Nobody said it would be easy, but holy sh*t, right?! I know, it’s hard to get that first job. The requirements look like a restaurant menu you can’t afford: they ask for experience to give you experience, and you enter that infinite loop without a break condition or exception handling.

Fear not, young grasshopper. I’ve been in your shoes. I know how frustrating it is to git push resumes into the void. That’s why today, I’m bringing all the tips that were my “keyboard shortcuts” at the beginning and that continue to help me level up in my career.

Let’s start from the beginning (the “Hello World”)

I have two pieces of news: one good and one “less good.” The good one is that if you’re in college, you inhabit the ecosystem with the highest employability of your life. It is statistically easier to enter as an intern than to try for a Junior contract “cold.” The bad one is that, whether it hurts or not, you’re probably still a junior-junior — except for those in career transition who already bring experience from other sectors. But calm down, this doesn’t invalidate your courses and projects; it just means your runtime still needs optimization.

What should I do, then?

The first tip is: don’t be too picky about your ice cream flavor. What matters now is “screen time” (real experience). If you want to be a data scientist, but a Help Desk, Customer Support, or something outside your “main target” position opens up, grab it. Some experience will always be infinitely better than none.

Working in support teaches you the most valuable thing about a project: business rules and user pain. Once you’re “inside the server,” you can continue to strive in your target technology and even implement automations to solve problems in your current job. This is what we call a golden showcase for future interviews or even for internal moves within a company.

Senior Tip: If you’re in college, don’t wait until the last semester. Companies look for a “contract window.” If you only have 6 months of the course left, you’re a risk; if you have 2 years, you’re an investment.

P.S.: I believe people in longer courses (bachelor’s degrees) can even afford to be more selective at the beginning. But if you’re doing a technologist (2-year degree), you only have two years of the course — the clock starts ticking from day one.

Leaving Plato’s Cave

Second tip: don’t be a cave developer. The one who studies 12 hours a day, sends hundreds of resumes, but knows no one beyond their own monitor.

Events and Communities

IT is a team sport. Join communities (Discord, Slack), go to Meetups and in-person events. That’s where you see what’s actually running in production — and not just in the “perfect world” of YouTube tutorials. Plus, there’s always that cold pizza that feeds the dev’s soul.

Where to find your tribe:

  • Meetup and Eventbrite: For local events and workshops.
  • Discord and Telegram: For “daily” talk and exchanging doubts.
  • College: Study groups and student directories.
  • Referral: The famous “who knows who” network.

Think about it: how much does the hour of a Principal Engineer or a CTO cost? At these events, you have access to these minds for free. It’s your moment to “download” their experience, ask genuine questions, and have conversations you wouldn’t find on Google.

Networking: Don’t be a “Spammer”

Networking isn’t about collecting 500 connections on LinkedIn as if they were Pokémon cards. Networking is about connection. Many people think it’s just about sending an invitation or saying “good evening” at an event and waiting for a bond to magically emerge. That’s insanity.

As Dale Carnegie teaches in the classic “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, you must be genuinely interested in people.

Active Listening

Don’t arrive “selling your fish” or talking about your projects immediately. Listen. Ask questions that allow the other person to develop the topics. When you listen actively, you begin to understand the person and the problems they solve.

Be Authentic

Let a little of your personal life invade your professional one. If you like indie games, specialty coffee, or woodworking, use that as a starting point. This makes you real and accessible, not just another technical profile.

Common Sense (The “Readme” of social life)

Unfortunately, I need to rebase the obvious:

  • Be polite.
  • Don’t interrupt others in the middle of a technical reasoning.
  • Don’t try to force a different subject into a conversation that is already underway.
  • No one owes you anything: Don’t “push it” asking for a job right at the first “hello.”

No experience? Open Source is your “Infinite Field”

Third tip: if no one gives you a chance, create your own. Open Source is the world’s greatest leveler. You can contribute to projects that the whole world uses.

Contributing isn’t just for geniuses who write compilers in C++. You can start by:

  • Updating and translating documentation.
  • Writing unit tests to increase code coverage.
  • Fixing small bugs (the famous good first issues).

Personal projects on GitHub are cool, but contributions to real projects show that you know how to handle Code Review, criticism on your Pull Request, and that you understand the flow of a living codebase. Choose a project you like and start.

I’ve already written a bit about how to contribute in this article, so put it in your reading queue when you finish this one.

“Sell me this pen” (Personal Marketing)

The classic scene from “The Wolf of Wall Street” works for us too. You can be the most dedicated student, but if no one knows it, you’ll remain invisible.

Sell your brand. Use LinkedIn, create a blog or a channel. This isn’t about being an influencer, but about being found.

Practical tips to stand out:

  • Use authority words:
    • Instead of “I learned how to use XYZ technology,” use “Today I’m going to teach you how to use XYZ to solve this problem.”
    • Instead of “I did a small study project,” use “I created [Project Name] to automate task X.”
  • Praise what you do (even the obvious):
    • Updated a documentation? “Improved user experience by ensuring robust documentation.”
    • Created a database index? “Reduced the response time of screen X from Y seconds to Z milliseconds.”
    • Fixed a critical bug at dawn? Tell the story: what was the problem, how it impacted the client, and how you solved it (use the S.T.A.R. methodology). Coming to the daily and just saying “I fixed the bug” is a disservice to your own effort.
  • Document EVERYTHING:
    • Take notes: Have a “second brain” (Obsidian, Notion, paper).
    • Create articles: Share what you just learned.
    • GitHub: Keep your repositories organized, even the private ones.
    • Within the Company: Document processes through Wikis, describe your tasks in detail, and leave useful traces. This serves as reference material and as proof of value when it’s time to ask for a promotion.

Remember: “Those who are not seen, are not remembered.” Having easy access to what you’ve done is your greatest weapon in future interviews or performance reviews.

With great power comes great responsibility

If you follow these tips, your authority will grow. But beware: authority without consistent results is just hype. As Linus Torvalds would say: “Talk is cheap. Show me the code!”. Be consistent in your deliveries to keep your reputation intact.

Conclusion

Entering the technology market today is like trying to install a heavy dependency with dial-up internet: it takes time, fails halfway through, and requires patience. But the good news is that the market values resilience as much as technical knowledge.

Don’t just focus on learning the syntax of the trendy language; focus on understanding how to solve problems and, most importantly, how to connect with people. A career in IT is not a 100-meter dash; it’s a technical marathon where your greatest asset is the balance between code and human connections.

Now, stop reading, open the terminal, and start building your future. Your “self” from two years from now will thank you for not giving up on the first error: 404 of your career.