DEV Community: Amanda Lane

The First Month of My Web Dev Job Search

Amanda Lane — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 16:21:58 +0000

A few weeks ago I shared some of the steps I'm taking to prepare for finding my first web dev job after completing the curriculum at Lambda School. In this post I'd like to share some of the lessons I've learned during the first month of my web dev job search.

Have an elevator pitch ready

Your first interview with a company will most likely not be technical. My second week of my job search I had two phone interviews, one with a recruiter and another with a hiring manager. They both asked me basic questions about my technical background, who I am, and why I'm interested in the position with their company.

When creating an elevator pitch I have a few suggestions:

Don't be too long-winded. Find a way to describe your background without making your audience glaze over. Stick to the important parts. Bonus points if you can find a central theme that helps to tie your story to your values. For example, I love to connect my coding journey to my fitness journey and how you're never done improving. You're always improving and growing.
Don't lie. I guess you can embellish the truth if needed, but I quickly learned when I worked in sales that if you stray too far from the truth when selling something (because an elevator pitch is just a sales pitch for yourself) you will get caught in the lie. If a person interviewing you even gets the hint that you're being dishonest, you can probably kiss that job goodbye.
Don't be afraid to be honest. I think people appreciate when you're not afraid to be honest right away in an interview. That says a lot about your character and what it'd be like to work with you. Just make sure you're always coming from a place of professionalism and a good attitude.
Practice saying your pitch out loud. Record yourself and listen to how you sound and make notes of how you could improve. I think sounding confident and comfortable over the phone is a skill that takes practice.

Make it a habit to solve at least 1 code challenge per day

The best way to keep your skills in shape is by using them every day. One thing I've learned from going to a coding bootcamp is that your brain is a muscle and you need to treat it that way. If you stop working out you will lose your strength over time. Same goes for your coding skills.

This should also work as a "keystone habit" where you'll be more likely to start adopting other habits, such as working on a project or applying to jobs after your code challenge. If you've never heard of a keystone habit, check this video out.

I also participate in a weekly study group where we continue to study Computer Science concepts. Lately we've been focused on algorithms and finding better solutions. I also found this article which I think is a great compilation of a lot of the fundamentals I learned during my time at Lambda School.

You need a plan no matter how much free time you have

I haven't been immune to the lack of focus and stress-eating caused by the recent events that's affecting almost everyone on the planet. It has been hard for me to watch the news and my social media feeds. Every day started to seem more bleak than the one before - especially when I started seeing posts from developers looking for a new position because they had just lost theirs.

I was losing my optimism and positive outlook. When my school offered a one week spring break I took it.

A photo taken on my hike at Painted Rock State Forest trail

I slept in and ate sweets. I went for long hikes on trails I'd never been to. I cleaned out my storage room. I took my bike out for a spin. I still even managed to knock out some code challenges and worked on a couple personal projects during the evening.

At the beginning of my break, I had made a goal to apply to at least 2 jobs every day. I didn't really make a plan of when or how I'd do it. I figured that a single person with a simple lifestyle would easily just find the time to achieve all their goals. Right?

Friday rolled around I realized I hadn't accomplished my goal at all. Not even close. 🙈 I randomly noticed our Friday staff meeting at my school was still going on so I decided to join - it turned out to be a presentation on careers endorsement. I got to listen to how another student managed their time and I realized I had a lot of room for improvement in that area of my life.

If I was going to accomplish all of my goals I was going to need a plan. I started researching other people's morning routines and time management systems. One YouTuber challenges herself by trying CEO & celebrity morning routines. My favorite morning routine so far has been The Rock's (Dwayne Johnson).

Although I'm not hardcore enough to wake up at 4am and run for an hour, I decided this morning to wake up at 5:30am and go for a 1 hour hike. I noticed that, as much as I love that I can sleep in every day, there's a really great feeling you get from accomplishing goals before most people are even awake. I have the rest of my day planned out (including this time I scheduled to work on this blog post 😊).

I am challenging myself to try this new morning routine for a week to see what affects it will have on my productivity. I will report back on my findings next week!

Use breaks as a time to refresh and rejuvenate your motivation

Not to repeat myself, but the brain seems to respond to learning similar to how muscles respond to training. Unless you're a genetically blessed, you won't perform your best if your training consists of running farther every day. Especially if you're used to laying on the couch watching TV. The same goes if you try to learn new things at a fast pace every day without a break. You eventually hit a wall and stop progressing.

Here are some last thoughts I have about balancing self-care with our goals:

You will be more productive and efficient at learning when you have a healthy body & mind that is nourished & hydrated.
You're never going to learn everything no matter how much self-care & happiness you sacrifice.
Create a routine for yourself that allows you to achieve your goals. You are the maker of your own destiny! Make today beautiful. 🌼

What have you learned during your job search so far? Do you have a morning routine or a habit that helps you stay productive and accomplish your goals? Let me know about it below - I'd love to hear your hacks!

My First Week On The Job Hunt: Preparing and Networking

Amanda Lane — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 01:22:48 +0000

Hello there! You may remember my blog post about my first week at Lambda School.

Well I'm all grown up and have finished my last week of Lambda School! 🎉

Now that I'm officially on the hunt, I decided to share my job search experiences, successes and failures with you week-by-week to serve as a keepsake for myself and a guide to help others trying to break into their first tech job.

Have your resume, portfolio and LinkedIn reviewed

I am very lucky to have access to career coaches at Lambda School pretty much any time I need them. They will review my work for typos, areas of improvement and missing items that would make me stand out against the competition.

If you don't have access to a career coach, you can have a friend or family member you trust review your work. Make sure you remind them you want critical feedback and not an ego-boost. This is no time for being nice! You want to know if your portfolio doesn't look good on their device, if there's a typo on your LinkedIn, or if your profile picture isn't professional.

When you're creating your resume keep in mind that most people will spend about 10 seconds scanning your resume. Make sure you're thinking about the architecture of your information and that the most relevant information for the employer is at the top or easy to find, such as recent projects and skills.

After you've had someone review your resume, make sure you apply the suggested changes and then do a final review. For my final review, I used a tool called CV Compiler that will scan your resume to find weak spots for improvement. I absolutely loved this tool and how it helped to put the finishing touches on my resume. I felt confident knowing that I am using every advantage I can to make my resume stand out from the rest.

Networking > Cold Applying

Although I technically have no frame of reference since I haven't tried the method of filling out tons of applications yet, I'm still confident that networking yields better, more quality results.

I like to use dating as an analogy for this. If you're just walking up to each person in a local bar asking "Want to go out?" you will probably get a lot of rejections. What if you spent time on a person who seemed interested and built up a rapport before you asked them? I bet you're much more likely to get a date out of that! Networking can be just like that!

If you're not sure how to start networking, here's how I got my first interview. I noticed recently on LinkedIn there were posts asking for new devs looking to break into tech to comment/like/share to boost their visibility to potential employers and recruiters.

(Ricardo is an AWESOME person to connect with. Click this image to visit his LinkedIn page)

I thought, "what the heck do I have to lose?" I left a comment and didn't think much of it. Within the next day I had a response - from an employee at Facebook!

They ended up liking my work and referred me to their employer as candidate for a team they were looking to add a new member to. Since then I've had two phone interviews and am being prepped for the next steps (more on this in my next post for week 2). I truly believe I wouldn't have made it to the first phone call if I hadn't networked for this opportunity and only cold applied for the position (if it's even publicly available to apply for). I also now have the advantage that I was referred to them by their own employee, not just some random person who applied.

If you've only been cold applying and not having great luck, definitely try to start meeting new people who are looking to help others break into tech (and maybe get a referral bonus if you get the job).

Networking !== an underlying motive that only benefits you

Networking isn't building friendships where only one person benefits, so make sure to give back to the people who are helping you. Even if it's only a thank you and a promise to help others break into tech once you do.

Remember the dating analogy - if you want to make networking really effective you need to actually build a rapport with someone.

Have the right mindset going into your job search

Unless you're some sort of coding prodigy reincarnated, you're going to face a lot of rejection and negative feedback so it's really important to have a healthy mindset going into your job search.

I've decided to focus on being my most authentic self and be okay with going into an interview knowing that statistically I'm not going to get the job. I try to find gratitude in just being considered and getting the opportunity to connect with new people and practice sharing my story and hearing theirs (Seriously! Ask the person interviewing about their story. I bet they'd love to share it).

Yes, this is much easier said than done but in order to make it through many rounds of interviews and multiple rejections you will want to remind yourself not to get your heart set on a certain outcome and to think of every interview as a learning experience that will help to better prepare you for the next one.

I hope these tips help and I plan to continue providing more along my journey to help us both live our best lives. If there are any topics you would like to see covered, please feel free to leave a comment here or reach out to me on Twitter!

This article is intended to share my experiences and results may vary using the techniques I used.

A Guide to React Native: For Beginners by Beginners - Part I

Amanda Lane — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 22:49:20 +0000

This article is intended for those who already have some experience with React and are complete beginners to React Native. After reading this article you can expect to be able to create a React Native application and start to explore some of the differences you'll run into while developing in React Native vs. traditional React. I have included links within this article as well as a list at the bottom for your reference. I hope you enjoy learning React Native with me. Let's get started!

1. Setup

There are 2 types of setup instructions for React Native - Expo CLI and React Native CLI. Let's go over the differences between these 2.

React Native CLI

only available for Mac users
more options to customize native features, especially iOS
more of a learning curve
requires the use of XCode or Android Studio

Expo CLI

available for Windows, Linux and Mac
limitations on features/customization
allows you to share projects in development (Android only)
simplifies and does a lot of the work for you, like with deploying to app stores. No need to use XCode or Android Studio

There used to be a third option, Create React Native App (CRNA), but that has been merged with Expo.

You can read more about Expo vs. React Native CLI from a smarter person here: https://levelup.gitconnected.com/expo-vs-react-native-cli-a-guide-to-bootstrapping-new-react-native-apps-6f0fcafee58f

I currently am using Expo to develop with React Native which seems to be the preferred method for most developers I've talked to. This blog post is geared towards users who chose the Expo CLI Quickstart instructions. This guide should work for all the major OS: Windows, Mac and Linux.

Helpful hint for Windows users: I ran into a lot of issues with Gitbash and found that I had a much better experience using Powershell. I highly recommend using Powershell to run your expo/react native commands instead of Gitbash.

2. Creating a new application

Now that you've set up your expo environment, let's spin up a new React Native App! Simply make sure you're in your project directory (the folder where you keep all your code projects). Let's try inputting this command in the terminal:

expo init RNToDoApp

You can currently use uppercase letters in the application name, unlike regular React.

You're going to get a response that looks like this:

? Choose a template: (Use arrow keys)
  ----- Managed workflow -----                                                  
> blank               minimal dependencies to run and an empty root component
  blank (TypeScript)  same as blank but with TypeScript configuration
  tabs                several example screens and tabs using react-navigation
  ----- Bare workflow -----
  bare-minimum        minimal setup for using unimodules

For our purposes let's leave the arrow selection on the first option. If you want to know more about the differences between the templates, let me know and I can try to learn more about that in a future post.

Now you should see a prompt telling you that your configuration is almost completed. Click in the incomplete section for name and provide a name for your application. This entry can include spaces.

? Please enter a few initial configuration values.
  Read more: https://docs.expo.io/versions/latest/workflow/configuration/ » 50% completed
 {
   "expo": {
     "name": "<The name of your app visible on the home screen>",
     "slug": "RNToDoApp"
   }
 }

You'll receive another prompt asking:

Yarn v1.15.2 found. Use Yarn to install dependencies? (Y/n)

Unless you have a have a problem with using yarn, you can say "y" here.

3. Fire it Up 🔥

You should have received a success message and instructions for firing up your new React Native App:

Your project is ready at C:\Users\Manda\Git\RNToDoApp

To get started, you can type:

  cd RNToDoApp
  yarn start

After you follow the instructions above, you'll notice a couple things happen. First, the Expo Developer tool will start up in your default browser. You'll also see a QR code in your terminal. This is where things start to get fun. 😃

Based on my own experiences, the experiences of others and the almighty Stack Overflow, I would select "Tunnel" instead of LAN (the default setting) in the Expo Developer Tool for the best experience.

Now you just open your camera, scan the code and... Oh we have to download an app now. 😵

Go to the App store on your phone and down the app called "Expo." Make sure you sign in to your account (create one if you haven't already). I would leave notifications on for Expo since it makes opening a project faster. Here are what the icons look like for Android and iOS, respectively:

Okay now we can open our app! 🎉 Scan the Tunnel QR code in your Expo developer tools. You should get a notification on your phone to Open the Project in Expo. Here is what your project will look like once it's loaded:

4. Let's start to look at the code

Open up the RNToDoApp directory in your favorite code editor. I use VSCode.
Navigate to the App.js file. Here is what you'll see:

import React from 'react';
import { StyleSheet, Text, View } from 'react-native';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Text>Open up App.js to start working on your app!</Text>
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
  },
});

Not so different from the App.js we see in a normal React app. There are some differences though. Notice the imports at the top bringing in Stylesheet, Text and View.

Let's look at Text and View first. This is still JSX, but rather than using HTML tags, in React Native you use built in components. In this case, <Text> is a built-in component that displays some text, while <View> is like a <div> or <span>.

Let's look at Stylesheet now. If you notice at the bottom of your App.js file - by chaining our Stylesheet component with the .create() method and then assigning it to the styles variable, we are able to pass our styles through the style prop that's available on most React Native components (more on that in a moment).

As you may have noticed, the CSS property names are camel cased in React Native (much like styled components) and don't include the all the same features you might be used to, like linear-gradient. You'll start to notice there are other differences as well, such as React Native doesn't use "pixels" it uses "points."

Our app is pretty boring right now. I think it needs some styling. Let's add a border around the text to make it really pop.

First we'll need to create another object and add it to our Stylesheet like this:

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
  }, 
  //  Here we are adding a "class" of textBox with properties to create our border.
  textBox: {
    borderRadius: 5,
    borderWidth: 0.5,
    borderColor: '#000',
    padding: 10
  }
});

You'll notice if you save, nothing happens. That's because we need to apply our style to the Text component on line 7, like this:

 export default function App() {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Text style={styles.textBox}>Open up App.js to start working on your app!</Text>
    </View>
  );
}

Now when you save your App.js file, you'll notice the expo app on your phone rebuilds and you can see your stylish new border.

Okay, you're right. Our app is looking great... but it's still pretty boring. We need to add some functionality! Let's add a button that sends us a secret message.

Let's start by importing the "Button" component. Now would be a good time to start exploring how the Button component is different from a <button> you are used to working with in HTML.

First of all, <Button /> is self closing and requires a title prop that is a string.
In React you're used to using the prop onClick for event handling. In React Native, you'll be using onPress instead.
Buttons do not have a style prop and are default styled (based on if you are using an Android or iPhone). You can use the "color" prop to change the color of your button though. Find more details about this under "Handling Touches" in the React Native docs.

So why would we use the <Button /> component, you ask? Well - you wouldn't.
We'll talk more about the components we use to handle touchables in Part II.

Now let's finish this up by creating a function that will alert our phones with a top secret message. See my code below as a reference.

export default function App() {

  secretMsg = () => {
    alert('Drink more Ovaltine')
  }

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Text style={styles.textBox}>Open up App.js to start working on your app!</Text>
      <Button title='Press Me' color='pink' onPress={secretMsg} />
    </View>
  );
}

After you save this code you'll see you have a button that, if pressed, will send you an alert with your secret message.

If you made it this far - great job! You're done! You really deserve a high five.

Thank you for reading. In the meantime before I release Part II, you can learn more about React Native with these resources:

How to build a weather app in React Native, by Nathan Thomas: https://medium.com/hackernoon/building-your-first-react-native-app-77a192734ff1

React Native documentation: https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/getting-started

Mission Impostorble: How I'm Coping With My Impostor Syndrome

Amanda Lane — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 14:08:08 +0000

Something I didn't talk about in my first blog post recounting my first week at Lambda School, is how much I was struggling with Impostor syndrome. Even though I was absorbing the material and completing my assigned projects, being surrounded by so many talented people who have been studying code much longer took it's toll on me fast. I want to share with you what is helping me move past my own self-doubts.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, try a few of these simple ideas and share what works for you with others:

Pair Program

Pair programming isn't just a programming study group (although those are fun too!). Pair programming is when 2 developers work on one project together. The first programmer is the "driver" and explains what they want to see happen. The second programmer will type out the code for what the driver wants to happen.

A nice way to break into pair programming is to have another developer view a project you're working on and have them advise you of what changes they want to see. Here's the before and after of my my project, respectively:

The point of this exercise wasn't just to make my project "look better." It helped test and grow my knowledge base of CSS properties by having another student tell me to make a change that I wouldn't have thought of trying.

Put in the reps

if (my code knowledge < I want it to be) { return Study more!};

When I feel insecure about something I remind myself that it's a message from my unconscious mind telling me it's worried about our survival. When I was insecure about my body, I started following a healthy exercise/diet routine. Using that same logic, if I'm feeling insecure about the knowledge I have, I should practice good study habits and have a good routine if I want to improve that part of my life.

Admitting your weaknesses and working on them is the epitome of personal development.

Accept that time travel doesn't exist

I've beat myself up too much for not being farther along in my journey to learn code. There's been several times I almost went to school for Computer Science but it didn't work out. I'm realizing that until now I wasn't ready, mentally and physically, and that everything I've been doing up until now has actually been preparing me to make the most of this experience.

Do something to improve your mood at least once a day

I learned that my mindset was the real culprit. I had to realize that I am 100% in control of my reaction to my impostor syndrome in order to really squash it.
This is something you'll have to experiment with on your own through trial & error to find what works for you.
What works for me: I have to make sure I get exercise, spend time outside, and have a positive daily mantra to use when I notice I'm starting to spiral into a shame spiral of impostors syndrome.

Connect with me on Twitter and join me in the #100DaysOfMotivation challenge (or however many days you want to commit to). Let's lift each other up!

Understand that everyone struggles with it

Who doesn't struggle with feeling like they aren't good enough or don't belong? I know I do. Even as I write this now, I'm struggling with the feeling that I'm terrible at writing and why would anyone want to read my blog posts? (I'm on my usual third draft)...
The best thing you can do is express those feelings. After my first JavaScript class at Lambda School my brain literally hurt. I felt like everyone around me was flawlessly iterating through arrays while I was struggling with basic syntax issues. (FYI: Later on I found out my classmates were also struggling but putting on brave faces.)

Feeling almost defeated, I tweeted:

Reading responses like "ACCURATE", "OMG Yes", "Where is the lie?" gave me so much encouragement (and lol's). Finding out other developers in the community relate with my struggle made me feel apart of something and that what I am experiencing is completely normal.

Please let me know if any of these tips worked for you or what you do to help you cope with your impostor syndrome. I'd love to hear about your experiences and join you on your journey through learning code.

Hi, I’m Amanda & This Is What I’ve Learned After 1 Week At Lambda School’s Full Stack Dev Program

Amanda Lane — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 05:08:20 +0000

Coding is hard. Plan to be frustrated, even if you usually excel at learning new things. Even senior developers working in the field for several years still struggle to fully understand certain concepts. Give yourself permission to be a beginner and remember — hard != impossible.

Get out of your comfort zone. If you’re introverted, try pair programming. If you feel comfortable with HTML & CSS, spend more time learning JavaScript. If you’re not challenging yourself you’re not growing.

You ever used React? React Native? What about LESS? Sass? Node.js? The DOM? C? C++? Python? Django? Ruby? Ruby on Rails? Do you even Bootstrap bro? Don’t feel bad. Me neither.

Don’t compare your journey to anyone else. Each student joins Lambda with varying degrees of expertise, but it’s only those who remain determined, even in the face of adversity, that leave a Full Stack Web Developer.

The only way to learn coding is through repetitions and application. There are no short cuts. If you want to learn how to write in several computer programming languages you will have to study and practice. I recommend starting a personal project right away where you can apply what you’re learning each week.

Network and connect with other people who enjoy learning to code. There’s a whole world on Twitter I knew nothing about. After my second day at Lambda School, I admitted defeat on the #100DaysOfCode challenge thinking that I’d just have to give up in order to really focus on school. I woke up to several messages from other developers in the community cheering me on and encouraging me to keep going.

Have you heard of “rubber ducking”? How many times have you gone to ask a question just to answer it yourself in the process of explaining the problem? That, my friend, is rubber duck problem solving. Have an irrational fear of ducks? A kitty cat from tokidoki works just fine too.

Amanda Lane is a Full Stack Web Development student currently attending Lambda School. All opinions are wildly unpopular and my own.