I’m pleased to say that I’ve finally gotten a job as a full stack react developer. It’s been a real struggle for the last 2 and a half years, doing this stuff part time and basically fighting the constant self doubt, but here I am I can finally get out of my career as a musician, and have health care, and pay off my student loans, and all that stuff. I can’t express how utterly relieved i feel, and simultaneously, so excited to get to experience a brand new career.
For those still on the journey and curious how I did it:
I was entirely self taught using Free Code Camps full stack curriculum, Lynda.com through my local library (for free), and Chingu.io.
FWIW: In my interview, in the not “1 hour of tech oral exam” part, they were most interested in my work related experience in regards to being in a team. They wanted to know what experiences ive had working with and fixing other peoples bugs, working in sprints, and lastly if i’ve ever worked with legacy code. I really think my experience in chingu was huge help in giving me something to talk about in this regard.
And just to be clear, the only reason I got this interview was because I had met someone from a similar background who was willing to push hard for me to get the interview at his company. I’ve applied to quite a few places to no responses, until this. So with that in mind, I highly recommend networking through meetups and hackathons as a more viable strategy to getting a job than anything else i’ve tried. Keep in mind how many people are graduating meetups now a days. How on earth can we FCC’ers stand out above them without having someone on the inside vouching for us?
As a full stack react developer, are you going to be working on the front-end or back-end? As React is a front-end JS library.
If you did not make a portfolio website how did you proof and show them that you were capable of doing the work? As you mention you worked part-time, I guess you had some previous experiences that helped you, did you work as a freelancer?
I showed them my code in my resume. Its pretty common to have an area on your resume that includes code samples. I assume this is where a portfolio would go, but since i didnt have one i simply linked my githubs / live examples and put a description of the tech used and goal of the project.
No, no freelancing. I was describing how hard i was working on code, part time. I wasn’t working on code full time. I had a full time job teaching music. So I probably worked on code anywhere from 2-4 hours a day A trick i learned as a musician: “you can’t cram this stuff!!!” – therefore Its better to work consistently slow, than hardly at all but fast. Retention is better, sanity is better. All is better.
And no, i never got any real experience prior to this job. The main thing on my resume/code examples that was ‘work’ was my chingu.io stuff. I would highly recommend doing that. It gives you something to talk about, like i said initially.
The real point i’m trying to make here was the value of the connection, and the value of having someone internally lobby on your behalf. I gave them my resume in january, and hadnt heard anything until april. So make friends. Get people to like you. It will get you in the door. Find out what arcade bars the local devs hangout at, and play tekken with them or something. Need a [wo]man on the inside!
No idea. I would apply to about 1-3 jobs per day, depending on how bummed out I was or not. I never mass spammed my resume, though. Always tried to cater my cover letters to the job, which makes it kind of a time commitment.
p.s. i tried a huge run of internship applications in the fall/early winter. And it was an ABSOLUTE WASTE OF TIME. dont even bother. just apply to real jobs.
I can finally get out of my career as a musician, and have health care, and pay off my student loans, and all that stuff. I can’t express how utterly relieved i feel, and simultaneously, so excited to get to experience a brand new career.