3 answers
Maya
Student
Tallahassee, Florida
1
Question
Updated
434 views
How do people actually get started in the computer engineering industry?
I'm a junior computer engineering major starting the job and internship search. A lot of "entry-level" jobs and internships seem to have experience requirements. Does underlining personal projects and certifications really work? What am I supposed to do?
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3 answers
Teklemuz Ayenew Tesfay
Software Engineer and Career Mentor
677
Answers
Ethiopia
Updated
Teklemuz Ayenew’s Answer
Internships and entry-level jobs usually require a relevant field of study, certifications, a solid understanding of your field, curiosity, eagerness to learn, and commitment. Employers want proof that you can do the work, solve problems, and add value, which you can show through well-documented projects on a polished resume and GitHub account. Certifications alongside hands-on projects, especially in cloud, programming, networking, or cybersecurity, strengthen your profile.
Build personal projects like Arduino, robotics, full-stack web applications, or IoT, join clubs, and apply for volunteer or internship roles before full-time positions. Free platforms like Forage, GitHub, Replit, HackerRank, LeetCode, and AWS Educate provide hands-on experience, while Devpost and Dev Internships focus on projects and hackathons. Apply widely on LinkedIn, Indeed, AngelList, and Internshala, master core concepts, and prepare for interviews. Showcase your problem-solving, communication, and presentation skills. Rejection can happen, but learn from mistakes and keep applying consistently. Networking with professionals, staying updated with industry trends, and continuously building and presenting your skills helps you get your foot in the door and demonstrate your value to employers.
Build personal projects like Arduino, robotics, full-stack web applications, or IoT, join clubs, and apply for volunteer or internship roles before full-time positions. Free platforms like Forage, GitHub, Replit, HackerRank, LeetCode, and AWS Educate provide hands-on experience, while Devpost and Dev Internships focus on projects and hackathons. Apply widely on LinkedIn, Indeed, AngelList, and Internshala, master core concepts, and prepare for interviews. Showcase your problem-solving, communication, and presentation skills. Rejection can happen, but learn from mistakes and keep applying consistently. Networking with professionals, staying updated with industry trends, and continuously building and presenting your skills helps you get your foot in the door and demonstrate your value to employers.
Maggie Weglarz
Electrical Engineer
17
Answers
Schaumburg, Illinois
Updated
Maggie’s Answer
Hi Maya -
Yes! Your personal projects can show a great deal about who you are as a person and an engineer. Definitely include your personal projects on your resume, highlighting what you designed, built, and implemented. Some of the best candidates I have interviewed talked through their personal project design even without "industry" experience. You can also highlight school projects, too. When talking about school projects, be sure to focus on what YOU did specifically, not what the team or "we" did. You want to highlight your contributions.
Looking for an internship is a great start! Don't be afraid to apply to some jobs that you don't necessarily think you meet all of the criteria - many recruiters/hiring mangers will interview candidates that meet some but not all of the requirements. Also, applying for some jobs that aren't necessarily your dream job can help with interviewing practice!
Best of luck!
Yes! Your personal projects can show a great deal about who you are as a person and an engineer. Definitely include your personal projects on your resume, highlighting what you designed, built, and implemented. Some of the best candidates I have interviewed talked through their personal project design even without "industry" experience. You can also highlight school projects, too. When talking about school projects, be sure to focus on what YOU did specifically, not what the team or "we" did. You want to highlight your contributions.
Looking for an internship is a great start! Don't be afraid to apply to some jobs that you don't necessarily think you meet all of the criteria - many recruiters/hiring mangers will interview candidates that meet some but not all of the requirements. Also, applying for some jobs that aren't necessarily your dream job can help with interviewing practice!
Best of luck!
Liam Rielly
Data Center Technician
195
Answers
Manassas, Virginia
Updated
Liam’s Answer
I like Maggie's answer. The problem is most of the larger tech companies are really only picking up people they know and are not reviewing applications for anything unless they are referred by someone internal. Try to make some friends at large tech companies, keep up with your classmates after graduation, and don't have just one option when applying.
That is the standard answer. There are other ways to start off as a software engineer that don't involve an internship to hire and are likely a better option to get started.
I work in computer hardware and there are many people that come to my same position with an education like yours. Your path would be to start in a data center for a large tech company and then work your way up to software engineer. Computer hardware might include network technician, computer hardware technician, engineering technician, or even a logistics technician. When you get hired you will likely have a view to what kind of projects that company creates with software. You will have access likely to their repositories, internal wikis, and other code and software tools where you can start to figure out how they make code.
Right now I work in hyperscale data centers and automation is the hot field for programming. We repair and deploy thousands of computer parts, network devices, power devices, cooling devices, and anything to keep the racks online. The traditional "replace part, flash firmware, bring link up, and deploy manually" days are over. We need automated systems to tell us everything from a temperature from an individual spot to coordinating a network interruption that is covering a section of the globe. Automated software tools are in high demand for systems resiliency. This could be your job!
I could say study leetcode and practice for your interviews but you would be up against the person who did the same thing and has an internal reference. The better way would be to demonstrate what you do on your own and have that handy when applying for jobs. You can make a github page (which you should have anyway) and keep some running projects front and forward (make sure to put the link on your resume!) and a blog about how you love to code (which you should have anyway and should be on your resume!) but the other person with the internal reference has those as well.
Think about volunteering some of your time on open source projects. I find that they need a lot of help and usually have people step in and out of the projects as they move around. Get your name out there in association with a project and use that to stand out as well. Show that you understand more than fundamentals and that you can integrate database, hardware, network devices, LLMs, and get them to automate work that would normally be done by a person or a team. Learn how ansible, terraform, chef, jenkins all work. Learn how MCP and n8n work (skip OpenClaw for now but it wouldn't hurt to just know it). Learn how ticketing and inventory systems work. Basically learn how code is used in infrastructure so you can make tools that are going to make a large impact in a dynamic company. I feel this is the better way to make a start and then worry about an internship if it makes sense for you. Likely by the time you create some piece of software a company finds interesting they will be trying to hire you on anyway.
That is the standard answer. There are other ways to start off as a software engineer that don't involve an internship to hire and are likely a better option to get started.
I work in computer hardware and there are many people that come to my same position with an education like yours. Your path would be to start in a data center for a large tech company and then work your way up to software engineer. Computer hardware might include network technician, computer hardware technician, engineering technician, or even a logistics technician. When you get hired you will likely have a view to what kind of projects that company creates with software. You will have access likely to their repositories, internal wikis, and other code and software tools where you can start to figure out how they make code.
Right now I work in hyperscale data centers and automation is the hot field for programming. We repair and deploy thousands of computer parts, network devices, power devices, cooling devices, and anything to keep the racks online. The traditional "replace part, flash firmware, bring link up, and deploy manually" days are over. We need automated systems to tell us everything from a temperature from an individual spot to coordinating a network interruption that is covering a section of the globe. Automated software tools are in high demand for systems resiliency. This could be your job!
I could say study leetcode and practice for your interviews but you would be up against the person who did the same thing and has an internal reference. The better way would be to demonstrate what you do on your own and have that handy when applying for jobs. You can make a github page (which you should have anyway) and keep some running projects front and forward (make sure to put the link on your resume!) and a blog about how you love to code (which you should have anyway and should be on your resume!) but the other person with the internal reference has those as well.
Think about volunteering some of your time on open source projects. I find that they need a lot of help and usually have people step in and out of the projects as they move around. Get your name out there in association with a project and use that to stand out as well. Show that you understand more than fundamentals and that you can integrate database, hardware, network devices, LLMs, and get them to automate work that would normally be done by a person or a team. Learn how ansible, terraform, chef, jenkins all work. Learn how MCP and n8n work (skip OpenClaw for now but it wouldn't hurt to just know it). Learn how ticketing and inventory systems work. Basically learn how code is used in infrastructure so you can make tools that are going to make a large impact in a dynamic company. I feel this is the better way to make a start and then worry about an internship if it makes sense for you. Likely by the time you create some piece of software a company finds interesting they will be trying to hire you on anyway.