If I can. So can you

I can’t even fathom that I am writing this. I’ve just finished my first day working at a web development agency. I am beyond excited. Ecstatic, still waiting for the reality to hit me, it’s been a long battle against my own self. Wanting to give up at times, many times. But the persistence has finally paid off.

To everyone that said I wouldn’t make it. Cheers.

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Good job! What an accomplishment! :+1: :smile: :+1:

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congratulations! :slight_smile:

mind if I ask how long it took you?

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Congratulations. Tell us something more about what you do?

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Would you mind posting your portfolio or a couple projects you applied with? Just curious.

Also, what was the hardest or most unexpected question you were asked in your interview?

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Awesome dude!! effort pays off!

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CONGRATS!!!

That is amazing, and I hope you enjoy it to the fullest!

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Congratulations! But man if you had that many people saying you “wouldn’t make it” then you should think about getting a better social circle lol

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You’re so right! But also proving them wrong feels so good

@Sandris to be honest I probably could have started applying much sooner. But I let my anxiety and the feelings of “ugh” when looking at a blank text editor and not knowing how to or where to start hold me back.

So while yes some people get their foot in the door in weeks or months. But my journey has taken 2 years. Working full-time and having my family fall apart.

Yes resumes and portfolio will be posted after work tonight.
I am still training with the company and the work flow but it feels so good to walk in to a new company and be familiar with almost everything they use, Like Trello for example. Lol

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Congratulations dude

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Two years. + A life time of mistakes

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I actually found an entry level position. I would have to say that I was preparing for an interview like it was for the top four big companies. So I didn’t have a project that I applied with. I have heard of a few very cool things, like plug-ins and such people have used to apply to more Senior positions with. But as far as the technical interview went, It was really basic compared to what I was expecting. And I have a habit of self sabotage, HaHA!!
I was expecting having to white board a binary tree algorithm without Google. or a bubble search without Google. (See what I mean?)
Sample of questions. "You have a client who wants to turn this list item into a link, make this P a link. Then Change the color of this nav bar button background on hover effect for these 3 items and one 1 make it red(Careful with how you answer! Important may be wrong.)

@ivan3123708
It seems like mostly front end work. I wont know for sure though unless I take on as much responsibility as possible. =)

Also, For those of you using the standard resume lay out when sending out resumes, Switch it up. Try using the Google Template if you’ve never done a different style resume other than the classic boring center aligned page that doesnt stand out.
The Google Resume template gave me a great chance to make my Resume a HR version of my Github. With my Name as the Title, a brief objective. on the right hand side of page in a column vertically, listing things like links to All of my social media profile, Github, FreeCodeCamp, and Codepen profiles. Below that technical skills like HTML to what I was currently learning, PHP & MySQL. Its also placed naturally right where your eyes will drift when reading.
I then took the experience section and made that Projects. Made each project that I was proud of a highlight. Then at the bottom for Education. You know what I put?
FREECODECAMP BABY! No lie. Nothing else. FCC And a brief overview of the course outline.
I also did a cover letter but you dont have to I just wanted to be sure to go the extra mile because I felt as if my skills were lacking, I feel much more confident in myself now.
Obviously, that does not mean that the learning is finished, once you get in the sky is the limit I am quickly learning.

Stay consistent, You dont have to put in 10 hours a day, If you have a family that is not a viable option. Honestly. You can put in 5 minutes, or 40 minutes, 1. Just stay consistent in putting in the time. Keep your goal defined, so you’re not floating in limbo of “ahh well i guess…”. Lastly try a cold shower. Before this new job, I’d spent a few months being a self discipline psychopath listening to @JockoWilink and @JordanBPeterson instilling a whole new set of principals. So really Maybe the fact that It took so long, up and until now should say something about my previous character?

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:raised_hands: :sparkles: :raised_hands:

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That’s fantastic man. I hope your career starts smoothly and continue learning! This is just the beginning :slight_smile:

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Congrats @CaBra503 ! I accomplished what you have in late 2015. I got a one year contract to work on the frontend team at a digital agency that’s owned by IBM. I recently got upgraded to an open-ended contract and I’m fortunate enough to be building websites for large brands, SMBs, and governments that we’ve all heard of.

A word of advice. Don’t take your foot off the gas now. I’d even argue it’s time to put the pedal to the metal.

There were others like me that were given a shot and didn’t make it. I’m not going out like that. So to this day I’m still going home every night and banging out small vanilla JavaScript modules, learning design patterns, and playing around with build tools and libraries.

So I would suggest that after your first week on the job without blowing anything up, you celebrate. If you haven’t already, set new concrete goals for yourself, and get back on the grind like you’re still looking for your first job.

Good luck!

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georgebullock, that’s a very inspirational story! How much time did it take you to get your first job after you had started learning to programme?

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I hear you loud and clear @georgebullock I am already trying to find ways to contribute further than my just my “job”. As it stands I get to work an hour early and stay at least 30 minutes later just learning.

Congrats on your accomplishment! That is a big upgrade from where Im standing @georgebullock how did you transition from front end to what you’re doing now?
What else would you advise to a fresh newbie like me? How could I integrate better? I find myself having to shake off old patterns of head down and work, and its difficult to find a way to insert myself.

I must say. I’ve finally found my career path.

@Andre911 It took me a little over a year. I started teaching myself in October 2015. I started my first coding job in November 2016.

@CaBra503 I hear you loud and clear regarding the feeling of finding your path. I finally genuinely enjoy going to work.

I actually transitioned from marketing to frontend. I just started grinding through books, tutorials, and practice projects at night. Once I felt confident that I could hack it (:slightly_smiling_face:) as a pro frontend dev, I quit my job and taught myself full time for for six months. Then I completed a three-month full-stack boot camp. After the camp, I spent two months applying for jobs and tying off loose ends in my frontend knowledge. It all paid off in November when I finally got picked up by my current team.

I’m not sure what you’re doing, so it’s hard to give you specific advice. In general, I would argue that new developers should initially:

1.) Be laser-focused on learning how to use their company’s tech stack and workflow end-to-end.
2.) Read the documentation for every tool you’re using on a regular basis.
3.) Get access to your team’s old projects, clone them, read the source code, start modifying them. Learn by doing.
4.) Build something from scratch, on your free time, using your team’s stack. Learn by doing.
5.) Master whatever debugging tools you have at your disposal (so you can more often solve your own problems).

Ultimately, all of the above is geared towards being able to make contributions to live projects ASAP. Especially if you’re at an agency, you want to be able to start booking your time to projects so that you’re generating revenue.

Once you’re comfortable with your team’s workflow and you’re on a project making regular commits that are getting pushed to production, then I would suggest pounding the “fundamentals” of whatever languages / technologies you’re using.

I put fundamentals in quotes because what’s fundamental is relative and heavily depends on the context of your situation.

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Congratulations @CaBra503

It’s really inspiring to hear stories like this. It sounds like you and I are similar in some regards. January will be the two year mark of when I started learning front-end development, and I lack confidence in my skills. I, too, have a terrible habit of self-sabotage. It’s easy to get depressed when running into difficulties, especially when I think I’m far beyond such problems. For example, I had to ask for help figuring out a problem with Bootstrap the other day for crying out loud.

Also, after all this time, I’m still working on getting a portfolio up. Thankfully, I’ve hit the section on FCC that asks us to make a portfolio, so that is the project I’m working on this week.

Again, congrats! And thanks for sharing your story!

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Its okay to ask for help, we all do it! To not ask a question, and let yourself flounder knowing there is someone out there who could help point you in the right direction is the biggest thing I’ve had to get over myself.
Just know there is no stupid question and if you don’t ask you wont know!!
It really is easy to get depressed and let yourself stop coding for a week altogether, I’ve done it!
But just remember you’re in this for the long term, the end goal. This isn’t something we will learn immediately overnight. Employers don’t expect us to know everything right off the bat either. (some may, Mine didn’t)They seem to be more concerned with, If we get stuck are we able to get unstuck relatively quickly? For example. I didn’t know something in the technical part of my interview. Instead of letting it get to me and destroy the interview I opened up Google and figured out what I needed. Showing them, If I get stuck I’m not afraid of asking for help or searching out additional resources.
I’ve adopted the motto you see all over FreeCodeCamp, Read-Search-Ask! Theres usually always someone who’s had the problem we are facing before and a few well structured Google searches could return exactly what we need.

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