What am I missing to fix? :\

Career Advice
1

Hi FreeCodeCampers,

I have been working on projects and felt a lot better than when I first started 2 years ago. I was able to gain interviews before the pandemic. Now, I modified my Resume and Portfolio to make it more shinny but not able to gain even 1 interview. I have been putting my portfolio link in my job application and recruiters been visiting it but was not able to pay their attention to contact me for an interview. I feel like dropping jewelries on the table but no one is get excited about it neither the resume. Specially, my portfolio is well built with both Front-End and Back-End. I have used ton of different technologies including React, Node, Bootstrap, P5.js(library used with React Component), ipData, VanillaJS, RESTful API, Adobe PS, Firebase, and MongoDB. I have been applying to only Junior web jobs. The projects that I did is not even considered as beginner level projects. When I did interviews before, the recruiter told me over the phone that I will be under training for 3 weeks. Why companies are so serious about the experience if every single new hire will get trained under that junior web job? And what am I missing here to fix?

I would say 90 percent of companies who listing Junior web jobs, they expect you to have at least 2-3 years of experience. The question is, why do we have mid senior level if junior level have to have experience too?

My Portfolio: https://www.andrewalkazeer.ml

Here are some motivational quotes for FreeCodeCamp students and current programmers who have a job:

“Choose to Win Everyday”

“If you believe in yourself, it’s amazing what you can accomplish!”

Thanks in advance :smiley:

1 Like
2

Judging by the posts on reddit, junior dev market in US is brutal right now (or maybe just selection bias :man_shrugging:).

I’d say don’t limit yourself to junior roles. Just read the job description and if your reaction is “well, I could do that” apply, regardless of years of experience required. Don’t disqualify yourself, let them do it.

And by training they probably mean onboarding. And they probably require some work experience to be sure that you’re able to hold down a job (you don’t lack so called “mummy skills”). But these are just my guesses.

1 Like
3

Hey @AndrewAlkazeer!

Getting that first job takes a while, So patience is key. I would read through previous stories from users and their experiences during the job search.

Here are my thoughts.

  • I think the overall design looks nice and clean.

  • I personally think the animation is a little bit much for my taste. The floating icons are a little distracting after a while and I am not really sure what the spinning world is doing there. It doesn’t really add to the site.

    floating icons
    floating icons2328Ă—1114 569 KB

  • You might want to consider re ordering some of your projects. Right now you list 5 html and css projects in a row and then have two full stack projects. I would introduce the full stack projects a little bit earlier especially since you list the admin dashboard second on your resume but then it is buried further down on the portfolio.

  • For the admin dashboard, I would love to be able to use it but you haven’t given me that option. It just says to login but I don’t have an account. People are not able to see your work because there is not sign up page or fake credentials we can use to login.

  • I was able to test out your login page but there is not option for me to logout. I would definitely fix that. Also there is an issue with some overlay of the users on the post button.
    overlap

Hope that helps!

Good luck!

1 Like
4

Here are my 2 cents, from the point of view of a manager:

Many companies, big and small, halted all hiring activities over the summer months. Based on the number of recruiters reaching out to me over the last few months, things are starting to pick up again.

Generally a company will hire management and senior developers first. The reason is simple - if a junior dev shows up on a team first it will be much harder for them to get started building something from scratch (or modifying an existing complicated system).

I recently accepted a new position and over the next few months I’ll be growing the team. The reality is I will definitely start by hiring more senior folks before I can comfortable hire junior devs.

In short, don’t feel bad if you’re seeing slim picking for junior developers right now. My opinion is that it is already starting to change. Be persistent!

As to some of your questions:

Why companies are so serious about the experience if every single new hire will get trained under that junior web job? And what am I missing here to fix?

Most companies have some sort of training for new hires, regardless of experience level. Especially at medium to large companies, there are inevitable “in-house” ways of doing things that you wouldn’t learn anywhere else except in that company.

That said, experience is a positive then when you’re being hired. It’s a reality you have to face. Think about it. If two candidates are identical except that one has had a previous job - which would you hire?

But again… don’t give up. Everyone starts somewhere. But yes, it’ll be hard, especially right now. I can guarantee you will not get a job if you give up, but your odds over time as you keep trying and improve your ability to represent yourself well during interviews.

why do we have mid senior level if junior level have to have experience too?

Even just 1-3 years on the job will make a huge difference in your ability to build software in a team setting.

1 year of experience is much different than 10 years.
I learned much more in my first year Amazon than in my 3 years coding for fun.

It’s not just about ability to churn out code. In addition to coding, a senior developer is also expected to:

  • Mentor junior developers
  • Help break up large software projects into manageable chunks
  • Design and architect the large projects in the first place
  • Help build timelines
  • Operate beyond the boundaries of their immediate team to make positive changes in their organization
  • … and a lot of other things.

A junior dev won’t be expected to do these things. “Experience” is relative.

3 Likes
5

This is awesome advice! I just started and this is really insightful.

Thanks for sharing!

6

Those are good points. Thank You :slight_smile:

7

You are right! I’ll reduce those animations in the site. The problem is, I am using Async and Promise functions inside for loop to delay images drop and when you jump to another tab or minimize your browser the for loop is still triggering slowly but keeping images in the same place until reopening the site again and keeping the CPU fully engaged until finish the looping process, this is a new problem I am facing right now.

Yes, I need to work on re ordering my projects. Correct, I need to put the username and password in the website itself so people can use those credentials to login which is username is “a”, and password is “a”. I will add logout button and fix the overlay. Those are great points. Thanks a lot Jessica :slight_smile:.

1 Like
8

I do agree with your point about these projects not being beginner level. Your hard work definitely shows in your portfolio. It’s just times are weird right now for everyone but hopefully things will get back to normal (ish) soon.

1 Like
9

Those are absolutely great points! Thanks a lot for those info. You just boosted me up and gave me a good motivation today :smiley:

10

First thing I noticed on mobile is your name is covered with the floating AA icon and one of the first words is misspelled “freelnace”.

Your projects look great!

1 Like
11

Portfolio page:

  • I suggest you don’t auto play music.

  • Get rid of the falling icons.

  • Make the mobile nav close when you click a link.

  • Personally, the project grid not being symmetrical looks a bit more like a mistake than a design choice. I think it’s just because the elements do not stand out enough from the background. I’d try adding a box-shadow to the elements (padding on .project, box-shadow on .project-img-cont).

Some code critique:

  • Format your code correctly. Install Prettier, use it. Re-commit all code after having formatted it.

  • Don’t use var in your code and definitely don’t mix const and var for no apparent reason. If you need to reassign values use let, not var.

  • Conform to conventions. React components should start with an uppercase letter and even if you only have one component (besides the main) put it in a folder anyway, like a components folder, or if/when appropriate, view, pages, layout, and so on.

  • Either refactor one of your old React projects or when making a new React project use function components and Hooks just to show you are learning about the latest React.

As for the projects you already got some good feedback.

Good luck and keep it up!

12

Probably because you are using mobile with very small screen. Thank you for the feedback :+1:

13

Auto play music doesn’t work on Chrome anyway due to the latest Google Policy :smiley:

I just saw another great points! thanks a lot! :+1: