I know that having an elevator pitch is important. A quick 30 second sell of yourself highlighting what you bring to the table, who you are, and pretty much "why you". In the craziness of my job hunt for a Junior Dev role, I've worked on tweaking my elevator pitch over and over to not only show who I am, but how I would be a good fit for the job and company I'm applying for.

Being a career changer shifting from e-commerce + marketing to web development I make sure to mention not only my technical skills gained through bootcamp but also the transferable skills and soft skills I've developed over the years.

So first things first, let me share everything I'm doing to put myself out there.

1. Meetups
2. Coffee meetings with industry professionals
3. Customizing cover letters per job application
4. Community involvement (Twitter, local groups, mentoring etc.)
5. Conferences
6. Working with a mentor
7. Practice, practice, practice! (ongoing studying and side projects)

I know that landing the first job is the toughest (or so I've been told), and that it's more of a numbers game. Getting one person to believe in you, and have that one "yes" is really all it takes. It's the hoops you need to jump through to getting that yes that's the hard part.

The reason for this blog post is pretty much trying to find out what has worked for others in terms of selling themselves and landing their first tech role. I'm looking for gaps in my methods so I know what I can improve to better leverage myself when applying for jobs.

If anyone is willing to share their stories / advice with me, please comment or reach out (@heysarahpaz), or if you know of any Junior Dev roles right now (that possibly hasn't made it to a job board yet) please let me know!

Lastly, a blog post reaching out for advice and sharing my job hunt wouldn't be complete without adding my own pitch and experience 😅.

My background is in marketing and e-commerce. I've worked in e-commerce for over 5 years, and I'm currently a Digital Marketing Specialist for a fitness startup in Toronto. Just over a year ago I started my career transition into software development and graduated from a bootcamp for Software Engineering / Full Stack Web Development. I've worked with various e-commerce platforms like BigCommerce, Shopify, Groupby and Magento, and marketing tools such as Klaviyo, GA and Justuno. Development wise, I have experience with HTML, CSS, jQuery, JavaScript, React and Ruby. With working at startups I've learned the importance of team collaboration and how to adapt quickly, and with marketing and e-commerce I've learned how to identify opportunities to improve the user experience. I'm excited to bring those learnings into my next career, contributing towards the bigger picture and being part of a team making a positive impact.

If reading this made a 💡 go off and you're thinking I'd be a good fit for X role at X company, please reach out ➡️ www.sarahpaz.ca!

Thanks!