Getting work experience

Today many companies are looking for recent software graduates with some experiences to fill entry-level jobs. Most require at least two years of experience. A company owner explains: “We hired many graduates in the past, since they did not have the skills that we need, we had to train them. After a year or so, they all left for better positions or higher salaries in another companies. Since so many of them keep switching jobs, we do not want to hire recent graduates and train them anymore but prefer workers with at least one or two years of experience because they are trained by somebody else. It is strictly a business decision.” Other industry representative comments: “The frequent switching of job among software workers has left many companies bitter about newly graduates. A trained worker that leaves a company is very costly, especially if it happens within a year or so. It is the workers fault.”

Although the industry blames software workers but I think the main issue is the gap between what school teaches and what the industry needs. According to several reports, many recent graduates do not have the right skills and must be retrained because what they know is not what the industry needs. Unless this gap can be closed, this situation will get worst. Today software companies want their new hires to have both technical skills and soft-skills such as teamwork, problem solving, communication and critical thinking etc.

With this attitude from companies, what should college students do? The solution is to start career planning when you first enter college. You must select schools that have the most up to date curriculum to get the technical skills that the industry wants. You must continue to read more about industry trends to prepare yourself for the future. You must develop the skills that will help you to get into the career that you want. You may need to work in the summer to get some experiences even it may not pay much. In this working place, you will learn about what the company needs, what skills are important as well as develop your soft-skills. A summer job allows you to develop these valuable skills and this is your investment in your future. In this highly competitive world, only the well-prepared will succeed.

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Prof. Vu

Carnegie Mellon University

source: http://www.segvn.org/forum/mvnforum/viewthread_thread,1937