This is a guest post from Randall Kenna. Enjoy.
Dear new developer,
Just two weeks after graduating from my coding bootcamp, I received a job offer. And within another two weeks, I was starting my first role as an engineer at a small startup. It felt like a whirlwind, but it was the start of My Coding Career that I had been working so hard to achieve.
The journey to launch my coding career wasn’t accidental. It was the result of focused effort and specific strategies implemented right after graduation. If you’re looking to break into the tech industry and start your coding career, here are some key approaches that proved invaluable for me.
Treat Your Job Search Like Your Full-Time Job
The exhaustion after coding bootcamp is real. Investing significant time and money into tuition and living expenses, especially in expensive tech hubs, creates pressure to see a return quickly. The temptation to collapse onto the couch and recover is strong, but leveraging the momentum from graduation is crucial for jumpstarting your coding career. I knew that letting my skills get rusty would be detrimental, having heard stories of graduates struggling for months to find employment after taking a break.
So, from 9 AM to 6 PM every day, my focus was solely on job hunting. This meant relentlessly updating my resume and LinkedIn profile, actively searching for job openings, networking with industry connections, attending meetups, and continuously refining my technical skills. After 6 PM, I intentionally switched off from job search mode. No recruiter emails, no interview prep – this time was dedicated to rest and recharge, preparing for the next day’s focused efforts in building my coding career.
Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile to Stand Out
Interestingly, the company that ultimately offered me a position found me directly through LinkedIn. Despite numerous applications and networking events, it was my LinkedIn profile that caught their attention and led to an interview invitation. This highlighted the power of a well-crafted online presence in today’s job market, especially when aiming to establish my coding career.
To maximize my visibility, I thoroughly populated my LinkedIn profile. I included previous roles, even those seemingly unrelated to engineering, to demonstrate transferable skills and a history of professional experience. Crucially, I highlighted any instances where I had utilized coding skills in past positions. Furthermore, I listed every course and certification earned during the bootcamp, emphasizing my dedication to engineering as more than just a job – it was clearly my coding career path.
Quickly Identify and Move On From Mismatched Opportunities
During my job search, I encountered companies with interview processes that seemed disproportionately rigorous for entry-level roles. Some expected bootcamp graduates to solve complex algorithmic challenges typically faced by experienced software engineers with Computer Science degrees. Recognizing that these weren’t the right fit for my coding career goals at that stage was important.
I realized that dedicating excessive time preparing for a single, highly demanding interview would limit my overall job search efforts. Instead of getting bogged down, I made the conscious decision to move on from companies whose processes felt misaligned with a junior engineer’s profile. This freed up valuable time to pursue opportunities at multiple companies where my skills and experience were a better match for their requirements and where I could realistically begin my coding career.
Of course, if you are inclined to invest heavily in mastering algorithms and building a strong Computer Science foundation, pursuing those challenging roles could be a viable path. Some of my bootcamp cohort members took this route, and while their job search took a bit longer, they often secured positions with more senior titles and higher starting salaries, setting a different trajectory for their coding careers.
Showcase Your Abilities with a Strong Coding Portfolio
Fortunately, my coding bootcamp emphasized project-based learning, resulting in a substantial portfolio of applications. This portfolio became a valuable asset during my job interviews. I could confidently showcase my work to prospective employers, discussing the technologies used, the challenges overcome, and the lessons learned during each project. Given my final project’s focus on frontend development, I highlighted this specialization to companies seeking frontend expertise, aligning my portfolio strengths with their needs for my coding career launch.
If you are just starting to build your coding career and lack a portfolio, the best advice is to begin now. Start with small, manageable projects and gradually increase complexity with each new endeavor. Utilize platforms like GitHub to host your code, making it easily accessible to potential employers and demonstrating your ongoing commitment to skill development in your coding career.
Demonstrate Eagerness to Learn and Adapt
In a couple of interviews, companies offered me the option to complete a project in a framework I was already comfortable with. However, I recognized an opportunity to stand out and demonstrate my adaptability, a key trait for a successful coding career. Instead of sticking with my comfort zone, I chose to learn the specific framework used by each company.
Over a weekend, I immersed myself in learning one company’s preferred framework and developed a rudimentary application using it. During the subsequent interview, I was able to discuss the framework’s principles and even though my demo app encountered a minor glitch, my proactive learning and willingness to step outside my comfort zone impressed the interviewers, ultimately leading to a job offer and a kickstart to my coding career.
This was a calculated risk, as focusing on one framework meant less time for others. However, it paid off when I received an offer from that particular company, validating the strategy of demonstrating eagerness to learn and adapt as crucial elements in launching my coding career.
Focus on Your Strengths, Not Perceived Weaknesses
I understood that companies heavily focused on algorithms and those prioritizing candidates with traditional Computer Science backgrounds were not my ideal targets. Therefore, I strategically sought out companies that valued mentorship, offered practical, real-world interview scenarios, and appreciated diverse backgrounds – environments where I could thrive and build my coding career.
During interviews, I proactively highlighted my previous career experiences and emphasized the transferable skills I had gained, demonstrating how these experiences would be beneficial to their teams. I also made sure to showcase any coding experience I had accumulated in prior roles, reinforcing my commitment and passion for my coding career.
Landing that first job in coding wasn’t easy, but it was achievable through focused effort and strategic actions. Anyone can successfully launch their coding career by treating the job search process with the dedication it deserves and continuously honing their skills.
Sincerely,
Randall
This post was originally published at RandallKanna.com.
Randall Kanna is a Senior Software Engineer at BaseHQ, speaker and O’Reilly author. She’s formerly worked at companies such as Eventbrite, and Pandora.
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