Hi everyone
I am very excited and happy this week, I just got a job offer from a big IT company a couple days ago, the company is good as well as the pay. This is my first job since 6 years ago . It means a lot to me and my family. I quit my job(my last job have nothing related to the IT industry ) and decided to be a independent video game developer 6 years ago, that is where I start learning programming. I stick to that path for three years, I didn’t get much money, even a job during that times, then my daughter was born, I realized that I need to switch to another area to get a job to support my family. it is hard, I have to take care my girl, since i am the one who is jobless in family, and i have a part time job, after that I can take rest time to learn building website. I was like having one or two hour per day. I learnt things from FCC, Udemy, youtube channels, from the html to ReactJS.
Ok, I know many self-learners may doubt, at least myself used to have, can i really get a job in this industry without having a CS degree, just through self-taught? Do this whole thing is like a fraud, all those guys want is selling course to me? will the industry accept new comers like us? now I got the answer, it is real, you can get a job in this industry through self-learning, even I don’t have a CS or software engineer degree. All you need is persistence! Keep learning and practicing!
I learnt coding from FCC , udemy, youtube channels, I created demo projects, github repositories, portfolio website. I wrote a CV and put it to Linkedin, monster, indeed, stackoverflow. I sent job applications. and prepared well to my interviews. then I got my job offer.
due to my interview experience, you can not only rely on knowing html, css and vanila javascript to land a job. you need to learn a framework, react, vue or angular, they all in demand. by the way, next.js is good if you are react stack, I had a interview from a big international bank, they kind of satisfy with me, except that I have no experience in next.js and SSR, so I didn’t get that job. and you will have to learn backend and database, I am learning Node.js and MongoDB, and already built a demo project based on them, that 's part of reason I got my job offer, and gonna to be software engineer. about the algorithm test, it really depends on companies, some companies require a algorithm test, some not, but coding test is a must, anyway. so do prepare for it. and, except for the tech things, another important thing is preparing the general interview questions, such as “why you want to work for us?” “what is your strength and weakness?” “do you think you a good team player?” etc. make sure you prepare them as well, because the hiring manager will ask. I got 20% salary raise because I did well at this part. and github repositories and your personal portfolio website are really important as well. do demo projects, don’t just taking courses. You can really learn something by doing projects.
the job demand is really huge in this industry , i keep receiving 5 to 10 calls from recruiters or HR every month. so don’t get discourage or doubt, believe in yourself. you will get a job as long as you keep learning and practicing. I really want to think FCC community, youtubers who sharing their knowledges and experiences, I can not make it without their help. if a 37 years old man, me, can do it, you can as well. trust yourself.
