What actually substitutes for experience
Not everything that feels like progress moves you forward. Ranked by what demonstrably changes outcomes:
| Why it works | Effort | |
|---|---|---|
| A referral | Skips the resume pile entirely - the single highest-leverage item | Low, but socially uncomfortable |
| One deployed project | Proves you can finish and ship, which is the actual doubt | Medium |
| Open source contributions | Public evidence of working in someone else's codebase | Medium to high |
| Freelance or contract work | Converts to real experience on the resume | High |
| Certifications | Rarely moves a hiring decision for software roles | Varies |
| More tutorials | Feels productive, changes nothing a reviewer can see | High, and misdirected |
Ship one thing, properly
One deployed project that real people can use beats five tutorial repositories, because the doubt a reviewer has is not whether you can write a function. It is whether you can finish something, handle the unglamorous parts, and keep it running.
- Deploy it somewhere with a URL a reviewer can click. An undeployed repository asks them to do work.
- Write a real README - what it does, why you built it, how to run it, and what you would change.
- Include tests. Even a handful. It signals that you know software is maintained, not just written.
- Solve a problem you actually have. Projects built from genuine annoyance get finished and get discussed better.
- Avoid the tutorial clones. Another to-do app or weather dashboard reads as a tutorial you followed, because it usually is.
Which companies will actually look at you
Not all doors are equally shut, and applying indiscriminately wastes the scarce resource, which is your time:
- Smaller companies and startups judge on practical work and often interview with take-homes rather than standardised screens.
- Non-tech companies with engineering teams - insurance, logistics, healthcare, local government - compete less hard for candidates and are routinely overlooked.
- Agencies and consultancies hire at volume, which is less prestigious and genuinely does produce varied experience quickly.
- Apprenticeships and returnships, where they exist, are built precisely for this situation.
- Big tech new grad programmes are worth applying to, but they are a lottery ticket rather than a plan.
The order to do things in
- First: one deployed project, finished. Without it nothing else has anything to point at.
- Second: a one-page resume where the top third is that project. The shape is in the new grad resume guide.
- Third: referrals. Alumni from your school, people from any community you are in, anyone who has seen your work.
- Fourth: apply widely to the companies above, directly on their sites rather than only through aggregators.
- Alongside all of it: interview preparation, because the interview arrives faster than you expect and being unready wastes the opening you worked for.
On the last point, the entry-level loop looks different from a big tech new grad pipeline, and both are covered in entry level software engineer interview questions.
On the part nobody says out loud
This takes longer than the advice industry implies, and the rejection volume is high for reasons that are mostly not about you. Most applications end in silence. That is the normal texture of this process rather than a signal about your ability, and the people who get through are very often the ones who kept applying after it stopped feeling reasonable to.
Where CoPilot Interview fits
Disclosure: we build an interview assistant, so treat this as a disclosed pitch. CoPilot Interview is a native Windows and macOS app that puts suggested answers on your own screen in about four seconds, across coding, system design and behavioral rounds, with a permanent free tier that needs no credit card - which matters when you are between jobs and the alternatives are subscriptions.
Frequently asked questions
Can you get a software engineering job with no experience?
Yes, and the route is narrower than the advice industry suggests. What substitutes for experience, roughly in order of impact, is a referral, one deployed project, open source contributions and freelance work. Certifications and further tutorials rarely change a hiring decision.
How many projects do I need to get hired?
One finished and deployed project outweighs five tutorial repositories. The doubt a reviewer has is whether you can complete something and keep it running, not whether you can write a function, so depth and deployment matter more than count.
Do certifications help you get a software engineering job?
Rarely, for software engineering specifically. They are more useful in adjacent fields like cloud infrastructure or security. For a development role, a deployed project and a referral change outcomes far more for the same effort.
Which companies hire software engineers with no experience?
Smaller companies and startups that interview with take-homes, non-tech companies with internal engineering teams, agencies and consultancies that hire at volume, and any apprenticeship or returnship programme. Big tech new grad programmes are worth applying to but should not be the plan.
Walk into the round with a second pair of eyes
CoPilot Interview is a native Windows and macOS app that puts suggested answers on your own screen in about four seconds, across coding, system design and behavioral rounds. The free tier is permanent: 15 minutes a day, no credit card.
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