You might have seen a lot of blog posts and youtube videos which claim to give you the secret piece of information that will start your career in tech or provide you an roadmap for an underground mysterious tunnel where on the other side you get your dream job waiting for you at the end. The reality is none of this gonna work for and after trying for few months you gonna give up. Don’t get me wrong here, we all have been here, and in 2024 the job market is really rough, we all have heard the news about about 35%-38% of IITians are not yet placed and are left without a proper job.
The harsh truth about job that no one is going to tell you….
The sure way to get hired is to have through NETWORKING!!! Again don’t get me wrong here, skills do matter but why would you hire some random so called talented/skilled guy when you can hire your own friend/someone you know for cheap and then give them a chance / opportunity to learn the work and improve? Now I want you guys to read the previous paragraph and take a deep breath and sit calmly and understand each word you have just read. Welcome to the real world my friends, where
nepotism does pay off really well at the end. Before you start yelling and screaming life is unfair, just have a look at the other side of the coin, networking opens door for other people (if they find you interesting and if they think you have got something inside of you) then they will offer you guidance and in rare scenarios, some opportunities. Neal Bridges(he used to be ex-nsa contract hacker and now gives timeless guidance and wisdom on his youtube channel), is one of the few rare people online, and during pre-covid time, he used to say networking is the number one thing that gets people hired, and he
proposed an linkedin connect challenge to make a 1000 MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS ON LINKEDIN.
Step 1:
Make meaningful connections on linkedin atleast 1000 should be your goal over a span of few months. The sad truth is some of you might start getting opportunities from linkedin and some of you might not. Let’s be real here, real world interaction beats virtual interaction, and people might not have enough time to be active on linkedin and start mentoring you. Instead I am going to share you an amazing hack, if you are living in tier 1 cities and tier 2 the probability of this hack is going to work is higher.
Step 2:
Install meetup app, and check for the events and meetups for the topics you are interested in. Let’s say you are interested in cybersecurity, look for owasp chapter meets and if you are interested in linux and programming check if there is an monthly linux meetup in your locality. Don’t miss an chance to meet people and introduce yourself because in those meetups you will see startup founders, HRs and senior professionals who are looking for something to offer or something to takeaway because other people who are looking for opportunity/learning they will attend these events and make best use of it. So make sure you get to attend these events on regular basis and make best use of it.
Pro tip: This one is from my another favourite underrated guy from youtube who goes by the name Jason Blanchard, who made a series called “Job Hunt lie a hacker” and “how to hunt jobs like a hacker”, in this he outlines a lot of tips and advises and personally I found one advise that sticks with me.
Never miss a chance to showcase how amazing person you are at an networking event.
We all have impostor syndrome, at big events and conferences we think we are not good enough, but practically speaking we all have impostor syndrome and we all are better than something when compared with average populous. Take sometime to find what you are good at, learn new skills, do some certifications and upload your projects on github and show case them to the person you feel like interacting on networking events (genuinely), with the intention of getting mentor ship and you will eventually get there.
Step 3: Becoming the interesting guy.
Let’s be honest once again, no one wants to network with boring person, things like charm, appearance, and tonality of speech do matter but at the end of the day people expect and analyse if one is competent enough to get the work done. And as a fresher no body expects advance stuffs, just strong foundation with basics, and few projects you are good to go for the interview process.
Step 3.1: Build some good skills.
For this you have to pick one niche and stick it to it atleast for 6-10 months, or even more. Don’t jump between new and flashy things, stick to one and give all your in. Remember the wise words, a man who chases two hares, catches none. But you might say I don’t have money to get courses done, and youtube tutorials are filled with
ads and the youtube algorithm does not help me focus. Don’t worry I got you covered. In this situation you have two options.
Option A: Opt for financial aid for courses on coursera, wait for 15 days and learn from any course of your choice. You can get courses from big universities, and even companies like meta and google are offering their courses so don’t miss out. Follow the guide from below for
financial aid.
And for the questions for financial aid, you can google things up, write on your own use chatgpt, one such reference is given below.
https://github.com/connectaditya/Financial-AID-application-forcoursera-/blob/master/README.md
Option B: Google up discudemy, and claim free udemy courses and gain new skills at 0 cost.
Step 3.2: Build good resume
As a fresher, your resume should not exceed a page or two, anything more than that means you are either lying or you are among top 0.1% or 0.001% of the populous.
Pro tip: It’s better to stick to the original plain traditional resume, and while filling up resume with points on what you have accomplished, you must highlight 2 important things.
- What have you done / accomplished
- So what’s the impact of the thing you have to accomplished.
If your resume can answer these two points for each achievement you have accomplished, then it’s a pretty decent one. Credit for this tip goes to ex-NSA hacker Neil Bridges, and for real time resume examples check out his resume roast videos on youtube.
Step 3.3: Practice showman ship diligently
What this means is, in words of Vinh Giang, showman ship is the way of magician, and he explains it with his real world experience, where in an event he was pitching his business idea, and at the end he did not manage to secure the fund, but the other person who’s idea was not as firm as secured the funding just because of his speaking and presentation skills. Again let that sink in for a moment, in life you might have heard the people who are not so talented but they have their own ways of getting things done through smooth and convincing words. It’s because sometimes appearances and words do gain trust, and a trust gained wins favours. This is another sad reality, so here are some actionable steps you can take to improve your showmanship.
- Take English presentation and oration class, or gain these lessons but doing a lot of seminars and presentations at your college and at events outside. Trust me they will tune you instinctively to talk and present yourself in a better way. Don’t underestimate the power of this step.
- Make rock solid portfolio by show casing your projects on github, making your own portfolio website, writing blog which shows you have an understanding of what you are saying and doing.
Now with these information and actionable steps you should be ready for getting your first job or must at least help you to get an intern position. And before you go, I leave you with one last tip.
Aim for startups, and you can find your an promising start up with google search in your locality, and gather their investment / fund rising with a single google search. Search for promising start up in your locality once you have built the connections, firm foundation and once you have practised showman ship. It’s relatively easy to get a job at a start up or intern role at startup as it has less formal hiring process, and less stringent requirements when you compare to an big established firm. And as a fresher you got more that you can offer to an start up rather than an established firm, as they can hire any experienced guy and they don’t have requirement
to hire an young inexperienced guy. With this we come to and end, and hopefully you got something out of this blog. And I really pray for your success in this rough job market. Peace !.
