I graduated in June from Ohio State with a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and I'm frustrated with figuring out what to look for in a job.
I haven't had much help from Engineering Career Services. I've had a couple appointments at the school but they've mostly only helped me with mock interviews, going over my resume, etc. The problem is that I haven't gotten any C.S. specific advice. This is why I come to you.
So far, my experience has been that places want only to hire for Senior positions. This is unfortunate, as I'm fresh out of school. I don't have 5+ years work experience, and I can't get it until I get a job. It's the same old familiar catch-22. Of course, the answer to this frustration is that it's hard for everyone right now, and you just have to try that much harder to find something, or have an internship on your resume. I don't have one.
Another problem is that I want to be able to see my fiance, and my family, in Ohio. Unfortunately, this puts me in the position of trying to find a Software Engineering job in a market that seems to only want people to take care of their RDB needs. I don't mind databases, but I want more of a challenge, and to do something a little more interesting than simply writing an inventory system, or working with data storage.
I don't want to get stuck in a position where I come out with a few years of experience working with Oracle and Visual Basic and can't move on to the job I really want, developing at least semi-interesting software in my trusty C/C++, C#, or Java.
My dream since I was 5 years old was to be a game developer. I understand that you have to be realistic with these things, though. Let's face it, the game industry is saturated in every way possible. Most studios have the talent they need and the ones that don't, in my experience, are trying to develop the next low budget, multi-million dollar yielding game for the iPhone. Regardless of the ridiculous deadlines and overtime, I still took every class that I could that would prepare me for making games.
I wouldn't mind a compromise in this area. I'm realistic. I know you have to take what you can get. I'm a huge geek, so I can be happy in a different programming job. Writing code and designing software is all I've wanted to do for the past 6 years. I'd even be happy in web development. (Gasp!)
I could work anywhere and continue to enjoy working on little projects at home. But, I went to school so I wouldn't have to do it at home without getting paid anymore.
Well, I don't want to write a huge wall of text. I suppose I'll just put my main questions here:
- What kind of job title should I keep an eye out for? I really have no idea. Software Engineer? Software Developer? Programmer?
- What city should I look in?
- Am I being too picky?
- I've been using indeed.com for my search. Is this the best place?
TL;DR: I want to be an employed programmer. I'm just really lost on where I would fit. I understand it's a pretty cliche post, but my frustration is real.