Hey there campers. Shane here. I began at Free Code Camp in December (2015). I have since gone on to win many awards, such as the least known developer of 2016, a gold medal for having the most incomplete projects in the history of projects, and I was even nominated by my wife for the hardest working developer prize, but it does not exist, unfortunately. (This is all a lie. I have no awards!)
I set out to ask a question here about an hour ago, but it dragged out so long that I took the question to Medium. Please do check it out and let me know what you think.
If you’re not looking to read a blog post, although it is one of my shorter ones, here is the gist:
I have been developing for 6 months I have a broad skill set and only lack one or two of the most in demand skills for front end developers. When do I know I am ready to apply and not get laughed at? When am I good enough to take present myself to the guys who write the pay checks?
And, for you guys and gals who have landed jobs, here is a question that you may not feel comfortable answering, but I implore you to for the sake of my own confidence, haha. – Assessing my GitHub, my code, my skill set, and what I have done thus far, in comparison to where you were when you landed your job, do you think I am there yet?
Thank you all for the read, even if you only skim.
I’ve read both posts You and I are seemingly alike, because I feel from what I’ve read, a lot of self-doubt. “When will I be job ready?” or “I’m pretty sure i’m close to these job criterias, but I might miss something…”.
Thoses things slows you down, a lot. I have completed frontend FCC in december 2015, and still haven’t applied anywhere. (Okay, I’ve already got a stable job but…) The thing is, you need to feel ready to jump in.
At the speed of current Web development, I can assure you that nobody is ever “ready” or “all knowing”, there’s so much new frameworks/libraries coming around or even dramatically changing (Angular 1 anyone ?) That’s it’s a full time job to stay updated.
I truly believe you are ready to get out and apply for a job at this point. Most employers doesn’t care if you have a degree or not; they want to see results of your work. Seeing that you already built public things, that can get in your portfolio !
Even people that have jobs need to stay updated and learn new things everyday. You only have to trust yourself in this !
Great article and sounds like you have learned a ton the your past 180 days. That being said I think you need to change your mindset a little. I think the only way to know if you are “ready” is just to apply. But by apply I don’t mean send applications out to every place you can think of and be willing to take any position. Don’t rush it, just from reading this post I can tell you are far more qualified than I am (and I’ve finished 2 years studying comp sci at a fairly well known university). Just slowly apply to places over time that you genuinely want to work for while continuing to build your knowledge. Companies don’t want someone who is willing to take any position for low pay, they want someone who is confident in their skills as a developer even though they know there is always more to learn. Just keep at it and enjoy the process. Soon enough I think you’ll be making a post about how you got your first developer job . Good luck!
Hey guys! Thank you for taking the time to read and reply, as well as your advice. Also, I apologize for taking a few days to get back to you. I always have a million things going on.
I’ve decided to begin applying hard on day 180: the day I was originally supposed to be employed by. We will see how things work out and I will keep you all in the loop.
You and I are seemingly alike, because I feel from what I’ve read, a lot of self-doubt. “When will I be job ready?” or “I’m pretty sure i’m close to these job criterias, but I might miss something…”.