Got the Job guys. 😃

You Can Do This!
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Old title: Have my first job interview as a junior front end developer and I realized I don’t know something as simple as creating an images slider.

I was applying for a non coding related position at a local tech company and I got the position. But they wanted to have me on their development team instead looking at my resume, cover letter and Freecodecamp certifications(I have the first two and nearing the end of the third Front end libraries one.). I told them that I am a complete beginner that is haven’t even completed the Front End Libraries section where the main learning is involved when I do the projects. But they insisted and I agreed to have a coding interview. So they said they wanted to have a coding interview in about 1-2 days which they will call and set a time up.

As I was preparing for the interview going through the lessons again like Bootstrap, Jquery, SASS, React etc and also some crash courses on Yotube, a thought came to me what if they ask me how to create a images slider that you commonly see in many websites.

Then it hit me that I don’t know how to do that! Something that sounds as basic as that! Then I went to the YouTube to look for lessons. I thought it was going to be super easy but it wasn’t as easy as I thought especially since I almost have no time to prepare.

Then I realized how much I don’t know. :face_with_thermometer:

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It doesn’t really matter if you do not already know how to code something specific. All that matters is your ability to problem solve and come up with solutions to specific requirements.

It’s not like your just going to be given tasks to solve you already know how to solve. That wouldn’t be much fun in the long run anyway if all you did was to code things you already knew how to code. That would become assembly line work.

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Ok, story time.

I started working at a factory some time ago. Lowest position, stay near the production line and watch things.
After one month I decided I quit. Job was nice and easy, but health was a bit of a problem.

So I went to the HR gave my resignation etc…

After a few days it was my last day, I was just going around the factory getting last bit of paperwork done so I can go in peace.
As I had to get a sign of my manager (a good guy), we started talking.

  • So why are you quitting.
  • My xxx problem.
  • Ah, too bad I didn’t know, I would give you a different tasks.
  • Well, too bad. What’s done is done. But hey, when I was working here I thought - look why are those things set up like that? We could move them etc etc…

I started talking about a few ways that could improve production line.

He looked at me for a while, then said:

  • Hey, come with me, let’s talk to the higer manager.

So I did. And we started talking. I got a pay rise and an office position, and while I was discussing my new job contract with HR lady (a good gal) I started speaking about my doubts. If I am competent enough to do the job they want me to do. She said:

  • You think managers are competent enough? The don’t know a lot of things too.

That was one of the best jobs I had. I was doing different work than I thought I would, and I was learning different skills than I thought I needed.
Also, they were really happy with my work.

The point is : you have no idea how hard it is to find competent working people. Software, factory work or customer-service. If you look like someone that is a competent worker, that will do his job, learn what is needed and communicate about problems in a “how to solve this” way - you are already ahead of the pack.

Imagine you are the employer. You need many types of workers, developers, QA, janitors etc…
Now imagine that there is a guy that is applying for a job as a janitor in your company. You look at his resume, an think
“Why would I hire him as a janitor? He taught himself how code, and with a bit of training he could be a good developer. Ok, let’s talk and see his character.”

You know that he can learn and is disciplined. (self learners are)
You know he can think critically about himself and not hide it.
You know he doesn’t try to sell himsef.

What he lacks is training and experience, which you can provide.

Would you hire that guy?

Small bit of advice about that interview: be honest about how much you know and how much you don’t, but remember to add “…but I will learn it if needed”.

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Thank you so much for your sharing your experience! I will do that! :pray: Feeling much positive after reading your reply.

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You are right.

On the side note, I guess it was just the lack of time that made the images slider hard that is getting overwhelmed seeing functions like set timer and all. I watched the videos that taught it, one two times and seems kind of straightforward. That is create an array of images and loop through it. A few functions that I had never heard before made it seem daunting at first.

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Hope is not too late…
This concern is pretty normal. Do not focus too much on (possible) specific questions. There could be thousand of them. Most of the time they are not that difficult.
Instead be confident about what you have learned about coding during your journey. And also do not misapprehend the interview with a coding exam. If the interviewer is a decent one, you will be asked about all your trajectory, your personality traits, your previous work experience, your specific abilities and weaknesses, and even the form you communicate in the interview. These other parts are important too.
You already have the skills, just prepare how to show and sell them.
Sincerely Best wishes.

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Keep us updated too!

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When we do technical interviews, we often expect that the applicant will not get very far. In fact, we often remind them of this from the beginning and tell them that what we want is to see how they approach the problems. We want to see you work, know what your thought process is, see how confident you are, pay attention to what questions you ask. We expect you to google things and console.log things and ask for clarification. We expect to see you make a mistake and then figure out what your mistake was.

Now, from what you’ve said, it’s possible that you’re not really ready to jump into a professional project. That’s fine. If the technical interview makes you feel lost and miserable, then you’ve learned more about what level of experience you should have before you start applying for jobs again. You’ll have learned something and the worst that can happen is that you have a crappy hour.

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Thank you all for the kind words, encouragement and a realistic perspective.

I just came back from the interview. It was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was over Google meet and it lasted a whopping 40 minutes, didn’t even realize time go by.

I answered most question to the best of my ability except 2-3 questions.

Now they have asked me to build an app on React and submit it by next Tuesday via GitHub, it’s a To Do List app. :slightly_smiling_face: :pray: :heart:

About to continue the 1 hour Git and GitHub course from Freecodecamp from where I left off and then a crash course or to on To Do List, check out design/layout of a couple of To Do list apps and then make my own(this is Going to be my very first React project and also very first project in Git/GitHub so I’m excited). :pray:

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Congratulations for doing well in the Interview. True words of encouragement! You are almost there!
Also glad to hear you enjoyed the interview. Great!
Best wishes and remember, you can do it!

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Im happy.
Young ones grow up so fast… (wipes tear from the eye)
; )

Best of luck on your programming journey.

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hehe :sweat_smile:
Thank you :pray: :pray:
Looks like I might get in after the to do list app if I do it well. But still there’s things like salary negotiations/coming to an agreement. And also getting in is the first step, being able to continue to stay is too like have absolutely no idea what are the things they might be doing on a daily basis/having me do etc. Hopefully it’s doable.

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Thank you. Hopefully it works out. Will try to continue to give Freecodecamp 1 hour everyday even if I get in for the back end parts.

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I think the interviewers knew that I was a total beginner and might have been told so by the other higher management team(who tried to have me on the development team). They didn’t ask very hard questions/in depth and instead just a wide variety to check that I did knew things.

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It’s great that they had appropriate expectations. Good luck!

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What happened since, did you got the job? How was the coding interview?

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The interview was great or at least much better than what I expected it to be. They have given me a take home project that is they have asked me to build a To Do List app by next Tuesday. After that they might give their decision. But I’m feeling pretty positive about it that is might get in.

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Congratulations on a good interview!

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Congrats bud! Did you learn everything you need to develop the app in here, I am soon to complete my Responsive Web Certification and still I feel a bit lost.

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Yes I think I learned enough to get started or at least understand/ follow along the YouTube tutorials and all as this is my first project I’m building in React using slightly newer feature called Hooks but I understood this new thing I wanted to learn with a 15 minute YouTube video. I could have built this app even without this new thing but I wanted to try it as a lot of people used it. (I’m speaking in simplest terms not to confuse you, you’ll get there in the third certification)

I got my Responsive Web Design certification an year ago August 11 2020 to be precise. I learned the most when I did the projects section like I think more than 60% of what I knew.

If you have any specific questions or any particular areas that you are having difficulty with like the hows of learning and all then please let me/us know in here I will try my best to answer/give you pointers in the right direction. Posting here in the forum has helped me a lot when I was struggling to learn(just look at my post history few months ago I went crazy in the beginning not understanding React or things like Recursion abd all during my second certification but people here pointed me in the right direction. Now I even regularly help people in understanding many things or overcoming learning difficulties learning coding or specific concepts)

One of the best things I love about learning coding online is i don’t have to memorise anything and can just look things up in Google or even in freecodecamp. Most of the for me I just have to copy and paste just knowing it in the back of my mind that there’s a way to do this with code out there or combination of codes out there. During responsive Web design certification that is what I struggled with initially thinking I had to memorise code but I didn’t have to and instead could just look it up that is things like how to create a form, how to create a button, grid layout etc

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