing the habit of self-motivated technical study, and practice, in programming.
And, I do not think you'll find a better resource on this planet than ... drum-roll ... CodeProject.
Get Visual Studio, choose your weapon (.NET language), and get started. Study selected articles here that interest you; choose projects to develop yourself that will stretch your mind, like writing a small word-processor. Develop a web-site. Create a program that interacts with Excel via Office Automation and does something interesting.
"Work out" by setting yourself problems in Object Oriented modeling of real-world hierarchies, and inheritance, that require you to become familiar with working with Virtual and Abstract Classes, Interfaces. As you reach plateaus, or have technical problems you need help with: makes use of CodeProject's Technical forums and QA to ask questions.
Deeply explore the features of an IDE like Visual Studio to get a practical deep "feel for" debugging and error-handling.
Prepare yourself to hit the ground running when you do get your first job as a developer by training your mind to engage in periods of intensely concentrated study to achieve mastery of technical areas.
Most likely, your first job, and subsequent ones, will require you to rapidly "come up to speed" on complex existing code. Aptitude for that can be developed in, imho, much the same way as skill in a martial art, or sport.
"If not you: who ? If not now: when ?" ... Rebbi Hillel, 1st. Century C.E. ...
“The best hope is that one of these days the Ground will get disgusted enough just to walk away ~ leaving people with nothing more to stand ON than what they have so bloody well stood FOR up to now.” Kenneth Patchen, Poet
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BillWoodruff wrote: "If not you: who ? If not now: when ?"
If I am not for me, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?
FTFY - but it's a big 5 answer!
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
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I do have visual studio.net, so I have that base covered. It is not still up and running today but at one time I used the ASP.Net clubsite template which I heavily modified to run a website for our Everquest 1 guild. Going as far as having a character database with links to magelos and a way for each toon to track their flag progress. (If you ever played Everquest 1 keeping track of all those flag / key missions was a pain.)
I'm usually pretty good at coming up with a solution if I am presented a problem to solve, I guess my problem is making up a problem to practice with. I.E. during school you would be presented with a problem to create a program that keeps track of bank accounts, or shipping.
Since graduation I decided that I wanted to get a couple Microsoft Developer certs, I have been studying for the HTML5/CSS/Javascript cert, and next I plan on tackling the Programming in C# certification. Maybe these will be helpful in a job search.
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This is probably not be what you're looking for, but I sometimes give free lessons in bitwise arithmetic (and its applications). Might not be a skill that looks especially impressive on a resume (does it even count as a skill?), but you would probably learn something, and that can't hurt.
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You make it sound as if the entire lesson is:
0+0 = 0
0+1 = 1
1+0 = 1
1+1 = 0 and a bit. 
And we both know that it's a lot more complex than that, particularly when you start talking applications.
Yes, it's a skill. One that seems to be declining, as well... 
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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OriginalGriff wrote: seems to be declining
Not just that - I see around me kids (not in the age, but in experience) got jobs after learning a 4 week HTML/CSS/JavaScript quick-course, just because they are cheep. So when it came to the breaking point, I have to deal with a bunch of code was copy-pasted from some school-book, but has no connection to reality... And that because theoretic knowledge is declining...Management thinks it's a luxury they can't afford and need not... 
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
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Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: I see around me kids (not in the age, but in experience) got jobs after learning a 4 week HTML/CSS/JavaScript quick-course, just because they are cheep. So when it came to the breaking point, I have to deal with a bunch of code was copy-pasted from some school-book, but has no connection to reality... And that because theoretic knowledge is declining...Management thinks it's a luxury they can't afford and need not...
Tell management that it is because of their shortsightedness that the situation is the way it is.
Take as long as it takes to sort it out.
Put the onus on them and never give excuses for their incompetents.
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am.
JimmyRopes
modified 2-Mar-14 10:26am.
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JimmyRopes wrote: never give excuses for their incompetents
I do not!
When it comes to this I always tell them that they can take that peace of s*t to anyone - as long as I have to deal with, it will be done in my way, and does not matter how much it takes...
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
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I'm no "kid" definitely not in age. Yes I do lack the experience, but I also am comfortable enough with what I know that when I need help I am not afraid to ask. I really think that most people just plow through something hoping they did it right and they are afraid to be shown they are wrong.
I say that after years... and years in law enforcement, I started college fifteen years ago in a Computer Science major. I hated the classroom environment and honestly I was just tired of school. So I quit school back then and went to work full time, the last ten years I've spent working for our sheriff's department and can definitely say I've learned a lot in that line of work. Like I said in my original post though I have always liked programming because it is one giant exercise in problem solving.
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bradfortner wrote: afraid to be shown they are wrong
You just right - in my group I always tell to everyone, when we are in crisis: Calm down, we do not look for guilty, but for solution. Later I'm usually write a letter to all, explaining what went wrong and what we can learn from that.
I'm most value the man that can see when he was wrong and make the necessary steps to fix and learn. That people will not stay a 'kid' for long...To power of start over after failures is what drive our life, and hopefully makes it better!
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
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harold aptroot wrote: I sometimes give free lessons in bitwise arithmetic ... Might not be a skill that looks especially impressive on a resume
NOT! 
He is trying to build up a CV (resume) not scare people away. 
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am.
JimmyRopes
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Bit-shifting is an integral part of C.
It also applies to C++ and C#.
I've failed interviews through not knowing.
It should definitely be practiced, even if it doesn't go on the CV. Some interviewer is likely to bring it up to show how clever they are.
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Simon O'Riordan from UK wrote: Bit-shifting is an integral part of C.
It also applies to C++ and C#.
I've failed interviews through not knowing.
It should definitely be practiced, even if it doesn't go on the CV. Some interviewer is likely to bring it up to show how clever they are.
I agree you should know it, but do not think it should go on the CV. It is one of the fundamentals that is assumed you know.
Your CV is supposed to make you stand out, not scream mediocrity.
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am.
JimmyRopes
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Not mediocrity. Just inexperience. Which does appeal to some interviewers recruiting for junior positions.
Of course the best thing I ever did was load up a netbook with my sample projects so that I could show things like Linux face detection and capture to the interviewers.
It was frequently a bit of 'wow factor' in the interview which helped me get the job I now have.
And of course, it sounds a lot more difficult than it really is. The internet is teeming with samples which can be adapted. 
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So, do you want to learn more about it?
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Who me? No. I learn and then forget as I only need it once a year. Better just to revise when needed.
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Accenture[^] has a student program where they offer time-boxed jobs with coaching by experienced employees.
The scariest moment is always just before the Start - Stephen King
Die Frauen warten auf die Liebe, und die Männer warten auf die Frauen - Wolf Wondratschek
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Marco Bertschi wrote: Accenture[^] has a student program where they offer time-boxed jobs with coaching by experienced employees.
Heh, I just left a job that was through Accenture. Good company.
Marc
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Marc Clifton wrote: Heh, I just left a job that was through Accenture. Good company.
I need to search for a job after my final exams and military duty, currently collecting company names where I am going to apply. I strongly consider contractor companies as Accenture, not only international but also local ones. Can you tell me a bit more about Accenture?
We have Accenture people under contract at my current employer, but never got to really know someone from that company because they are assigned to a different project.
The scariest moment is always just before the Start - Stephen King
Die Frauen warten auf die Liebe, und die Männer warten auf die Frauen - Wolf Wondratschek
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Pro bono, or do you want to get paid?
What technology are you interested in? Do you want to focus on C# / .NET / ASP.NET, or explore something like Ruby on Rails?
I've got a few projects on the back burner that could use a lot of work in both technology stacks, and would love to have someone I can mentor and that could work on these things, and you could use as a reference.
Marc
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No, I'm not looking to get paid at this time. While ideally a job is the goal of this endeavor at the moment I'm looking to gain some practical experience. I really only know the .Net environment, I'm taking the codeschool.com courses as I get the time but I have absolutely 0 experience with Ruby.
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