The TRUTH about "Learning to Code" part 2 : Finding an entry-level job is nearly IMPOSSIBLE!

Bumblebreh

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Yeah this is true. If your starting out 30+ you are in a uphill battle because you will be competing with recent college grads for entry level positions. But if you are already in the industry ageism kind of goes out the window. 30s and up are seniors and managers.

Absolute bullshyt breh. The industry has a greater emphasis on skills over age. An employer would be impressed if you have followed the right steps and you are actually good at coding.You resume does not contain your age.And it is not unusual to see older people going back to college.
 

Water

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I have about three years experience but I remember struggling to find my first SE job out of college. What helped me was a willingness to relocate. If you're willing to move to a mid sized city somewhere in an undesirable location you'll have a lot less competition. And after a year or two you can go back to a more desirable one.

Applied to like 100 places in atlanta and surrounding area and got nothing but received offers from DC, Omaha, and Chicago..
 

JT-Money

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As others have stated, skilled trades seems to be the better/more realistic path for brehs. :yeshrug:
Yep. These tech jobs have a short shelf life. And most won't make it to see retirement. Unless they make the transition to Management. So you choose who gets laid off until it's your turn.

Unless you have some really hard to find skills you'll always be in danger of losing your job to someone younger or cheaper.

Companies view IT as a cost center so they almost always get laid off first during a downturn. Especially if you make a very large salary you'll be the first to go once you get close to 50 years old.

IBM has been laying off people once they reach mid 40's for decades. Most of these dudes making good money now in tech are on borrowed time. That's why you make as much money as you can then get out early.

EEOC Finding Of Age Discrimination Against IBM Signals New Requisite For Diversity, Equity And Inclusion
 

Romell

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I work in DevOps like I'm assuming @Gold does based on that thread that was linked. I can say my current experience stemmed from working in a NOC. I'm a shyt developer to be honest, but I make it work. I also had a coworker that started in the NOC a little while after me. He stayed there maybe 3 or so months before going on to work for the NSA and he was a beast.

I say that to say that your entry-level gig may not be in the area you studied or practiced in so don't be afraid to expand your job search criteria. Anything on the resume is good to get you where you want to go as long as you can prove that while you were in that area you found a way to feed your skills for the work that you WANT to do.
 

patscorpio

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What does your portfolio look like OP?
What personal projects have you created?

Man im getting tired of threads like these. Yall dont understand the industry and so you complain about it.

This is like me taking an acting bootcamp class and complaining no one is hiring actors... but i havent even created a demo reel yet.


In the company i work for, you come in with an impressive enough portfolio of work and they'll skip 2 interviews and hire you on the spot.


What this thread should be about is building an impressive portfolio, not telling black men to stop trying to make it in an extremely lucrative field that only grows by the day

#facts...one thing about this IT life...there are no shortcuts..you got to put the work in
 

desjardins

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It's competitive not impossible. Every year thousands of entry level developers get hired.
It took me like a year and half because I didn't go to school for computer science and I didn't know what I was doing anyway and I still got into the industry
You might have to get creative and do production support or testing to get your foot in the door if you have a non traditional background but once you get ANY experience it's relatively easy to get interviews and interest
 
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To me, tech careers are like professional sports.

Once you have the baseline level of talent, you've got a shot to get in the door. HOWEVER, just showing up to practice and games isn't enough. You have to do the extra stuff. The successful folks (maybe I'm wrong) do side and personal projects, learn new languages etc., to stay sharp. Same way a pro athlete has to watch film, hit the weight room and eat a clean diet.
 

basedlawd

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Since you're linking to reddit I think it would be appropriate for me to link to an alternative perspective of people who've had success. I don't think you're wrong in that it isn't an easy path but I don't think any fruitful endeavor is and it isn't as black and white as you seem to feel.



Should people be expecting to earn six-figs day one? Nah but that's a naïve train of thought in any field, six-figs is a hard grind in anything you do which is why most people aren't making that. Temper your expectations and you will be less disappointed.
 

D.C Young

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Man this thread came at the wrong time for me lol, this shyt discouraged the hell out of me lol

Reason why I say that is because today I'm officially going to start my job search for a software testing position,

but I notice you guys are talking about software developing though.

Either way, I'm 30 plus, Black, no experience and hoping at least to find a entry level position.

I've also never had experience with applying for professional jobs either.

In my 20's I was running a company which I recently had to shut down due to FDA action.

But as far as difficulty finding jobs, I'm always hearing conflicting stories.

Some people tell me its easy, some people say its difficult.

I used to be at this one school that taught SDET(D.C, MD, VA area) and they had a high job-finding rate.

Every year, atleast 90% of those people would find jobs quickly.

But what they would do is, they would embellish your resume and give you a false years of experience number
 
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