Background
Here is a quick background about myself. I originally have have a degree in nutrition from Chico State and worked at a VA hospital as a clinical diet tech for 10 years. This Jan I decided to quit my job and was accepted into Flatiron SF software development bootcamp. During the program we went over how to use Ruby, Rails, Javascript, HTML/CSS and React. I graduated from the program in June and officially declared my job search in Aug.
What I do on a weekly basis
The beginning of the week I usually browse Linkedin and try to connect with at least 10 people in software development or QA. Then the rest of the week I work on doing Javascript data structure problems or on various QA Engineering Udemy classes.
Questions for readers of this blog
- Aside from data structures, projects, and networking is there anything else anyone recommends I should be doing to increase my chances of getting an interview/job?
- One of my biggest obstacles currently is finding a quiet workplace during the pandemic. Usually I would go to a local library or the Flatiron campus, unfortunately they closed. My apartment is really small with constant construction outside so working there consistently can be difficult. Where have you been going to work/study during covid?
- What is the best website to practice algorithms? There seem to be an endless amount of books and websites for algorithm practice. Which ones have you had the most success with?
Thanks in advance for spending time to read my blog and answer of the following questions.
Top comments (2)
Hey @scdan0624 !
First of all, great work so far! I strongly admire people who transition from non-engineering profs as it is more difficult - I believe that means you have strong enough reasons and perseverance to do that. My few thoughts on your questions:
1. I think everything that you've mentioned cover 80% of what you can do - still as those things are quite broad, I'd like to share here a few more specific ideas:
— Make a decent portfolio featuring your personal projects - it takes time for sure, but I still recommend to do this. It will "sell" you better than a bare Github page (actually, these days you can make your personal Github page quite nice looking
— Visit online meetups - this one about both learning and networking.
There are often rooms for offtopic discussions and you can ask their advice on how to increase your chances of getting a job. As this is not a direct question (like "can anyone give me a job") it makes the impression that you are a strong will person that is taking everything in one's own hands.
Plus people are often actually open to sharing their experience and you may end up getting great advice, recommendation, or even a suggestion which company you might want to try.
2. I think someone from SF will make a better job helping you with this one, but co-working spaces or coffee stores are great and I often use them as a workplace. I would assume there pretty few present in SF and chances are there free or not expensive places as well.
3. For practicing algorithms I would recommend HackerRank and Codewars - you might be already familiar with them, but they really offer a lot of diverse challenges which are great for practicing.
I like Codewars more - the service is based on the idea and spirit of east martial arts which really makes the practice more interesting (imagine you playing the role of the Karate kid in that famous 1984's movie).
Btw, there's also a great book called Grokking Algorithms by Aditya Y. Bhargava which is a great summary of popular algorithms - I haven't read it myself, but a lot of people who didn't have a lot of experience in that area said to me that the book was quite enjoyable and gave them an understanding of the existent algorithms good enough to go through the tech interview.
Awesome thanks for the detailed response. So far over the past week I really ramped up my algorithm practice on HackerRank. Next step is to check out the book you recommended and look up some online Meetups.