Getting that first job as a software developer.

Scotty123 · 1 Jun 2015 at 16:44

Been through those websites

.

Also http://gamerepublic.net/.

Still, nothing suitable. A large majority seem to be more for mobile game app stuff as well.

Not out of work currently. I am always writing stuff in my free time anyway, learning new things (C#, php, for example). The fun never stops. I am thinking I may put a demo together of real time fluid volume rendering in openGL.

Adam-r · 1 Jun 2015 at 16:48

Scotty123 said:
Was it a physics post doc too? I'm in mechanical engineering for mine.

Sorry to the OP, but I can't send PM's ???

I was in Materials Engineering (IMR) , not far from Mech Eng!

Grouch · 1 Jun 2015 at 16:49

On the off chance that you're happy to relocate to either Cardiff or Worthing and fancy Web Dev the company I work for is currently looking for a Junior dev, we typically prefer people straight out of Collage or Uni as they've picked up fewer bad practices

Let me know if you're interested anyway.

Scotty123 · 1 Jun 2015 at 17:11

Adam-r said:
Sorry to the OP, but I can't send PM's ???

I was in Materials Engineering (IMR) , not far from Mech Eng!

Well you could always add me on Steam. See signature. Assuming that was for me haha

.

a66as · 13 Sep 2015 at 13:09

Im thinking of enrolling on an open uni course as well, cant decide what i want to do yet though. What do you tech veterans think would be better to get into the IT / software industry? a maths degree or a computing and it degree. i know you can get into either without a degree but i still want to study for a degree

OspreyO · 13 Sep 2015 at 13:20

IT degree.

neocon · 13 Sep 2015 at 22:31

If you want to be a good software developer then you need to learn about design patterns , solid principles and unit testing.

Do they teach that at university?

uncle_rufus · 14 Sep 2015 at 14:27

neocon said:
If you want to be a good software developer then you need to learn about design patterns , solid principles and unit testing

And configuration management (revision-control)... That's basically where you want to edit a file so first you rename it to "file.old" and then edit "file"... If you decide it isn't working out but want to go a different direction you can always re-copy and create a "file.old.new" or "file.new.old" and just go from there... it's easy once you get used to it

arrange the whole thing in folders with ambiguously formatted dates in the name as well so you can remember when each one is from

(disclaimer: the above advice is tongue-in-cheek facetiousness, the above practices are not a substitue for a proper git/SVN/etc setup)

To echo what someone said above, I wouldn't sweat the lack of experience either - I went straight into a graduate/junior role from a Maths degree where we did very little programming/software stuff and ended up being just fine. I don't think I've ever used a single actual Maths thing from my degree in the 6+ years of work so far (apart from, as someone said above, the general "way of thinking" analytically etc)

smyth · 21 Sep 2015 at 14:54

Another option is to look for an apprenticeship program at a software company. There are few that do that in London. You'll get a smaller salary for 6-9 months but you'll learn about writing maintainable, flexible code, unit tests and general good software practices.

Thoughtbot, Codeurance, 8th Light are a few companies that offer such programs.