Graduated with <3 GPA, no projects, no internships, no work experience. How can I get my s*** together and make myself employable?

Hey. So I was in the exact same scenario when I graduated, as were a couple of my friends (though their GPAs were >3.0). One went to a bootcamp, the other just kept applying and doing projects. They know their own struggles better than I do, I can only speak for myself.

My path: Like you, I graduated and was suddenly hit with a wall of "Oh shit." I didn't apply to any companies and lived with my parents while I prepared a plan. You also need luck, but you can't plan for that. So what can you control?

First, if you have any basic confusions about programming, this is the time to sort those out.

Second, start designing a project or two. Mine was building an OCR in a language I was interested in, and hosting that on GCP. This'll fill out some of the sparse parts of your resume and may spark interest with any potential recruiters.

Third, Leetcode and absorb as much domain knowledge as you can. Web dev example: you don't need to know how 802.11 frames work, but do you know how basic HTTP requests work? What do the various status codes mean? Can you create a basic stack implementation? Upon applying to companies, study as much basic knowledge as you can for whatever tech stacks they use.

Lastly, apply to any jobs even remotely close to software development. But NOT management, you will not program in these roles, unless you're ok with a non-technical career. I found that my new employers were greedy, and wanted to wring as much productivity from their employees as legally possible. I started out with helping our Vue team just for fun. When I offered to work on their Node.js backend while fulfilling my QA job and work 2 sprints at once, they nearly sucked the dick off of my pelvis. Then, I started writing scripts to automatically generate and update Confluence reports from our test results. There's a quote on the walls of my alma mater's student union. "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." On the job, create opportunities for yourself out of thin fucking air if necessary. Don't let anybody dictate your future. Those 2 years of hellish parallel sprints opened my eyes. If you choose this route and successfully create your own programming work, switch jobs ASAP after 1 year, or 2-3 years max.


A lot of what you said, especially with the video games, rang true for me. You didn't mention a graduation date, so I'm assuming you graduated this May. It's a tough time to be a experienceless new grad/junior. But that also means you've done nothing in the last 5 months. Not even a resume in 5 months? Again, from someone who was in the exact same scenario 3 years ago down to the laziness, you're gonna have to get your head out of your ass and really grind if you want a programming job.

Know that you may get rejected a bunch, and accept it. My first failed onsite felt like someone whacked me over the head with a brick. Know that you may be doubted. My friends never said anything to my face, but I knew. Hell, even my mom began to have inklings of doubt. So be it. Success is all the sweeter for it.

/r/cscareerquestions Thread