DEV Community: Noah King

The Positives of Failing a Developer Interview

Noah King — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 15:53:15 +0000

When I first graduated from my coding boot camp, I was ready to step into the next phase, becoming a web developer. I created a portfolio, made business cards, updated my resume, and started looking for jobs. Little did I know how tough it would be.

Fast forward three months later and I had finally secured my first developer role working with React, Node.js, SQL, etc. However, getting there taught me a lot of things that people should remember and embrace during the job search and interview process. Here's some benefits from failed interviews, cause there's always a silver lining.

FAILING TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS CAN BE GREAT! Why you ask? Because every time you fail a technical portion of an interview it's usually a coding question, white boarding, or a coding assessment.

I remember my first technical interview I bombed. I was asked "Explain to me what a promise is." I had no idea and tried to fake my way through it. Needless to say, I didn't get the job. However, I left the interview looking up what is a promise and now I can tell you everything about it. So if I get that question again or something similar I'll be ready next time. I've also failed coding tests and every other style there is for the technical portion.

Even though I failed them, I learned from them and got better and was even more prepared for the next interview. PLUS, I now know what failing a technical interview feels like and can better plan for how to handle questions I can't answer.

EVERY BAD INTERVIEW IS ONE INTERVIEW CLOSER TO AN AWESOME INTERVIEW. Let's face it, developer interviews aren't easy! Unlike a lot of professions, developers have to take technical assessments to prove they are qualified for the position, and every company has a different idea of what they think is the best way to have candidates prove that they know their stuff. Of course, that means there might be some interviews you fail for whatever reason. Again, it's okay! Learn from that interview and continue to persevere through. I guarantee you a great interview is right around the corner.

YOU'LL GET COMFORTABLE. I quickly realized that the more interviews I went on the more they started to generally be the same. There's also a high level discussion with HR, an interview with the hiring manager, some technical assessment, and typically a final interview with a VP or CTO. Every company is different but the format doesn't really change, and once you get a few interviews under you're belt, you'll start to really feel comfortable with the process. Once you're comfortable, interviews go better because you're not nervous, you're confident. Confidence is key, it shows the company you know you belong and your imposter syndrome isn't prevalent.

To conclude, you can find a lot of benefits from bad interviews. Of course they suck and nobody wants to have a bad interview, but it's typically part of the process and we can find the benefits from it and use them to our advantage. Stay positive. Keep interviewing. Don't give up.

P.S. - I started a website with coding shirts. So if you want some fresh dev swag check it out! https://www.scriptkitty.dev

8 tips for landing your first Dev Job

Noah King — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 17:35:32 +0000

A few years ago I went to a coding bootcamp. Fast-forward to today and I'm an Instructor at a Coding Bootcamp and a Full Stack Developer. Here's my advice for those looking to land their first developer job.

Continue learning, coding, building applications that you can showcase. Make sure your have clean code and that it's DRY (don't repeat yourself). Comments, proper indentation, organization, and git commits, are all important as well. Finally, build something you're excited about.
Freelance - Find someone who needs a website built, maybe it needs a store, a scheduling component, etc. Build websites for people, get paid to do it and showcase it on your resume / portfolio.
LinkedIn - Create a LinkedIn profile and add all relevant detail about yourself. Add your skills and get recommendations from other developers. You can also take skill quizzes on LinkedIn about a specific topic, like JavaScript. Recruiters can often see these and it could help as well. Additionally, mark yourself as open to new opportunities so you show up in recruiter searches.
Go to meet-ups, conferences, hackathons, etc. Network and meet people. A lot of people who attend these events might have a job opening. If not, it's still a great learning opportunity and chance to meet other developers. Don't be shy!
Proactively reach out to recruiters in your area and tell them you're in the market for a developer role.
Have a good attitude in all aspects. Whether it's coding, job applications, interviews, etc. You need to have a good attitude and a cheerful personality. Everybody wants a developer that's easy to work with.
Demonstrate your passion for learning and growing as a developer. No matter what level you're at, you always can learn something new when it comes to programming. Let them know you enjoy learning and if you don't know something you're happy to research it, read documentation, watch tutorials, etc. to thoroughly understand it.
Ask other developers to review your resume, your applications you've built, etc. and get feedback.

If you follow these tips, I see no reason why you can't be successful. Getting your first developer job is always the hardest. After that, it's a lot easier because you have prior professional experience. Continue to have patience and work on improving your skills each day.

P.S. I launched a website with original coding shirts that I designed. Check it out! https://www.scriptkitty.dev

Looking for Coding Shirts? Website Now LIVE!

Noah King — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 23:16:21 +0000

It's official! Script Kitty Clothing has finally gone live.
https://www.scriptkitty.dev

After three months of developing my website with React, Gatsby, MongoDB, and Azure Functions, I'm finally ready to release it.

I'll continue to be adding more shirt designs, hoodies, stickers, etc. If you have a shirt idea, something you would like to see, questions about how I made the site, let me know!

P.S. I'm currently only supporting United States and Canada.