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
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