I’d like to share some advice I have repeatedly seen while being on tech Twitter for 3+ years and as a “junior” computer science postgraduate
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
The idea is simply to learn in public
There are so many ways we can fail in our journey of getting a job as a software developer :
- not knowing how to learn
- incomplete technical skills
- bad portfolio design and projects
- not knowing about GitHub, sharing code, collaborating
- difficulty communicating (written or spoken)
One part of the solution is this :
-
asking for help in the forum : making it a point to self identify and express the main problem you have as much as possible
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having well made public social media profiles (LinkedIn, GitHub
) -
sharing your project code on GitHub
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creating posts on LinkedIn or writing articles in developer focused platforms
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Being kind, helpful and friendly is extremely important throughout your career
There is ALWAYS something we don’t know about or something we have not done or learned
As far as I know now in 2024 when the situation is so bad especially for people who have less than 2 years of work experience (me included) here are the most valuable things to focus on:
1] Connections created with people who can help you get a job
.
.
.
1001] GitHub profile + projects
1002] LinkedIn
1003] Portfolio website
As you can see, [for an average developer] connections are the ONLY best way to get a job in these tough times.
The following will also help much :
- asking your friends and family to help in your job search
- seeking jobs in your local area
- getting a formal degree (undergraduate or postgraduate) and using the connections there to get a job
To make projects that actually are valued by a person who will hire you we need to focus on this:
- Freelancing work
- Open Source contributions
- Talking, connecting, writing on various platforms
Its a good idea to do these when your basic technical skills are set (HTML, CSS, JavaScript and some projects which again are shared in public as you learn)
I am not sure of the best resource for freelancing so all I do is use the freeCodeCamp search for freelancing and skim through as many articles as I can when possible
For Open source, I feel the best course to get started is from my friend (and GitHub star of the decade) Eddie Jaoude’s free udemy course on Git and Github. He’s a wonderful person who knows his stuff.
Whatever it is you do, learn in public, help others, be kind to yourself and others.
The whole process is tough but through helping each other we can get there.
