DEV Community: Emeka Ubah

I lost my first interview as an aspiring Software Developer

Emeka Ubah — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 23:45:59 +0000

Sequel to the article I wrote last month where I chronicled my first 30 days as an aspiring software developer, series of events have taken place since I wrote that article. I have been contacted by industry experts who were interested in my journey and encouraged me to keep pushing my limits. Lane Wagner, the Founder of boot.dev reached out and urged me to write more and publish often to reach a wider audience.

One fine weekend, while preparing to go on a short walk with my wife, I received a notification on my phone. The darndest thing about this notification is: it stood every chance of halting our walk that evening. I paused to take a glance at her nicely dolled-up face for approval to check the notification. She grudgingly approved and swayed out to go attend to other pressing needs. Alas, the notification was from a recruiter I spoke to a couple of days ago.

In retrospect, a colleague at work saw the article I wrote and forwarded a link to me urging me to apply for a junior developer role. I took a quick glance at the job description. I understood that clear and concise writing skills will determine if your application will be perused or tossed in the recycle bin. I wrote my application like my life depended on it and hit the submit button.

48 hours later, A recruiter from the firm reached out to me indicating she likes how my character reflects in my writing.

She echoed, "I would like to schedule an interview with you at the earliest, let me know what day and time work best for you".

I looked up my calendar and picked a time that would work for both of us considering she is based in Pune, India (4 hours, 30 minutes ahead of my local time).

On the scheduled date, we spent time discussing the following:

If I am a good fit for their company culture.
An introduction to who they are, their products, and services.
Why I desire to pitch my tent with their firm.
What am I bringing to the table.

We had a good time talking and it was quite memorable with some bants to pass.

48 hours later, I got a mail from her moving me to the next stage. I will be speaking with the hiring manager (the tech guy) at this stage. As a newbie in Software Development, I have read various articles that state what the hiring manager looks out for in Junior Developer - most important is the ability to work within a team. Hence, having good collaboration skills, curiosity, inquisitiveness, and an ability to learn new technology within a short time is essential.

Well, these are qualities I possess as someone who recently pivoted into Software Development.
We set up a meeting date. I made sure camera, lights and backup wifi are all poised for action.

I stepped out of the house into the salon for a haircut, at least, never to be caught un-fresh.
The sound of Victony ft Tempoe "Soweto" song was reverberating in the salon - it is the most sonically laced song I have heard since Akon's Lonely. The flute from the song dislodged the series of interview answers I have stacked in my head. I really wish I could help it at that time. As many times as I try to suppress the tone from going into my head, I find myself nodding helplessly to the sound of the flute.
I hurriedly left the salon for home as soon as I was done.

I did some background checks on the interviewer and calibrated my mind back for the interview session. I made sure I got into the meeting first. I was tapping my feet on the floor while waiting for the hiring manager to join the call. Maybe I was a bit nervous as this is my first interview as an aspiring software developer. With the camera panning into my face, I could literally see dinky sweat on my pores. I leaned back on my workspace and reminded myself how much I have learned over the past 30 days.

Few minutes later, the hiring manager joined in. He was upbeat and vivacious. He looked a happy man.

"Angela"? He mentioned in amusement, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh no! This is Emeka. Seems my wife had a brief Zoom meeting a few days ago prior to this session" I refute.

He understood and urged me to proceed with the interview. It was a fairly mid-interview, it majorly centered on the products and services of the firm. Well, I felt pretty good coming out of the session with him. Maybe I was delusional, considering how recruiters nod in affirmation of whatever nonsense you are spitting.

You get it, right?! Exactly.

Thing is, I know when I go all in for something I desire. In this case, I was confident I gave it my best shot.
Few days later, I saw a mail in my notification from the recruiter (the lady) in Pune, India. The preview of the mail doesn't look promising. I was hesitant to open the mail. I summoned courage a couple of hours later to see the content. Your guess is as good as mine.

A REGRET MAIL!

I was dispirited, I felt I deserved to be given a chance. However, the objective is not to give up but to keep putting myself out there while learning the cores of programming.

Last month (October) was unassumingly peculiar. I was threading a new terrain and I needed all the advice and mentoring I could get both from those closed-by and those remotely farther from me. The impact of getting a mentor as a burgeoning Software Developer is underrated. You could go as far as Antarctica to bag someone who could give you a listening ear - someone who would listen while you vent your frustrations for not identifying a bug - that right there is golden.

I am honored to meet this amazing fellow Gideon. Funnily, He will get to know that he is officially my mentor from this post. Naturally, I am an inquisitive person who wants to know the "Why" & "How" of different concepts. I mapped out questions I needed answers to on Notion. I understand these questions can be looked up on search engines, but I did rather want to hear him explain it in his own term while citing real-life examples.

Here comes November. I can't wait to spread my wings and soar as high as possible while envisaging what lies in wait for me on this new journey of becoming a world-class Software Developer.

I would like to know how long it took you to start applying for a junior role and what the experience was like. Someone will surely learn something from it.

PS: I want to connect with as many newbies as possible on this long road to becoming a Software Developer.

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My first 30 days as an aspiring Software Developer

Emeka Ubah — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 04:52:08 +0000

I wrote my first line of code on the 4th of September, 2022. Severally, I had made resolution to start something new at the beginning of a new month, even a new year. I could randomly think about learning a new language like Chinese, when I could barely put together words in French. Or building a scalable startup, whereas I can't explain Venture Capital to a 7 years old kid.

Bizarre, right? I know that too.

So this time, I didn't give myself the opportunity to procrastinate. I just got started - curating my learning path on the go.

Let me share a little bit of my background for proper context. I will jump back to the coding aspect in a minute.

I have a proper 9-5 job, working in the tech ecosystem, however, I didn't have any reason to write code. As a matter of self-care, I felt it is insanely sane to keep my mental health in check than dabble into programming.

Wrong, right? I know too.

Did I mentioned that I am married, and the fear of "losing" my beloved wife because I felt I will be grossly immersed in reading/writing languages I didn't know how they came about (replace the bolded word in quote with "being disconnected").

Well, these are valid reason, some may term it as " an excuse" for not actually grabbing opportunity at the scruff of the neck and making the most out of one's world. Thing is, 2 truth can exist. For 24 months, the idea of pivoting into software development was tossed to the back burner.

Then mid-August 2022, my wife signed up for a tech bootcamp with Women Techsters Fellowship, she opted for the Software Development track.

"No! This is not happening," I whispered to my alter ego. I consoled myself with the thought that she might just be "testing the water". By the end of August, she was waxing lyrical with basic software development terminology. This was it - I knew I had to take up this challenge.

What makes it more fascinating is that, she manages one of the ubiquitous food restaurants in Lagos, Nigeria.

Nice! Nice!! Right? Your guess was as good as mine.

Nigerians can easily relate to the "nice, nice" above (it is a popular fast food chain store across the country). Out of her busy schedule, she makes out time to attend class, submit assignments, and collaborate on projects.

That was all the push I needed to venture into Software Development. The experience has been mind-blowing to say the least. I really do wish I confronted my fear earlier, but better late than never.

Over the past 30 days, I have curated my learning path and stuck diligently to it. See below for a detailed summary of:

A day in the life of this aspiring Software Developer

11AM: I transit from my home to work (commuting for 2 hours - Afternoon shift at my current workplace begins at 1PM GMT+1).

10PM: I sign out of work, and leave for home. Averagely, I spend about 75 minutes commutting back home.

12.10AM: Time to code, practice, drink water, code, practice, stretch neck, code, practice (I mean, I understood the importance of coding daily and practicing) @hacksultan midnight roll-call on Twitter for techies, is all the reminder needed to gear me up.

3:10AM: Bed time (6 hours of sound sleep, day-dreaming about the codes I wrote).

This has been my routine over the past 30 days. I have learnt how to structure website using HTML and style it with CSS. I am currently hopping back and forth between CSS and Bootstrap.

My learning path within 30 days timeline

Week 1: HTML5 | Chrome Developer Tools

HTML is one of the most fundamental markup language any beginner can start their programming journey with. I learnt about various Elements (Span, Div, Form, Header Body etc) and Attributes (id, class, src, href etc) for structuring my webpage. W3Schools has proven to be a valuable resources for learning HTML. Most importantly, learning how to use the Chrome Developer tools to debug had helped me become more productive.

Week 2 & 3: CSS | Git | Github

Cascading Style Sheet (CSS3) really made me understand the importance of having a problem-solving skill. It literally took me a hell of a time to understand the concept of Position (Relative and Absolute) and its application. The tutorial on CSS put together by Code Academy is all you need to get started. Trust me, at this level you will desire to move your code from your local repository (PC) to the remote repository like GitHub. I learnt how to use Git Bash to Push and Pull my code, and also for creating a Branch.

Week 4: Bootstrap 5 | keep practicing CSS3

I recently delve into Bootstrap while practicing loads of CSS. I have been buildinng landing webpages that would make heads spin (yeah, it is as clean as it comes). Check out my GitHub Repo.

Lately, I have been collaborating with a UI/UX designer (shoutout to ToChuCu for coming through with those amazing designs) using Figma and Behance.

See my Github repository for my work over the last 30 days.

PS: To effectively render the pages in my repository, please use a PC (make sure the browser is maximize. I am yet to make the page responsive) to open the link below. They won't render well on a mobile device.

I built a website to spotlight the Qatar 2020 World cup stadium: https://emeeks94.github.io/Qatar2022/

I built this landing page to sample some features in CSS: https://emeeks94.github.io/coventic-webpage/

Created a Login page: https://emeeks94.github.io/Login-page/

Conclusion

In all honestly, my first 30 days as a programmer made me realize the power behind coding - all it requires is the ability to think of anything, then piece the puzzle together. That, I must say, is a demi-god level. I feel like as a Software Engineer, I could do ANYTHING; ANYTHING at all! One of my favourite aspire to perspire quote from Zig Ziglar reads: