Thank you so much for the kind offer of answering questions. I just graduated from a coding bootcamp after deciding to change careers from business development. I got my first rejection from a job I wanted yesterday and it stung, so I'd like to ask:
What are the best way(s) for newbie coders out of bootcamps to market themselves?
What are the best way(s) for newbie coders out of bootcamps to keep their skills sharp? What kind of personal projects excite interviewers the most?
I'm the CTO of international video agency Wooshii and I run an educational media brand called Skill Pathway. I also occasionally chat to people on my podcast, The Learning Developers Podcast.
You're more than welcome and everybody else here too. I feel blessed to be in a position to help others out and a level of gratitude to the fact that you are going to be the next "generation" of coders, and are learning at such an accelerated pace compared to what I had when I was getting started out. So I want to remove as much doubt from the ecosystem as possible.
First of all, congratulations on your first job rejection. It means you actually went to an interview and put yourself in a vulnerable place to be potentially shot down, and that takes a lot. Most people don't make it to that point. Let's see how I can help with these queries
What are the best way(s) for newbie coders out of bootcamps to market themselves?
This will lead onto the second point, but first and foremost is your portfolio of projects. I'd love to hear if you're more frontend, backend or fullstack focused and I can give you a more contextual answer, but projects are your ammunition
The next most important thing, if you really want to stand out (and it does take some effort) is putting immense effort into each application. This means:
Sending a covering letter. Before you put your resume in, tell your truth about what you like about the company in the email attached to it. If you think they're on a noble mission and you'd love the opportunity to just interview with them if they like your skills - state that.
Customising the skills section of your resume (putting relevant skills higher up the list) and descriptions of your past projects (try and make the description convey how you have the skills for the specific job you're applying for)
Add screenshots to your resume for added scan-ability - this will improve your chances massively because people can see immediate evidence of your previous works without having to click through to links.
If you are good with talking to people, make a phone call asking more about the job opportunity. Listen and try and give contextual responses saying how great it sounds and how you think you might be able to help - while keeping it short. Your edge here is that very few other people are probably doing this so you might just be the talk of the office. And that can only be a good thing - I mean, if it is bad, you probably wouldn't want to work for that company anyway. Do you get what I mean?
What are the best way(s) for newbie coders out of bootcamps to keep their skills sharp?
Engage with the professional community. First of all, check out tags of the frameworks and languages you learned on both GitHub and Stack Overflow, find highly-reputable contributors and follow them. Watch how they respond to issues, and even better, if they write blog posts, read every single one of them. And try to understand. And if you can't - ask your mentor or find a place in the community to ask these questions. This is the absolute best thing you can do to keep up-to-date.
And one aside: keep open minded and don't let people tell you "this one framework/language is the best" - that's the mindset of someone stuck in a box - in reality these frameworks and languages can all do very similar stuff. There may be something better round the corner that needs your attention - and an evangelistic mindset can blind you to that opportunity.
What kind of personal projects excite interviewers the most?
Anything that demonstrates your technical ability at scale - preferably something cohesive and large enough to have some weight to it.
For example, a "JS calculator" or "CSS animation code snippet" or "Temperature converter" doesn't really go beyond demonstrating technical ability in a isolated way. It just shows you can build this one thing.
On the flipside, if you had an "Invoice builder system" paired with authentication, the ability to add / remove / edit / share with others, and just a few more features, it's a system that actually has some weight to it.
It can be anything that has some scale to it - a private gallery of your drawings behind authentication, a blog to about your dog with a completely customised theme (if you're a frontend developer)
Basically, stay away from small "example" pieces, and try build 3 or 4 things that demonstrate you can build a cohesive system. Even better if you loved building it - they'll probably ask you why you built it and you can really put across how much you enjoyed it. This will get you brownie points at the interview.
Another packed answer here, I really hope it helps and please ping me any questions if any of this is confusing whatsoever! Best of luck with your next applications and interviews!
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Hello Matt!
Thank you so much for the kind offer of answering questions. I just graduated from a coding bootcamp after deciding to change careers from business development. I got my first rejection from a job I wanted yesterday and it stung, so I'd like to ask:
Thank you again
Hi Kirsty! Thanks so much for the question.
You're more than welcome and everybody else here too. I feel blessed to be in a position to help others out and a level of gratitude to the fact that you are going to be the next "generation" of coders, and are learning at such an accelerated pace compared to what I had when I was getting started out. So I want to remove as much doubt from the ecosystem as possible.
First of all, congratulations on your first job rejection. It means you actually went to an interview and put yourself in a vulnerable place to be potentially shot down, and that takes a lot. Most people don't make it to that point. Let's see how I can help with these queries
What are the best way(s) for newbie coders out of bootcamps to market themselves?
This will lead onto the second point, but first and foremost is your portfolio of projects. I'd love to hear if you're more frontend, backend or fullstack focused and I can give you a more contextual answer, but projects are your ammunition
The next most important thing, if you really want to stand out (and it does take some effort) is putting immense effort into each application. This means:
What are the best way(s) for newbie coders out of bootcamps to keep their skills sharp?
Engage with the professional community. First of all, check out tags of the frameworks and languages you learned on both GitHub and Stack Overflow, find highly-reputable contributors and follow them. Watch how they respond to issues, and even better, if they write blog posts, read every single one of them. And try to understand. And if you can't - ask your mentor or find a place in the community to ask these questions. This is the absolute best thing you can do to keep up-to-date.
And one aside: keep open minded and don't let people tell you "this one framework/language is the best" - that's the mindset of someone stuck in a box - in reality these frameworks and languages can all do very similar stuff. There may be something better round the corner that needs your attention - and an evangelistic mindset can blind you to that opportunity.
What kind of personal projects excite interviewers the most?
Anything that demonstrates your technical ability at scale - preferably something cohesive and large enough to have some weight to it.
For example, a "JS calculator" or "CSS animation code snippet" or "Temperature converter" doesn't really go beyond demonstrating technical ability in a isolated way. It just shows you can build this one thing.
On the flipside, if you had an "Invoice builder system" paired with authentication, the ability to add / remove / edit / share with others, and just a few more features, it's a system that actually has some weight to it.
It can be anything that has some scale to it - a private gallery of your drawings behind authentication, a blog to about your dog with a completely customised theme (if you're a frontend developer)
Basically, stay away from small "example" pieces, and try build 3 or 4 things that demonstrate you can build a cohesive system. Even better if you loved building it - they'll probably ask you why you built it and you can really put across how much you enjoyed it. This will get you brownie points at the interview.
Another packed answer here, I really hope it helps and please ping me any questions if any of this is confusing whatsoever! Best of luck with your next applications and interviews!