Hi HN,<p>I'm currently a college student and I'll be completing my master's program in May of 2018. Before starting the program, I have 2 years of full-time experience working as a software engineer, plus close to 2 years of co-op experience while I was completing my undergrad.<p>I know a lot of my classmates are already looking and applying for new-grad or junior positions at various tech companies. My question is that, for someone in my position, should I go down the same path and apply to new-grad openings now just like the others, or should I shoot for mid-level/experienced positions? If the latter, when is it a good time to start reaching out to employers and recruiters if I won't be able to start until the summer of 2018.<p>Thanks.
In my opinion -
Shoot as high as you feel reasonable. Do you feel competent enough to work at a mid-level position? If so, apply to those positions. Often times job postings are "over posted" to weed out people who feel themselves underneath the job. If a posting asks for 5 years of experience, most companies would be happy with 1-2 years of quality, proven experience.<p>As for timing, I would say it's never too early to start networking. Get your feet wet with recruiters, make yourself known to companies. You might not necessarily want to go through a complete application process, but now is definitely the time to start researching and talking.