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Do junior development/design jobs exist anymore? Can't find work.

13 points by baggins ↗ HN
I'm using a new account because I'm not sure if I feel comfortable attaching this question to my name. I'm an entrepreneur at heart, but have been trying to find a junior design job so that I can improve my learning potential and get out of the home office.

The problem is that I'm having an impossible time finding a job.

I'm a competent designer, and HTML/CSS don't scare me, but these days that isn't good enough. You need to know javascript or jquery and ajax, HAML & SASS, and what seems like a dozen other technologies.

The same is true of development. It's not enough to know a language or two, but you need to be a rockstar programmer across the board.

I'm not complaining, but I'm having a rough time paying the bills and thought I would seek some advice on finding junior level work, whether contract or FT/PT.

I've had a few interviews with big and small companies, and though I felt some of them went well, I can understand why they didn't hire me.

So what do you do? Do you take jobs outside your skill level in the hopes that you can figure it out? Do I stalk Craigslist and Elance to bide my time until I can learn more? Do I keep looking for junior design jobs? Do they even exist?

6 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 22.9 ms ] thread
Kirchart123
Sir, please email me to guali.mexico@gmail.com ... Ill be glad offering some job for you :)
venturebros
I've been confused by the term "junior developer" I always took it to mean entry level but when I look at the requirements majority of jobs want years of experience and expert knowledge.

So what is a person just out of college and has moderate working knowledge in certain scripting and programming to do?

baggins
Exactly what I've been seeing. I assumed as a Jr. Developer, I could take less money for the opportunity to hone my skills and eventually become a better member of the team.

I've yet to find these opportunities.

dstein
What I have found is every company seems to be looking for a "Senior Full-Stack Rockstar Developer" that is willing to work for $15/hr. And they wonder why they can't find qualified candidates.
whichdan
HAML and SASS are nice to have, but nowhere near necessary to get a job - you can learn them pretty quickly on the spot. I would recommend that you start learning Javascript and jQuery. They're both enjoyable and will seriously boost your front-end development skills, while getting you familiar with programming.

In the meantime, if you find a job that looks just slightly out of your reach, try applying anyway, and mention during your interview that you're learning Javascript in your spare time and really want the opportunity to develop your skills. If you have the code you're working/learning on available somewhere (either a zip file, GitHub, or SourceForge), you'll still be ahead of many candidates who say they have more experience.

cfinke
E-mail me at cfinke@gmail.com with an example of your work. I know of a FT design/FED job that just opened up.