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Discussion on: April 17 — Daily CodeNewbie Check-in Thread

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jankosutnik profile image
Jan Kosutnik • Edited

Question or shall I say questions:

  1. How to get resume worthy experiences in Backend?
  2. Do you think it’s harder than in FE?
  3. Would you rather: learn something that might get you employed sooner, or would you pursue something you are more interested in?
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ben profile image
Ben Halpern
  1. Freelancing, even for mom and pop stores etc, or volunteering is a great way to get some kind of real world experience which you can put on a resumé. Otherwise, I think one really substantial project plays well compared to many little proof of concepts. Contributing to an open source project of any kind is also a nice thing to plop on a resumé.
  2. I think pretty much any environment is the same "difficulty", because you'll always have to push the envelope. Frontend might be "easier" if you're only tasked to spin up an HTML page, but if you need to get into complex interactivity, build tools, etc. it all goes out the window. Complexity will creep up in any environment. I'd say focus on what interests you the most.
  3. I'd try to find the space that is closest to accomplishing both, but I'd lean towards employed sooner in general. The sooner you're getting paid for this stuff the better—but you don't have to cherry pick stuff that is likely to lead to better employment opportunities from hearsay and speculation. Likely there is a decent chance of employment from any practical path you take.

I always suggest folks interview early and often, before they feel like they're 100% ready.

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Jan Kosutnik
  1. This is not the first time that I came across an advice that one substantial project plays well compared to many little ones, and contributing to open source, I agree, is always a good thing.

  2. I am currently getting more into Vanilla Js, because with limited Js knowledge I wanted to learn React, failed the first time around, but realized that core foundations are needed, therefor I am now progressing with VanillaJs. This also goes with job requirements in my area, where there aren't many Ruby or Rails jobs, even though I would really like to get more into Ruby and Rails.