Well where to start? I myself am still trying to process it all. After about a year and a few months of learning and 8 months of applying, I finally landed an amazing position as a Front End Developer. Huge shout-out to @QuincyLarson and the dev team for this curriculum. All you really need to know is where to start and which path to take, and I think the freeCodeCamp community provides that.
So a little bit about my background: I have a degree in anthropology, and took a few intro computer science classes. In terms of my progress here, I completed the Front End portion, most of React (didn’t do the dungeon crawler or Game of Life), API Projects, and 2 Full Stack projects. After that, I just started working on even more projects, and fine tuning the old ones. I’ve also been doing some freelance work as well for a start up.
As cliche as this sounds, don’t give up hope! There were times where getting a dev job felt like just a dream (just 2 weeks ago as a matter of fact). Once you reach those first few hurdles in the beginning stages, just picture yourself with that dream job. Keep that goal in your mind whenever you hit that speed-bump. Also, get some sleep, please! I would sometimes stay up past 5am trying to solve a problem, my mind completely vacant. But as soon as I sleep and wake up, suddenly the pieces snap together and I get my “a-ha” moment.
As far as applying for jobs, don’t discount the job boards. However, yes, it took me over 100 applications until I finally started getting some responses, so maybe it might not be for everyone. In addition, try applying out of state/country. I live in New York, and haven’t had a single response from companies here.
Well that’s it for now, but feel free to ask me any questions! Happy coding!
Congratulations on getting your first full time dev job! It sounds like you seriously hustled, working freelance opportunities in the meantime, and aggressively applying to jobs you thought you were a good fit for.
This is sage advice. A lot of people get discouraged, like they’re sending resumes into a black hole. But job boards are a great backup plan you can pursue while working your network and trying to find warm introductions to hiring managers.
Good luck getting geared up for your new job. Let us know what you learn during your first few months. And thanks for being a part of the freeCodeCamp community and inspiring us all!
Thanks for sharing your story here, I’m still somewhere at the start and real life keeps intruding but I take inspiration from cases such as yourself to go ahead, especially when I doubt myself.
Congratulations! Great insights and thanks for sharing. +1000 on getting enough sleep.
As someone who will also be looking in the New York area (one of these days), I’m interested in your experience. If you don’t mind talking some more about it… were you focused on a particular industry? Did you find that employers in NY had unrealistic expectations? Are there just too many coders here as opposed to Boston?
Thanks! I’d say apply anyway, even if the description asks for something like 2 years experience or requires some framework you don’t know yet. I swear by Glassdoor, although I have used AngelList and LinkedIn’s job section with a few engagements. I’ve gotten the majority of engagements through Glassdoor.
Thanks Quincy! I am expecting to learn a lot, and it won’t be a misfire to say that I’m nervous and slightly intimidated, but I’m going in head first!
I get that, there were times where I would come to the forums just to read success stories. I actually found this site because I was rejected from one of the code boot camps, and was determined to find another way. Best decision I ever made. If I had gone ahead with the previous path, I would probably have a job but I would also be thousands of dollars in debt.
At the moment I’m taking my degree in Anthropology/Archaeology while I study code here at FCC and using other resources… and it’s scary to want to change carreers to something so unrelated like that.
I’m still young and some of you would laugh that I’m so scared to do that, but I just can’t help it lol. Everytime I look into the future it feels like I’m wasting my time by going to university, but I don’t want to stop the course because I actually enjoy it (just don’t want to work with it). Most of the time I feel like trapped in a deadlock.
It’s silly, I know. Knowledge is never a waste of time. But it doesn’t change the fact that I need to repeat it to myself in my mind every day hahahahah.
Anyway, it’s always good to see that someone from a unrelated area got a job in the web development world, especially when it’s from your area.
By the way, were the CS classes you took worth it? What did you study? I have the opportunity to do that too, but I don’t know what would be useful to my coding studies.
@OliveRidley To be honest, I wasn’t focused on a particular industry, but rather the job requirements and how it lines up with my direction. For example, I really wanted a job that uses React to some degree so I sought out jobs with “React” as a keyword. And I think a lot of employers in New York (the metropolitan area in particular) want developers with more experience. But it still doesn’t hurt to try!
@lsfgks From what I’ve been reading, a career change to IT is not uncommon at all. And even though I don’t have a CS degree, I think just having a degree in general definitely helped. And the CS classes I took did help! That’s where I got my first exposure to data structures and other CS fundamentals.
Congrats ! That’s great to hear. I like that you spent some time building on your FCC projects and fine tuning them as part of your practice. Sometimes I wonder if I should do that or build new stuff. I always think that making new stuff is the way to go, but I definitely enjoy working on old stuff more!
First of all good job! all your grinding finally paid off.Me myself still haven’t got an entry web dev job and i want to ask you some questions.
What are your current skills? and do you have a portfolio with those api’s and projects i want to see them(if you don’t want to make it public can you send it to me via pm ?
! That’s great to hear. I like that you spent some time building on your FCC projects and fine tuning them as part of your practice. Sometimes I wonder if I should do that or build new stuff. I always think that making new stuff is the way to go, but I definitely enjoy working on old stuff more!