How to Build Confidence for Hiring Managers?

I started FCC in April of 2017, I later went through a full stack program in 2018, and now…I am still searching for a developer job. I am now going through all of FCC curriculum again to stay fresh and because there are a lot of new lessons that I really want to explore. I am constantly learning new skills (FCC, building projects, reading on Medium.com, watching tutorials, etc etc etc). My question to all of you is if one has a lot or most of the skills listed in job postings, where am I failing?

I have applied to over 200 job postings. Some online that are cold applying, some through recruiters, some are even through an employee that works at the company that has recommended me, and some are just trying to connect with relevant people on LinkedIn. Even still, most of the time all I hear are crickets. And, yes, I follow up on jobs that I apply to. Especially, ones where I feel I have my pinky toe in the door.

At this point, I feel as if perhaps I am being too soft and not aggressive enough. Or, perhaps I am not showing the confidence that one needs to get a developer job. Any suggestions on a) How to build confidence for someone with a severe case of imposter syndrome and b) How aggressive should I be in my job search? How aggressive is too aggressive?

Thanks so much!

Confidence can only built when you interact continously with unknown person. When you interact with unknown personality you get that skill of handling situations and getting out of your comfort zone. When you get out of your comfort zone you gain confidence.

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So true Robert_Leo! Great advice!

Do you have a portfolio? GitHub? LinkedIn?

What’s your online presence look like? How about your resume and cover letters?

If you haven’t worked on any of these yet, I would recommend doing that ASAP. If you have, then maybe you could show us so we could give advice.

I will be looking for a job this summer. I have been working on everything mentioned above as well as a few additional technologies and adding projects to my portfolio. If you’ve done all this, then I’m worried for myself this summer :cold_sweat:

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Hey ethanvernon, yes everything you have mentioned above I have done. I have a well designed resume and coverletter header, also a portfolio that I just recently redesigned: www.davefrancese.com if anyone would like to have a look and give some feedback, that would be awesome. Also I’m on linkedIn all the time updating whenever I add new projects. Thanks for commenting!

Hello, I’m likewise searching for a position after learning via FCC. How many responses would you say you’ve received? Any in-person interviews or phone interviews?

If it helps you to gauge how regular or irregular your responses are, I’ll volunteer my numbers: I’m in San Diego and I’ve applied to maybe 35 places and have heard back or received an interview from around 5 places. No offers yet–I haven’t been able to sell myself due to lack of confidence as well.

As far as confidence for Hiring Managers, this is helping me: I started rehearsing how I’d answer a googled-list of “most asked job interview questions”. I also keep a list of topics that I should know and TRY to look at it when I’m walking around at a park or something just in case the topic is asked–this helps to reduce my shared-with-you imposter syndrome.

Hope any of that is helpful and good luck!