

Finding a programming job with no experience? UK/Ireland - marel

Is it possible to find a programming job in the UK or Ireland with no experience straight out of high school for minimum wage ?
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alexholehouse
Define no experience - no experience programming at all (i.e. C is where fish
live, Lisp is a speech impediment, Python is a type of snake) or no
professional experience working as a dev?

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marel
No professional experience working as a developer. I've been learning C++ at
school and I've won places in programming competitions and have been learning
Python and Django at home for quite a while now.

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alexholehouse
In that case I'd guess you best bet would be to look at doing some kind of
internship somewhere first to gain some professional experience, and also work
on your own sideprojects. It doesn't really matter what your background is -
if you can show that you're able to produce decent projects in your own time
then this is a pretty hot indication.

The other issue would be where in the UK are you? The obvious place to try and
get internships would be London, but if you're not already there moving there
would probably be prohibitively expensive (on an in salary, or lack thereof).

If you're still living at home and can afford to just hold up in your room for
a few months, it might be worthwhile putting some time into building something
substantial. Without a formal background you need to prove your worth, so
maybe look at a few companies you're interested and try building something
related to their product (browser extensions?). Also any connections through
programming competitions. Hate to say it, but you'd be amazed how often jobs
come from knowing someone.

As I've said though, before you start applying, have something to show off.

