After 9 months of hard work, doubts, struggles and whatnot I finally landed my first job as a developer. Life is funny sometimes, I got this offer when I was feeling down after my expectations have been crushed by reality time and time again.
I remember when I joined this forum and I still was learning HTML and CSS, I used to see some stories of people getting jobs after 3-4 months of coding, I was very exciting about the possibility that I could do the same after learning some JavaScript. After I learned how to do some basic stuff with JavaScript I decided to apply for jobs, I got a few replies and I particularly remember having one screening interview which I completely bombed because I have no skills solving algorithms. That’s when I realized I wasn’t ready and my JavaScript knowledge was not good enough, I needed to start over and that I did. I went through the FFC JS curriculum and completed most of it, after that I felt a lot more confident with JS and solving problems, I felt proud when I went through the basic algorithms section with ease, although there were like 3 challenges I couldn’t solve.
I didn’t feel too bad with myself after being rejected because I knew I wasn’t ready. I continued to study and learned React. I built what I like to think was a really cool project with React all by myself and decided to give it another shot. I got a lot of a rejections. This time being rejected hurt, because I was seeing all these jobs offers for React developers and I thought now that I had finally learned React I should be able to get some attention, surprisingly to me I got less interviews than when I started to apply for the first time, weird. My expectations were crushed and the fact that I bombed a screening interview a while back was hunting me, because I thought that was my chance and I screwed it up.
After putting myself together I decided to learn Node.js. I spent like a month doing a course and then it took me like 2 weeks to build my first full stack web app, I also came up with a solid resume after asking for feedback for it. This time, I was super confident that at least I would get some interviews. I spent like 10 days applying here and there, during that time I got a couple of rejections and only 1 interview which ended up nowhere for whatever reasons. I was doubting, disappointed and was feeling a bit down because the fall hurt a lot more this time around, I guess my expectations were too high and they were crushed by reality, again. It was tough.
I spent a couple of days doubting and feeling sorry for myself but I have a strong will, besides it was too late for me to quit. I thought of learning another skill like Redux or React Native and build another cool project to add to my resume, however I knew what I really needed was to gain real life experience because I was confident I was ready for an entry level position at the very least, but due to my lack of experience no one was willing to give me a chance.
HOW IT HAPPENED
I decided to put myself out there and start doing freelance, I went to a group on Facebook and made a post asking people for the best sites to do freelance, I introduced myself and added a link to my portfolio.
And that was it, a guy saw my post and my portfolio, he messaged me and asked me if I wanted a job for his startup. He was a freelancer himself 5 months ago but now has so many clients that it’s impossible for him to do it all alone, he is putting together a small team and his own office. We had an interview, nothing too crazy, just casual talking where I talked about myself and that’s it, he offered me the job. He said that he liked that I was putting myself out there and he needed someone with that initiative.
I know it was a long post, but I hope my story can inspire some of you guys that are struggling finding a job, because I know it is hard and stressful, it drains your energy and makes you doubt. Honestly to me the job hunting was an absolute nightmare, one of the hardest thing I have had to overcome in my life I think.