DEV Community: Christine Fletcher

Getting Hired as a New Software Developer

Christine Fletcher — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 15:49:44 +0000

Changing careers isn't easy. Learning a brand new skill isn't easy, but not impossible. I'm living proof. It took me two years of hard work and dedication to learn to code before getting my first role as a software developer. Today I want to share my strategies and hopefully help you get your first role!

If you want to know more about my educational journey check out my first two posts From Nurse to Coder and Overcoming the Fear of Failure.

I completed Lambda School and was officially endorsed on September 15th, 2020. It was a huge accomplishment. 18 months of 8-12 hours a day learning, writing, reviewing, and even teaching code.

I started applying for a few positions towards the end of school but didn't consistently start until after I was endorsed.

I ended up applying to less than 20 positions, had interviews with about ten companies, and received two full-time paid offers.

I'm pretty proud of those numbers considering I see people posting that they submitted hundreds of applications before getting an offer for their first tech role.

The fact of the matter is there is a huge demand for tech professionals. The challenge is getting that first role, finding someone that will bet on you and give you a chance.

Having an online presence is paramount in convincing prospective employers they would love to have you on their team.

My Strategy

I knew I wanted to focus on quality over quantity.

I mainly used the LinkedIn job board, indeed, and zip recruiter to find positions. If after skimming the job posting to see if I was qualified and interested in learning more, I went to the company website.

I looked to see if the website had the job posting.
If it did, I researched the company BEFORE applying. I read about what the company does, its culture, mission, and values.

I would reach out to any connections I had that worked there to ask them about their experience working with the company.

I read company reviews on GlassDoor.

The purpose of my research was to see if this is a place I would want to work. Do their projects interest me? Do I want to be part of this culture?

I sent connection requests to the person that posted the job on LinkedIn with a message:

"Hi (Name)! I saw your job posting for a (Name of role with X company) and just completed the application. I would love to chat with you about this opportunity."

I made sure to use the same keywords in the job posting in my resume and cover letter.

I recommend applying on the company's website if possible. Doing this will show that you took the time to visit their website, not just randomly applying to every job on a job board.

If you haven't already, have a professional review your resume and artifacts.

While waiting for the interview invitation, start or continue conversations with people already working there. Unless you have established a relationship with them, don't ask for a referral. Just rude.

Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash

Protip: On LinkedIn, go to the company's page and follow. From there, you can see all the people that work there and their position, do some research and visit the website.

I recommend following-up in a week if you haven't heard anything about the next steps.

Why I decided to use LinkedIn

I have no doubt that starting to build my brand and network on LinkedIn early during school helped set me up for success.

Put yourself out there, show off your projects, share what you are learning.

During my training at Lambda, we had weekly careers lessons to prepare us for the job search. I remember hearing a statistic that 80% of people hired are from internal referrals.

Only 20% of people get hired through applications alone!

Once I learned how powerful LinkedIn was, I signed up for an account and completed my profile. I began following developers, tech companies, and leaders.

I started posting consistently, still only about once a week. I made sure to use 1-3 relevant hashtags for great organic reach. I interacted with other people's posts and started conversations.

If someone interacted with my post, I sent them a connection request and sometimes a quick message:

"Thank you for (liking/commenting) on my post. I would love to connect!"

Add value any chance you get.

LinkedIn Profile

When applying for tech companies, every one of them asked for my LinkedIn profile. Make sure you complete all relevant sections, link to your portfolio, and other relevant artifacts.

Check for grammar mistakes and misspelled words. Have someone review your profile and get feedback.

The most crucial section of your profile is the headline. Whatever you do, DON'T have your headline read "Aspiring ..." anything!

Your headline should be the general job title you are looking to get. Think about what job titles recruiters would be using when searching for candidates.

Claim it! List frequently used keywords for the job titles you want. It will help you rank better when recruiters are searching for candidates.

Make sure you add a tasteful profile picture and personalize your banner image. Have fun with your banner image, and let it tell something about you.

Don't forget the About Me and skills sections!

Click "Open to work" on your profile. Which lets recruiters know you are looking for a job but isn't made public.

Check out my LinkedIn Profile

Public LinkedIn profiles display high on Google search results when people search your name. Have you ever Googled yourself? If not, now is the time!

LinkedIn has a handy job board. You can subscribe to notifications for new positions posted. Alerts are great because early applicants have better odds.

Scan through postings daily and look for the ones with fewer than 25 applicants. Jump on the ones that have no applicants yet!

Use LinkedIn for researching the company ahead of applying and before an interview.

Networking! I haven't found a better platform to network with other professionals.

Stay current on industry news and find quality educational resources with LinkedIn.

I think starting a blog or a YouTube channel is a great idea. It shows you can communicate effectively and gives you a platform to share your story and add value to your connections. Then share them on social media!

My interviewer at capSpire, where I am now working, told me he read my From Nurse to Coder story, and looked at all my artifacts. He knew me before we even met for the interview, and I think it helped build rapport.

Keep your online presence professional. Be helpful, provide value, and be positive in your posts and comments. You may think your future boss won't see something you posted or commented on, but trust me, employers look.

So go through all your social media and start cleaning it up. Political posts have to go. Party pics? Probably not wise. Ranting and raving? I wouldn't!
Trolling?? Please, don't. Start over with new accounts if you have to. Use common sense.

Interviewing Tips

I think one of the best skills you can develop to find ANY job is good interviewing skills. I have 16 years of prior professional experience with lots of interviewing practice on both sides of the table. Interviewing for a tech position isn't that different, except for the obvious technical questions.

The best advice I can give you is to relax and be yourself. Hiring managers want to know if you can not only do your job but make sure you're not a jerk.

If you don't know something they ask you about, be honest.

They already think you are qualified based on your resume, portfolio site, GitHub, and LinkedIn profiles. Now they want to make sure you can interact with other humans, willing to learn, and can communicate technically.

Can you speak intelligently? Are you able to communicate your thoughts understandably? Would you be a good fit for the team?

Remember, they WANT to hire you. Just don't give a reason not to and find a way to stand out. What makes you unique?

So relax and BREATHE! Take a breath and think about your answer for a few seconds before speaking. If you can't think of an answer right away, ask them to give you a minute to think about it, or politely ask to skip it and return to it later.

The interview should be a conversation. Don't wait until the end for "What questions do you have?" I ask questions throughout the interview and may even throw in some appropriate humor if it seems acceptable.

I go into an interview with the frame of mind that I am interviewing the company. During my research, I make a list of questions I want to know before accepting an offer.

Asking questions and showing you have done your research displays interest in the company and will help you stand out.

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

Technical Interview Tips

During a technical interview, they want to see how you problem-solve and think. Interviewers want you to ask questions to gain a better understanding of the problem.

Do you keep your cool or get frustrated? Don't show frustration. Breathe!

It doesn't matter if you ultimately solve the problem or not. Treat it like a pair programming session. Your interviewer will most likely help you out!

Think out loud and ask a ton of questions.

Personal Branding

Your social media accounts should be about building your personal brand. What the heck is your personal brand? Simply, it is the way you present yourself to the world.

What do you want people to know about you?

Create your brand by using the same username for all your accounts, using a consistent color palette, font, and profile pictures where ever you can.

You can even create a personal logo! I like using Canva for things like that. Create your own branded hashtag and use it where ever you share your content.

Sharing your story is part of your brand. If you are a career shifter like me, what made you change? Why tech? What skills did you learn through your previous career that will help you in tech?

Networking

I started intentionally building my following on LinkedIn in June of 2019. It takes some time to get followers, but don't be passive. Start connecting with other developers, recruiters, and anyone of influence. Find people who inspire you and follow them. Comment on their posts, start conversations with people.

Be intentional about forming relationships. Message a developer you just connected with and ask them about their journey and career advice. What's the worst that could happen? They don't respond? Oh well, the next one might!

"If you aren't networking, you aren't working." ~ Denis Waitley

I found most people responded when you asked them a question about themselves. You might make a new friend! Please, whatever you do, don't message someone you don't know asking if they can help you get a job!

Results

I remember thinking, how am I supposed to write a blog, be active on LinkedIn, get my portfolio built, update my resume, make a GitHub ReadMe, AND learn to code?????

The same way you eat an elephant, one bite at a time. I scheduled time to work on these things regularly, and slowly but surely, everything came together.

I was hired three months to the day after being endorsed by Lambda. If I hadn't started these things when I did, it would have taken much longer.

I'm convinced that the things discussed here today helped me to stand out among the sea of Jr. developers. You only need one person to give you a chance. Show them you are worth betting on by intentionally building your online presence.

Thank you for reading! I hope you find your dream job!

What other things helped you get your first job in tech? Please comment below and let me know.

Overcoming The Fear of Failure

Christine Fletcher — Sat, 30 May 2020 22:28:31 +0000

Face Your Fears

I'm no stranger to facing fears. I have always told my children "face your fears!" "No excuses, don't think about it, just do it! Suck it up buttercup!" Are some things I have repeated to them over the past decade. These words soon came back to haunt me when faced with the fear of failure trying to learn JavaScript.😳

The biggest thing that held me back in the beginning is the fear of breaking something or making a mistake. After sixteen years as a nurse, lives were on the line, you don't make mistakes. I learned at Lambda making mistakes and breaking things is expected in programming.

Read the errors and do some googling to figure it out.
It is how we learn.

Photo by Karla Hernandez on Unsplash

Failing Forward

Before Lambda, I had never failed at any educational endeavor. I've never struggled to learn anything. HTML was simple. CSS was harder but I still managed to figure it out. Then, there was JavaScript. Before Lambda I had zero coding experience, except for a little HTML & CSS back in the day of MySpace!

Learning JavaScript was a whole other beast. I can't tell you how many days I ended up in tears telling my family "I'm never going to figure this out!" I struggled with JavaScript a lot at first, but would always eventually figure it out. It was a lot of trial by error and mistakes. That was a completely new feeling for me. Soon, my family learned to respond to my self-loathing with "You will figure it out, you always do." It is true, I always do even if I have to ask for help.🆘

When I ended up needing to flex back to the previous unit because I failed two Sprints, I. Was. Devastated. I almost quit. Even told my daughter, I couldn't do it. It is too hard. I'm sure you can guess what words came back to haunt me.

"Face your fears!" "No excuses, don't think about it, just do it! Suck it up buttercup!"

My family believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. I knew I had to push through this and let my actions match my words. It is called integrity. My kids needed to see me struggle at something and come out in the end with success.

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going" ~Joseph P. Kennedy

Change of Perspective

I was in a support session with a Team Lead to discuss a particularly tricky problem, and it was with the right person at the right time. He seriously changed my mind and my entire view of programming in those 2 hours. We didn't spend much of that two hours learning about code. He should probably consider a career as a motivational speaker because he told me exactly what I needed to hear at that moment. I don't remember his name, I wish I did so I could thank him.

You know the saying?

“At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelou

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

It is true. I don't remember what he said to me, but I do remember the way he made me feel. I left that day having new motivation, not caring that I 'failed' and had to repeat some of the material. I embraced it as an opportunity to review the concepts and gain a deeper understanding. I started taking risks and breaking things, figuring why and fixing them. I celebrated the small wins. When I was struggling with an error or bug I couldn't figure out, instead of getting frustrated I could logically think it through and figure it out or reach out for help when needed.

I think me reaching out for help was the key. Previously, I had been going through Lambda on my own island. After I started engaging with the community I started to grow and learn exponentially.

If you feel like you are on an island, you're doing it wrong!

Photo by Marek Okon on Unsplash

I know this is a common thing that happens with new developers. Impostor syndrome is real y'all! The fear of looking stupid because you are asking a question everyone else knows. Truth be told if you have a question 10 other people probably have the same question.

At Lambda we go by the '20 minute rule.' Struggle for 20 minutes on your own, then ask for help. I've learned this is especially important when working on a team. It isn't fair to your team for you to be stuck on something for a day or two without asking for help. Come together and figure it out. Sometimes just talking through the problem helps you solve it!

Or you could always talk to your trusty Rubber Ducky!
Yes, it is a thing!

Photo by Timothy Dykes on Unsplash

Look at me now!

Fast forward almost a year later, I'm still struggling with JavaScript 😂
Looking back, I have learned so much. Not only about programming, but about leading and being a part of a team. Feeling safe enough to be vulnerable to ask for help, because now I realize we are all in this learning experience together!

I had a fellow Team Lead say to me once "Christine look at you, you changed careers like it was easy!" I've been called a "coding master." I had to laugh at that one! Definitely not, but they didn't see my struggle. They see me now knowing more than I did when I started.

I took a 4-month break as a student to be a full-time team lead because I wasn't confident going into labs. Best. Decision. Ever. I love how Lambda uses the teaching model of 'see one, do one, teach one." It is a model I believe in from my experience in the medical field.

As a Team Lead, I went back to the beginning and helped students learn what I had just learned. It cemented in the concepts I had learned and I gained a much deeper understanding of JavaScript. There were several students who were proficient in JavaScript, and it was a great learning experience for all of us.

It was rewarding to watch them grow into full-stack developers. I really had the best team of students to work with. If I didn't know something, I owned it and we figured it out together or asked our team and someone usually knew the answer.

We succeed as a team, no man left behind.

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

After such a successful Team Lead experience I was promoted to Section Lead. I have now returned to being a full-time student in Labs-24 with the same group of students I was a Team Lead with. Student by day, Section Lead by night for part-time students.

I'm in front of a computer at least 12 hours a day and I couldn't be happier. The culture at Lambda is obviously intentional. It trickles down from the top. I'm thrilled to be a part of the leadership that is continuing to build a community of safety, respect, personal growth, and team building in another cohort of students. All remotely of course.

Getting through Lambda and learning to code, in general, takes grit, determination, and sometimes sheer stubbornness of just never giving up.

If you are still reading this and it spoke to you or inspired you in some way please leave a comment and let me know. Thank you for reading my story!

From Nurse to Coder

Christine Fletcher — Sat, 28 Mar 2020 16:39:20 +0000

Mid-life Crisis?

Call it a mid-life crisis or the path I was just meant to take, either way I’m thankful for the experiences that have brought me this far. I decided to share my story because after telling someone about my journey they were inspired to do something different with their life. When I tell others I have changed career paths from nursing to coding, I get mixed responses. Most people ask me “why?” That is the question I intend to answer in today’s post.

I was burnt out of nursing is the short answer. I remember my instructors talking about nurse burnout in school, when as green students, we couldn’t understand how someone in the healthcare field could become so jaded. It happens. I get it now. I promised myself then at 20 years old if I ever got to the point I was burnt out and could no longer care for patients the way I know I can and should, I would get out. Finally, that is what I did.

I say finally because it took me a long time. I made decent money as a nurse and I was comfortable. However, if you have known me at all for any length of time, you know I have tried, without success to start up a business or side gig to hopefully one day work my way out of nursing. I never made it a priority so of course it never happened. I was too comfortable.

Find what you enjoy doing and you will never work a day in your life.

Part of the problem was I really had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I had always heard the saying, find what you enjoy doing and you will never work a day in your life. I always thought, “yeah right.” The things I enjoy doing are artsy such as singing, writing and crafting. I also enjoy gardening and cleaning can be quite therapeutic at times. None of these things seemed to lend itself to a stable career. That is, until I stumbled upon coding.

Turning Point

During October of 2018 I worked my last full-time shift as a nurse, I just couldn’t do it anymore. I continued to work every once in while with a local staffing agency but was fortunate enough to be able to take some time off and explore some career options. During this time, I started working for an IT staffing agency and was introduced to the IT community.

The IT community was very intriguing to me. It is very open and everyone shares their work and ideas with one another. I met several people that are software developers who had changed careers later in life and were happy with their choice.

“There are plenty of online resources out there to start learning."

When I first told my wife Amanda that I wanted to go to school to learn software development, she told me “There are plenty of online resources out there to start learning. Do some learning on your own, let me see what you can make, then we will discuss enrolling you in a training program.”

Early Learning

I had always thought you had to be one of those super smart people that had been coding since they were five to learn this stuff. Turns out, you just need to have the motivation to learn. I found a couple of different free online coding courses that got me going with some basic HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The one that was most helpful for me was Free Code Camp. https://www.freecodecamp.org/ Turns out I kind of have a knack for this!

I made a couple of basic websites and enjoyed the entire process, from learning and researching to planning and designing what I wanted my site to look like. Then, I put all those words and symbols in a file and it magically appeared on a web page! Exciting stuff! However, I felt if I wanted to make a career out of coding, I needed a more formal education.

I felt if I wanted to make a career out of coding, I needed a more formal education.

When I showed Amanda what I had built she seemed rather impressed and was supportive of me finding a coding boot-camp to join. I had been doing some research and found with my prior degree I didn’t necessarily need another 4 year CS degree, nor did the thought of going back to college appeal to me.

The problem was money. Most boot-camps I found charged anywhere from $5,000-$30,000 up front and were only 3 months in length! Plus, there was no guarantee that I would get a job when I finished. Sounded risky, especially when most shared nothing about the success of their graduates. That is when Amanda, in doing her own research for me, found Lambda School.

Amanda asked if I had come across Lambda in my search, I had not. She told me you can go to their school for NO COST upfront and pay later ONLY if you get a job making at least 50K/year! I was like “WHAT?” I had never heard of such a thing! I soon learned Lambda was really shaking things up in the IT educational arena! A school that invests in you first! Loved the concept.

Loved the concept of Lambda Investing in me first!

Lambda School seemed to fit the bill of what I needed. It is a 6+ month intensive coding school that offers a full-stack software development program among several other tracks. In doing my research online I saw several negative posts about Lambda and how the ISA (Income Service Agreement) is a scam. I’m sorry, but if I don’t pay a dime until after they have completely trained me, helped me find a job, AND I’m making 50K/year? That isn’t a scam. The only thing I have invested is my blood, sweat, and tears. No, Lambda isn’t paying me to say these things!

In future posts I plan to talk about the application process to Lambda School, share my experiences and what I’m learning as well as what I like and don’t like about Lambda School. I hope you follow along in my journey! Until next time!