Hello everyone!
My name is Richard and I’m from the Northern Virginia/DC area. I’ve been studying front end development for close to a year now, but I’ve only started passionately getting into learning and improving over the past couple months. That is to say, I spent the majority of the past year trudging through what felt like a huge learning curve but now I can finally see what I can accomplish with the development tools that are out there. It’s exciting, and I finally understand why people can get hooked on coding. 
I decided to start applying to a few web developer positions a month ago just to see what kind of work experience I might be able to build up while finishing the rest of the front and back end certifications. Much to my surprise, I’ve been contacted by a couple potential employers! One firm is out in Georgia and wants to hire me remotely to work full time and the other firm is a digital marketing agency chock full of front end developers who make me feel incredibly inexperienced.
I’m currently in a final interviewing round with the firm from Georgia. They’re going to interview me via Skype and then give me an assignment to accomplish. I’m unsure what to expect here and I have to admit I’m afraid of failure, even though I shouldn’t be since the worst case scenario is that I get rejected. Actually, I think my fears mostly lie in the possibility of getting the job. I’m mostly concerned with communication with the company’s more experienced developers getting in the way of some social opportunities to pick up a mentor.
As for the digital marketing agency, I’m barely getting into a first round of interviews. I was contacted by a recruiter (not from the actual firm itself) about a junior web development position (eek!) and the kind of skills they desired. We discussed my experience at length and the recruiter decided to give me a crack at the position. I sent him a single-page portfolio showcasing some recent projects from Free Code Camp, The Odin Project, and Udacity’s Front-End curriculum along with my resume and Github. I’m pretty nervous about this to be honest. (Nervous as in, I’m writing here and babbling because I’m both excited and terrified at what’s to come.) For one, the portfolio I sent isn’t exactly perfect. It’s responsive and showcases some projects but it definitely doesn’t get any points for aesthetic beauty. Secondly, I’m unsure if the projects will even be seen as anything noteworthy. The recruiter asked for some “websites” I’ve worked on as opposed to examples of applying various technologies and front-end concepts. I’m hoping the recruiter sees some value in the projects I sent.
It’s an exciting time in my life. I’m trying to not let myself get too worked up over the job hunt when I still have PLENTY to learn about design, algorithms, a framework, and back-end technologies. But I mean, I’ve at least been noticed by a couple tech firms when I know so little. That’s a reason for me to feel some excitement and tension, right?
Anyways, I’m glad to finally make a post here and fully intend to interact with other Free Code Campers more. I really look forward to getting to know more of the community!