Man… I don’t know where to begin…
I finally got a job as a front end developer!
it’s a contractor position with a possibility of full-time position after the contract is over but I am really happy and excited!!
I give big thanks to FCC for helping me starting my web development career!!!
I have seen so many people feeling discouraged and giving up because they can’t land their first job.
Well, I went through the same stage so thought maybe I can give some of my thoughts and tips (I know others have already written plenty of fantastic advice so I am just going to make it short).
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I have applied to a total of 542 companies in 6 different states. So those of you who are crying “I applied to 48 companies but I can’t land my first job” which is what I initially did, suck it up and apply more. Keep applying until there is no company left. Out of those 542 companies, I got 13 introduction interviews
6 technical interviews 1 offer. 100+ rejections and the rest? GHOSTED. Some say that you are lucky enough to get rejected because many companies you applied to don’t even know you exist. I don’t know if it’s because of ATS stuff but whatever. -
I used google spreadsheet to keep track of what companies I applied, rejected, interviewed.
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I’m not saying that my portfolio looks the best or even I wrote a killer resume, but many of the portfolios and resumes I see from non-experienced junior developers, I just don’t think you will be able to even get an introduction interview. Go get inspired from some designs layouts from websites like Behance or dribbble, try to make your portfolio look nice. Most of the portfolios I see are crap - pictures are humongous, fonts are ugly, bad color contrast, uneven paddings, too many things to click. Yes, we all know that you are not applying as a designer but still, MAKE IT LOOK CATCHY BUT CLEAN. Also, make your resume clean and readable. No crazy colors, make it simple but neat. I’m not an expert at writing resume, so what to write on your resume is what you need to find out. I spent days trying to write one paragraph.
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Get real life experience. Contribute to an open source projects, or help out your friends/family/neighbors by making whatever it is that’s related to what you are doing. From what I have experienced, it is HARD AS F to land your first job if you have no real life experience. This goes for no CS grads or even CS grads without internship experience. This is why a lot of developers tell you “contribute to an open source!!!”
Lastly, stop sitting around and expect someone to open your mouth and feed you like a little bird chirping, begging for food. Use Google, Stackoverflow, FCC forums or even go to your local meetups and learn how to hunt for food.
I apologize for my harsh criticism, but I felt like this is what people really need to know.
Thank you for reading! and good luck on your job search!