How to Get Experience When You Have No Experience

There’s a crushing Catch-22 in the tech world that keeps people from realizing their career dreams. Career consultants hear this exasperated plea for help: “How do I get experience doing something new, when the companies I am talking to only want to hire people who already have experience?”

Two engineering senior leaders will explain how candidates can gain key work experience by volunteering in a wide range of opportunities: from meetups to open source projects to service to the country. Learn how to find volunteer opportunities and  integrate your volunteer accomplishments into your resume and interviews.

Takeaways: Expect this talk to provide actionable advice about how to integrate volunteer experience with resumes, interviews, and career networking. Here are selected topics:

➢ Advantages of Volunteer Work over Compensated Work

➢ Tie Your Volunteer Work into Your Profession

➢ Volunteer for Conferences Instead of Just Attending

➢ Contribute to Open Source Projects

➢ Hackathons and Competitions

➢ Speak at Meetups & Events

➢ Finding Volunteer Opportunities

➢ Maintain Multiple Social Spheres

➢ Find a Mentor, Be a Mentor

➢ If You are in Between Jobs, Get Busy

There is a great story behind this talk. Lori started her career with open source years ago by volunteering at SCaLE. She then leveraged skills with open-source tools to get involved in volunteer work across the country. She met Jenson at a SCaLE 20x talk last year, leading him to his new volunteer career. He is now a leader in his organization. As volunteers, both speakers have amassed valuable training and compelling accomplishments to add to their resumes. They will share the whole story- a story of open source software, helicopters, harbor adventures, and training people to save lives.