5 answers
Cody
Student
1
Question
Updated
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How can I get computer experience earlier for computer science/Graphic design?
What can I do to be able to get computer science/Graphic design experience earlier because most jobs that I have seen for these fields require at least 6 years of computer experience
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5 answers
Glen Cuthbertson
System Architect
5
Answers
San Rafael, California
Updated
Glen’s Answer
Find a way to practice and start doing it!
It used to be that you had to know HTML/Javascript or Photoshop but your chances are better if you know both. Great photoshop skills can give you a significant uplift in technical capability but specifically if you are interested in the design space. If you love photography you can marry two passions under the study of great resources like this - https://www.routledge.com/Adobe-Photoshop-2020-for-Photographers/Evening/p/book/9780367346836
Also, check out applications like Figma - https://www.figma.com/ - these are becoming standard for application design.
For computer science, there are many areas where programming and graphic design intersect. The main one will be web development. Specifically CSS and Javascript. I love what I'm seeing from the 100Devs community on twitter. https://leonnoel.com/100devs/ - This will be similar to Maor's rec. for freecodecamp.org.
Essentially you want to find a way to marry your daily practice with a set of goals within a community of like-minded folks. This working context within a community will vastly accelerate your development.
It used to be that you had to know HTML/Javascript or Photoshop but your chances are better if you know both. Great photoshop skills can give you a significant uplift in technical capability but specifically if you are interested in the design space. If you love photography you can marry two passions under the study of great resources like this - https://www.routledge.com/Adobe-Photoshop-2020-for-Photographers/Evening/p/book/9780367346836
Also, check out applications like Figma - https://www.figma.com/ - these are becoming standard for application design.
For computer science, there are many areas where programming and graphic design intersect. The main one will be web development. Specifically CSS and Javascript. I love what I'm seeing from the 100Devs community on twitter. https://leonnoel.com/100devs/ - This will be similar to Maor's rec. for freecodecamp.org.
Essentially you want to find a way to marry your daily practice with a set of goals within a community of like-minded folks. This working context within a community will vastly accelerate your development.
I appreciate you taking the time to answer this.
Cody
Dexter Arver
Senior Manager, Web Applications
234
Answers
San Jose, California
Updated
Dexter’s Answer
Hi Cody,
I would recommend gaining experience by working on personal projects, volunteering at nonprofits and/or giving back to open source projects.
Working on personal projects is the easiest thing, as you can start immediately, on whatever you want. I've seen people create replicas of websites or design work that they're inspired by (or even parodies), so that they can internalize those skills and build the next version. Many of the boot camps that I've seen are basically guiding you through how to build a yelp or airbnb clones, which you can totally do by yourself (with books and/or YouTube videos guiding you).
Volunteering at nonprofits is amazing because not only is it good for your career, but also for your soul. Once you have built up a personal portfolio of design or web experience, you can then apply to local nonprofits to help (maybe throughglobalgiving.org) or to remote ones that need help in the skills you want to further practice (maybe through catchafire.org). Once you've completed projects with nonprofits, these then also go in your portfolio, and the amazing thing is that most of what you'll work on will be externally visible, unlike many school projects.
Lastly, giving back to an open source project is one of the best things you can do for your coding career. Because many open source project leaders are veteran developers, working with them will teach you the essential skills to excel at a real development job—and smart managers are fully aware of this fact! Open source contribution is so important that even by working on documentation for an open source project is super valuable since it means you can prove that you fully understand the innerworkings of software that someone else has written, which is an essential skill to working on a team. I would recommend that you look into your favorite pieces of software and contribute to any open source projects that it uses, since tons of commercial/free software are built upon the shoulders of open source projects.
I hope this was helpful, Cody!
--
Dexter
I would recommend gaining experience by working on personal projects, volunteering at nonprofits and/or giving back to open source projects.
Working on personal projects is the easiest thing, as you can start immediately, on whatever you want. I've seen people create replicas of websites or design work that they're inspired by (or even parodies), so that they can internalize those skills and build the next version. Many of the boot camps that I've seen are basically guiding you through how to build a yelp or airbnb clones, which you can totally do by yourself (with books and/or YouTube videos guiding you).
Volunteering at nonprofits is amazing because not only is it good for your career, but also for your soul. Once you have built up a personal portfolio of design or web experience, you can then apply to local nonprofits to help (maybe throughglobalgiving.org) or to remote ones that need help in the skills you want to further practice (maybe through catchafire.org). Once you've completed projects with nonprofits, these then also go in your portfolio, and the amazing thing is that most of what you'll work on will be externally visible, unlike many school projects.
Lastly, giving back to an open source project is one of the best things you can do for your coding career. Because many open source project leaders are veteran developers, working with them will teach you the essential skills to excel at a real development job—and smart managers are fully aware of this fact! Open source contribution is so important that even by working on documentation for an open source project is super valuable since it means you can prove that you fully understand the innerworkings of software that someone else has written, which is an essential skill to working on a team. I would recommend that you look into your favorite pieces of software and contribute to any open source projects that it uses, since tons of commercial/free software are built upon the shoulders of open source projects.
I hope this was helpful, Cody!
--
Dexter
Wow, thank you for this comprehensive and thoughtful answer, Dexter! This is great advice.
Alexandra Carpenter, Admin
Thank you for your kind words, Alexandra :)
Dexter Arver
Max Bolotin
Software Engineer
2
Answers
El Cerrito, California
Updated
Max’s Answer
Hi Cody,
Experience is a catch 22. You can't get hired without it and it's hard to get it until someone will hire you. Internships are often helpful. Many universities have relationships with different larger companies so you can ask professors there about possible internships. Non-profits are often better about this because they have limited budgets and they generally enjoy helping young folks get experience. So you could just try searching for non-profit organizations in industries that interest you and email IT managers on their website as to whether they'd be willing to take on an intern.
Best of luck,
Max
Experience is a catch 22. You can't get hired without it and it's hard to get it until someone will hire you. Internships are often helpful. Many universities have relationships with different larger companies so you can ask professors there about possible internships. Non-profits are often better about this because they have limited budgets and they generally enjoy helping young folks get experience. So you could just try searching for non-profit organizations in industries that interest you and email IT managers on their website as to whether they'd be willing to take on an intern.
Best of luck,
Max
Maor Azoulay
Software Engineer
1
Answer
Miami, Florida
Updated
Maor’s Answer
Youtube is your best teacher. Plus there are plenty of websites out there that will teach you really cool stuff for FREE (e.g. https://freecodecamp.org/).
Good luck!
Good luck!
Thank you for the advice, Maor.
Cody
Rebecca Tang
Banking
1510
Answers
Hong Kong
Updated
Rebecca’s Answer
Thank you for your question. I am glad that you are interested you will develop your careers in Computer Science.
Firstly, there may not all the jobs require vast amount of working experience. Some corporates offer intern or trainee opportunities for fresh graduates. They may post these programmes on on their website or sometimes they would run recruitment programmes in the colleges. You can keep an eye on it.
On the other hand, you can look for freelance opportunities online. Some companies may hire freelance developer or graphic designer for their projects. This is a good opportunities to gain working experience as well.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
Firstly, there may not all the jobs require vast amount of working experience. Some corporates offer intern or trainee opportunities for fresh graduates. They may post these programmes on on their website or sometimes they would run recruitment programmes in the colleges. You can keep an eye on it.
On the other hand, you can look for freelance opportunities online. Some companies may hire freelance developer or graphic designer for their projects. This is a good opportunities to gain working experience as well.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!