Having hired a bunch of people, including juniors out of school, I'll tell you this: apply, just apply.

A job description and requirement is their picture of the ideal candidate, but they will hire the person that's the closest to that, and other things not mentioned in the offers like how you would fit culturally in the team, work with others, and so many other things.

Just apply to what you want to do, what's the worst case again? Ah, you spent time writing a cover letter.

Btw, keep your cover letter short. People might not read it if it's too long.

Another last tip: apply even if you are almost certain you won't have it. Never say "I'll apply when I get more experience". You know what? By then, you will change, the company will change, and it might not be a good fit anymore. I wanted to apply to a couple of specifics startups in the past that I never applied too because I felt like I was not up to it, in the end, I was wrong and the company changed so much that I don't want to work there anymore at all, but I'm sure that would have been great for years.

Apply. Just apply.

I couldn't agree more.

In school there was a scholarship I was almost eligible for. I needed a 3.5 gpa but only had 3.2 so I didn't apply thinking I was disqualified. A few months later I found out someone with a 2.3 got it because lack of entries.

Then again later I entered a programming competition with a $5 entry fee. Only 2 people entered and we each won $100 and $75. A 3rd place prize of $50 went unclaimed. Anyone who entered and earned 0 correct would have gotten it. As second place dude didn't get any right.

If it's low effort or something you enjoy, always apply. It's almost always worth it. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

It seems that everything in the process, from the "Jobs Page" that goes to a black hole, to the unrealistic job descriptions, to the months-long interview processes, to the opaque and feedback-less selection process, seems to be built for the purpose of not hiring candidates. Which seems odd for an industry that constantly complains about not being able to find talent and is bent on perpetuating the "shortage of engineers" meme.

When you say "low-level", might that mean assembly code? If so, got a resume?

Not assembly. Stuff like embedded systems.

I know a little, but like every college student: I still have a lot to learn. If you would like, I would be happy to email you my resume and talk with you via email. My email is my username @ my username .com.

I worked in embedded development for much of my career. There is a pretty small supply of people who are interested and capable in the field, relative to the jobs available, especially for more junior positions. What Ive seen happen is companies will hire java developers to do C development because they have few other options (it often doesn't work out well). Just apply and you are likely to get people who will talk to you.

I can imaging the kind of spaghetti a Java programmer would make if told to write C with no prior experience. That's how I got my start. I didn't even understand the difference of passing a pointer from the heap and passing a pointer from the stack.

I will be the first person to admit I don't know it all. Will the senior devs be willing to tell me when I mess up and what I can do/read to get better at my job?

I still have a lot to learn. Right now I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the i368 architecture since it is one of the last few processors that, from what I have been told, "a single person can have a working understanding of every part of the architecture and computer."

In any event, I'm basically looking for a summer job or a part time job for next semester, so I think I definitely have given myself enough time to search.

As others have said, just apply.

I know the company I work has boilerplate job descriptions, but if we think the person is a good fit, we never compare their experience and education to the job description, we just hire them. Most interviewers couldn't even tell you what was in the job description.

Also, I have several friends who applied for jobs that appeared way above their current level. We're talking 10 years of experience, when they only have 5 (and you include a lot of experience that isn't directly relevant). They got those jobs.

If you are interested in a job, apply for it. Full stop.

These lists are wish lists and is used to see who can be brought in as applicants. Unless they are very generic, it is very difficult to tick off every item on the wish list.

My rule of thumb is that if you are able to meet about 75% of them, just apply.