Hi folks,
I’m begging you for sharing your advice and experience that you have gained over the years. I am unemplyed at the moment, and I have been looking for a job for about two months. I am a completely self-taught fellow, who loves both coding and studying English, and since I am really into computers, I have applied for a few jobs in the IT field.
I’ve been offered a job as a front-end developer / a bit of a tester. I won’t be in charge of anything too important I think. I mean making small changes to websites, some PS editing, creating simple layouts, and so on. The manager of the company will probably want me to start working for him from September.
Since it took him quite a long time to respond to my e-mail. I had sent a few CVs to other companies. One company has seemed to be interested in me too, and I have gone through their second round of an interview. This morning, I finished a project they had asked me to do, and I sent it to them.
Now, let’s discuss the difficult part. I don’t know how long it’ll take them to give me an answer. They mentioned something about a week or two – but, you never know these days, people promise a lot of things.
First company
advantages:
- they offer a decent amount of money (not really important to me at the moment, but definitely a plus)
- the manager seems to be a cool guy
- he likes my attitude toward work
disadvantages:
- my graphics skills are pretty bad, I am not an artist person. I’ve always liked using logical thinking.
- I would learn stuff such as using PS for building websites, front-end stuff, and anything related to front-end
Second company
advantages:
- they focus more on back-end, they use C#, which is in high demand here. If you look for a job, there are like 80% job offers for C# coders.
- they would teach me to code from scratch (I have never worked as a coder)
- I think this kind of job would suit me better as I enjoy back-end things, and C# belongs to the family of C-based languages
disadvantages:
- I am a Linux user, and I don’t really like WIndows apps, but when using dualbot - it might be bearable + C# is similar to Java, which is cross platform, and I do like Java.
- I don’t know whether they’ll accept me
- lower salary (not important at the moment)
Hi, congratulations.
That’s tough. On both jobs you will be learning something new, something valuable.
Since you seem to like the coding aspect of things, I would be inclined to focus on the second job. But I would lean towards the second job. But I’m a little suspicious about them being willing to teach you C# from scratch. But then again, if you know Java, then it isn’t that different.
I would be inclined to aim for the second one, especially because of your inclination for coding. But if you get “stuck” with the first one, it’s still a great opportunity. Anything that gets you paid to code, builds experience, and teaches you new skills is a great thing.
I’d pursue both positions. Don’t feel bad about it. They are pursuing more than one applicant. No reasonable employer would expect you not to be doing the same. Just be honest and forthcoming. Once you accept a job offer, things change, but until then, you should feel free to seek other opportunities. You are under no obligation to make a commitment to them if they aren’t willing to do the same.
Congrats again. I wish I had your problem. 
Wow, Congratulations! I’ll parrot what @ksjazzguitar said, pursue both. It is totally okay to say no to a company after your interview, the point of an interview is to see if both parties fit together. If the salary is much different ( like more than a couple thousand) maybe go with the front end job, but if not, try for the back-end if they give you the offer. C# is a fun language and if they develop on .NET core, which I kinda doubt, you can develop on Linux. If you like Java, you’ll feel at home on C# and it is now cross platform so you can toy with it on Linux regardless of if they are doing so. If you don’t like front-end, don’t shoot yourself in the foot and make yourself hate work because you chose it.
Don’t turn down either just yet, just play it by ear till you know if you can get the backend one.
Thank you guys for taking the time and writing down your thoughts.
@ksjazzguitar
I am not sure what they expect me to know because when I responded to their job offer, they were looking for someone with the knowledge of JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. When I went to the first interview, I briefly got asked about C#, and during the second round I was asked to do a project in C#( 
I even told them a few times I had never done any C# coding , but they seeemed to be willing to accept someone even without the knowlede of C#. I am quite in a good position right now because the rate of unemployement is pretty low, and for some companies it is worth accepting someone with little knowledge though there is a risk involved - the person may not stay there for a long time, and they need to put a lot of time and effort into him or her.
@iam13islucky
Saying no to a company isn’t such a big deal – they do the same to their candidates, and we also have the right to make our decisions. What bothers me is the ticking time. There are a very few companies that actually immediately tell you “You’ve been accepted!”, it’s always a matter of time, and some companies don’t even bother letting you know you haven’t been accepted. I’ll have to quietly wait now and hope they’ll let me know sooner than I accept the first job.
Hi, great advice above about pursuing both jobs. Regarding waiting for the second offer I would propose this. You did not mention by when you have to accept company one’s offer, but when that time arrives and you still havent heard from company two, I would give them a call and tell them you have a offer and then they will have to decide if they want to offer you the position. If they don’t then you can just go to company one. At least this way they will know they have a deadline to decide and also know you are in demand( and if you are that way inclined you may be able to negotiate a higher salary from company two using company one’s offer as a barganing chip 
).
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