I finally landed a job! The marathon took about four months of stress, bucket loads of doubt, and a lot of hard work, but it it paid off!

This post is about the whole experience. It includes things I think worked and didn’t work for the process. I figured sharing these things with you could give you that extra boost in your own job-hunt. Let’s start with the most critical tip…

Know Your Market

I think I got too caught up in trying to learn everything – creating apps in NodeJs, fiddling around with SQL and NoSQL databases, trying out unorthodox techniques in Photoshop, etc.

These things were all great, but at the end of the day, companies were only interested in the key requirements listed in the job description. It didn’t really matter if I was passionate and willing to learn new technologies, or if I could learn these things for them over a weekend. If they wanted to give me an interview, they would need to justify the amount of time spent doing it. In other words, they would need to make sure it wouldn’t be a waste of time for them.

Knowing the key requirements (and displaying it front and center!) for the positions you are applying for is crucial. As a developer, knowing requirement X or Y doesn’t make you a a good developer, having excellent problem-solving skills does. I understand this, and you should too, but those gatekeepers keeping you from getting an interview usually do not. At times it’ll feel like a satire straight out of a certain infamous post, but keep at it. Take the time to showcase that specific skill or requirement in your portfolio.

In other words, know your market and learn its most popular technologies.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Create work in your portfolio that cater to skills that companies post in their job descriptions. But also go that extra mile and take a weekend to create something truly unique for that special company. Show them that you are dedicated and willingly to work for them.

Since I was a junior developer looking to get started in the field, I lacked experience on my resume. However, I made up for it by the sheer amount of projects that I worked on day and night. Although experience has taught me that I should have focused these projects on specific technologies to get more offers (see above), I’m still happy with the results.

I took a sniper approach to the job-hunt, submitting time-intensive, tailored resumes to companies that I did a lot of research on (and eventually switched to a shotgun approach towards the end when I became desperate).

Every time I submitted a resume to a company that I really liked, I would make a small personal project for them, highlighting skills they were looking for. Since I lacked the experience, I figured showing them I could actually do the work was better than persuading them. The companies I spoke with loved these tailored projects and it became a strong selling point for me.

These Actions Compound Over Time

I found that the companies in my area were focusing on two technologies: C# and PHP. Since I wanted to go the Front End route, I focused on learning PHP and building projects with this language (know your market!). Once these PHP projects began accumulating, they snowballed into a stronger position for me. And those ‘company-catered’ projects? They became the ‘cherries on top’ this snowball-turned-icecream delight.

Find Allies In The Industry

My networking skills are terrible, but I still made it a goal to go out and attend tech events. I think I still failed miserably, generating only a handful of contacts at the end of the day, but I learned a lot about the industry.

The allies that were most helpful to me were recruiting agencies. I managed to get into contact with one and was very happy with the process. Since I already had a solid portfolio by the time I talked to them, the last step was getting that coveted face-to-face interview. They were extremely helpful in this last step, and through them I was able to land my job!

I definitely recommend this route for those who have trouble with their networking skills or just need to land a job faster than usual. Besides, they get paid to get you a job; everybody is happy in the end!

Sell Yourself and Assume Nothing

So far I’ve talked about my pre-interview experience and what I learned. Now onto the crucial part: the interview itself.

If you find that you made it to the phone interview stage, be prepared to talk about the skills they need and how your portfolio is full of these precious skills that they need. Remember, it’s about their needs and how you can fulfill those needs.

Also, assume that they never even looked at your portfolio. This is important. I made that mistake and it cost me. Don’t worry about being redundant and don’t worry if you feel like you’re babbling on for too long. The person on the other line will definitely let you know when to stop.

At this stage, the goal is to get an in-person interview. So avoid in-depth, deep analysis of your code and projects; give a general overview of your portfolio, highlighting each project with two or three bullet points, and make sure to stay within the topic of the job description. If the interviewer wants you to talk a little more in-depth about a certain project, by all means, give it to them. Otherwise, treat the company’s job description as your outline for your conversation.

Sometimes we easily assume that the potential employer did their research on you and knows everything from the high school you attended to your preference to tea or coffee. Again, do not assume this! Prepare to sell yourself and everything you have done. It is very easy to forget what people do not know about you, especially when you have been working on improving yourself and your skills for the past few months like I was doing.

When my in-person interview came around, I came prepared with a memorized script, believe it or not. It’s silly, I know, but it really helped me answer those tough, sticky questions about my past experience. And it also let me develop an eloquent conversation flow so that I wasn’t producing word vomit full of uh’s and um’s every five seconds.

Roll With The Punches

Speaking of those tough, sticky questions…

No one is perfect and those tough, sticky questions will vary from individual to individual. Be prepared to answer these. Transform your so-called downfalls into a positive qualities that have shaped you for the better.

I never finished my Bachelor’s degree – in fact, my degree wasn’t even in the tech field, and my experience in the field itself is limited to an internship/retreat and part-time freelancing. This was a tough nut to crack.

Use these weaknesses to your advantage. Look at them in a different light and pull strengths out of them.

Never went to college? This means you’re self-taught, and being self-taught means you know how frustrating it can be to solve hard problems by yourself. But you overcame this and have become stronger. You have developed grit and persistence in this field and can learn efficiently. Sell that.

Just got started in the industry? That means you have limited experience. But that also means, you’re flexible and tenacious. And if you have a strong grasp on the foundational skills, you can pick up a working knowledge of almost any other technology. It may not be pretty and eloquent, but the job will get done. Sell that.

I turned each of those sticky questions thrown at me into an answer highlighting a strength I had. I would then transition into talking about developing this strength through one of my completed portfolio items.

In The End

In closing, I think the best way to approach the job-hunt is to be honest. Be honest with yourself and others. You never want to be the one to experience the binding situation where you stretch the truth into a lie, dig yourself into a hole, and get called out for it. Instead, be noble and outright. Own up to your mistakes and attempt to fix them. Consistently give yourself a healthy reevaluation of your own work so you can continue to improve.

I’m happy with the results I got. The goal was to get a Front End Developer position at an established company before the end of June. I start June 20th, just before the deadline. It’s been a long four months, but I finally got to experience first hand the fruits of my labors. It’s intoxicating and I’m sure I’ll be attempting more grandiose goals later in life.

On to the next chapter! :)