Everybody wants a good career: to work on amazing projects and be recognized for your job. Working at a nice place that can provide that for you is not so easy. It requires planning, effort, and a bit of cunning to leave your current job when the time comes.
Decide your path
So first of all, decide what you want. Is that Front end, back end, mobile, or full-stack? Focusing on a specific path will be the fastest way for you to become highly qualified.
Did you decide on your path? Great. Now, focus on a language or framework and become really good at that. Create side projects using that language, work at a company that uses that language, study it as much as you can.
Stay open
Always stay open to new job opportunities. I know sometimes you like your job, but maybe it is no longer a nice place to work. Let me explain: try to answer these questions for yourself.
- Are you ok with your salary?
- Are your projects challenging?
- Do you still learn?
When the answer to any of these questions is no, you should start to think about looking for a better place to be.
Follow tech trends
Don't start to code on a language just because you like it. Choose a tech by its users. Are there a lot of big companies using it? Is it well paid? Are there a lot of jobs for it? Make sure to consider all of these questions before spending time and effort studying something.
Stay on LinkedIn and use it regularly. LinkedIn jobs are a good market barometer. There you can see the most in-demand tech jobs, how much they are paying and of course you can get a brand new job.
I got my past three jobs using LinkedIn, so I'm proof that it really works.
Repeat!
One more important thing: repeat all these items regularly. If you just moved from one job to another, make sure in a couple of years to start asking yourself those questions again. Make sure to follow the market and always stay open to learning new things.
Discussion (12)
Hello Jeni, thank you sharing these insights with us. I'm currently working on my career transition to become a front end dev and your tips are helpful. :)
Thanks, Leandro! I have much more to share on this :)
If you would share that to then infomation will be appretiated :-)
I feel your perspective is that of a programmer who wants to specialise on a certain technology. Maybe that's not your perspective at all, but that's what I gather from your article.
While there is nothing wrong with being a programmer who wants to specialise, there are also programmers who just want to know a lot of technologies instead (and a lot about programming in general), at the cost of being a master at none of them.
There are pros and cons for each perspective, but they all should be made known, such that a starting programmer reading would understand that there isn't just one path they must follow.
Moreover, I encourage starting programmers to actually try to learn a lot of different technologies and focus on the principles and thinking necessary to be a good programmer instead of focusing on syntax and whatever trends.
Hello, NBM! Thanks for sharing your case. I absolutely agree with you. You shouldn't choose technology with blind eyes. You must study if it is a good fit for your case. This article is for beginners who don't know what to learn first, or what path to choose. If you are an experienced developer you should be able to decide which technology best solves your problem.
I really liked this post! Very useful! 😊
Excellent topic, congratulations!
For the love of god do not tell people to go follow the trends to learn something..... Just because x FANG company uses it does not mean that everyone else on the planet is doing it. It also just sets new devs up for absolute failure when they go to try to find a job... Its why I hate people telling new devs to go learn the MERN stack because its the new shinny toy..... When there are other languages like ruby php ect that have alot of jobs in the market that are easier to get your foot in the door..... Rather then chasing the next shiny thing to come to the market...
Hi Alex! You are right. That's why I said you should choose a tech looking for the market. If there's a lot of jobs in your area, a lot of companies using it. It could be JAVA, NODE, RUBY, whatever. Follow the tech trends close to you to ENSURE you'll get a job.
Ah ok, that makes more sense. Sorry completely miss read the context!
There is the best path that you can choose.
Learn some bullshit.
Make a ton of money.
Realize how meaningless everything is.
Start taking drugs or kill yourself right at the point.