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When many young engineering graduates are starting on their job search, inevitably, they will be denied employment because “they do not have (appropriate) experience”. This usually brings up the proverbial “chicken and the egg” problem. For engineers, it’s “how do I get experience when no one will give me a job?” The feeling of hopelessness or insecurity can easily derail the world beating confidence of a young engineer, who aspires to be a part (or create) the next great thing.

If you’re in college, many people think that experience is a tough thing to obtain. That you need to do the intership / co-op route to gain proper experience for the workplace. However, given the massive amount of access to technology now via the internet there are many things you can do independently. Read on for 10 ways that you can build your resume in spite of not having an internship before graduation. The big investment is time and desire. Most of these are software based, as the cost barrier to entry is typically lower (assuming you have something that resembles a modern computer).

1. Do a senior project in during undergrad work, if your school has such a program. There are usually two options: working as a team or as an individual. Keeping in mind you need to write things either way, I would suggest doing work as an individual, if you are comfortable with your interpersonal communication skills. This sounds a little backward, but if working with others is the easy part, you really need to make sure you can work through a technical project on your own instead of leaning on others. Conversely, if you feel like the technical part isn’t that challenging, but you usually like to do your work on your own: work in a group. This latter part may be tough because you will be putting your faith (and grade) with another person or people. The larger the group gets, the bigger this risk.  Cost: Varies.  Time: 3-6 months.
2. Contribute to an Open Source project: Face it, Open Source is hot right now. Even simply understanding the difference between GPL and BSD licenses is a marketable job skill. There are TONS of Open Source projects for those who are software oriented. A good place to start is sourceforge and Google. It’s best to know where your interests are, but generally the Open Source community is happy to have programmers help them with their projects. Also, examples of your work will always be available. (Here’s a hint: if you want to get into making video games, you should really try it this way first. If you find out you don’t like compilers - like me - then you should probably chose another career goal.)  If you don’t know what SDK or API means (or looks like in code), then you will probably have a tough time in the “real world”.  Cost: zero (if you have a PC).  Time: Varies.
3. Program an FPGA: Xilinx has a free version of their HDL tool available, and you can get Spartan 3 eval board through Digikey for about $150. This is a great platform to learn how RTL and synthesis are done. If you have any thoughts being a chip designer at any point in your career, that previous sentence should have made some sense.  You can find some starter pieces of code here. Cost: $150 for the board.  Time: Varies.
4. Make your own: Places like Make Magazine have their own MP3 players that are Open Sourced.  Soldering is a vital task to those who are interested at board level work.   Cost: ~$200 (kit and iron).  Time: Maybe a week.
5. Hack something: I don’t mean downloading some malicious script and trying to take down your school’s computer network.  I’m talking about doing something like adding a USB controlled LCD display for your PC.  Touch screens are all the rage now, adding a little touch controlled LCD display would be an interesting project.  You could take your place at the top of the Google search for hacking projects.  Or mod your PC, or as my wife calls it, fun with power tools to give your PC a new light.  Cost: Varies.  Time: Varies.
6. Make a widget: A little Javascript goes a long way toward making a pretty neat little demo.  Yahoo, Apple and Google all have widget engines.  Make something that networked info.  Tip: Make sure the widget gets something that has real time data (weather, stocks info, sports scores, time, etc) to show that it’s doing something instead of being a “canned” display.  Cost: Free.  Time: Little (if you already know Javascript) to a few weeks.
7. Install Linux on your PC: Ubuntu made it really simple to try Linux.   Fedora Core is also pretty easy to get going.  Not only do you need to know how to setup a computer from scratch and understand how to identify the components of your PC, but you can learn all the penguin lingo.  There are some really cool open source projects for Linux.  Cost: Free.  Time: A few hours to download the ISO image, burn it and go.
8. Tutor others: Even if you never make a dime off it, help others with their work.  Developing your communication skills to help others never hurt.  Many times it will also teach your patience.  Learning how to explain a problem or concept in different terms or context can be challenging.  Being able to have people understand complex concepts is a gift that can be honed through this.  Cost: Free.  Time: 1 hour at a time.
9. Run a webpage: Not just going to blogger or keeping a Facebook or MySpace page, learn how content sells.  Running a webpage can be challenging.  Understanding how databases work (in general), there are things like HTML / CSS / PHP / Javascript, all of which have their own place in creating a great new media source.  There are tons of free hosted sites.  Basic understanding of URLs and DNS servers and the like can give you very good practical insight of today’s modern IP networks.  Honestly, I didn’t fully understand CHMOD until I had to start managing my Linux webserver. :)  Cost: Starts at Free.  Time: Varies.
10. Get another job: even working as a waiter or working at retail has it’s advantages.  If you keep a job for any length of time, it also typically shows your are responsible, dependable and hard working.  In my opinion, I think waiting tables teaches you how to be professional, make fast decisions and usually a couple of cool tricks or jokes that are good for parties.  The side benefit of both of these is that you get paid.  If you have a retail job, if you score one at an electronics / software store, you can get a discount on all those geeky games or consumer electronics.  Even here, if you really want to work at a store like this, try to apply for the holidays when they need help the most.  Cost: They pay you!  Time: Depends on Employer.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it does note that self-motivation and determination can create a project that can give you valuable experience.  This can be both put on a resume and help you to learn what you do and do not like to do (which for many is far more valuable).