Congrats!Thank you for sharing your experience. I really need these!
2 Likes
Congratulations! Good luck in your new career.
2 Likes
Congratulation. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience, many will find encouragement from your post. Best of luck in your new adventure.
2 Likes
Congratulations and thank you for the thorough guidelines! Seeing this gave me a much clearer idea of what I need to do in my journey of becoming a SW Developer 
Good luck on your new position, and I hope you continue to share with us your journey too!
2 Likes
Thanks for posting. I’m glad I found this today. I definitely needed the encouragement. I don’t usually get down on myself but I’ve been feeling a little discouraged lately for sure. I need to get out to networking events and be around other developers, studying by myself every day is becoming sort of lonely and I’m constantly thinking that I should be farther along by now and that I’ll never get to the light at the end of the tunnel etc… Also, I probably need to make my Facebook private lol! Too much political stuff on there.
2 Likes
Definitely do your blog. This might be the very best, most informative and well written information I’ve seen on the subjects. Very, very encouraging, as well as practical. Thank you!
2 Likes
Congrats! Definitely agree that the post is medium ready!
I too started getting attention around the time I finished the voting app. Even if you’ve done good work before, I think it’s hard for companies to deny your skills (and determination) if you can string all those parts together.
Props for staying positive and helping others see the progress they are making in their journey.
2 Likes
I needed this post. Thank you for taking the time to provide so much information about your experience. It’s very encouraging as I move through this process to know I’m on the right track.
2 Likes
Thanks for sharing… I started comparing myself to far superior coders out there yesterday. Yet, your right “The slow turtle does seem to win the race”. Tons of great advice here that I did not think of. It is great to hear these success stories congratulations .
2 Likes
Congratulations for the Job 
, and thank you very much for the insights… This post is definitely a guide for finding a Job and I’ll bookmark it to study very well all the tips and insights, when my time to find the job comes on!
2 Likes
Thanks for sharing man, it was very motivating reading it…congrats on your new role…
2 Likes
Congratulations! Thank you so much for sharing. Very well written and very inspiring and motivational. Good luck!
2 Likes
Just made an account to say thank you for the article.
So many good insights and motivating words.
I loved that you have been honest.
I am learning programming by myself with stuffs from online. I knew about freecodecamp long ago but started using recently only because I didn’t like the idea about showing things.
But recently I liked it.
Thank You.
4 Likes
Considering you have only posted in this topic, I couldn’t browse your post history to see your projects.
Could you link your portfolio?
2 Likes
I second this comment!
2 Likes
Thanks a lot for sharing, I think is one of the best stories I have read about getting your first developing job !
2 Likes
I appreciate the honest advice!
The timeframes section is really important, especially for full stack development. I’m at a bit of a loss for what would be considered a realistic timeframe for front end dev job hunting, though. Although I hope to eventually progress to full stack, there are quite a few front end dev opportunities in my area. So I’m hoping that even with a full time job, I can be front end ready a little bit sooner than 1.5 - 2 years. I know, don’t rush it!
2 Likes
All of my projects can be found on my website: http://www.matttrifilo.com
The voting app’s database isn’t loading right now, but I’ll debug that soon. The rest of the projects are up.
2 Likes
Just keep in mind that many companies looking for front end developers will want candidates who can demonstrate that they know how to interact with complex APIs and understand them. Building a few simple ones yourself is a great way to build those skills, and have more projects that employers can look at.
Understanding REST, HTTP, and how to work with complex JSON responses will make your job much easier, so it’s absolutely worth the time even if you want to focus on front end opportunities. Luckily, Express is a very accessible library for new developers and you can build a simple back end without too many headaches. It’s a different skill set, so just take it one step at a time. Your company will likely use a more complex back end, but understanding what the back end does at a high level will help you out.
Don’t let that stop you from applying for front end positions sooner.
Every company is different. Especially for junior level positions, you won’t be expected to be a full stack wizard. They’ll want you to start contributing to projects as soon as possible in the areas where you’re knowledgeable, but they’ll train you up on the more complex parts of their code base.
2 Likes
Thanks for the advice! This is really helpful.
1 Like