I am about to graduate. How do I get a job in tech?
Scene opens, a man is lying on a bed, covered in crisp wrappers (McCoys, Ready Salted). His phone alarm is ringing, he awakens in a mild panic and turns it off. He gets up, looks around, rechecks his phone, his eyes widen. He has an exam at 9am… it’s currently 8:55am.
Who is this man? Well it’s certainly not me, as if any self respecting Hamzah would fall asleep the night before a 9am exam, that’s the sweet juicy cramming time in the fiery crux of caffeine and stress all mixing to produce the sweet nectar that is ultimately the perfect concoction for any last minute revision. Nigh! This is your average (I use the term “average” veeeery loosely here 😂) university student.
And this is the person I hope to help the most. This document is a random collection of a few points I personally felt would’ve helped clarify things for me when I was at university with a few silly jokes thrown in. I hope you enjoy it, learn something and overall have a good time.
It’s a long read so I’d suggest some green tea for the first third, an espresso shot half way through and maybe some chamomile tea to finish things off 👌🏼
anyways…. intro aside, let’s get this party started!! Empezamos!
The final year
Aahhh yes, the final year, the culminating opportunity to squeeze out every bit of fun remaining from this experience, the year you told yourself you’d work extra hard to make up for all those previous moments of living your best life.
The year you spend uncomfortably competing with your fellow colleagues and even friends for that illustrious job offer. It seems as soon as the final year begins you find yourself in an almost Hunger Games-esque situation. Nobody wants that… they were a terrible set of movies 👀
And all this pressure on top of your final year exams and in my case a final year dissertation and all the other untold fun personal issues you will face, the stress really does mount, and fast.
Take a deep breath and chillax. We can do this. First stop is: the employability office.
The employability office
I’m shocked how few students actually pay attention to this magic little section of university, at least it was magical at the university I attended.
If you answered this with “The what?” I’m shaking my head at you. But it’s ok, that means you’ve not unearthed this treasure yet! I met them early on in my university journey and kept a good relationship with them throughout my time there. Make sure to check with them for any local and also some very not local positions that could work for you. Many of the jobs I remember weren’t really to my taste but there’s every chance you find a gem amidst the options, so definitely check with them for what they have.
Another awesome thing about the employability office is that they will be in constant communication with the local companies in your city, companies you probably haven’t heard of but are still great. And when you start applying to these, most likely startups and medium sized enterprises, it’ll be like entering cheat codes into a game.
Again some, and not all, employability offices will hold mock interviews to get you ready and give you a taste of what it is like to have your very existence questioned… Buuuut, it’s not that bad. Take it, attend these, doesn’t matter how awkward or afraid or uncomfortable you feel, there is nothing riding on this mock interview, there is everything riding on the real ones! This is your chance to get over this fear and see that maybe it isn’t actually as bad as you think. Also they can give you plenty of very useful advice so you don’t make any silly mistakes during your real interview for positions you really do care about.
Another great workshop that my employability office held was a CV review workshop. Brilliant, informative, filled with great and simple tips. Your CV is your first impression to any and all employers, it is your calling card. As a student I felt this was probably one of the hardest and scariest parts of applying anywhere. “I don’t have enough to write”, “What do I include?”, “How do I write it in a way that doesn’t sound braggy?”. All of this and more will be expertly handled by the employability office and make sure to make good use of them, why else you payin’ all those ££’s?!?
The first job offer I ever received was at the end of my 3rd year at university, before I decided to stay on for a year and get my Masters degree and it was to teach Computer Science at a school in the United Arab Emirates. Imagine that, fresh out of uni and teaching Computer Science, they would have chewed me up and spat me out! Suffice to say that at the time it felt like it was too much of a leap for me and so I declined. But all of this came from an email from my employability service at the university, this job caught my eye and 3 weeks and an interview in a posh London hotel later I was sat there, a signature away from my next position. Crazy stuff!
Employability fairs
As a 1st year I attended a lot of these. Because I wanted a job? No, don’t be silly. It’s a great place to pick up freebies. I don’t think I bought a single pen throughout my time at university, nor a highlighter… why do employers think we need so many highlighters?!? I. WANT. SOCKS!!
But as a final year student, this is where you get to speak to all the great people who have volunteered their time to come and see you. Research the companies beforehand, see if they are for you. Ask as many questions as you can about the company, the roles, the interview process etc. and then take the contact details of the people you met using LinkedIn (Facebook for work but lower chances of your grandma commenting on anything — lower… but never zero).
These events are designed for numbers and visibility. If anything, it is an opportunity to network, get a feel for the people at the company, or even just get a few links and names of places where you can apply. It’s also just a great place to get all of your questions answered face to face rather than waiting on an email from a recruiter that is already being spammed by 1000s of other keen university students just like you. It is a networking opportunity so put your best foot forward! Also stock up on pens, working adults also need pens.
Networking
I’m sure there is a networking joke in here somewhere, maybe something to do with UDP and TCP and not getting your packets or getting them in the wrong order etc. etc… or maybe something like “I’d tell you an IPv4 address joke but I’ve used so many I’m afraid I’ve exhausted them” haha actually that was kinda funny 😅 BUT, that’s not the networking I’m talking about (although that is also an important topic!)
This one is so important it could be the only point on this blog post and really it would be all that you’d need.
This is a no brainer, BUT, too many university students completely miss this out. It is, I would say, the BEST and most effective tactic to get a job. Simples. You don’t have to have “contacts in high places” OKKAAYY Mr Don Corleone (Godfather references for the uninitiated), you just need to know someone, preferably someone who likes you, working where you want to work and you make them an offer they can’t refuse haha no I’m just kidding.
This is key for those 1st and 2nd year students. Make sure you are making friends with those in the year above, and keep track of where they end up. Attend events held by your course, societies, anything related to what you’re interested in.
Make friends, keep up with them, track their every movement — OK no but at least add them on LinkedIn or somewhere you can know where they are.
I’m not saying be friends with people you don’t like just so you can use them to benefit your career 🤦🏻♂️, I’m saying expand your network, meet different people doing things you are interested in that you enjoy hanging out with. Basically make friends, just a tiny bit more strategically. Don’t become one of those “what can you do for me people”.
IMPORTANT! DO become one of those what can I do for you people. Help others, give back, and if you can’t yet give back then just give. Give without expecting anything in return. Be a good person because that’s who you are and if not anything, it’ll feel great!
For final years, this might be a bit more tough if you haven’t expanded your circle beyond the 2 people you met on your first day, but, sometimes, just seeing that your target company has someone who went to the same university as you, is enough. Sometimes! Not always! Depends on the person.
And to be honest, I would be shocked if you tell me you don’t know anyone currently working at a company somewhere. Make use of your friends of friends. Remember their circle can be shared too! If they like you enough you could benefit off of their hard work. And sharing is caring, I believe these things always come round in full circle. And even if they don’t, doing something nice for somebody, especially a friend, that in itself is reward enough.
Some fun ways of expanding your network could be to attend Hackathons or meet-ups and tech events in your local city… or even across the globe!! I mean it was easier pre-pandemic of course… Or events held by your university’s Computer Science society.
Basically, any event where there will be a technology company I want you to be there too. Of course, these are all kinda virtual now but hey, even better for those of you that despise human contact 😂
Every single position I’ve managed to secure since I graduated — and even temp jobs prior — have been thanks to the help of an awesome star already at that company. Talk to them, find out what it is really like to work there — they’re your friends, this is the unadulterated raw opinion of real life at that company, you won’t get this from anywhere else. And the most important part of this process: they can refer you! And depending on the company, this holds weight. Because awesome people know awesome people, I mean, you know me, right? Check. Mate. 😎
A tip that I’d apply with care and as an absolute last resort is the cold reach out. LinkedIn is a great tool for building a network and professional relationships. But it’s also great to find a bunch of people working in the company and city of your choice. If you really have absolutely no one you already know and you’ve exhausted all other options, you can try adding these folks on LinkedIn and relying on their niceness. This will give you an unpredictable set of results but there’s always a chance you’ll meet a kind soul with some free time! I did, and they were super helpful — but again, it is super random and the help is limited in what they can do for you.
Apply apply apply
Apply everywhere, even to places you don’t care about, if you’re lucky enough to get to a stage where you are invited for an interview, even if you think you have no chance, go there and go through the interview.
The reason I say this is that these opportunities are great to practise your interview skills under less pressure than if you were applying to a job you passionately cared about. And anyways, if you don’t get any other position and you ended up having to choose between a job you don’t like vs no job at all… personally I’d pick the former, but at least this way you got a choice.
You choked? You crashed and burned in a fiery inferno of failure? Guess what? That wasn’t failure, that was an experience. OK it was technically a failure but so what? Why is that bad? We all fail, you’re going to let that keep you down?
You succeeded? Well guess what? You now have what everyone around you is scrambling around to get! You are officially out of the race… in a good way!
Either way, now you know what an interview feels like, now you know a bit more of what not to do and maybe a couple of things that you should do.
A quick note on fear: Fear is magnified and multiplied in our heads when we encounter something we don’t know enough about. The less we know, the more creative freedom our brains have to invent and grow this fear into something it’s not. The way to fight this is to just do it (I wonder if Nike have this trademarked…). Then you’ll hopefully see that interviews aren’t actually that bad, I mean they’re not exactly on my list of fun Sunday afternoon activities… but that’s understandable, it’s hard to beat laying on the floor questioning my existence for 3–4 hours!
SDE or bust…
I started studying for a Bachelors in Software Engineering, then shifting to straight Computer Science and I always thought that learning to code and becoming a developer was now my only future. Now this is just not true, I was narrowing my options and therefore my opportunities before I’d even set off to apply.
I hope that many of you aren’t anything like I was and I’m sure you’re not but for any of you who are I’m happy to say I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was very very wrong.
Currently I am working as a DevOps Consultant. Now back in university I didn’t even know this was a thing! If you’re one of these peeps that doesn’t know what this is feel free to reach out to me and I’ll do my best to set you straight 😊 Actual footage of me working… the chair is new:
What I’m trying to say is that, if there’s a chance you’re looking beyond the run of the mill graduate tech jobs that are saturated with Software Eng roles, there’s a whole new world (anyone else also singing that Aladdin song in their heads now? 😅).
If you love to code then you’ve found your calling, well done, I wish you all the best, an awesome choice! And guess what? Even those roles aren’t 100% coding. You’ll spend a good chunk of it writing code on your mechanical keyboard that changes colours at every key press and annoys everyone around you, but a lot of the time will be spent in planning meetings, with your team, with customers, gathering requirements, looking at roadmaps, dealing with red tape and waiting for someone in a different hemisphere to wake up and approve your change so that you can deploy your code. ’Tis the life 😎
But for the rest of you there is a world of different specialities out there all with their own range and exposure levels to programming — ranging from a lot to absolutely nothin’.
Jobs like Database engineers, Solution Architects, DevOps Consultants/Engineers (hello :D), Technical Business Analysts, Project Managers, Cyber Security Consultant etc. And you could go on and on. And each of these has their own specialties under the respective headings. It’s like a crazy tree branching from Computer Science to every and any role/technology. Not to mention the different role names based on company. You could be a Cloud Engineer somewhere and see job descriptions matching you exactly titled “Infrastructure Engineer” or “DevOps Engineer” etc.
In summary, there are a wealth of roles out there. Each with their own level of programming, from virtually nothing (Technical BA for example) to somewhat (Infrastructure Engineer) to a lot (SDE… duuhh). So ask yourself what you’re really interested in and see if there is a niche for you because, chances are, there is.
Or use this advice to spam a larger audience with your CV lol
Sandwich year
It’s hard to know what a role is going to be like really, the description can only tell you so much, so something I’d really really really advise is take a sandwich year if you can. I personally didn’t, I did the next best thing, I got a temporary job during my summer break.
And that alone was really awesome experience wise. It is short lived so you’re not committing to anything long term and you could literally apply anywhere. I would highly recommend going for a smaller scale enterprise. That way you get a taste of a few different things, as is the way of start-up type ventures.
With a sandwich year you distinguish yourself with a whole years worth of experience — telling employers you can actually walk the walk, and additionally, you know better than anyone else what you do and don’t like, because you’ve actually done it. Plus, if you didn’t like it it was only a year lost.
The major fear of many is actually returning to university and losing their friends as they go on to graduate whilst you’re out here living your work life they go off to live their best life 😂. I can’t say that it’s going to be easy coming back and making new friends, that’s on you to make that decision. But in terms of job opportunities you’ll undoubtedly be in an amazing position.
Or again, just do the summer opportunity.
Plus, another big plus for sandwich opportunities, very often employers will have you back after you graduate because they loved you so much during that sandwich year so you’ll live out this last year stress free 😎
Graduate positions vs “junior roles”
The massive disclaimer here is that the quality of Grad roles and junior roles all depend upon the company. No two are ever the same. But saying that…
Graduate positions are brilliant, they provide you with a plethora of support and a guided curriculum, really it is the perfect transition from university life to working life. But this isn’t your only option. Junior roles, or Associate roles etc. are great too. And can be a brilliant alternative.
If you want a lot of support and to be surrounded by others who, like you, have just left university then Grad roles are your chocolate cake to bake. Not much else to add there.
But on the Junior Roles side of things, I’ve found that there is a perfect niche for these junior roles, since grad roles are in a sort of curriculum where you’re managed together with others around you, it’s harder to break out of until you’re done and lots of graduate role admin overhead (for example having to complete a rotation of 6 months each in a different team for 2 whole years and everyone must do this), so if you prefer to have more flexibility to do your own thing, more control over your early career and the ability to progress faster then this could be the better option for you, and not just an alternate.
One more plus one for the “junior roles” column is that you’re not restricted by the timelines of graduate applications — that tend to hold their application windows around the start to the middle of your final year depending on the company. “Junior roles”, especially those at medium sized companies, are available year round.
Coding tasks
If there’s one thing I hate about the interview process with a true fiery passion it is the dreaded coding task. Don’t get me wrong, I love problem solving, and there is very little out there to compare with the pure joy of finally resolving an issue you’ve been methodically working on for hours on end. But throw in a will-not-go-away timer in the corner of your screen, the pressures of failing and strangers watching you think and suddenly the fun is sucked out of it faster than you can say why-is-that-damn-unit-test-not-passing!!
Of course it’s not all doom and gloom, not at all. As with anything practise makes perfect. A quick google will show you some decent websites to practise a few problems and the most popular questions and will have you very well prepped for most problems that they could possibly throw your way.
A quick mention about some of the fancier tech giants, make sure you do your research into the interview process, as very often having in depth knowledge into Data Structures and Algorithms is a core competency and expectation. You don’t want to be finding that out on the day of your interview unless you already live and breath this stuff. Seriously, get some real prep into this topic otherwise you likely won’t make it past the first few rounds of interview.
Finally, interviews are a marathon, not a sprint. Breath, chill, drink some water, it will take time. Depending on the firm you’ll likely have many many rounds before you receive that illustrious email that starts: “Dear <applicant> we are pleased to offer you…” blah blah blah… and then you can just skip to the important bit: ££’s 😂
The gem of the process: The recruiter
This!!! I never thought this through at university but there is always someone super invested in your success that works at the company, that’s your recruiter!! Your success is their success, quite literally. Also recruiters are such lovely people, seriously. Build a relationship with them, be super nice to them and you’ll never regret it. Because if you lose this job/interview what you must remember is, like in anything in life, what goes around comes around. Who knows if in a year you’re not back reapplying for a position and the recruiter remembers you? Guess what? That’s a huge positive step up you already have on every other applicant.
But the other side is if you’re not very nice, well you already know where this story goes 😬 not saying they will do anything bad, but if I was a recruiter, I wouldn’t feel all that encouraged to go out of my way to help someone that was rude to me. Good thing I’m not a recruiter haha
Don’t give up
Some closing thoughts and advice that I couldn’t really fit under any other headers…
Don’t give up! You could get the job from your first application, or your 20th. Of course there’s an in between haha but you see what I mean, as hard as it is, keep going!
It’s not going to be easy, it could be. Buuuuut it likely won’t be. Know that you are going through emotions that many before you and many after you will have gone through. You’re not alone, there’s a lot of support and help out there for you, yes YOU! I’m looking at you!! I am the captain now 😂 sorry couldn’t help it!
Start early. Like the bird that got the worms, you too could get said worms :D I believe in you, you can do it, you too can get worms!
There are no “once in a lifetime opportunities”. If you missed a job you had thrown everything into, then it wasn’t meant for you, I mean, yes, it’ll suck, but this too shall pass. Take the lessons from this and grow, build yourself and get your butt back out there!!
Conclusion
I hope this was useful… or at least one of the jokes landed because let’s be honest that’s how I’m measuring my success! If you’ve read this far in one sitting I applaud you 👏🏻 truly you are a legend, and also get up, stretch, really not good for you to be sat down for so long!
But sincerely I hope these tips are useful and helpful (and funny) and you land the job of your dreams. Best of luck. Adios muchachos 👋🏼
