Here’s my story, in 2009 I started dabbling with html/css for fun during my last year of high school. I enjoyed being able to design something on paper and code it to a real web project. I enjoyed it so much that I continued to do this for fun while working at a factory until 2012. Early 2012, I enrolled in college for an associates in Graphic Design (big mistake) because I had assumed that graphic design was a sub for web design at the time. That was not the case. So here I am in 2014 graduating with an associates in Graphic Design. After college, I continued to pursue learning front end development on my own in my spare time while working full time paving roads for the state.
I was miserable paving roads because I knew it wasn’t for me. I eventuall made enough money by the end of 2015 to where I could live on my savings for the next year while paying rent etc and learning to become a front end developer professionally. This wasn’t the case, I actually ended up realizing I was still not good enough after a year of learning. Now its 2016, and I have gotten a part time job so that I can still have ample time to study and work towards a career. I did this all through 2016.
Now its February of 2017 and I landed a front end dev position for a startup. I was with them building reusable web components mostly with Polymer.js and was let go in December because they were a startup and lost their funding. At the same time, I also did a 3 month dual website project for another company as well, but their more IT focused so they didn’t have any more ongoing work for me. Now I’m unemployed for the start of 2018 and I revamp my resume, get tons of good feedback on it and my portfolio website, and I still haven’t been able to land a job. I have applied to hundreds of places on sites such as LinkedIn, Remote.co, AngelList, Indeed, WeWorkRemotely, and the local Craigslist as well. I can’t seem to figure out what the issue actually is on why I cant even land a junior position.
Overall, I’m losing hope and it’s been almost 4 months unemployed now and I have been applying to everything in my area, as well as out of state, remote, contract, full time and part time. I’m at my wits end and have no idea where to turn. I am looking for suggestions on how I can overcome this problem and land a job. Im looking for a position with a company that I can grow with for the long-term as well. Im not looking for a job, but looking for a career.
A link to my portfolio site is below - in case you would like to look at it for feedback or anything else. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Success is walking from failure to failure with the same amount of enthusiasm. (That is a quote from Winston Churchill).
From what I just read, you did have had a couple successes (getting a job at a startup) and learned a couple interesting technologies.
As for what you can do, I think your website has good design, but poor content / bad messaging structure. I’ve gone through your website and wrote down my thoughts below.
The first thing that I see is the landing page top section. That is kind of okay.
When I scroll down I see the “about me” section. I haven’t seen your work yet so I don’t give a damn about you. It comes over as arrogant to me.
“Hello, I’m Garrett Schultz, a Front-End Developer with 1 year professional experience, and 2 years as a hobbyist working with various front-end technologies.”
Don’t make it to tough for the user, just tell WHAT technologies right away.
Next section: “Interested in working together?” No I’m not interested to work together as I haven’t seen anything of your work.
Then there is the portfolio section, which is kind of okay. I (personally?) would remove code pen though. Only github or hosted work.
I like the way that you can click to other projects on the left and right arrows. But it took me quite some time to figure it out. Something to think about.
I cannot read what you did exactly per project or which technologies you used.
From your website I see that you can design, but from an employers perspective I don’t see any proof that you have the hunger to learn new technologies or what skills you exactly have.
Also the fact that I see that you haven’t put the effort to show your knowledge, it makes me think you are lazy and gives me more reason not to reach out to you.
In short I would put a lot more content on your website that explains what frameworks and technologies you have learned. To really show your passion that have for web development. You can even add a small blog where you talk about the fcc algorithm challenges that you solve.
These are my honest thoughts, but don’t take them too seriously. Also checkout the portfolio website of Shawn Wang (author of the blog post “No.Zero.Days.”), I really like that one: https://www.swyx.io/
Join software meetups, user groups, clubs, etc… where you can meet other web devs, and network. Make friends, contribute, teach a class (html, css, js, framework, whatever), etc. – i.e. make your presence known, and also make it known you’re also looking for a job.
Also, why not trying to contact businesses in your area/surrounding area and offer your web design services. WordPress is easy to learn and you can make sites for other businesses. Your graphics design background will be a big advantage compared to other “plain coder” developers out there.
You have an awesome portfolio. U will surely get a job…Need some luck…GOOD LUCK…
Keep applying…by the time,before getting job,try to do some internships from internshala…
Will add more flavours to your profile with certificates.
@owel thanks for the suggestion. My problem with freelancing is I am very anti social and not the best at talking to people. I’ve tried freelancing before but quit after 6 months of trying to find a client. I realized I’d rather have job security with a company I can grow with for the long term.
@davincios lots of awesome feedback, thank you! Almost every point you made, I have not even thought about, so I appreciate it very much for the suggestions.
I am not sure if it’s because of the resolution of my desktop versus what you see, but the highlighted sections in the Navbar don’t really quite line up with the information displayed on the page. Can you work on the transitions? Like here I am viewing the Portfolio text and About is still highlighted.
