I'm a student in software engineering in Montreal. For the last 3 years I've had a few interships (once per year). The first two (in the same company) were mostly sysadmin jobs, but I did get to do a few Perl programs (mostly log file analysing and statistics generation).
My other intership was in the IT security field. I did a huge CGI Perl script to analyse time spent by users on the Internet.
The thing is, what I really want to do is programming, but my interships were mostly sysadmins jobs with some programming (due to my previous experience with Linux and UNIX).
I have another internship this winter, however I would like it to be in the OO programming field, and SW engineering.
I have a background in system administration but I know OO quite well, due to my college courses and projects (C++, Java, VB.NET, ASP.NET, but not C# unfortunately :( ).
My question is this : how can compete, in interviews, having no previous work experience in the OO field (though I build some projects in Java, Swing, etc., and am learning JSP right now), with other students with OO experience in previous interships?
What should be my "selling points" ? I consider myself quite a good programmer, but my previous interviews didn't turn out well due to my lack of experience. In fact, I got an intership last winter in system administration, since, well... that's my background!
Any tips on how to convince a potential employer that I am the perfect candidate despite my lack of professional experience (but lots of personal knowledge (and interest)) ?
Thank you,
Guillaume.
[EDIT]
Thank you all for your support!
I'm not out of school yet ; I am still a full-time student! My university program is a cooperative one : I have to get 3 internships to get my diploma.
Let my explain briefly my background : this winter will be my 4th internship.
My first two were while I studied in CÉGEP, Quebec's post-high-school but pre-university schools.
The first one was pratically given to me by CÉGEP : a employer called in, searching for someone knowledgeable in Linux system administration. I fitted the job perfectly since I was the only student who knew Linux outside of school. My interview wasn't even a real one, since all the details had been discussed between my school and the employer : I knew that I was hired even before doing the interview.
The second one was in the same company, one year later, since I liked my first one very much.
Then I arrived at my university, where every student is required to have 3 internships to get his (or her) diploma. Having no real experience in computer science interviews (since my first internships were "given" to me), I did a few screw-ups when doing interviews for OO jobs. I finally managed to get an interview for a security / sysadmin / Perl programming job at Bombardier Aerospace.
My internship went well, but now I want a real software development job. All the people I know had one last winter, which mean I am disadvantaged in terms of experience.
However, I DO have programming experience. All my internship required me to do a substancial amount of programming, especially in Perl. My Perl skills are quite good, and I got to develop some nice tools for both companies I worked in. I solved real problems not seen in school (like how to parse efficiently 5 GB log files while keeping memory usage as low as possible).
Obviously, I can easily get an internship this winter if I apply on jobs in the sysadmin domain or Linux world. There are a few of them available each year and I've got a lot of experience in the field, but as stated previously, I would like my next internship to be in SW development.
I am currently working on a personal project in Java, which is a small UML class editor. So I get to deal with the Swing framework, listeners, MVC architecture, etc. This is not as big as what is being done in the "real world", but it a fun project and I am having a lot of fun doing it, and if I can get it quite advance in the next month, I will probably put in on SourceForge. In the same time I am learning JSP.
As for OO open source project, this is something I should be looking into. I probably won't have time for it right now, one month away from my first interviews, being a full-time student, but I am not putting this option away.
Anyway, thank you!
no offense, but from your description it would appear that you're not really qualified for a 'real' OO programming job. Academic classes are a good introduction to a language but no substitute for solving real problems with fluctuating deadlines, finicky users, cholicky managers, et al ;-)
this leaves three options:
join an open-source project that uses OO and a language you know, and contribute to it significantly. This will provide an analogue of real programming experience [but not real job experience] and may help you get a programming job in another year or two
or, apply for an entry-level OO programming job and impress the heck out of the interviewer with your communication skills, contagious enthusiasm, eagerness to learn, commitment to the customer/user/whatever, etc. In other words, present and sell yourself truthfully but as the 'complete package' needing only the opportunity to explode.
start your own business as a consultant, programmer, freelance, and/or develop products, and learn at your own pace. This is risky when out of school, less risky when in school, and if you happen on an unoccupied niche can be quite lucrative