Free certifications in FCC is really helpful to start career in software industry

Career Advice
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Hey everyone, I have started doing all the free certifications that FCC has recommended me while creating an account. So my question is as a fresher is the certifications of FCC is really helpful for entering into the software industry. And try to give me some suggestions on how to use this platform to improve my career as a software developer

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Free certifications don’t help much. What helps is the knowledge and experience that you get while earning them. Sure, mention the certs on your resume/CV, but it isn’t going to get you the job. What will get the job is your portfolio, your connections, and how well you interview. But working on the FCC projects will give you some decent portfolio projects and will lay the groundwork for you to keep building better projects. This industry cares more about what you’ve done and what you know than perhaps any other. That’s a good thing.

As to how to make the most of FCC:

  1. Work through the material. Set goals and try to keep moving forward.
  2. You don’t have to do it in order, but it helps.
  3. Skip nothing.
  4. Don’t be afraid to take little side trips if something is confusing you, but don’t get bogged down.
  5. Don’t expect to learn everything perfectly.
  6. Google is your friend. Real developers spend a lot of time looking things up on Google, Stack Overflow, the docs, etc.
  7. Learn and build things.
  8. Finish the FCC material and keep learning and building things.
  9. Try to connect with other learners. Networking is important and it can be encouraging to hear how others struggle too. After the apocalypse is over, checkout local meetups.
  10. Never stop learning and building things.

That’s my advice. If you do that, build a decent portfolio, build a good resume, and learn how to interview - then it’s just a matter of time.

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Could you talk more about this pls? I didn’t get it

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Meetups, a bunch of developers get together on Tuesday night at 7pm in a local coffee shop. In some meetups, people just hang out and talk, some work on projects together, some do algorithm challenges, etc.

Check meetup.com and FaceBook groups. Obviously with the apocalypse these aren’t happening in person, but some are still happening online.

Meetups are a great way to get advice, just talk, hear what other problems people are having, hear about job interviews, have people check your resume, have people check out your projects, etc.

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Thank you for sharing your advice @kevinSmith it has given me a new perspective. So as you know due to this pandemic we are avoided meeting offline and as you know all the people on this platform are from different parts of the country can you suggest an authentic platform where we can meet online and discuss with developers

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I would start with your local meetups - some of them may be getting together online. You’ll get a change to meet them and hear when they are getting back to in-person meeting. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t like online meetups so a lot of have shut down for now. But because it is online, you can also checkout meetups outside your area. I already mentioned the two places where I’ve had success finding meetups - maybe others have suggestions.

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Hi @gollavedavyas401 !

I started learning how to code 10 months ago, and I have found a lot of luck on twitter.

I created a twitter account to share projects I was working on and articles that I had written. Within a few months I was able to grow my followers and connect with a lot of great developers.

I never really used twitter when I was a musician but it seems to be really popular with developers.

Another way to network would be to join developer discords and chat rooms.
FCC has both.

In addition to networking, if possible, maybe you can do a little bit of freelancing once you have completed a few of the certificates.

Working on real projects, is a great way to practice your skills and give you experience.

I started working part time for this guy’s software company back in December and I have learned a lot in these past few months.

He found me on the forum and decided to reach out because he was looking for a junior to work on some features for his product.

At first it was really intimidating because I had never worked on a real codebase. I was a little overwhelmed by all of that code.

But it gave me an opportunity to learn a lot of new things, and research ALOT.

Google is definitely my best friend. :grinning:

My main advice is to go through the course, build projects and get involved with the developer community.

Hope that helps!

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thank you very much :smiley:

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Right now, I am just working for the same guy part time.
But you never know what opportunities can come up in the future. :grinning:

My advice is to be involved in the developer community.

There are plenty of ways to get out there and get noticed.

There are discord groups, forums, chats, twitter spaces, meetups, other online conferences.

It is all about being visible.

Even though times are weird right now, you can still go out and meet people and grow your network.

Once you start meeting people and connecting with people that is where opportunities can come from. :grinning:

But if no one knows that you exist, then the opportunities aren’t going to come.

Hope that helps!

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