As a fresh graduate, in a post-pandemic point of view, the prospect for jobs will be difficult as there will be quite a competition with a sizeable number of people applying for jobs related to my field. These people may also be fresh graduates or professionals who have experience in the industry. These factors combined with the amount of unemployed people in the country coming from the pandemic will further exacerbate the difficulty in applying for a job. However, the number of available jobs for people in a programming field is continuously soaring due to the challenges the Covid-19 pandemic brought. These challenges allowed various industries such as retailers, educators, and office-related jobs transition from a traditional working environment to a virtual or online environment. In line with this, the demand for software to aid in the business processes of each industry has increased dramatically which paved the way for the increase in demand for programmers and software developers. 

 

Although the demand for programmers and software developers is high, finding the right candidates is a concern for many tech companies. Therefore, the action items needed to prepare for a programmer or software engineer post-pandemic may require more than what it usually once was. Aside from the standard procedure for pre-employment which contains CVs, resumes, or letters, a fresh graduate may need to prepare a portfolio which showcases their skills and accomplished works during their study. A much more extensive preparation for basic and expert programming or coding skills should be observed carefully. Having knowledge of the latest tools and in-demand development software should also be taken in mind.

Expectation:

If I were to apply for a job, I expect that I would be able to obtain one related to my field within 1 month. This is so because of the high demand for workers in my field which is software development and engineering. The demand for software, AI, and data analytics has continuously soared the past years and the Covid-19 pandemic only further boosted that demand. I expect that job applications would require higher standards seeing that many graduates also come from this field. The action items I would prepare would be a portfolio website which contains all my past works during my study to showcase my skills. In addition to this, I would also prepare by learning all the state-of-the-art software development and analytics tools so that I could apply for as much tech-related jobs I could. The standard pre-employment documents would also be observed such as CVs, resumes, letters, and relevant hardware for software development and analysis.

Post-pandemic interviews for programmers and software engineers are often conducted using a virtual or online environment. The procedure would often be composed of questions related to programming, technology, or common practice followed by a showcase of skills through a quick coding challenge in real-time. A common way to get ready for these questions and challenges is through constant practice and learning as programming challenges and software continuously evolves.

 

Expectation:

I expect my first Interview to be conducted using an online meeting tool such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom. The interview may only last for 30-45 minutes and will likely be composed of technical programming questions and a real-time coding challenge filled with brain teasers requiring algorithmic approaches. Aside from preparing all the pre-interview procedures such as formal wear and hardware, I will prepare by practicing solving programming brain teasers and problems. I will try to expose myself to as much algorithms I can in order to think of different approaches and solutions to the questions so that I could stand out from other applicants.

As a fresh graduate in a high demand field, the base pay or salary and benefits is likely to be higher than the minimum wage but still lower than an experienced professional which is acceptable due to fresh graduates having little to no experience.  In the post-pandemic era, most people prefer to consider jobs that allow people to work at home. In addition, based on a study from Harvard, people now prefer to work at home due to many people, especially people working in an office, realizing that it was pointless and a waste of money to commute and work in a job site. The future of work may be staying out of the office. To put it briefly, the things to consider when accepting a job offer in the post-pandemic era is the salary, package benefits, working hours, work style, responsibilities, opportunities to advance in one’s career, and if it is work at home if the field can be totally done in a virtual environment.

 

Expectation:

I expect that job offers given to me would likely contain lower than average salary for programmers (likely to be around 20,000 to 25,000 PHP), benefits, and opportunities due to having little to no experience in the industry. However, the thing I would consider the most is that if the job is work at home. Working at home is vital to me because I prefer to be with my family and software development is one of the fields where there are a lot of tools which allow one to work remotely. The other things I would consider the most are the work hours, responsibilities, insurance, flexibility, vacation/sick days per year, and potential/opportunities for growth.