Guest column: If you can land an entry-level tech job, consider yourself lucky
The job market for tech jobs is competitive now, especially at the entry-level. My journey of searching for an entry-level software development role began last August. I had just graduated with my bachelor's degree in Information Technology. It took about six weeks of searching and over 100 applications to finally land a job offer from the handful of interviews I had. It was a stressful time, and there was a lot of uncertainty during the process, but I still consider myself lucky that I was able to find a job quickly.
I keep up with the software job market on internet forums where many users discuss their struggle to find a job even after applying for hundreds of tech roles. There are several factors I've observed that I think contribute to the elevated level of competition, yet shortage, in the Oklahoma tech industry.
The lack of experienced software developers to fill senior roles at companies. Fresh graduates from four-year programs are only at an entry-level. It can take years for a junior developer to gain the experience and mentoring needed to enhance their skills to become a senior developer. Some companies are not willing to hire at an entry-level because it takes more resources to train a junior than hire a mid-level or senior developer, especially in an economy where money is tight. This can create a bottleneck in the number of experienced developers since entry-level roles are limited.
The popularity of working in tech has increased within the past few years. This can be observed by the number of students choosing a tech degree in college. We cannot forget about coding bootcamp graduates, which adds to the already saturated entry-level candidate pool.
The popularity of remote work skyrocketed during and after the pandemic. Luckily, there are many jobs in the tech industry that can be done with just a laptop. The convenience of having a remote job is highly desirable. Just doing a quick job search on LinkedIn for entry-level software jobs will show job postings with over 200 applicants.
For remote tech jobs, just getting an application past the automated resume parser can be a challenge. Your resume needs to be refined and polished so that the automated resume tool can pick out the key words and score the resume. Resumes that have met the desired score will be sent to actual people before inviting the applicant for an interview. Most companies will use an automated resume tool to look through resumes because, obviously, it takes too long to look through the hundreds of applicants.
The interviewing process itself can take quite some time and skill to get past. There is usually the behavioral interview we know and the technical portion of it. Most companies will do a live assessment of an applicant’s coding skills. This involves the interviewee having to write code where they are watched by the interviewer(s) under a time limit. It can be a nerve-racking experience and is something school does not prepare you for. If the interviewee can pass the technical assessment, then they are likely to get a job offer.
The tech industry will continually grow as our society continues to modernize. It can be hard to find an entry-level job with the current times but keep applying. Don't be too picky with a first job, you will earn substantially more as time and experience come.
Kevin Tran is a recent OSU-IT graduate, now employed as a full-stack junior software developer.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Guest: Entry-level tech jobs are competitive in Oklahoma
