While, I agree that it may be difficult to obtain remote work, and that perhaps an Ideal Employee may be one who is flexible enough to accept the In-person Daily Grind, Some people are much more Suited to remote, or mostly-remote jobs.
Jim is Probably right about the difficulties, but that shouldn’t be a reason to discount it Entirely…
A knew a man once, in a small rural Washington town, who had Started his Tech Career as a failed Vintage Record store owner, and guitar enthusiast, who had liked to code.
When his Record store collapsed, he doubled down on getting a job in tech.
Somehow he procured a job that was based in London, but it was Remote, and paid about
100,000 GBP which at the Time, was about 168,000 US.
He Lived abroad with his Polish wife, traveling around… and Bought rental properties in the tiny college town he lived in, and set himself up very well for the future.
It’s reasonable to think, though it may be much more difficult, That having a Remote job could prove even more effective than simply avoiding the daily grind of Traffic and Public spaces…
Even If Someone had to accept a traditional job to get IN THE DOOR, as a junior… It could still be a reasonable goal to attempt to move into a remote position eventually.
For A person who procures a Remote Job in London, it could allow them to live abroad, in less Expensive Regions, and Allow them the save for and plan for the future.
I think the point is pretty obvious. If you limit it to remote jobs only you will have fewer jobs to pick from.
I’m not suggesting you have to change your mindset but from a pure numbers perspective, the number of jobs available, if you are willing to do both, would be greater.
Also, Maybe Invest Some time and research into tips specifically for Introverted People.
I am not introverted… I have no preference with regard to the topic. But I live with Introverts, And I know how much of a struggle they have when dealing with the Extroverted aspects of society.
If there isn’t one already, I think there should be an Article Compilation on freeCodeCamp for how to succeed as an introverted person, Since it seems to be a common issue for programmers.
There is only one article that comes up on FCC, but there are a few more that come up on a Google site: Search.
Sure, anybody can say that but very few people will demonstrate that through their projects and involvement within the tech community.
If a junior displays more initiative by building out projects with substance and time invested and they take the initiative to be involved within the community like contributing to open sources projects, then they can communicate the message that they are willing to learn and are up for the challenge.
I know a lot of developers that are involved with the hiring process for juniors and most of them can spot a class project or youtube tutorial from a mile away.
This just happened with the company I work for where candidates were not selected for interviews because they just copied tutorials from youtube and it was super obvious.
There are definitely those that slip through the cracks and BS their way into the job.
But I do think that companies are starting to become wiser to copy pasted projects and turning down those applicants.
Yeah I can definitely sympathize with you! It’s a lot to juggle for sure. Once you get that first dev job though, it gets so much easier from there on. Especially if your first job is at a half-decent workplace
While I was reading his book I noticed that he sometimes mentioned to be an introvert, but when I was looking to his website and how he express himself in the book, he doesn´t seem to be an introvert person (maybe because he’s writing instead of talking to someone).
I mentioned this guy because I think his material is valuable for persons like us, and I plan to follow his recommendations for making a porfolio, in that way I think I can learn some stuff and preventing me from making unnecesary mistakes during my learning process. I’m learning R and VBA, and I came to a point where I feel really stuck, so having some guidance it’s very helpful.
I guess it makes to connect to a founder of a company… What do yo say when you do that? You greet them? Tell them why you want to connect them? And you do this will all the companies that have the job you’re interested in?
I like all your replies so far, they are of great value to me.
For one thing, and now I know from personal experience, is that those projects solely won’t get you hired, on the opposite of their promise (paid or unpaid free yt course) that it will.
There is one missing piece in those tutorials: Pause, and let the student try and do the task, then show a solution and how to do it.
But for those that you mentioned can slip through the interview process into a job, were you referring for the people who used these projects only or people who did use it but learned a lot more or tried to build something similar and used these videos as reference/guidance?
About the interview process sadly I’ve seen a lot of courses about the process itself. Maybe at a small startup I will be asked more technical questions. But for working at a big corporation or a FAANG company there’s one and one way only to get hired: DSA, Learn the answers formula + create your own answers about the Behavioural part. And that’s how they earn 400K.
A HR for google said how he hired CS grads, I’m thinking they certainly didn’t have many projects built and a lot of codes written?
Now, I posted a thread about how confused I was by the google result of: top interview questions X-my stack.
It was more due to frustration that I didn’t knew these answers “for the potential interview”, but in the courses I’ve taken and mostly where my projects come from, I’ve encountered a broken NPM packages a lot - I had to use the updated version differently or find a new library, I had implemented a new feature on the website or modified the one I don’t like, sometimes instructors using Apple laptops use apps that don’t exist on windows, so I had to use the terminal and code by my own research.
Most of those stuff required me to break the code, understand the code, and accomplish my goal. Its as if I was thrown in a real-world project (50’s+ of files)
Do you feel like that is a good response if someone spots “my project” to be of a similar kind of what they’ve seen on a course?
I mean obviously im at a point that I barely understand the code = I cant “teach” it to others, but in very resourceful I should say in a way that I find solutions and learn it on the way.
Obviously they would go into technical questions, and I will stumble over my own words.
For me to have a deep understanding of their stack, I need experience, and to get experience I need their job, for which I dont have the experience.
Its kind of like the Catch-22 for me really.
How much projects and experience of breaking and rebuilding a code until success is enough?
What if I do projects for 10 years while working at Apple as a cleaner (joke included) and now I have thorough experience of what a 60K remote job is requiring me to do, but I can work at FAANG for 500K.
I mean I can send you my portfolio site and to hear your opinion on it, but I already planned for a potential interview to be brutally honest about it: “as someone without programming experience I decided to build upon the ideas of the teacher (as I didn’t have any idea just starting out), I broke the code so many times only to understand it and modify it my way or to add a new feature that popped in my head (some features took me days or a week-2 to implement)”
Will they still be scared that the project wasn’t my idea (I mean I have 9 - 3 big, 3 medium, 3 small) ?
I am talking about those who copy the code from videos and don’t change anything.
Then they are able to get an interview but it becomes super obvious they didn’t write the code themselves or know what they are doing.
A lot of CS grads will do internships and will have some projects they built in class. Even though CS is very theory heavy, they will have other opportunities to gain experience writing code. It is up to the CS student to take those opportunities and run with it.
If you can confidently talk about your project and why you made certain decisions on features, design or architecture, then you will be ok.
They can ask you questions like
Why did you choose this tech stack?
What are some of the key features of the site?
Are there plans for future updates?
etc.
At the end of the day, it is about the entire package.
Not just the projects.
The fact of the matter is, the hiring process is expensive and tedious for the employer.
So they put these requirements in place in hopes of getting stronger applicants.
That is where the 2-3 years of experience and CS degree required comes in.
Employers just want to ensure that the strongest applicants apply and they don’t waste time hiring someone that won’t cut it on the job.
Your job as an applicant is to de risk yourself as much as possible.
Here are some ways you can stand out and strengthen your chances of getting a job
building strong unique projects that take time, effort and care to build
building a strong network and being involved with the tech community through social media channels and meetups
being involved with open source projects
having a strong linkedin profile
Do you have to have all of those things to get a job?
No.
Does every little bit help though?
Yes.
The more you can stand out from the sea of junior developers all applying for the same job the better.
The more you can go the extra mile that others won’t, the better.
The more you can send the message to potential employers that you are a good long term investment and are willing and ready for the challenge, the better.
I have this same issue and I’m also an introvert. I’m a computer science college dropout. I have been into metal works engineering even before I got into college and continued after I dropped out of college in my second year. I recently decided to go into tech and I have just completed the responsive web design certificate here om FCC. The problem here is I don’t know the next step to take to get a job. And being in Nigeria makes it more difficult because of lack of job here. Please I need advice on what to do next. Is it possible to get a job with just this FCC certificate? If yes, how? If no, what do I need to learn more and where can I do that?
Note; I need job urgently
thanks for starting this topic