FreeCodeCamp just got me my first programming job!

Career Advice
61

Congrats and much success with your endeavors! :slight_smile:

62

Thats outstanding. Congratulation!!

63

Congrats and Good Luck to you!

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64

This is great news! Congratulations! It looks like you’ve inspired many aspiring full-time programers here :slight_smile:

My question for you: What other resources did you use to learn how to program especially when it came to learning JavaScript?

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65

That’s awesome! Congrats :slight_smile:

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Wow! Congratulations :slight_smile:

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It’s a motivational story… Awesome

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What JavaScript technologies, libraries and frameworks did you know before being hired?

69

Wow. Very cool. I’m just a couple weeks in to FCC. Inspiring to hear how catalytic it’s been for you!

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Viking Code School had a webinar yesterday on the subject of “How to Get Hired as a Developer with a Non-Traditional Background” which was interesting, and one of the main points that was mentioned which is relevant for the crowd here on FCC is that you (general “you” here, not anyone in particular) should target companies that would be interested in you and what makes you unique as an individual.

Because obviously, in most instances the large software companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc, are set up to filter out people, and will generally give only the most qualified people a look. If you don’t have a college degree, you’ll just get filtered out of their system without ever getting a chance to talk to anyone.

But when you target small companies, they’re typically more willing to look outside the box and don’t have the automatic filters that the larger companies do, and you get more of a chance to actually talk to them (like over the phone) once you apply. So simply readjusting how you’re looking for a job and the companies that you’re targeting can result in a much higher success rate.

I can speak to that personally, as I was actually able to land a front-end developer job in London (UK) of all places when I was there recently. Granted, it wasn’t a long-term position and was only a short-term contract position, but in spite of not having much prior experience in front-end Web development (I didn’t know any CSS or JavaScript before 2015, and knew only HTML4 before then), I was still able to land the job. It was quite amazing really, and I know that one of the reasons that contributed to getting the job was simply on the virtue of the fact that the company was a startup, as I was able to interview directly with the COO and CTO. So I recommend looking for those kinds of companies—startups, very small companies (like 5-50 employees), etc, that tend to look for people who may not necessarily tick all of the technical skills but will have translatable skills and maybe work experience in a different area.

So although I wouldn’t necessarily say that it was freeCodeCamp that got me my first Web dev job, since I used a bunch of other resources prior to FCC (I actually have to give most of the credit to Lynda.com), it’s definitely helped me in other ways and I’m using it now to increase my Web dev skills by following one of P1xt’s guides. :wink:

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Viking Code School posted a recording of their webinar from Tuesday (“How to Get Hired as a Developer with a Non-Traditional Background”), which can be found here: https://www.vikingcodeschool.com/posts/getting-hired

I highly recommend that anyone who’s currently looking for a job to definitely watch it! :wink:

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72

Awesome! I just signed up yesterday on FCC – I’m already loving it but on what I’ve learned in a short amount of time and hearing stories like this!

73

100% agree, I just landed an internship at a small company even though I’m a student with no experience. Definitely have to show those soft-skills like communication and willingness to learn, and I think they will be lenient on what you lack in skills.

Lynda.com is awesome btw!!

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Congrats !!! All the very best… Keep going !!!

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congrats. I hope that i can do it too

76

That is amazing!! It is best feeling when your hard work pays off. Very inspiring for me to continue to pursue my dreams.

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Congrats man . cheers!!

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Congrats man! I am so jealous of you. But how are you working on back-end? Did you have previous experience?

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Congratulations! I’ve heard of other success stories similar to yours. It’s an amazing thing what FreeCodeCamp offers…and for FREE.

I want to ask you a question, though, based on your experience. I just started free code camp and want to develop web pages for hobby but also with the possibility of perhaps landing an entry-level job. I started earlier this week and almost done with the first 300 hour segment (html, css, visual accessibility, etc.). But I feel like only a fraction of what I’m learning is sticking with me. Like, I don’t feel like I can work on my own yet to replicate the projects I’ve been adding to throughout the course so far. Do you have any tips on how I can study from FreeCodeCamp or how I can better internalize what I’m learning so that I become more fluent in the material by the time I have to start doing the certification projects?

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i just learned about FCC yestrday. Man, you’re such an inspiration for a starter like me.

God bless!!