[Tutor] Python jobs with no work experience

[Mats Wichmann]

On 4/17/22 19:09, david savage via Tutor wrote:
> Hi...thank you for this ability to ask questions.  I have dabbled with Python (Windows), but have never had the opportunity to use Python in a job.  I have been a PL/B programmer for the past 28 years, and recently got laid off from my job.  Because of the scarcity of open positions in this programming field, I'd like to get an entry-level position with a company that utilizes Python.  Someplace where I can actually increase my understanding of Python & therefore put it to good use...in an actual productive environment, but I'm not aware of any company that is willing to take on a programmer who doesn't have actual work experience using Python.  
> 
> So, anyway, that is my dilemna.  Can someone give me any suggestions on how to get my "foot in the door".....so to speak ?   My PL/B programming career started soon after I got hired on as an operator, running PL/B programs all day.   I think learning PL/B was a requirement of the job, & so I thought "this is going to be a great career for me", so I learned it.   I do enjoy PL/B, but if I knew then what I know now, I would probably have ran in the opposite direction.   
> 
> I have already checked out the web site of the maker of PL/B, as the job postings on there are not taken down, even when the jobs are filled.
> 
> So thanks for whatever advice you have..  If I knew what, in Python, specifically to focus on learning, then I will not feel like I'm spinning my wheels.  I'm even willing to start at the bottom.

It would be remiss not to warn you it's not going to be easy.  Today's
tech job market seems to filter ruthlessly on basically "having done
that exact job before".  Even seasoned developers have trouble with this
(umm, like me: I repeatedly get told I have a really impressive
background, but it doesn't tick the right boxes up front so I don't
become an actual candidate). The joke we old-timers tell is that these
days, even entry-level jobs require 8+ years of experience in the
relevant technologies.  And it apparently wasn't a joke that an open
source developer named Sebastian Ramirez was told he didn't have enough
years working with FastAPI to fit a job description - and he's the guy
that *wrote* FastAPI!!!

The point of all this is that in addition to good advice on which
aspects of the Python ecosystem to spend time learning, and to
contribute to open source projects to gain some real-life experience
(which really is great advice - IF you have the time to invest. If the
job search is pressing, you may not, it can take quite a while to
develop sufficient credibility from working on such a project)...
there's more to it than the technological part. You're going to need to
find someone to "take a chance" and that's not going to happen if you
can't find a way to talk to some people doing hiring, and that means
developing strategies for getting around the Gatekeepers, whose job it
is to present only the "best" candidates and not waste a hiring
manager's time with less promising looking ones.