

Ask HN: Should I Apply Anyway? - Clanan

As a newbie software developer with little formal training I have come across countless entry-level job postings requiring "1 to 3" years experience, a "functional" or "knowledgeable" grasp of language/skill X, or similar. I never know whether I should apply to such postings as it can be difficult to quantify such terminology (e.g. I have -almost- one year of experience). Given the many postings discussing the talent shortage, should I apply anyway? Or am I, and newbie devs like me, wasting our time?
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floppydisk
Go for it, the worst they can do is say no. Don't limit yourself to the box of
only having "<1 year of experience with Language X", think about what skills
you bring to the table other than experience in that language. Have you built
an open source project, even a tiny one? Can you learn new languages and
technologies fast?

Emphasize the other things you bring to the table other than your ability to
sling code in a specific programming language! In the long run, possessing the
ability to critically think and solve problems will carry you much further
along than possessing mad skills in Languages X,Y, or Z when you first apply.
You can learn 'em all as needed. ;)

Best of luck!

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devs1010
I would apply to any jobs that ask for 5 or less years experience. Don't get
caught up on all the cruff they put in job postings, they say they want this
and that but really what they want is someone who is competent and can help
their company in the specific role for which they are hiring. Whoever posts
the ad doesn't usually understand much about sofware development, hence ads
where you see things like "Java J2EE developer needed, ruby, python, php,
javascript experience a plus", they really don't need someone who knows all
these languages, they just figure it would be nice to have someone who did

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samikc
I think you should. You cannot quantify how well you know a programming
language X. I have come across such questions in many interviews, and I was
like "How can I say - how I rate myself in Java in scale of 1 - 10?". I now
avoid that question diplomatically. Some interviewers say, the gauge your
confidence level with that but you take that as it is. Like if you tell me I
rate myself 3 in C and you wow me with a perfect binary tree traversal
algorithm code. I give a s __t about you the score "3" you are a good
programmer to me.

Anyway, you apply to the companies and land yourself a job. You will learn a
lot once you start working on something.

Very best for your job search.

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DyumanBhatt
It is worth trying at least. In the meantime make some personal projects that
prove what you can do. It can be a simple game, or a solution to help a small
business.

Don't forget that networking can also help you bypass such requirements if you
have an internal referral.

~~~
flannell
Good advice. A friend of mine dropped out of his Computer Science course but
still went for a job at a games company Rare. He sent them his code for a
rotating 3D light sourced car written in GW Basic, and got the job!

~~~
atindra
test

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amorphid
Go for it. The cost of failure is your time. Don't forget to keep becoming a
morr awesome coder :)

