Are you a new coder looking to break into the tech industry?
It can feel discouraging and isolating when you're trying to find your first job in tech, especially when it seems like you don't have access to the community or the resources you need to succeed.
You’ve probably heard the refrain: keep learning, be persistent. And you have the list, some variation of this: build a strong portfolio, network, apply for internships, join online communities (like DEV and CodeNewbie!) to connect with other professionals in the industry.
But what else can you be doing? And are there other ways to approach this challenge?
Let’s ask our more experienced members what steps they suggest for landing you first job in the tech industry. Share some stories: how did you make it happen?
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Top comments (15)
For me i had my first job (currently in rn) as a software developer right up as i graduated college. So i was a fresh grad and my cousin, who is a software engineer, advertise to me the training and internship program that their company is having. So i applied, passed the assessment and the rest is history. Even when i attended the program i was still waiting for my graduation date and just had to travel back to attend the ceremony.
My advise is to have a profile for job related platforms (like linkedIn) if you want to get into some more stable tech and corporate companies. That is more than enough for you to get some people to have a look at you if you are a starter. It's impractical to build fancy web portfolios when you are just starting to get in to software development. And also because software dev isn't just web dev and building web related softwares. There are lots of jobs related to codding and building software. It's more practical to get into training/internship programs of companies rather than have to pay for bootcamps. Like really, all the resource is on the internet you just have to know which stuff to read and get your hands on.
Conclusion
I wrote up my journey here. It took me nearly a year and I sent hundreds of job applications. Also, shared some of my thoughts and tips there. :)
Very inspiring story
There are lots of often advice, some good, some not that great, some bad, some conflicting another advice.
So the question the candidate probably asks herself even if she doesn't say it explicitly is:
So what I've been trying to do in my essay below is to open people's eyes on how hiring actually work for everyone concerned, or rather how it should work.
Job Hunting: Just Submit Your CV and Hope for the Best?
Jean-Michel Fayard 🇫🇷🇩🇪🇬🇧🇪🇸🇨🇴 ・ Apr 17 ・ 13 min read
Small tip that helped me: If you have a nice collection of open source GitHub repos (no, not the 1000th react todo list), some interesting articles and a nice StackOverflow account you should definetly link those in your application.
Good luck!
These are the stages I have gone through to find a job:
and Finally, I got an offer from reputed Shopify development company.
My recommendations for those wanting to enter the field:
i found a client for my first software co.
Awesome, this sounds great 👍.. hope you nail the client
thanks i did, and it became the best seller dev tool for building high per apps, used by CERN when building the web server in a Next machine. We got them later, first we commercialized vertical apps for commercial realtors made with our own framework.
I want to add that i created the company thanks to that first deal that was for an obsolete system from an established vendor that i got exited right after it was ordered. First client allowed me to create the company so it could get the competitive edge with what we demoed.
Recommended reading: @jacobherrington description of how he got hired
How I Got Hired at DEV (and Every Other Tech Job)
Jacob Herrington (he/him) ・ Nov 1 '19 ・ 13 min read
Unfortunately that header is appropriate for many.
After my internship from school, got 0 hour contract at the same company making PHP websites.