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Advice for Beginners

Scott and Wes give their best advice for beginners, including tech skills, applying for jobs, focus, imposter syndrome, and more…

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Show Notes

4:46 - Advice for gaining new skills

  • Patience and momentum are key
  • You likely won’t get anywhere significant in two months
  • Think about where you want to be in five years
  • Start small
  • Start with was excites you and let that drive your exploration
  • Start writing code ASAP. Don’t worry about the right way, just get started.

17:15 - Advice for applying to jobs

  • Apply for everything. Failing an interview is no big deal.
  • Each interview is an opportunity to gain experience
  • Putting yourself out there is huge - one blog post, YouTube video, or open source project will put you miles ahead
  • Have an entrepreneurial mindset - you can negotiate money, hardware, vacation time, flexible schedule, etc. Don’t just google “average salary”
  • Negotiate salaries and perks.

29:32 - Advice for knowing what to focus on

  • What gets you jazzed? Find something cool and figure out how to recreate it.
  • Find a problem and figure out how to solve it - build real things.
  • Don’t focus on tech - tech is just a tool.

38:32 - Advice for impostor syndrome

  • Listen to this podcast! ;)
  • Almost everyone has it.
  • Don’t worry about other people’s progress.
  • You don’t need to know how to do everything, but you should be able to figure out how to learn.

46:45 - Misc advice

  • Evaluate things for yourself - don’t blindly follow the loudest voices on the internet
  • Focus on soft skills as well - time management, communication
  • Get a mentor
  • Health and Hobbies - don’t let yourself burnout
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