Hello everyone i wanted to ask a what would you do scenario. Im getting really bummed i havent gotten a job in 3 years. I actually got my AAS major software programming degree and graduated with honors. However, nothing has happened. I use my school homework and projects for my portfolio and employers dont want to see this they say. My professor is the one who said show them. The only thing is the projects arent great i think. My community college was kind of a joke im thinking now. Ive been going back and forth trying to learn data science right now and javascript and react but i just feel like im stuck in tutorial hell every month. I cant figure anything hard out on my own. I dont know if this is for me anymore. I keep coming back to it but then I cant figure something out like an easy question on leet code and its just upsetting.
HI @kingdomcre8tive !
I have read through your other posts and here are my thoughts on your situation.
Juniors are hired for basically two things:
- potential to grow and learn
- the ability to learn on the job and pick up things quickly
When a company hires a junior they know that it will take some time before they are able to contribute in a meaningful way. So that is why it tough to land that first job.
Not only is the market saturated but companies have to have that built in structure to train juniors and get them up to speed.
You don’t need to be a coding genius to land a job.
Far from it.
There just has to be enough there for people to want to take a chance on you.
One of the advantages of going to school is to take advantages of the career center and alumni services.
Does your school have anything like that?
Do they have alumni that you can reach out to?
Networking can be a huge help in this situation.
What are your projects?
Can you share your github link or portfolio with the forum?
Why do you think your projects aren’t great?
What can you do to improve them?
Trying to land that first job is tough.
I don’t think it is necessarily that you are not cut out for this.
I think you are burned out on the job process which is completely understandable.
My advice would be the following
- Share your portfolio and resume with the forum to get feedback so we can help you improve it
- Watch Danny Thompson’s Linkedin series on how to get a job. He is a big figure in the community and has helped a lot of self taught developers land a job.
- Watch Leon Noel’s video on how to land a job. I think he has some of the best advice on how to apply for jobs the right way and actual land a job. He has help a lot of self taught devs land a job.
Overall, I think your approach is wrong.
As a self taught, there are other things you have to do in order to get a job.
I wish I could say all you have to do is click apply, but that is the least effective thing you can do in this current market for juniors. Clicking apply might work if you were at the mid or senior levels. But it is really tough at the junior level. Those links I shared earlier will give you good insight in what you can do to land interviews and eventually a job.
Lastly, in another post you asked me about how I was able to land a dev job.
Here is my story.
I started learning how to code in June 2020 using freeCodeCamp.
I completed the first three certifications and starting building projects on my own.
I then did a little bit of contract work as a part time junior developer.
In early 2022, I applied to a company whose meetups I attended regularly and landed my first full time dev job.
For that whole year and half, I kept learning, building and being active in the dev community. My previous career was in music so networking helped me land music gigs so I took that same approach with software. Networking helped me land interviews and then from there, I had to show that I had some sort of skill so companies felt comfortable taking a chance on me.
I want to stress that I am not some programming genius. I am just someone who took things day by day and focused on learning the fundamentals well. I built tons of projects during my learning journey.
I hope all of this helps and I hope that links I shared will help you devise a new approach.
I am likely to be in your situation at some point, but without any official schooling.
I plan to help ppl with their github projects and have a few projects in mind I’m passionate about that I will use as evidence of what I can do.
I’ve been looking at different methods of getting work so I can find one that works for me
right now I’m looking at ‘the canvas strategy’
where you decide what company you want to work for.
Then look for anything you can do to help them or what it is they need.
you then become the person they need or do the thing that could help them and give it to them for free.
UX Design: Most Juniors FAIL At This! - YouTube
it seems like a lot of work for a job, but your dream job is NOT just any job.
.
The only problem, is I dont know enough to know what company I want to work for or what it is I want to do XD
To find out the answer to those two questions, I will be dipping in and out of everything to see what I enjoy most and where I need to further my education…
again githud collaboration seems like the perfect place to start 