Before I tell you about my first job in IT, let me give you some background information. During my last year at Southern Methodist University, I got my resume ready to start applying for different IT jobs. I was able to attend a couple of job interviews but none of those interviews resulted in job offers. I graduated in May of 2001 and decided to take a break from my job search. I decided to continue working with my parents in their small furniture store. From 2001 to 2008, I devoted my time to improve the store and increase sales. However, the store was in a bad financial position. My brother, JR, secured a job with the City of Dallas as a code inspector. After my brother left the store, I also started applying for IT jobs. I was desperate to get into IT. So I started applying to dozens of places and went to dozens of interviews. Most of the hiring managers told me that they were looking for more experienced developers. My only experience at that time was school projects and applications I built for the furniture store. I was very disappointed and almost gave up my job search again. But this time I was determined to get a job as a software developer or any position in IT. I posted my resume in different job sites like dice, monster, and others.
I received a called from James Paul, co-founder of PrintPlace.com. I couldn’t believe that someone was calling me about a job in IT. He gave me a brief description of the job and asked me to come to their offices for a face to face interview. The next morning I met James and Nic. The interview went well and the final step in the process was to speak with John. He was the software architect and I answered most of the questions correctly. Finally I spoke with Shawn, founder of PrintPlace and he offered me the job. I was so happy. Finally I was going to start my career as a software developer. In this role, I wore many hats, desktop support, setup phones, setup servers, and some .NET coding.
Now it’s your turn. How did you landed your first job in IT?