What do companies mean by "x years of experience"?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I think this will yield subjective answers, so I’m asking here.

In jobs adds they always say they want some number of years of experience in such-and-such. But what does this really mean?

By way of example, there’s an ad I saw yesterday for a “programmer/analyst.” It sounds like a cool job, and it’s in a city in which I would love to live, but I think I’d be stretching it to claim I qualify:

I recently earned my B.S. in Math, so I’ve got the college degree part covered. But the ads states

Um… out of those, I’ve taken a class in Java.

But, I am definitely no stranger to programming. In the early ‘80s, when I was in junior high school, I used to write text adventure games in Apple BASIC, solely for my own amusement. I’ve dabbled in C over the years - plain ol’ ANSI C, that is - and I guess I’d consider myself to be at the intermediate level. I’ve got some experience with HTML - I wrote my web site from scratch, using CSS, and a few months back I helped develop a site for one of my university’s departments. But I’d still call myself a beginner. I also did some Javascript in a class a few years ago, which I found to be quite easy.

To give an idea of my programming expertise: I understand writing functions perfectly, including passing in parameters, and their return types; simple stuff like for and do/while loops, Boolean logic, and logical operators are a cinch; I’ve used structs before, but I’m shaky on that note; once or twice I’ve attempted to get into bitwise arithmetic, but didn’t get far. If I have all the time in the world, I can crank out a fairly complicated program (to me, anyway), but if I had to write one under pressure, or with a time constraint, I’d probably choke.

So am I dreaming to think I might qualify for a position like the one above? Sure, I could say “yeah, I’ve been programming for years,” but does this non-professional experience count for anything?

I really am a very quick learner, and I have no doubt that I could pick up any of the above languages/applications, given a little time… but who wouldn’t say this very thing to a prospective employer?

Again, this job ad is just an example, but it got me wondering. Countless times I have passed job ads by because I don’t have the work experience they require; it never occurs to me that maybe things I’ve done for school or for my own personal use might count as “experience.”

2

I’ll make a couple comments that may be of help. First, keep in mind that qualifications in job ads are often like wish lists, and companies don’t always expect to find a perfect fit. Second, a year of programming experience is a very minimal qualification (for a programmer/analyst position), so your experience may be acceptable. If you apply, focus more on your recent work (for example, include the URL for the University website you created). You may also want to play up the analytical / logic / problem solving skills you developed in your Math studies. In the early days of computing (before there were formal Computer Science programs) many programmers came from Math backgrounds.

Good luck. Never be afraid to apply for a position. The worst that happens is they don’t hire you. It’s rare for a prospective employer to actually call you up and laugh at you… :slight_smile:

3

Employers typically mean doing something multiple times a week for money, or for somewhere it mattered. So, if you programmed in java for a job for a year, or say as part of a team working toward a solid goal, that would count. Doing it in class doesn’t count.

One thing to watch for is sometimes ads ask for impossible things, like more years of experience with a product than the product has existed.

4

Do apply, but don’t misrepresent your experience.

5

Agree. Doing something for school does not constitute experience (it’s learning, not experience) but doing something in your spare time, with an end result that you can discuss or demonstrate the skills used, does.

As someone has already said, job listings typically contain someone’s idea of the ‘ideal candidate’. If no such candidate applies, then they will look to the rest of the application pile. Obviously you don’t want to go applying for a job in an area you have absolutely no experience or knowledge in, but if there’s just a couple of areas where you don’t meet their requirements, it really does no harm to apply.

6

There’s two different levels you have to successfully get through. The literal, HR interpretation of “years of experience” which requires you to jump through the correct hoops to not get caught by the filters & the engineering interpretation which acts as a shorthand for required competency level.

One year experience generally means that you’re familiar with the general paradigm of the language (syntax, style, conventions etc.) and you can largely use documentation to figure out what needs to be done. It means you can largely hit the ground running but you’re going to need some hand holding for much beyond the basics.

Under this interpretation, it’s possible to gain “one year’s experience” in much less than one year. Java, C# & VB.NET are largely similar languages & a couple of one week projects in each language would be enough to show you where the differences lie. If you’re familiar with SQL, then just understanding the syntax quirks of oracle or SQL Server would be enough to qualify. ASP.NET is mostly about understanding the web programming model, server requests, sessions, scripting etc. & writing a moderately complex web app interacting with a database pretty much covers that. Powerbuilder is it’s own seperate beast but it’s also obscure enough that they’d be willing to train you on it if you’re not solid on it already.

All in all, I would say a good 2 months of side projects would be enough to get you 6 * “one year experiences”

7

Add the above to your cover letter.
It is totally honest, and if I were an employer, I would know exactly what to expect from you.

Usually, employers simply write their “wish list” on job descriptions - but in reality, they are more than willing to meet people who don’t fit 100%.

What you wrote is about as honest an answer as you can get.
If I were that employer, I would at least interview you - especially because I can tell you are being upfront and I could then determine if you can learn what is needed to learn for this job.

Good luck, and hope you get it!

8

When I interview potential candidates, I prefer the ones who do some sort of programming as a hobby. I think they are the ones who are most likely to enjoy their work. Enthusiasm and willingness to learn go a long way in software.

When the requirements and descriptions are written they are usually with the ideal person in mind. Realistically no one even come close, usually.

Usually I don’t count work done in school as experience, but many people do. Also, your site would be a great way to demonstrate that you have what it takes.

But, (and it is a big one)
The people I select and the ones vetted by HR are sometimes not the same.
The ideal candidate from my side, seems like a bad one to them for unexplained reasons.
Possibly some trifling details…

As for a job with one year experience in the stuff that you mentioned, it should be easy to pick up pretty quickly for you based on what you say.
I think it is definitely worth a shot. Lots of good advice from other posters.

Just brush up on your fundamentals, and good luck!

9

I will emphasize that it totally depends on where you are applying. I work for a large private university with 9 schools and a major regional medical center. If the job description says that “one year experience doing xyz” is a requirement, and it’s not 100% clear from your resume that you have one calendar year doing xyz in a full-time job, your application is not going to make it through HR to the hiring manager. Our job postings make a pretty clear distinction between minimum requirements, which are part of the basic job classification description, and “desired” experience/skills that are more wish-listy.

In general, my advice to people applying at my workplace is to put your application through HR as required, but ALSO find out who the hiring mgr is and send a separate letter and resume directly to them, stating, “I’ve applied through HR but I wanted to contact you personally, blah blah blah.” You need to get your information to a person who will understand it rather than depending on a program/HR person doing the correct interpretation and extrapolation to see that you are a possible fit for the job.

10

It’s all bunk. Ignore those “minimum specifications”.
They do not count. Apply to any job you want, despite less or no experience.

Often my openings would have been written up by Personnel, who just re-used the wording from the last ad. Or the text could have been assigned to the development team and they have myopia. “I really could use an expert in this exotic tool, preferably version 3.6.2” they would tell me. I’d ignore such unrealistic demands, but personnel wouldn’t know better.

And believe me when I say no applicant ever has all the requirements. Many have none at all, so you won’t seem strange when you do it. They may find themselves impressed with some other item of your resume. He went to my alma mater? Can read Albanian? Might give him a courtesy interview.

11

I’ve never seen an ad for a programmer with 0 years experience listed. Asking for 1 year is asking for a jr programmer, you should apply.

12

Of course they can apply anywhere they want for anything they want. Doesn’t mean they’ll get a call or an interview.

Your experience as to the reliability of job listings is different from mine, in the organization I’ve worked for off and on for 20 years. The advice I provided is certainly applicable for my employer and lots and lots of others. There’s no harm in offering the perspective from your company, but to say “it’s all bunk” on behalf of every other employer on Earth is a disservice to the OP, don’t you think? Why would you dismiss what I say about MY employer just because your experience is different? Isn’t there room for both situations? Or are you one of those people who think that there can be no other valid experience other than yours?

13

Why assume that somebody who is offering a different opinion is dismissing yours? Comments like “It’s all bunk” indicate that the person is speaking informally. The fact that your opinion on the matter was not quoted, and that this is a forum entitled “In My Humble Opinion”, indicates that your opinion likely wasn’t even read.

Anyways, since both seem to agree with the actual advice part (that it doesn’t hurt to try), despite differing on the chances of success, I fail to see how either of you committed a disservice to the OP.