
Ask HN: 27 year old with a MSc degree in CS. No job experience. Am I screwed? - howscrewedami
Title says it all. I&#x27;m currently 27 years old. No job experience. Sent over 30 resumes and got 5 interviews. Every interviewer so far touched on the fact that I have 0 work experience. I&#x27;m starting to feel like I&#x27;m screwed. What do you guys think?
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mindvirus
You're young. Someone who took the standard path would have graduated with
their masters at the age of 23 or 24. So you're _maybe_ 4 years behind - and I
bet that's still within a standard deviation of the norm. If you stay healthy,
you can easily work productively and grow for another 50 years. So don't sweat
it at all, you have a lot of time left. Yes, you have zero work experience. So
what? Don't sell yourself as a senior engineer - you're not - sell yourself as
someone who is smart and wants to work hard, get things done and gain
experience.

As an anecdote - I have a friend who graduated with their bachelor's degree
when they were 30. I have no doubt it was hard for them at first - they were
7-8 years behind everyone else in terms of career, and often more senior
members of their team were younger than them. But they dropped their ego,
worked hard and put in the time. Seven or so years later, their career has
caught up or even surpassed the people who started before them - they lead a
large engineering team responsible for a major product within their
organization. I think that part of their success is the emotional maturity
that comes with age, so while perhaps their technical skills were the same as
a 22 year old out of school, they were able to communicate at a more mature
level, and their focus meant that they got up to speed on the technical front
more quickly. In some ways, I think they were even at an advantage.

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Raed667
You sent 30 resumes and got 5 interviews! That's an AMAZING rate.

I personally sent a couple of hundreds (some personalized, some bulk shotgun).
Don't give up, and don't be discouraged by the stories of "rock-stars" you
read about here in HN, keep sending and keep interviewing every day, all day.

~~~
danbolt
When applying for positions, I often decide that there's a 5% chance of being
hired from a single application, and try to estimate how many resumes I need
to send before I have a 95% chance of receiving an offer. The clear deadline
helps with time budgeting, and helps me focus on avoiding making anxious
spammy applications.

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dylanhassinger
dude you're 27. chill out. 30 resumes/5 interviews really isnt that much.

some suggestions: build a side project and post it to github. volunteer for
some folks. try and land a freelance project or 2, even if its under market
rate. build a portfolio from this stuff. start a blog and post about what
you're learning. get some inspiration at simpleprogrammer.com

this is a marathon not a sprint, and you are just a kid.

signed

\- 38 yr old jaded vet. got into the industry when i was 26.

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vincagi
As a hiring manager, I'd say not screwed. You'll have issues getting past that
HR wall, but if you can show your talents in the interview you'll be fine.
Fill up that Github and try reaching out to the hiring managers directly. Some
managers prefer hiring people with less work experience, but they only see the
resumes that come across their desk.

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adpoe
Don't worry -- you will be 100% fine. What kind of jobs are you applying for?

If you're looking at true entry-level jobs, then having 0 work experience is
not a problem. And those jobs do exist, just look for them specifically.

Beyond that, interviewers often make remarks like this, even if it isn't
really a big hang up for them. Don't let them see you sweat, that's the only
mistake you can make. Just own it, and say ok -- but I have, x, y, z -- and I
can do this.

It's like when you try to sell a car. The buyers like to kick the tires and
see if they deflate. They aren't trying to disqualify you, they're
__already_negotiating__, and trying to bring the price down.

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zemnl
Maybe I have been lucky, but I was in your same situation 3 months ago: 26, no
job experience, soon to have a MSc degree in CS. I had your same fears when I
published my resume on a portal that my uni makes available to students for
making them in touch with companies, since then I've been contacted three
times in the first two weeks and now that I found a job there are still other
companies sending me emails offering me to have a job interview. The same
thing happened to some of my friends.

Note that I was an average student, certainly not in the top of my course.

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spotman
If you give up, yes your screwed. Don't give up if you want this career to
work.

Some times things can be discouraging in this industry, so look at this as
training for in the future when you have to get through a discouraging or
trying time.

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slackstation
You have a Master's Degree. That means you have something that you specialized
in beyond just general computer science.

Take some of the cutting edge research in the field that you are familiar
with, find companies that need that skillset or technology, find companies on
Linkedin and email the CEO/CTO.

That way you could potentially skip the entry level stuff and come in as
someone with specialized knowledge from day one and probably get compensated
as such.

Stop trying to compete with people in the general arena where your Master's
Degree doesn't even have any bearing.

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JSeymourATL
> Sent over 30 resumes and got 5 interviews.

Sample size is far too small, 10X that number-- you'll have broader/deeper
feedback. Understand that submitting job board applications is a time suck &
energy drain.

Suggest shifting strategy, focus efforts on getting in-person meetings with
people you can help (i.e. Managers, Directors, VP's of Engineering, CIO's) Get
out of your house. Start attending networking events (Conferences, Meet-ups,
Hackathons). Reach out to alumni from your program.

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meric
Make a demo site, put in your portfolio, get a freelancing gig, do a few, put
in your resume, apply for entry positions.

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imauld
I was your age when I got hired at my current job and I didn't even have the
masters. You'll be fine.

If you're in the Seattle area (or wouldn't mind) moving here we are still
hiring. Send me a message at my username at gee mail.

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derstander
No, you're not!

A friend of mine got his MSc in CS with an undergrad education in english and
philosophy. He landed a job with little prior experience.

You can do it. You ARE doing it. I think the amount of interviews that you've
gotten is a promising start.

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ldehaan
get a job doing anything computers at a place that will take you, work there
for a bit to gain exp, now you have it.

write some software/design a network/etc.. whatever you want to do as a job,
send that with your resume.

go to some places where people are doing what you want to do for fun, like
Longmont has the Tinkermill, Boulder has tech meetups, you can meet people
there who are starting companies and see if you can help out, that experience
can get you a job quickly if you're a fast learner.

experience is easy to gain, quality experience is harder to come by, but once
you know what to look for in the companies/people you're working with, you'll
get that as well.

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1uio
The MSc degree will bump your salary and open doors once you have some
experience under your belt. Do the grunt work for a year or two and then
you'll climb the corporate ladder.

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id122015
The grass is greener..

Its worth repeating, this is a marathon not a sprint

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alistproducer2
With no experience you need to apply for entry level positions. You won't, or
shouldn't, get positions above that with no experience.

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sabertoothed
Why don't you specify what you are good at and maybe people offer you a job
here?

