I currently work for SWIP Systems, a tech company that does a little of everything (mobile apps, desktop apps, network installation and maintenance and general IT support). A couple of our clients are the American Pool Players Association and Panera Bread. We are constantly getting new and fun projects to work on and the work environment is very fast-paced.
I had a job doing ASP.Net for Northrop Grumman on a contract for the Airforce two weeks before I even graduated. I stayed there for a year and a half and got a new job working in downtown St.Louis at a company called CPI doing C# and MVC development. After staying at CPI for a year I then got another department of defense job at Scott Air Force Base where I single-handily wrote a web application that all the of DoD uses to get distance and route data for all traveling DoD personnel. After working there for over a year I then found this new position I have currently at SWIP Systems. I plan to be here a few years at least.
While I was in class at Ranken I was doing as much as I could on the side to get experience and build a portfolio, and the experience working for people on the side was enough to give me confidence in my first (and only) interview to get my job right out of school. My advice to current students is to do whatever you can to make yourself stand out from the rest. While I do not think anyone would have a hard time finding a job since our area always has lots of opportunities for programming work available, it’s always good to be able to market yourself and make a companies want you.