What was it that helped you land your first job as a junior dev?
Maybe it was open source, or a portfolio of side projects, or pinging someone on LinkedIn?
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Top comments (54)
After doing a coding bootcamp I hadn't landed a job. So I went to a Meteor meetup (the framework we learned), and at the end of the meetup they asked us if we wanted to present some of the fun things we were doing with Meteor.
I presented an app to determine if you were in the Ballmer's Peak! At the end of the meetup, the host asked if I had a job, I said "no." They asked if I wanted a job, I said "yes." Then I was told I started next Monday.
I was very fortunate for that opportunity, I know it's rare. But I firmly believe putting yourself out there at events and meetups (where there may be companies looking to hire) is a really good way of getting your foot in the door.
Awesome insight, Michael! I'm inspired by this.
So many opportunities lying out there can be opened just by saying "hi, I built this, let me show". Getting rid of the fear to speak in public is brutally important.
Keep it up!
That's awesome. I'm much too shy and scared of meetups. Something I should probably work on lol.
I am too scared of them too! haha I should definitely put that away and try my best at networking
It was 8 month ago. I was working at the town hall as trainee and as I was always trying to automate my tasks with small software, people seeing that I did the tasks faster than usual, they asked me how I showed them. Then when my contract was expiring, the mayor's office man talked to my that his daughter was working at a software company and he got a interview for my, i felt very happy. The interview was quick, made some question about what technologies I knew. And so now I working there until today.
I trying to improve my English, sorry me, I want to give more details how was, but I don't know how to write better yet.
This is inspiring and very motivating for newcomers. Use software to automate, get more productive at what you do, and people just won't be able to ignore you.
I worked for free for like 6 months straight.
I remember doing an app in AngularJS for my dad's company and also a basic HTML + CSS site for a friend.
This helped me build a portfolio.
I then found a company in my city willing to hire juniors, wrote them an email, landed the job a few months later.
During my undergraduate days, I was working part-time as a sales agent in a call center and I was wondering who was building the systems we're using and generating the leads we're calling so during the break time I would go around different floors to search for such a department. Then when I fount it, I decided to simply knock the door and introduced my self as one of their colleagues who just recently joined the call center, and I also told them that I am currently studying Software Engineering and would love to help in case they could use some help!
They started by giving me minor tasks and then after some time they started to get me involved in their meetings at that point I was in good terms with my direct manager as a sales agent and asked her to request an official internship from the development department so I would come a bit earlier before my shift to work with them. Eventually, the developers I was directly reporting to, had a better offer in another company and before leaving he recommended me to take his place!!! Only at that point (after around 3 or 4 months internship) I started getting paid as a developer!!
What truly helped me was being in good terms with people and taking the initiative to go introduce my self and tell people what I want! People are willing to help only if they know what you need :) I left the company but still in touch with the team and super grateful for everything they taught me! These CONNECTIONS, later on, helped me land my current job. :)
Phew, Esraa, this is so inspiring, thanks for sharing!
Big takeaway from here: all the good things lie behind that door you need to knock at some point, literally.
You had huge courage to speak and say "hey, I like coding, I heard you do that here, can I join?". Amazing.
After many months of applying, I saw a LinkedIn post from my now colleague advertising that the company needs interns and sent him a message.
Love it. Do you remember how did the message look like? Did you have to send a portfolio or something?
I think I just said "I'm interested in this position". It was the start of a holiday so I forgot about it after a couple of days, then I got an email from him asking me for more info. I only sent my CV which included some of my projects and my GitHub which I don't think anyone checked 😂 a couple of months later I was officially hired.
Haha I'm sure they looked at your Github and projects. Thanks for sharing, that's pretty useful!
I just recently landed my first job as .NET developer. I have never been a programmer professionally but have worked in IT for the past 6 years. I worked up from help desk to supervising a cyber security team. I have a lot of experience writing PowerShell scripts that automate tasks, do remote administration, etc. which helped when it came to my interview. I'm lucky the company that hired me really took a liking to me even with my severe lack of experience when it comes to programming. They are giving me an opportunity to learn on the job which I am grateful for!
Nice story. PowerShell automation at its best, landing you jobs you never expected. :D
I literally just did it. I got my first job as a junior last week!
I think that what may have helped it is a project that I have been working on since last year- a low-cost thermocycler (github.com/cetuspcr/Cetus-PCR). I think it may have shown what I know and am capable of.
Other than that, there is the fact that I participate in some groups of robotics in my school, getting some technicals and group work experiences...
Anyway, I'm really excited to have some real job experience. Do you guys have any first job tips?
One of the biggest lessons I learned early on was to be comfortable and get good at asking for help.
At my first dev job, I got assigned a task. I didn't ask a lot of questions (mainly because I didn't want to be viewed as not knowing something). For some reason I thought that if I asked a dumb question, they would be like "Oh you don't know that?! Umm idk why we hired you!" 🤦🏽♂️.
I spent days and weeks trying to make progress on the task, which turned out was really too big for me to do by myself. Ultimately, I would've been better off asking lots of "dumb", clarifying questions early on until I understood what I need to do.
This. Love it! Don't hold up to your questions, just spit them out.
Congrats mate! All the best for you in your first gig, you'll love it. I like how you leveraged GitHub and your side activities at school to make yourself look more credible.
First job tip? listen, learn, and repeat. Listen to whatever senior you work with. Learn from them. Repeat what you see in your code.
You'll have time to form criteria in the process, for now just be a sponge :D
I kinda of made the position myself....
I was working in IT for Yorkshire Ambulance Service and there was a remit to build a few internal web services. I self taught C# and ASP.Net (2.0 at the time). Gradually I did more development and less IT stuff, building up a few external projects via the NHS' wider network.
Using that experience I managed to land another role which was more 'normal level developer', but still felt quite junior as it was quite the steep learning curve moving from public sector stuff to private, commercial sector
Loving how you self taught a tool that would allow you to transition into what you loved. Making up your job is one of the best advice someone can get, that's for sure!
Went to an interview to one of the top IT consulting companies in my country right after finishing college. I did the interview without any hopes of getting hired because of that. Weeks later I get a call from them that they wanted to hire me. What it helped me was that I took some Java classes on college.
Awesome. Can you recall what you were asked in this interview? I'm curious :D
It was more than 14 years ago, so I don't remember a lot. But it wasn't too technical, they knew I was just getting out of college and they wanted a recent graduate, since it's more easier to manage and mold than a experienced one.
I got my first job from an advice of a teacher. It says that there is a programmer who opens the job for a fresh graduate. back then, I was unsure about my skills and my good bet was only PHP (although i can use some framework) because i don't have enough experience about how project from a real world should be. And so, I take it.
But, three months passed and during that time, it always been part of my trauma. I don't help in coding because the programmer says I need to study more. He use EXTJS for work and yes I know my skills clearly. I really don't mind about it at first, but the problem is there's no spare time for me to study. And the salary i get was small.
I too got to work from 8 AM and my work done in uncertain time, but it always a late night. My plan to study became a mess because i chose to sleep in the time i got home. for the weekend too, it always been used to work. It was a tiring day and I don't have any energy left. that three months was full of stressful and mental pressure.
There's actually more to tell but i think it will be too long. And yeah, that is, in a nutshell of what was happened. but in the end, I resign and study myself about javascript for three months via FreeCodeCamp, landed my next job and still work until now.
sorry for a bad english
Great story, thanks for sharing. you definitely put in the sweat and got the results you wanted. Congrats!
Thank you, it's very refreshing after i tell my stories