Ask HN: How does an average CS graduate get a job?

[greyostrich]

I graduated with a CS degree, May 2015. No one in my entire family tree has ever graduated high school, so I've never had any encouragement or mentoring for CS. I ended up in a very average university: is not in top 100 of USNews. It's top 20 in Northeast.

In the school's job fairs, we get only local, unknown companies (like 3 of them). Problem is I don't live locally there, and they only hire locals and don't assist with relocation. I've applied elsewhere, but yeah... I'm unemployed after 5 months.

I've had my resume checked by multiple sources, and no one's had any problem with it. My non-school projects consist of websites. They're not exciting with no "xTreme-Framework-of-the-month", but I'm working on updating and integrating new features. I've also volunteered my programming skills and worked for an unpaid internship. I also have some related extracurricular.

Clarification: I have received many phone calls from unknown companies; zero on-sites. The problem is I can't get past the phone calls since they always ask me exclusive, tricky questions about their stack. I never get any algorithm or data structure questions like I hear in other threads.

My big problem is since no one in my family has an education and sees the CS degree as "a worthless piece of paper", they don't want my sister to go to university.

So, I really don't know how to find a job. I've tried the blackhole websites (e.g., dice.com); multiple 3rd party recruiters; school's job board (at this second, literally only has one position posted for software engineer); my neighbors and family's friends. No luck.

[absolutenumber]

Keep your head up. I am proud of you for getting that degree in CS.Don't let anyone or anything discourage you.Apply to as many places as possible. There are so many jobs for developers now.If the job descriptions say you need 1 to 3 years of work experience,apply anyway.Dont worry about it.

Aside,be ready to relocate if the need be for now.These are jobs in many bay area start ups.

In the interim,take a look at the following places and see if you can see what fits you http://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs?sort=p https://angel.co/jobs https://remoteok.io/ And if you are really good in Python,Data Structure and Algorithm,summit an application at https://www.google.com/about/careers/search#t=sq&q=j&li=10&j... You will be fine.

[hitsurume]

Have you thought about moving somewhere where the job market is a lot better? Or as a lot of people recommend, doing simple freelance work?

Also if you're having trouble getting a developer job, you might want to look into associated fields and move around there, such as QA or Sys admins etc. There's so much more out there and having a CS degree allows you to be pretty flexible.

[victorhugo31337]

Keep your head up! A CS degree is one of the most sought after diplomas anywhere in the world. It will pay off big time and is definitely not a "worthless piece of paper", it's the exact opposite! Have you tried internships or part-time work? Take a look at what people are willing to pay for on job websites and master those skills.