
How can I optimize my resume? - noPreviousExp
I am 22 years old and I am about to graduate in computer science at a great university in Brazil. Every job I see near I live pays very badly, like R$2500 a month, it is US$665 with the current rate. Even with the bad salary I want to enter the labor market but I have no experience and all jobs I see requires previous work experience. I know C, JavaScript, PHP and little bit of Python from some personal projects I did for personal purposes.<p>It would be nice to hear tips on how can I optimize my resume in order to draw attention of a recruiter even without work experience.
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mc_hammer
\- Get an open source project on there, preferably a big name one. even if u
can just fix some issues for someone. (or release some code!)

\- Try to get a job at a company that also has a big name, people will hire
ex-Microsoft than ex- tinycorp employees

\- (I heard this worked for one guy) used the name Joe instead of Jose and had
a lot more luck getting interviews

\- #1 tip: be an expert in one thing, the first 4 jobs i got it was because i
was an expert at PHP or Jquery (they needed really only one skill).

    
    
      - so even if your a PHP expert and php is old there will still be php jobs. There's still fortran and cobol jobs, even though those languages are 1970s or earlier..
    

\- with no experience you need some projects or open source or demos or
portfolios or be really charming. if you have projects you can use the
following tip.

\- if you just have some side projects or fix some open source you can put it
on the resume and lines like this are great:

    
    
       - worked on open source used by N users, project was popular
       - optimized X for a speedup of N%
       - fixed bug that was causing X for N,000 number of users
    

\- in the future, try to highlight a win you got for your employer/projects:

    
    
      - say stuff like: company made $x with my product. customer happyness went up 200% with my work. (stats are good too)
    

gl!

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lollipop25
> I am 22 years old and I am about to graduate in computer science at a great
> university

Congratulations. Welcome to the real world where school... is pretty useless
and every graduate is now starting off on an even playing field. :P

> I know C, JavaScript, PHP and little bit of Python from some personal
> projects I did for personal purposes.

\- Master at least 1 language, and be average on the rest.

\- Master at least 2 frameworks from any of them, one stable and one that's
more recent.

\- Contribute to open-source projects. It's contribution for the others, and
more learning for you.

\- Go beyond the norms. For instance, build your blog using a static site
generator instead of WordPress. Or program a robot in PHP.

\- Write a blog about your programming adventures, what you learned, what you
discovered.

\- Complement your blog with Twitter. Share your posts, put hashtags.

\- Be present in online communities. Aside from contributing to open-source,
you can turn to StackOverflow or Quora.

\- Put those personal projects in a public repository like Github (remove
personally info like passwords, PINS, API keys etc.)

\- Get a microcontroller, preferably programmed with C, create something,
share it online. It's good for online exposure.

> all jobs I see requires previous work experience

Don't let job postings scare you. Some companies will just use that cover to
scare off those who aren't daring enough to try, as well as those people who
are just academics-minded and don't know how to bust open from their shells. I
tried out for a job once, just for laughs, while my friends were legitimately
looking for jobs. Out of all of us, I was the one accepted. I wasn't even
qualified based on their requirements. Heck! I didn't even finish college yet
while my friends all did!

What I mentioned above will set you aside from the rest of the herd of
graduates looking for jobs.

> Even with the bad salary I want to enter the labor market

Work for startups in the local community, even for part time. They usually pay
low, but you get to meet meet people and learn from them. Hype powers
startups, and piggybacking on it can take you to places. You get to meet other
programmers from the community, share ideas, improve your skills. You get to
know the bigwigs running the companies. Just knowing people can get you around
in the community. Know enough and be known enough, you could host local
meetups.

Do note that working for a startup can burn you out. Don't overwork, but still
get stuff done. Negotiate your work hours, work when you feel most productive.
Don't sacrifice your last year in school because you got overworked.

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Everything will take time, about a few months to a year. I suggest you get
started now. And never stop learning.

