How to get the first job

What I tell to my mentees - Tips to getting a Job

tags: first job, software developer, junior developer

All you need to do is expose yourself. Alert cliche sentence: Who is not seen is not remembered.

TL;DR

Create a blog on dev.to and create content;
Keep your Github active and with information;
Learn how to use Google effectively, and search for: GitHub roadmap "some technology here";
LinkedIn - create posts, talk with people;
Participe of communities - slack, discord, telegram;
Use well Twitter and social networks to follow the right people and consume good content.
Apply for the jobs, get indications, find mentors.

Go to well explain version:

Who is not seen is not remembered - How to be seen?

The answer is SEO (Search Engine Optimization), what happens when you type on Google: "React Software Engineer Thiago Marinho" I hope that you will see some references for myself, my LinkedIn, Twitter, personal website, old pictures also 💁‍♂️

So my tip for someone that needs the first job or relocate, is to create some portfolio and show yourself for the world. Don't be shy.

You can do it using dev.to, medium, substack, or code your own website. It's better to use the first alternative for now.

Your Github should contain information and links to your LinkedIn, professional email, and the bio should have info about what are you doing right now.

e.g: "Passionate Software Developer 💻 React · React Native · Node.js 🚀 GraphQL and Relay enthusiast"

Those who see my GitHub will understand that I'm coding and what I'm interested in.

You should have a portfolio in your GitHub profile, with a Good readme explaining the project:

eg:

This way you can get experience without experience.

Show this project to someone that is hiring you is a great way to impress, it's very nice when you're trying to get a job and the company uses the same stack of your portfolio, it's already happened with me.

How to keep updated with technologies and how to know what I should learn?

Both are great questions, the first one, the Seniors developers go to the information source: If you want to see how to create a good application with React, then you need to see what Facebook developers are doing with this technology and read about their experiences and see others players like: Airbnb, Netflix, Uber, Nubank, and the list is long.

Read their tech blogs, GitHub repositories, etc.

If you are beginning, so your questions already were answered in some place like StackOverflow or GitHub issues of the npm package that you are using.

And the second question the answer is, search for: GitHub react roadmap, GitHub data science roadmap, GitHub javascript roadmap, search also for GitHub awesome react, GitHub awesome python, GitHub awesome blockchain, you will find great resources created by the community.

Learn how to search things:

Learning how to search is a great way to fix issues and get the best content. Use How to ...., and the magic happens.

use the LinkedIn

If you don't know anybody, it's nice to have a LinkedIn.

Create some posts, use nice keywords, be honest but be confident positioning for getting your first job, create your authority in your stack, telling for the world what you are doing, learning, reading, etc, be proactive.
You don't want a job, you want to work, to make your best, to do something great. Give value to receive value.

Do not use LinkedIn superficially, try to make two or three direct contacts, search for who is working with React, and try to talk with them, asking some tips, jobs, feedbacks in your portfolio, there is a bunch of nice people that like to help others.

I suggest reading my blog post pt-br here you will find some other insights for your career.

Join Community

You will work with people, you'll need them. Today you need help, tomorrow you'll help others.

Use discord, telegram, slack, WhatsApp, forums. You should participate in at least one community and be active, asking and answering, be direct with your doubts.

never ask: Someone already worked with React useCallback?

Instead, ask: I'm working with React useCallback, and I'm facing an issue with rerender, look the code below, look the log, someone can help with that?

If you do this question: Someone already worked with React useCallback?
The people will answer: yes | no, and you will type your problem, that's waste of time, you need to improve your async communication.
In a community, there are a lot of people trying to help others just for free and friendly.
You don't need to participate in a lot of community, you can't follow all topics. It's better to participate of one or three in the maximum than participate of 20 and not talk, ask, answer.
Leave from the community that you are not interacting with.

Twitter, Social networking

I recommend following some nice guys that tweet about what you want to work with, this way you will update about technology, market jobs.
Sometimes will appear some cutties cats in your timeline, but make the part.

Learn in public. You don't know anything!
Share what you are doing, learning... on Twitter, and receive feedback about it. Process what matters, ignore the bullshits.

If you don't like Twitter, LinkedIn, ok do it just until you get your first job, then, you can leave, but I recommend interacting with people always you can do.

Conclusion

Never stop learning, you always will have things to learn and apply. Learn on-demand, when you have a new project then you can learn and code about it instead of doing a course without goals or evident opportunity.
use social media Twitter/LinkedIn with wisdom.
Make friends on this platform, find mentors to grow fast.
Take your time, enjoy and learn with the process.

Good luck, see you at the next level 🚀

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