While it’s vital to learn how to code if you want to be a software developer, finding your first job can be a challenge. Over the years, we’ve identified processes and behaviors that tend to make the difference between a graduate being successful or not. To this end, alongside the coding curriculum you’ll be going through during the program, there is also a career services curriculum. The same expectations and deadlines will apply to both types of assignments.
Your advisor will send out an email with the specific dates when different pieces of the career services curriculum will occur, but here is a broad overview of what you can expect.
Week 8: LinkedIn Profile You will have time in class to create or update your LinkedIn profile to set you up for success in the tech industry.
Weeks 9-10: LinkedIn Profile Reviews You’ll meet with your cohort’s advisor to go over your LinkedIn profile.
Weeks 13-14: Mock Interview Sometime during this period, you will be scheduled for your first mock interview. This will include both technical and non-technical questions, and will be a great opportunity to sharpen your interview skills before your internship interviews with actual companies.
Week 18: Resume and Cover Letter Day in Class You will have a day of in-class time this week dedicated to writing a cover letter and resume, cleaning up your GitHub portfolio, and practicing interview questions.
Weeks 19-20: Resume and Cover Letter Reviews Much like your LinkedIn profile, your advisor will meet with you to go over your resume and cover letter.
Week 24 and Week 26: Internship Applications In each week you will have two days of in-class time to start researching and reaching out to companies for an internship. This may look like applying to already existing internship positions within a company or reaching out to companies to see if they are interested in taking on a junior developer.
Before all this, your cohort's Advisor will discuss in more detail with the class what to expect and how to prepare.
Week 27-28: Second Mock Interview During these weeks, there will be a second round of mock interviews to help everyone get ready for internships and their job hunt.
Week 30: Job Board Profiles You will have time in class to create profiles on Indeed as well as our internal job board.
Week 31: Technical Interviews This week, you will get the chance to practice a technical whiteboard interview with your peers. Students will do technical whiteboard interviews in groups of four. One person will be interviewed at a time while the other students act as interviewers.
Week 32: Job Applications This will be the first week where you will have time to apply for jobs in class. During class, you will write a cover letter and customize your resume for a job posting. Your advisor will be available to help you send out the best possible material!
Week 34: Job Applications Continued Now that you will have had some practice, applying for jobs should come a little bit easier. Again, you’ll have time in class to apply for jobs. By the end of the class, you will submit two job applications.
Week 36: Job Applications Continued You will apply for three jobs before the end of the week.
Week 38: Job Applications As the schedule for this week is a little bit lighter, you will be asked to apply to 4 jobs before the end of the week.
Job Search Bootcamp We find that graduates having a schedule they keep to makes a significant difference for job seeking success! To help get you off on the right foot, if you don’t have a job lined up after graduation, you will be expected to come in for a job search bootcamp. We’ll use this time to hone your application skills and make sure you’ve got time set aside to keep coding, whether it’s to explore new projects or to build on existing ones.
You’ll continue to receive job searching support for up to a year after graduation. We look forward to helping your successful entry into the tech industry!