Well, when I graduated college I got a regular job at SuperTarget just to make some money while I was trying to find a job. Well, after getting a little discouraged in my initial job search I got too comfortable working at SuperTarget because I loved my hours 4am-12:30pm because I got off and had the whole afternoon/night as free time which I usually spent programming. Well, I let a little too much time slip by and by the time I realized it a year had passed and I was still not employed in my field. So, now that I am trying super hard (landing atleast 1 interview a week) to get a job IN MY FIELD, lol.. I am running into a problem of references. Since it has been so long (a year) really, none of my professors even remember me that much if they are even still there/reachable with the info I have. I have not worked in the industry so coworkers are really out. And I am only in touch with one of my seven classmates. Since I have had several interviews now and haven't had much luck or heard anything back, do you think it is my references that are hurting me? What should I do in this situation?

Didn't you have any jobs before graduating?

I haven't finished college yet, but I have three references, one written and two by phone. They don't have anything to do with computers, but at least they can say I was never late or away and that I did a good job.

Really if you've waited this long to find work and knew employers(other than McDonalds/Target) wanted references, what did you think would happen?

Quote:
What should I do in this situation?

Perhaps just try to find jobs close to your field(rather than "in"). At least that way you can build some references and it might look better than Target.

you might have to wait a little longer but start moving around lower level jobs that are associated to the job you want to get...

If you can get 2-3 names associated to yourself to show that you are able to work in something similar or related then its not a big deal to get the jobs you more want.

No, that is just the thing, I have over 20 people I can use as references. However, none of them are "professional" references that I keep getting asked for and only one that is related to my field.

Ya, one year out of school is hurting me, however, I was looking during that time, just not super hard like I am now. I just had a hard time finding jobs that I was a match for.

Quote:Original post by Nabren
...do you think it is my references that are hurting me?

No. Generally, references are to vouch for your character, work ethic and stuff. They'll get asked some fluff questions about your technical skills, but that's simply to determine if the reference is himself ethical.

Quote:What should I do in this situation?

Keep looking, keep working. When I (finally) graduate college - with a humanities degree at that - I couldn't get a job in my field because nobody knew what cinema and cultural studies majors were supposed to do! I fell back on my IT skills, but it took a long time for me to get an entry-level programming job, probably due to HR bias against my resume (no recognizable tech companies recently, non-tech degree). After spending several months struggling as a part-time sysadmin/support grunt, I got a biz dev position in the game industry. From there I jumped to a software development position writing database automation, and now I'm a web developer at a large media conglomerate. In a year and a half I also added $20,000 to my annual income.

Patience. You'll be fine.

Hi.
I'm finishing college this year and I will probably be in the same problem like Nabren. I'm from Poland and in here it's hard like hell to get programming job without university or technical university paper in hand so how can I help myself to get started in the field?
I'm mostly learning at home and with good results I think but how can I help myself that way???
I don't have any idea. Is someone considering community projects as references when interviewing?
So many questions and so few answers in my head...I'm scared to finish shool.

In my experience my references were only contacted after the job offer was given. The companies in question were primarily concerned with what I know and what I can do. For my first job they wanted to see examples of my work - fortunately I'd spent a fair bit of time doing some console hacking, which happened to be very relevant to what they needed me for. I went to my first batch of interviews with an xbox under my arm and demonstrated some graphics demos, I also compiled my best work, took screenshots, made a web front end and put my work on a CD to leave with the companies which had my name / address / telephone number on the sleeve. At interviews I tried to present myself as smart, punctual, honest and friendly. On my CV / resume I tried to extrapolate good work experience from my previous jobs even though they were unrelated.

Suffice to say that I landed a job working with one of the coolest companies ever, working on high profile games, and I had the time of my life. Previous experience: call center assistant and security guard (!!).

I think that community projects if well exposed might help too, don't You think?