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How XNA and this site helped my job search


:
Within the following weeks I'll be getting my first full-time programming job since graduating from school. Before this could happen, I had to endure four months of job searches, each opportunity ending with the familiar excuse, "not enough years of experience."
 
What is a recent college graduate to do?
 
Using the Internet to Job Search
 
A few weeks ago all of that changed. Employers were calling me back! I had to get dressed up and wake up with the roosters. What changed? On July 1st I started this site and I made it available through hyperlinks on my resume, cover letters, and LinkedIn.
 
What could a website with a blog, a heavy leaning towards XNA-related content, and a few applications offer that was so attractive to potential employers? It turns out a lot of things:
 
  • Blogging about your professional interests shows that you have passion for what you do. It also showcases your communication skills.
  • You have a convenient place for you to display samples of work you're proud of.
  • If you can set up a blog, you have enough computer savvy to do computer work in most non-IT industries.
  • It may not be a business application, but an XNA game teaches you OOP, the .Net Framework, C#, and quirky details about allocations and garbage collections that working developers may not have ever thought about.
  • Its like having an infinity-pages resume supplement. Stop hassling to fit everything nicely on one or two pages.
  • Employers will like the idea that if you say nice things about their company on your blog, your readers will listen.
: Random
: 8/14/2009

 Jeremy "MrLeebo" Liberman