
Ask HN: How can I get a job in the tech industry out of high school? - matteotom
I am 18 years old and graduating high school in May.  I think that I&#x27;m fairly technically competent: I can write code reasonably well and I have experience administrating Linux servers.<p>I am looking to either take a year off after high school to work, or at least find an internship for the summer.  Where should I look?  From my searching, it seems that many&#x2F;most internships require applicants to at least be in college, and jobs require a degree.  Does anybody know where to look for companies that will take interns or hire out of high school?  (Extra points for something in the Seattle area.)
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JacksonGariety
I'm 17. I chose not to do my senior year and instead got a job at a software
company. From my experience, the number of people looking for young
programmers far exceeds the number of programmers period (in major cities).

The best way I've found is to create a niche for yourself in software. Wether
that's ops, node web development, ruby development, ios, etc. Create projects
in that niche and post them to GitHub.com.

Then look for companies in your city hiring. Most major cities have tech job
boards/mailing lists. Email the recruiter (or found if their email is listed)
and let them know you're looking for work.

If it's a new company, even better, since they're likely trying to scale their
system, offer to come in and see if you could help them get their API off the
ground.

Most important note as your age is build casual business relationships with
the tech scene, and you will get job offers regardless.

Don't work for free, don't take unpaid internships, you shouldn't have to do
that, and it's not worth it.

~~~
JacksonGariety
Side note: I think I may have met you at CodeDay Seattle. Small world.

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matteotom
It's possible. I've been to the last few.

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adam419
I got an internship at a company in Bellevue while I was still in highschool.
The key is to attend networking events and meet people in positions to hire
you. Come off as impressive, either technically competent or showing
interest/knowledge of the company's area of business.

Where around Seattle are you from?

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matteotom
So then my question becomes: which networking events should I attend?

And I'm from Ballard, but I have access to a car so anywhere in the Seattle
area works for me.

~~~
adam419
Go to meetup.com. Look for events that seem interesting and prioritize ones
that are company sponsored or have high profile people attending. Do research
on the companies of these people, and go have conversations with them and make
it seem like you can provide value to them.

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Oculus
The best thing about the tech industry is all it takes to prove your
competence is a computer and an internet connection (which means your in
luck). Now the trick to getting hired and forgoing all the university/degree
requirements is to prove yourself with projects. Start coding. Not dilly-
dallying, but coding all the time. _Code to learn_ and post all your projects
on Github. It's good to explore, but try to focus on completing 1 or 2
projects that you're proud of.

You'll not only be building your skills this way, but you'll also have
something to talk about at interviews.

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misframer
> From my searching, it seems that many/most internships require applicants to
> at least be in college, and jobs require a degree.

You can still ask. The first company I worked for was looking for a developer
with a 4 year degree. I was still a high school junior. I contacted them and
after an interview, they brought me on board as an intern for the summer.

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contingencies
Try to just phone different places and offer your services. Ask to speak to
who's in charge of their computer systems. Bonus points if you actually check
what they're running first and can engage them about it. "Hey, I noticed you
aren't running the latest _x_ on your server. I could help you keep that
maintained." These days, you could probably use Google Maps and search for
'online' or 'store' or something generic and pick the geographic area of
companies to target.

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sharemywin
setup a profile on elance/odesk etc.

