So I was in the same position as submitter in 2k4, the year with the largest number of CS graduates, and also a year with a bad economy (bubble was finishing up being burst).
It took me 18 months to finally find a job, and to get it, I had to go through a one month Java "training" class with Accenture (Accenture Techonology Solutions actually) where I was paid minimum wage. It sucked, and it was a hard way to figure out that the the promise of $50k+ the day I graduated was a lie. The idea behind the class was, they got to test everyone for a month, see if they could actually code, then hire who they wanted, to do whatever they wanted. Some of the people in my class had to go into testing, which IMO is a career killer, but at least one guy I knew made it out and is a developer now. The thing is, if you do go to a large consulting firm, unless you manage to get to a really good place, I say get some experience, then start talking to a job placement firm, and be willing to take a contract or contract to hire job. The large contracting firms try to make coding like assembly line work, and yeah, it creates a repeatable, deliverable product, but it also creates line workers. Being a line worker is no fun.
Above is the path I took, I'm now almost 5 years in to the industry, and went from a consulting firm, to a placement firm, then was placed a small company where I've been able to create some awesome software and I am fairly compensated. It's really rewarding, but it took time, and I had to eat some crow at the beginning.
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So I was in the same position as submitter in 2k4, the year with the largest number of CS graduates, and also a year with a bad economy (bubble was finishing up being burst).
It took me 18 months to finally find a job, and to get it, I had to go through a one month Java "training" class with Accenture (Accenture Techonology Solutions actually) where I was paid minimum wage. It sucked, and it was a hard way to figure out that the the promise of $50k+ the day I graduated was a lie. The idea behind the class was, they got to test everyone for a month, see if they could actually code, then hire who they wanted, to do whatever they wanted. Some of the people in my class had to go into testing, which IMO is a career killer, but at least one guy I knew made it out and is a developer now. The thing is, if you do go to a large consulting firm, unless you manage to get to a really good place, I say get some experience, then start talking to a job placement firm, and be willing to take a contract or contract to hire job. The large contracting firms try to make coding like assembly line work, and yeah, it creates a repeatable, deliverable product, but it also creates line workers. Being a line worker is no fun.
Above is the path I took, I'm now almost 5 years in to the industry, and went from a consulting firm, to a placement firm, then was placed a small company where I've been able to create some awesome software and I am fairly compensated. It's really rewarding, but it took time, and I had to eat some crow at the beginning.