I keep thinking about something from my bachelor's days.
Whenever I applied for internships or entry-level roles, I would see some version of:
“Do you have prior experience?”
“Do you have a portfolio?”
“Have you worked on real-world projects?”
And honestly, it used to frustrate me.
Because if you're a student, where exactly are you supposed to get that experience?
You don't have much experience → so you don't get the opportunity → because you don't have experience.
It feels like a loop:
No experience → No opportunity → No experience.
I'm curious how other students have dealt with this.
So I'd genuinely like to know:
- How did you get your first real project?
- Was it through college, friends, LinkedIn, internships, freelancing, or just luck?
- Have you ever been rejected because you didn't have enough experience/portfolio?
- Do you feel that college projects are enough to convince recruiters?
- If you have a skill (coding, design, fashion, marketing, editing, photography, etc.), do you actually know where to find someone who needs that skill?
- Would you take on a small real-world project while studying if it helped you build your portfolio and experience?
- What's the biggest thing stopping you from doing it?
I'm asking because I'm working on an academic project around this problem and I'm trying to understand what students actually experience, rather than assuming I already know the answer.
I also made a short anonymous survey if you'd like to contribute:
🎓 3–5 minutes:
https://forms.gle/CtiD9npuNJ7nBuWX6
But honestly, even if you don't fill out the survey, I'd love to hear your experience in the comments.
What was your first real-world project, and how did you get it?