A free guide for students who want to land their first software job. Learn how to stand out, build real skills, and launch your career in software.
Student To Software Engineer is a free, open guide to launching your career in tech—written for students and new grads who don’t know where to start or are struggling to stand out.
If you're overwhelmed by bad advice, feeling stuck, or just want a clear roadmap, this guide is for you. It’s shaped by real-world experience navigating internships, landing full-time roles, and mentoring hundreds of students through that journey.
Inside, you’ll find practical strategies for:
- Getting your first job or internship (even with no experience)
- Making the most of your time in university
- Learning what actually matters to employers
- Building projects that prove you know your stuff
- Navigating a changing job market shaped by AI, layoffs, and oversaturation
This is a living project! If you're a student, grad, mentor, or professional we'd love to hear your feedback, suggestions, or contributions.
For content suggestions, typos, or grammar fixes, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub.
To ask questions, give feedback, or discuss the content with the goal of improving it, please join the Discord and open a feedback thread.
This project is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.