Finished my last certification the same day I got fired from my job... LOL

I found out about FCC and started working through the program in June 2018. Today on November 26, 2018 I completed the last project on the Information Security & Quality Assurance Certification and claimed the Full Stack certification!! Ironically on the same day I got fired from my recent job as a Junior Developer here in Canada. Ohh the irony lol.

I had gotten the job after completing the first three of the FCC certifications and working on my portfolio and resume a lot. I applied and applied and I had tweaked my presentation to the point where I was getting interviews and evaluation projects which I was super thankful for but not any offers. Fast forward… I finally got a job in October 2018 with a company eager for a backend developer working with the LAMP stack. I’ll be honest although I have built projects in PHP and deployed on an Apache server, worked with Linux and SSH tunneling; I was entirely self-taught and so my knowledge was very specific to the project I was working to complete. Anyways I studied hard to learn fast. Completed my projects to the standards set by the lead developer but to my surprise was let go today. I was informed that they are looking for a more senior developer when I received my termination letter from HR (That part was not too great).

However, I am not mad or upset. I learned a lot and was thankful for the opportunity. I do think that I may have not fit in perfectly with the company culture since it seemed to be a really tight knit group. But that is besides the point.

I am super happy to have continued to work on the FCC certifications and I am very thankful for the opportunity to learn how a small startup operates. It motivated me even more to grow and develop. I have soo many project ideas, and areas I want to study more. Plus I think I took some solid tips about business from them.

I am writing this to share with my fellow campers my experience in hopes it will help them in the future. I still have a lot to learn and the road does not look like its paved in gold but I can always be thankful for what I have and that I have the opportunity to improve on myself and find an even better opportunity in the future.

P.S. I struggled A LOT with Regular Expressions when I was first learning them and I read one reply that is just GOLD (I cannot find the Camper so I am failing at giving proper credit). It went something like ‘don’t skip challenges or sections. If this was all easy it would not pay so well’.

I am also a huge fan of regular expressions now btw. Kinda funny. Anyways have a good day. I hope this was a good read or beneficial in some way.

Best regards,

Jamal ‘J8’ Ahmed

40 Likes

“more senior developer”. Someone else recently posted something similar to this. But at least you have the experience under your belt.

1 Like

Keep working at it!

The experience will help you find your next job.

1 Like

You will find a job soon and I know it. Your portfolio looks great. Hope you find a start up that works with react and redux. Its def more fun anyway. Also get started on HackerRank, and post the profile on your portfolio too. Font awesome has a hacker rank icon as well. A lot of employers seem to look at hacker rank.

Im a Lakers fan but I love the spurs too :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Thanks for sharing your experience. All is well :+1:

2 Likes

just looked at your portfolio. you have good design skills.

2 Likes

Onwards and upwards…

Sucks about the job, but you will find something else. I checked out your portfolio too, it looks nice. Curious what ‘genius of hardwork’ means? (Also I think it should be ‘hard work’!)

Where you at in Canada? I live in Seoul atm but probably heading back to Canada next fall, curious how jobs are in your city.

2 Likes

Thanks for the tips! I will definitely get started on HackerRank. I won’t lie, the Lakers are looking pretty good right now. lol

2 Likes

Thanks for the support. I really appreciate it. LOL ‘Genius of Hardwork’ was a reference to an anime I liked back in the day. To me it means the innate ability to work harder than what is the norm. I think you are right about the spelling tho… lol. Thanks for that!

I am currently in Windsor, Ontario. I may be going back to Toronto since the market is big. Where ever the opportunity presents itself, I am game lol. I really want something remote if possible though.

How is in Seoul? Are you there for work or maybe school?

Wow you have an excellent attitude and I know it likely won’t take you long before you find another job. Though you were laid off not fired right? There is a definite and huge difference at least here in the states.

Your portfolio is definitely spiffy! Great job :slight_smile:

As for regular expressions I really need to keep reading and practicing with that o’reilly book. You’re much further along than I am!

Keep on rocking! :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Wow portfolio look nice and clean. It seem like you will land a job less than a month.

2 Likes

Thanks for the support! Well the letter said terminated.

Keep at it with the Regular Expressions. One step at a time was my strategy. Practicing one operator at a time lol.

1 Like

That’s kind of bizarre and maybe, a little exploitative to hire you to complete a project and let you go without warning. Keep your head up, job experience definitely increases your visibility, so you’re definitely trending up

1 Like

Great portfolio I’m sure you’ll get something else soon.

1 Like

That full FCC certification means a lot of work so you are a highly motivated person. I hope you will not be discouraged by loosing your job. Experiences like that are for me always very hurtful giving me the feeling of having done something wrong. And it is extremely hard if I cannot find out WHAT I’ve done wrong. Maybe the best way is not to think to much about that and to just look forward.
(A “tight knit group”: that doesn’t sound like a good job)

1 Like

Yeah, seems like all the jobs are in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver… Waterloo and Ottawa look promising too.

Seoul’s pretty great! I am here teaching English, but looking to move back to Canada and start putting my dev skills to work on the clock.

Remote job would be the dream! But, it seems like those generally are geared toward people who are at least mid-level developers… Understandable, since juniors probably require a lot more attention. So, my plan is to work for a few years and then re-evaluate. It seems like a lot of the industry is going toward remote teams, and I’d like to be able to keep living in different places if possible.

2 Likes

You’ve got the right attitude and are putting in the time and hard work. You’ll land on your feet. :wink:

3 Likes

No way!! Thanks Quincy! I really appreciate your kind words of support. I started FCC after watching you talk about it on the Engineered Truth YouTube channel. Can’t believe that was not that long ago. Thanks again. I will keep working!

1 Like

Thank you again everyone for all your support and encouragement. I feel like my motivation level is over 9000!! I am thankful to have my fellow campers and this forum. I cannot thank you all enough!

5 Likes

Don’t forget to pay it forward! We’re all here to support and help each other. And later, when you get an awesome job, you should come back and tell us about it!

2 Likes