Job Search After Uni - Decisions Decisions...

Don't confuse having a career with having a life.

- Hillary Clinton

This is a semi-updated account of job searching after I gradutated from Dakota State University. I spent a little time before graduating looking for a more relivant job in my field but I had a little bit of a cushion as I already had a full time job all throughout my years of Uni. I had an internship, would be graduating with two certificates, a minor, and also specializing as an Engineer. I had no problem thinking that I had time. Boy was I wrong.

As I graduated, i started applying to jobs here and there. I was cherry picking and only looking for jobs that I would want or that I liked the job description. I was also loooking in the usual spots like California and NYC. I recieved some offers to be a teacher in tech or to work on a team at a school running a districts IT program. I really did not want to be a teacher and thought that it would be a strange place to go after becoming an engineer.

I was also keeping track of who I was applying to and how many. I still am keeping track but it was very sparce that first month. Then the usual suspects were popping up. The morning opening line of 'Thank you for applying, unfortunately we will not be going forward with your application at this time.' The ghosting from companies that do not respond and just move on. The couple follow up interviews and then a coding test that required my to code a front and backend through AWS and record the entire coding session (when the job responsibilities did not much the questions they were asking me to solve). Companies that seemed to want a full stack developer Lead for the price of an intern. It was crazy.

Continuing on the Right Foot

So how did I move forward from here or am I still stuck here? Well, it definitely has improved. I am no longer just cherry picking companies that sound good or going so long between job searches. I am applying to more companies, different kinds of opportunities, and responding to all kinds of offers. While yes I am still looking for a job two months out from graduation, I am in better spirits then that first month. I know I have time to find a job and while I continue to work where I am, I have time to see what all the companies out there are looking for. Also in the mean time I continue to read, continue to work on Leetcode problems, continue to update this page and make it as proffesional as possible. It also gives me the ability to update and do more projects so that I have a deeper portfolio that these companies can look at.

The more I apply and the more I work on this website, the better I feel going into this job market. Trying to stay relevant and interesting to the adverage HR department so that I can get an in market job continues to be a goal but not only the ending point but an amazing chance to look back and say how far I have come. Even the morning emails I shrug off and say 'oh well' as i know there was not a night sleep lost because I was stressing about if they would say yes or no. I am ready for the right company and right people to come together and I look forward to calling them my co-workers.