Today we’re going to look at how to get your first job in an IT company. How to interview properly and not be afraid to answer questions even when you don’t know the answer. We’ll also find out if you need it and if it’s worth the effort.
Who is an employer and what does he need from us?
When we first get a job in an IT company, we are always afraid of one problem – lack of experience. And if you want to have it, you need to work somewhere. It looks like a vicious circle. But you should not take it as a hopelessness and immediately put your hands down, because for the employer you are an asset in which he can invest in order to make a profit in the future.
It is similar to the IPO of a startup, when the company has some basic parameters and goes to the market, and large investors are considering the prospects of investing in it. But don’t worry, it’s much easier with people.
The employer, represented by your future manager, has its own goals. For example, a major project is expected and from its plan it is clear that there will be an acute shortage of specialists. And then all means of searching for candidates go into action. Of course, they can be experienced specialists who are already working somewhere and are definitely not looking for a job, and if there are free, they are very expensive.
The fastest and cheapest option to find and train a simple specialist or trainee. All I’m saying is that the employer has a clear goal, as in the example above – to get the project done on time. He is not looking for people for the sake that the company would be bigger or that he would have smart and beautiful people in his team, this is a consequence of the main goal.
Remember, if the employer has contacted you, it is already a success. It means that you have passed the primary screening of HR services among hundreds, and maybe thousands of questionnaires. Heads of departments, as customers of vacancies have already looked at your questionnaire and found something interesting in it, something that prompted them to appoint a meeting with you.
Summarize. You have been called for an interview, that means you have some value! You are the next hope for the employer to fulfill their projects on time and close their goals. Get energized by this and boldly accept the interview invitation.
Presenting yourself correctly
The most important thing here is to have a set of basic qualities and achievements, as well as not to be afraid to talk about them. You should not let your achievements pass through the prism of the ideal IT world, where you now occupy the lowest place. I can honestly tell you that all managers have a result-orientation in their cerebral cortex. It may be achieved in the wrong volume, it may be different, but the most important thing is that it is there. And if you clearly state it as your success, you have made the first step.
For an example, you can get basic skills here:
- GeekBrains
- Netology
- Skillbox
- GeekBrains
Not an advertisement. It’s just that these guys can really give you the basic skills.
Also there is a lot of educational content on YouTube and even more so free content. Just don’t forget to thank the bloggers afterwards who tried their best and made such courses.
Be sure to post the results of your training in Git after the course and include all the links to them in your resume.
When you are asked a question in an interview with an employer and you don’t know the answer, don’t try to make things up and say something arbitrary. It is better to honestly say that you don’t know it and be sure to write the question down. Candidates who answer honestly and clearly look better than those who mumble and try to pull something out of their head. This is not an exam!
What else do you need to know?
To understand how the production process works in any IT company, I will try to write it, I will only say the main points.
Any mature IT company uses Agile methodology in its production activities. But don’t think that in life everything works the way it is written in books. In most cases companies have adapted their processes to this methodology. And from company to company they vary slightly. Only a few have immersed themselves in this methodology completely.
All product functionality is broken down into components. A team is responsible for each component. A team can be responsible for many components at once, if its bandwidth allows it. There are many cases where a team is responsible for multiple products from a large product line.
A team consists of an average of five to ten members, no more. The team is led by a team leader. He or she is usually half in charge of administrative activities and has some sort of production role in the team. Teams are usually strictly balanced. For example, one system analyst should have three developers and one tester. This allows to evenly perform tasks during the sprint, so that no one would be idle.
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