Hello! I’m still quite new, been learning programming for less than a year. It’d help me lots if I could talk to you about the fastest way for me to get an internship/job.
Thank you,
Shan 
Yes, Thanks Jeff!
I’ve been thinking of technical writing as opposed to going the developer route, I have some skill in the former. Problem is, I don’t know what is important.
Could you point me in the right direction?
Thanks again Jeff!
hey i need some mentoring i have around 1 year of experience of web development on ASP.Net and js libraries but i dont how to set professional goals and what should be my way forward or even if i should remain in this field or switch to some more advance field like blockchain.thanks
Would you be my mentor?
I am looking into a career in web development. I started with HTML/CSS , working on the responsive web design projects. what else should I learn next?
And any other advice would be welcome.
Hello,
If you have any time spare, I’d love to talk about mentoring as I’m fairly new to the world of coding and need all the help I can get 
I think I’ve replied to everyone that asked even a semi-specific question on here.
If I missed you, just message me directly, it wasn’t on purpose.
Hello! I would love to connect with you to see if you can help me with obtaining employment. I’ve submitted over 60 applications and had 2 interviews which went south. If you’re still offering to mentor somebody, here I am.
I’ve asked this question once before but nobody replied, I know you should tailor your resume to fit the job you are applying for (mainly asked for a front dev position), but are there any universal projects you should have on there regardless of what kind of frameworks they are looking for
At the end of the day, your objective is to convince a potential employer that you can do a job. A resume is a sales pitch on paper. If it supports promoting you as a competent person, add it. If it doesn’t, remove it.
Flip this around. Pretend you’re hiring someone.
What do you want to see on their resume?
If someone tells you they’re an expert in every framework (and let’s say you believe them), do you care? What if someone else has a resume where they’ve just built a variety of difficult projects, including one in a framework you happen to use at your company? Better yet, another person has built a number of projects in a similar space that you company competes in, but doesn’t mention a framework. Of these three, who are you interested in hiring?
As a manager, I’m interested in the 2nd and 3rd.
but are there any universal projects you should have on there
Sort of? In a sense that’s what a college degree is supposed to be. It’s the “baseline” that says “this person is - probably - ok”. If you don’t have that, how else do you give someone a good feeling about maybe paying you $100k?
So you need something on there that says “look, I know my stuff, this project here covers all the basics of software engineering, if you hire me I won’t be stuck on the basics”. But in addition you need to tailor it with more specific experience/projects as well.
Not just tools, but actual experience. Do you care if the chef at your favorite restaurant is an expert with his knife? Or do you care that the meal comes out awesome?
Now… some bigger companies use robots to scan for keywords in resumes. So shove in a few. BUT… not at the expense of the actual projects you’ve done.
I suggest something like this:
- Built SuperAwesomeProject using Javascript (es6), react, redux, hot tech 1, hot tech 2, etc.
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hi @jefejeff ! it’s very cool what you are doing and how you choose to use your time, I would be very grateful if you could provide me with some help too, though I do understand that my questions might be a bit… abstract. So no worries!
I have been working as a backend developer for the past couple of years, straight after I finished uni. I was kind of thrown into the opportunity, and grab it without much thinking, as I needed to get a job.
Few years after working in the position, there are certain aspects about back end web development that I do enjoy, but for the most part I find it very soul-crushing and mundane. I think I enjoy programming itself, but just not necessarily what I am using those skills for. However, I feel great responsibility in what I do, I am very grateful to have a job , considering the current situation in the world. However, I always feel like I am doing my employers and colleagues a disservice by being so unmotivated and distracted, and just…not interested.
I have been considering to switch to front end development, but not sure if that would be the right fit for me either. I am a relative creative person, have a lot of creative hobbies, but I’m worried that changing from back end to front end might still not give me the satisfaction that I want…
I also have been considering alternative careers in programming, have been looking into IoT and data engineering positions and what the jobs entail, but I am just so uncertain. I am afraid to make the wrong choice and end up in the same situation I am now.
I guess I am just wondering if throughout your career you have been in such situation? If so, do you have any advice as to how to deal with it (not necessarily which career I should choose, but just in general, how to deal with such an uncertainty and fear of choosing something wrong again)?
Hi Jeff,
I’m really starting out in tech and have done the 2 courses on here on Html and Css. Learned plenty but still raw on the css. It’s not easy for me. About to start Js. But not sure maybe Python? What skills should I focus on to be able to get a tech industry job?
Thank you.
Hey @icedteacorner,
You’re describing a kind of burnout. I posted a venn diagram up above that describes a few things that you need to have aligned to avoid this sort of thing. It’s not easy, but take a look and see if that doesn’t help.
Since you’ve somewhat identified with something that brings you happiness (programming, or your other creative hobbies), I am guessing that you would benefit from doing some thinking around a purpose for yourself. Not in the philosophical “what is the meaning of life” kind of way, but a more practical “how can I be of use” kind of way, that will have an actual effect on you, and the people you interact with.
Try answering some of these questions for yourself:
- What is your role in your family or circle of friends?
- What is your role in your community?
- How do you see your role on your team? In the company?
- How do you see the team’s role within the company?
Do those line up with anything you believe is useful for you and society?
I’ve provided more questions than answers here, because those are the types of questions that have helped me understand what motivates me and where I should focus my efforts. I really suggest giving those some real and honest effort. It’s work, but it’ll pay off.
The alternative is to keep bouncing from one field to another. You might get lucky, but it’s like aiming for a target when you have no idea what it looks like.
Feel free to message me directly and we can chat more as well!
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Hi @j0hnnymcd3v1l,
Scroll up a bit and see my response to a similar question that Selfawareroomba asked. If that doesn’t make sense let me know.
In short, you should have an objective or a goal in mind. That will help you understand which tool to learn next. If you know what you want to build, then you’ll have an easier time understanding what to learn. If you don’t have anything you want to build in mind, then it really doesn’t matter if you learn javascript, python, or gardening.
Thank you jefejeff, your answer did help me.
The one thing I need to build at the moment is a personal webpage hence the HTML and CSS.
After that I need to figure out what kind of project I can build to market myself for a job, and also what kind of framework or language to execute it in. I’m a bit all over the place right now, as I’m not sure if i’m better at frontend or backend as I have only learned HTML and CSS.
I’m about to start the Javascript course on here and see where that takes me.
P.S Is there a way for me to improve my CSS skills? I’m having problems with grid and flexbox amongst other things. I feel like using boostrap is cheating a bit so I want to be able to do it as CSS and HTML only.
Hey Jeff,
Thank you for the opportunity to access a successful insider such as yourself. I hope my question doesn’t come off as a dumb one. I’m just a bit lost and need to hear it from someone I have direct contact with.
So I am currently studying independently to take the compTIA Network+ test. I’ve slowly gotten into the workings of computers and I feel very passionate about information security and want to work in Cybersecurity. I’m ready for the Network+ test but the current pandemic has all testing places near me closed down.
My question is simply what language should I begin to learn that will best suit working in Cybersecurity? Reverse engineering interests me and I want to begin a foundation to that will best suit white hat hacking and eventually reverse engineering malicious code.
I don’t want to be a script kiddie using other people’s tools and have no idea how they operate. I dream of being on a research team like one that cracked wana.cry. I am eager to learn and apply the knowledge to my current knowledge of security and networks.
I apologize for the long post,
Sean
New to all this where do I start?
I don’t see any structure???
The boy has taken me through some amusing stuff.
Now idk what to do???
Total novice.
Help appreciated
Thx.
I meant BOT…
@jefejeff thank you!
I never actually thought that this might be a sign of some type of burnout, your advice just really made me think a bit more about what I want for myself not just as a programmer but as a person as well, and how could I align the two together!
I definitely don’t want to keep bouncing from what thing to another, as I am afraid this might not get me the results I need and I will also waste a considerable amount of time.
It’s also quite comforting to know that I am not alone in this, as I feel like a lot of people praise being web developers and the industry itself, which sometimes makes me feel even more guilty that I am not feeling or appreciating it in the same way… again, thank you for your response, I will go do some investigation for myself to answer the questions
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I’m not sure if i’m better at frontend or backend as I have only learned HTML and CSS.
Whichever you spend more time on is the one you’ll be better at 
Fyi, HTML and CSS are frontend technologies.
Is there a way for me to improve my [whatever tool] skills?
Yes, sites like FCC and google will have lots of tutorials on this stuff. In general though, these are all tools. Decide what you want to build, then decide what tools to learn.
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First I’ll preface this by saying that security isn’t my field, I have some basic knowledge which I’ll share, but beyond that, google will be your friend.
what language should I begin to learn that will best suit working in Cybersecurity?
If you don’t know any programming language, Python would be a good start. Learn the basics and then try a book like Black Hat Python. It’s not a beginner book. Looks like the most recent edition was published 6 years ago so may be out of date for modern operating system security features, but nonetheless it will give you a decent idea of how to get things started. I read an older publication of the same book and learned lots of useful things from it.
I want to begin a foundation to that will best suit white hat hacking and eventually reverse engineering malicious code.
Once you have some basics down with a higher level language (python, ruby, etc), go with something low level. Start with C and then mix in some Assembly. Note that Assembly language variants are specific to families of processors, so do your research on what’s going to run on your machine before you pick up a random tutorial/book.
Hope this helps.
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