Thread: First job!

Howdy,

Been a while since I came to these forums but I was missing you all so here I am

Anyways I recently started my first job in Development. Small company so it's I'm doing a mix of things. A bit of C#, javascript and php but mostly adding features and fixing bugs for a GIS Android app. Insanely challenging and a lot of fun.

Any tips/advice to cement my career?

Congratulations!

I remember starting my first job in IT five years ago. I was paid four times less than now, but it was anyway cool.

Any tips/advice to cement my career?

Shortly speaking:
- do a lot of study, do not restrict programming to your job only (you know there are people who tell "when I come home, I never use computer for anything except watching movies and reading facebook");
- continuously investigate what are interesting or popular branches in CS nowadays, learn more languages and technologies;
- do not hesitate to change the job when you feel you do not get significant new experience anymore (I had 5 jobs in 5 years - and it is not too bad);
- however try to perform your duties well - regard you and your company/bosses as a partners helping each others, respect your colleagues and try to learn from them (even if some of them are not quite clever - anyway they usually have some useful experience to share).

Good Luck!

If you haven't already, start a blog. Start by sharing the journey to the first job, what you had studied, what degree you had, how you stayed relevant/gained experience, what you studied after the degree; the process to get the first job with any lessons learned (there must have been a few "first job" opportunities that didn't happen - why did this one?); and then your experiences on the job, what's important to your continued success, the company's continued success, what you learn technically and professionally, what new technologies are important and what you're learning about them. Please, date every entry.

That's some catching up to do. Get on it.

Chris,
I am an IT Recruiter for a Fortune 200 company. The first thing I look for is an online presence-blog, LinkedIn, etc. I don't necessarily source using Monster or Dice, but it doesn't hurt for you to put yourself out there. Keep in mind, if your resume looks half decent...you will receive calls from recruiters.

Best Regards,
Rachel Staggs