Java junior looking for a job. How to upgrade skills and gain practical experience

When it comes to starting a professional career as a Java programmer, things often look bleak. For beginners, it may seem that breaking into the market is an incredibly difficult task. No matter how much you look at current vacancies, people with experience are required for any position, and sometimes it seems that even from a junior Java coder, employers expect at least several years of work experience, not to mention sometimes supernatural amounts of theoretical knowledge. But how to get this experience, necessary for real employment, if no one wants to hire coders without experience? Vicious circle? No, it's just one of the typical early-career hurdles that isn't that hard to overcome. In this article, we have collected several trouble-free ways to solve the problem of lack of practical experience.

1. Independent projects

Let's start with the simpler and pretty much obvious tips. One of the best ways to get hands-on experience in Java or any other programming language is to work on independent and amateur projects. For example, you can join a public project on Github. There is no need to look for complex ones or those for the implementation of which an original approach and unique knowledge are needed. All that is required of a Java developer with little or no experience is that they provide opportunities for practice: the more, the better. With the improvement of basic skills, you can move on to more and more complex projects. Although job descriptions often list at least two or three years of language experience as a requirement, this is not the only criterion. Yes, companies are looking for people who are able to work with their own and other people's code, knowledge of tools. But employers often pay attention to the so-called “soft skills” (soft skills). This is, first of all, common sense, working with people and communication, emotional intelligence. All this requires experience of working on real projects with real problems and the same non-illusory deadlines, along with other coders and other specialists. Sometimes the presence of soft skills, learning ability and the desire to progress compensate in the eyes of the employer for the lack of special technical knowledge and not too rich theoretical base. Moreover, even if the applicant is required to know a certain technology that Java developers with no experience usually do not own, having several projects in the resume, describing the experience of working on them and the lessons learned in the process, will give a good chance of increased interest from side of the employers. working with people and communication, emotional intelligence. All this requires experience of working on real projects with real problems and the same non-illusory deadlines, along with other coders and other specialists. Sometimes the presence of soft skills, learning ability and the desire to progress compensate in the eyes of the employer for the lack of special technical knowledge and not too rich theoretical base. Moreover, even if the applicant is required to know a certain technology that Java developers with no experience usually do not own, having several projects in the resume, describing the experience of working on them and the lessons learned in the process, will give a good chance of increased interest from side of the employers. working with people and communication, emotional intelligence. All this requires experience of working on real projects with real problems and the same non-illusory deadlines, along with other coders and other specialists. Sometimes the presence of soft skills, learning ability and the desire to progress compensate in the eyes of the employer for the lack of special technical knowledge and not too rich theoretical base. Moreover, even if the applicant is required to know a certain technology that Java developers with no experience usually do not own, having several projects in the resume, describing the experience of working on them and the lessons learned in the process, will give a good chance of increased interest from side of the employers. All this requires experience of working on real projects with real problems and the same non-illusory deadlines, along with other coders and other specialists. Sometimes the presence of soft skills, learning ability and the desire to progress compensate in the eyes of the employer for the lack of special technical knowledge and not too rich theoretical base. Moreover, even if the applicant is required to know a certain technology that Java developers with no experience usually do not own, having several projects in the resume, describing the experience of working on them and the lessons learned in the process, will give a good chance of increased interest from side of the employers. All this requires experience of working on real projects with real problems and the same non-illusory deadlines, along with other coders and other specialists. Sometimes the presence of soft skills, learning ability and the desire to progress compensate in the eyes of the employer for the lack of special technical knowledge and not too rich theoretical base. Moreover, even if the applicant is required to know a certain technology that Java developers with no experience usually do not own, having several projects in the resume, describing the experience of working on them and the lessons learned in the process, will give a good chance of increased interest from side of the employers. learning ability and the desire to progress compensate in the eyes of the employer for the lack of special technical knowledge and not too rich theoretical base. Moreover, even if the applicant is required to know a certain technology that Java developers with no experience usually do not own, having several projects in the resume, describing the experience of working on them and the lessons learned in the process, will give a good chance of increased interest from side of the employers. learning ability and the desire to progress compensate in the eyes of the employer for the lack of special technical knowledge and not too rich theoretical base. Moreover, even if the applicant is required to know a certain technology that Java developers with no experience usually do not own, having several projects in the resume, describing the experience of working on them and the lessons learned in the process, will give a good chance of increased interest from side of the employers.

2. Personal projects

This advice may well come in handy not only for beginners in Java, but also for quite experienced professionals. By “personal” projects, we mean those that a Java coder does as a hobby, to develop his professional skills, out of interest and just for fun, and not for the purpose of making money. Many employers, when studying the resumes of coders, pay attention to the fact that they have their own “pet projects.” Why? If they are, this indicates that the person really loves his job and strives for professional growth not in words, but in deeds. Here is what Oren Eini, CEO of Hibernating Rhinos Ltd, which develops database infrastructure software solutions, says: “When we are looking for a new developer to our team, one of the determining factors for us is passion and interest in work . We found that people who really care about and are interested in what they do, as a rule, are involved in their own projects in addition to purely work tasks. In other words, they have home projects and projects. It could be a personal website, a friend's startup, or just some code written to better understand a technology. When I see that the applicant has no side projects at all or they are in the distant past, this is a bad sign for us.” Better not to say.

3. Freelancing is a limitless field for “pumping” and gaining experience

We note right away that it is very difficult for a novice programmer to break into freelance sites, but you can try. The transition to working as a freelancer can be a great intermediate step on the way from a completely green Java developer to a confident Java junior who has gained some experience and “worked up” skills. It would seem that there is little difference between freelancing and working as a full-time Java developer. But in fact, there are many more promising opportunities in freelancing for an inexperienced Java junior. This is because freelancers are often hired for one-time or short-term work on some projects. For example, they are entrusted with tasks whose volume is too small to look for a full-fledged employee for them. In English, to describe such microprojects, there is a term “gigs” – “leftists”. Either the project itself is experimental, or it requires too specialized skills. Be that as it may, when hiring freelancers, employers are less demanding and cautious, since they bear significantly less financial risks. Accordingly, the chances of getting the first paid job as a freelancer for a Java junior increase. Freelancers are often hired by small businesses who need the help of a programmer to solve relatively simple problems. Or entrepreneurs working on some innovative idea on a tight budget. Or even employees of large IT companies who develop their own experimental projects or concepts in their free time. In a word, there are a lot of options, but in most cases it will be a small temporary job with clearly defined goals. And this is that

4. It is easier to beat a herd and a dad. Team Development

If individual work on projects, be it pet projects or tasks for freelancers, for some reason “does not work,” you can try another option - development as part of a team of developers of approximately the same level. Collaboration and problem solving not only help you learn and progress faster, but also solve the problem of motivation that is acute for many aspiring developers, especially when they work from home. By the way, topics periodically appear on the CodeGym forum where someone collects just such commands. You can also find small paid projects for one developer there. Such, for example, as this one .

5. CodeGym Internship

CodeGym helps its students get their first job not only in words (that is, advice), but also in deeds, offering their own internship program, during which they can work on a real project, learn new technologies and immediately “run in” practical skills in their application. The CodeGym internship is three months of full-fledged work on a serious project, coupled with obtaining additional theoretical knowledge. Recruitment for internships is held four times a year. Announcements are published a few weeks before the new set on the website and on the pages of CodeGym in social networks. However, not a single internship. The main CodeGym course also includes not only small tasks and tasks, but also full-fledged projects., the implementation of which brings a lot of experience. In particular, while still a student of CodeGym, you can write a full-fledged game, an ATM emulator, or your own file archiver. As you can see, it would be possible to solve the problem of lack of practical experience for a Java developer, if there was a desire. It is the desire to learn and develop, a genuine interest in the profession - this is what employers want to see when studying the resume of an inexperienced specialist. Job descriptions also use the popular cliché “burning eyes.” This is how he should be, the future Java junior: with a fire in his eyes and a cold determination to master all the intricacies of Java in his heart. At least that's how employers see it.

6. What else to read on this topic:

• 5 tips to improve your chances of finding a job
• Aerobatics in a technical interview: how I got to Google, Microsoft and beyond
• How can you land a coding job with very little experience.
• How to Land Your First Development Job in 5 Simple Steps.
• If you don't have pet projects, I don't think I want you.