What is the best advice that you would give me? (beginner)

Career Advice
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Hello,

I want to begin volunteering/interning for companies as soon as possible but I do not feel my skills are good enough yet. What milestone would be the best to reach before applying for internships etc…

Thanks so much and happy coding!

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I usually recommend going backwards.

  1. Find internships for what you’d like to do.
  2. Look at what the application asks for.
  3. Go out and do what you can to “get closer” to what the application asks for.

I don’t suggest looking to volunteer at companies unless it’s a non-profit, or a volunteer organization. Working for free can be questionable ethically, but it also can be a risk to a company if done incorrectly, or with no oversight. Spending resources to hire someone, even if they work for free, still costs money, so does furnishing anything for that employee, along with any teaching guidance given. There is no such thing as a “free lunch”, even if you really are working for free.

The other possibility is to go to school if that is an option for you. Often-times internships are given out to students who have a few years of schooling under their belt. However, this might not be possible, but it is usually more of the norm than finding individuals outside of higher education and giving them internships.

You’ll have to do all the leg-work yourself if you can’t take this path. Its not impossible, but it is harder.

Finally, there is the whole concept of internships being a requirement. You could apply to internships the same way you would a job, and work just as hard for both. If you’re more job-ready, then you’re sure to be “internship ready”. Just be sure to get paid for what you do, any company looking for free labor is a bad idea for a number of reasons. (besides volunteer organizations)

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You don’t need to volunteer/intern,

If you’re working for free why wouldn’t you just start your own company and build your own application that you own? Even if it goes nowhere at least you’ll have a great portfolio project,

An internship might make sense if you’re under 20 and it’s very short (e.g. a month long) so you can get an idea of industry, but if that’s not the case then don’t bother. Aim for a job that pays, that’s the entire point of working,

As for when you’re ready… what’s your background? What do you know? What have you built?

The first 6 freecodecamp certificates would set you up for what you need to know for a junior developer job, if you want a blunt milestone.

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