With technology taking over and creating thousands of jobs, a lot of people still need help landing their first developer job. While none of this will guarantee you a job in 4 months, it will help push you in the right direction to finally transitioning into tech.
Study
Ok, so the first one might be a little obvious, but I still see this happening a lot. Some people are trying to land their first developer job straight out of school or a boot camp, while others are trying to transition from one field to another. While you might have 10 years of customer service experience looks good on a resume, it’s not going to be enough by itself.
Depending on what job title you’ll like to have inside of coding (It’s more than making websites) you will have to have some sort of coding experience. For me being a Full Stack Web Developer I chose to study with Team Treehouse. Team Treehouse covers multiple topics from data analytics to web developer and has even helped me land my first developer job in 4 months. Of course, that will not happen for everybody, but it is going to put you above other candidates along with your own personal brand.
Branding
I can’t stress enough how my brand and my online presence has helped me in my career. I’m going to break this topic into smaller sections because there is so much you can do to help your personal brand.
• Portfolio
A portfolio is one of the easiest things someone can put up to show off their skills. Whether you design websites, build OSS, or even a security expert, employers love being able to land on your site and see who you are and your projects. Here are some things I personally think everyone should include in their portfolio:
• Your name and desired job title
• A short introduction and an about me section
• Projects (Your best 3 projects)
• Contact section
• Projects
Having a section on your portfolio website or even a YouTube channel for your projects is a great way to let your skills speak for themselves. Instead of jumping from one course to another, try expanding the project you’ve just built.
Networking
My last advice for landing your first developer job is networking. There are plenty of ways you can network. If you haven’t guessed already social media is a great place to network and meet new people. Being that I’m a POC who works in technology, I myself have joined #BlackTechTwitter and have been able to connect and meet with a lot of great individuals. I also have joined many meetups on the app Meetups which include plenty of free workshops available to the public.
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