Got my first dev job in less than a year

Career Advice
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Hello everyone!

I don’t usually post in forums, but I really wanted to thank FCC, @QuincyLarson, and @brianamarie for helping me change the course of my life. I can’t believe it’s been less than a year and I’ve found a job as a webmaster/web developer.

I started programming (absolute zero knowledge) in Nov 2016 here on FCC. I wasn’t even sure if I’d like it or be good at it, but I wanted to try it out. I was immediately interested and kept going at it. At the time, I was finishing my bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science which I love, but my interests were changing. I was doing both, FCC and Exercise Science, even though they felt like two completely different worlds. I’m sure I can combine both one day.

Along the way, I supplemented my learning with other online resources and Treehouse; however, FCC was always my ‘home base’ that I could return to when things were unclear or scattered.

I started getting more serious in May/June and started actually building the front-end projects. Each project seemed like a huge mountain to climb, but they were all fun and taught me so much along the way. I truly believe that the projects are the best way to learn and solidify what you’ve learned. During this time building projects, I was also applying to jobs, even though I probably wasn’t ready for that. I was eager lol.

In late June/August, I kept looking for a development-related job and I got my portfolio looking ready. All of my projects are basic, but I was hoping it would convince employers that I have the potential to learn. [I’m still working on the front-end certificate.]

I applied for hundreds of jobs, probably, and never heard back from most of them. I finally got an interview for a start-up company in Sarasota, FL – I thought it went well, but I was not offered the job. I was still thankful for the interview experience.

A couple of weeks later after that interview, I got the chance to interview over skype for a webmaster/ web developer position at a company in Texas. I thought I came across as inexperienced, but they seemed interested. They stated they weren’t looking for remote employees and that we could talk more in person. I was considering moving there anyway, so I packed up and took the two-day drive from south Florida to Texas. There was no guarantee that I’d be hired.

The next day after I arrived, I met with the owner in person and he hired me! I’ve worked there two days so far. I’m overwhelmed, for sure, but I’m so thankful I get the opportunity to do what I love and be paid to do it! I’m also suffering from ‘imposter syndrome’ for sure, especially considering my inexperience and unrelated formal education, but it helps to know that a lot of others feel that way sometimes.

My responsibilities include website maintenance, updating content, general IT troubleshooting, networking, and building software for other internal departments. I found out that there’s so much more to learn, including PHP, visual basic, and some graphic design.

I’ve always wanted to write an “I got a job!” post, haha. Again, I’m so thankful to the FCC community.
I’m going to continue FCC, of course, in addition to learning other languages I need for the new job.
There’s also a lot more meetup groups here in Texas (compared to Florida), so I’m excited for those too.

At times, it felt like this day would never come, but if you continue to work towards your goals, it’s inevitable that you’ll reach them!

  • Jon
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Awesome!!! So great to hear this… Looking forward to that feeling myself, the day I get to write a post like this too :smiley:

Congrats on the new job and your new home in TX!

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Thank you!! That day will come :grin:

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Congratulations Jon! Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I think it can provide a lot of encouragement for people who are still climbing the mountains of projects, or applying for dozens of jobs without response. I imagine that there is a lot of opportunity for someone with your intersection of knowledge and skill (given the popularity of fitness related wearables, smart devices, and from-home exercise programs).

I hope that you’ll remain an active member of our community and share your new perspective as a professional programmer.

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Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your story of the past few months with us.

It sounds like you were patient and persistent with the job application process. I’m glad you took a chance and took the interview opportunity in Texas seriously enough to drive there. It definitely seems to have paid off!

It also sounds like you’ll get to learn a ton of new skills in your new role, and wear lots of hats. This type of opportunity is a great way to expand your skills and acquire a lot of experience quickly.

Don’t sweat the imposter syndrome. We all get it. Myself included.

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Congratulations Jon! Keep moving forward now :wink:

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@jon-0 Congratulations!

There’s no gif that can properly show the warm and fuzzies that this post gave me…but I can’t help but try :blush:

@jon-0 You are inspiring! Thank you for sharing your story because there are so many more people working towards dev jobs with imposter syndrome & going through a lot of the same things you have gone through while trying to find a job. Persistence is key, and you are a prime example of that. :sparkles:

It sounds like you have a lot more to learn - with PHP, visual basic, and graphic design - but you’ve proved that you can learn hard things when given the opportunity, and I’m sure that you’ll learn whatever comes your way just like you have learned the content on FCC. Yay!

PS my two unsolicited hot tips for imposter syndrome:

  1. Let it help you. When you’re worried about all that you don’t know, write everything you want to know down in the form of a question journal. Write all of the questions down you can think of, whether they relate to programming or not. No answers allowed, you can sort the questions and form a plan to answer them later. Questions are more valuable than answers.
  2. Create a private repository (or some other private space) to keep positive things about yourself. In mine, I keep a list of accomplishments and try to brag about myself like I were my own kid. I also write pep talks to myself, as if it’s my job to tell me exactly what I’d need to hear from someone else. I can look at it when I write it, and if I’m feeling insecure, I can go back and read my own affirmations.
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Thanks for this…really helpful, especially because it’s unsolicited…lol

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@brianamarie Thank you for the great advice and for all your help along the way! I’ll definitely try your tips :smile:
Also, Bob’s Burgers is always a great choice :+1:

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This is some of the most actionable advice I’ve heard for coping with imposter syndrome. If you’d be interested in expanding both of these approaches into short articles, we’d happily publish them on the freeCodeCamp Medium publication, and I think a lot of developers would benefit from reading them, too!

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Can you show us your portfolio that got you this job? BTW. congrats!

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Jon, it’s an interesting journey that you have been through. It’s inspiring and motivating to know that it’s possible to get a dev job in less than a year, which you have proved. I’m sure that you didn’t believe that you would get this far when you were still struggling with the hard challenges. But you proved that with passion and hard work, it’s possible to reach your goals. I would like to thank you for sharing your story. Also I’m glad that you succeeded and got a job in an area you were interested in.

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This is such an inspiring post, thanks so much for sharing! I also decided to learn to code in November '16, if I’d actually gotten my butt in gear I might’ve also been able to land a job goshdarnit.

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I started with Freelancer,a website/app for hiring and buying things from websites to writing.
Is totally free,but I never been hired:maybe because I have a free membership with just a few bids
But maybe

you
can do a better job than me,so try your luck if you have time✌🏼
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This is so beautiful! Congratulations for your new job. I hope you are feeling great, learning a lot and doing an amazing job!
Hopefully i’ll write a post like this in the near future <3

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Will meet you in the halfway @jon-0!!

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Thanks for sharing your story! I’ve been taking various coding courses on and off for almost a year but have been very distracted with other work and business things. I just recently dove back into learning to code and it feels really great to do so. I’m inspired by your story because I now envision myself sticking with learning for the long haul with the goal of getting a dev job or being able to freelance professionally. Congrats!

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Thanks for sharing! Congrats on the new position!

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Thank you for sharing this. You’re inspirational. Searching for Developer jobs in Texas (I’m in Houston) is no joke. Congratulations!

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Wow congrats! Amazing achievement.
I cant help but think for your experience you are in over your head though?
Maybe you have an amazing boss or work colleagues that are patient and help you but surely less than one year of FCC isnt enough to build software and network about advanced IT issues?!
Would like to hear how you are overcoming that!

Well done for having the courage and conviction to get there.

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