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What should I learn or primarily focus on?

 
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I know you probably hear this question all time but I want a professional opinion of someone within the industry. The question is what plan of study would you take if you were in my situation? First let me provide you with the needed information in order to provide the best possible answer. I am also sorry if this is in the wrong thread.

Goal: Developer preferably in Java since its my strongest language.

Long Term Goal: To be one of the best developers in server, web and enterprise applications.....

Employment: Automation and manual testing using python 3, Selenium WebDriver and Appium: 6 months experience, before this none related to software.


Current Knowledge:

Java, Maven, Tomcat, WildFly, MVC: pattern but important for web applications, Python 3, HTML, CSS, Javascript, XML, JSON, Git and SQL......these I think I am pretty good in for entry level....multiple projects with each

Rusty with but multiple projects: VBA

Node.js I have worked with some and love it, huge desire to mess with Express and MongoDB

Project or two: JAX-RS, Jersey, JPA, JQuery, Angular 2, Typescript and AJAX

I am currently still in my masters degree at Virginia Tech and I will learn the following: Hadoop, NoSQL, JSP, Servlets and possibly JSF


Interests to learn: Django, Express, MongoDB, Scala, C++, C#, .NET, Spring, or possibly get better with Algorithms or problem solving through something like top coder.....

What I think I should focus more on: Java web services, Spring, EJB and JPA.


I have currently been applying for jobs like 3 to 4 months straight for every entry level java development position in North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and a few in Tennessee. I am starting to get discouraged on finding a development position for now but not giving up on my dream and what I enjoy doing. What should I focus on within the next year to become better and gain a better position for employment. Thank you in advance.....
 
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Charles,
You know plenty for an entry level developer. You can always learn more of course, but it won't necessarily make you more employable.

I think you should try to do some networking. Go to your local Java user group. (and your college placement office). Ask if someone can interview your for practice and give you feedback. Ask if someone can look at your resume and give you feedback. Maybe you don't know something deeply enough. Maybe you say something at an interview that gives a bad impression. Maybe you are unlucky. There's no way we can tell over the internet so talking to someone in person is helpful.
 
Charles Sexton
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Thank You Jeanne for your response. I don't even get calls back much less interviews. I did have an interview for a C# position but it was a startup organization and they were really looking for someone with experience. Only interview I have had or even a phone call. I will start networking even more.
 
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This is a really late reply but I wanted to reassure you that a startup wanting someone with more experience doesn't mean you're a bad junior dev. I work for a startup myself, and on a very small team (when I joined there were only two other devs) you just don't have enough time to teach someone new and get your own work done. For real, it's not you, it's them They may very well want to hire you once they've expanded a bit and have more people to help bring you up to speed.

I agree with Jeanne that networking is really important, that's how I got 3 of the 4 jobs I've had since college. Also, because I've been helping review resumes at my work I now have lots of opinions about them. If I could tell our applicants just one thing, it would be to give us details! At my job, for example, we really need people who already know java web programming. We've gotten resumes from people who went to colleges that I know teach java, but didn't specify what language they did their final project in, so I couldn't really do anything with those resumes.

If you can share your projects, definitely put them somewhere like github (if you haven't already) and put a link to them in your resume. Nothing convinces me a person can code like seeing their code.

Good luck!
 
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MR: welcome to the Ranch
 
Mel Reams
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Thanks Campbell
 
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