How do I know if I'm ready

randomcat

randomcat

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How do I know if I'm ready to start applying for junior developer jobs. I would like to know what skills are required and what would you say the ideal junior candidate would look like(not physically). If you could also share what your first developer job was and why you think you got it, that would be nice.
 
Finished a degree, applied to an internship, got a call an hour later for an interview, went for interview on the Monday, got an offer about two hours later. :p
Real job: finished next level of degree, made profile on offerzen, applied for job, got interview scheduled a week later, next day job offer. :p

But for most:
Web developer:

Build a small portfolio, e.g. pick a site you like and model a design after it and try and implement it using bootstrap. Just do the HTML+CSS. Upload that to github.
Then start a new project, model a site you like again, pick something like a blog, and make it so it uses JS to pull the content and use SASS or LESS.
Once you got that going, set up a Vue project, rebuild that site you just did.

You're now more than qualified as a junior for web development.

For design:
Create some designs, can wireframe them.

For back-end:
Build a hello world app. You can apply now. :p
Slightly more serious: know data structures, build an app that's interesting. Can be something as dumb as a console based hangman. Once you can do that, you'll be more than good enough to apply to most places as a junior. You'll need to be careful as to where you apply to, make sure you pick a place with at least ~3 software dev teams, you don't want to be stuck with a place where you can't have a good mentor.

Degree helps in pretty much all cases, you'll also need to specify what type of developer you want to be, the field is broad. You don't have to stick with it as well, you can always move over if you feel like something else is more your thing. Nothing is really expected of a junior besides that you really have a passion to learn and you fit company culture, depends again on company and position you apply for. Everything you make, keep uploading it to Github, show that you're working, constantly improving.

One thing to note with devs: age isn't everything, there are old devs that are bad, there are old devs that are absolutely amazing, there are young devs that are utter crap, there are also ones that are amazing, it all depends on mindset of wanting to learn and trying to solve a problem as well as possible, realizing that what was the best solution yesterday may not be the best solution today, the field is constantly changing and you need to keep up with that change.
 
For my first software development job, I finished my honours degree, then asked my supervisor if he knew of anyone who was looking for someone like me, and he put me in contact with a firm that I then worked for, for a few years. I got the offer because I had a somewhat specialized skill set already (specific areas of CS and Maths) and a very strong academic record. The job entailed C++, Java (brand new then), maths, and algorithms.

Exactly what you need, will depend very much on what type of job you apply for - I suggest starting there and working backwards.
 
Steamy Tom said:
what have you studied/worked on and where are you?
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I did a year Microsoft boot camp through college of CT after matric. It wasn't worth the money but it introduced me to coding. Currently doing a bridging course for math so I can study a diploma in IT. I also did a udemy cert for react. Built a website for a game reserve, nothing fancy just a basic info site in html. I'm in CT.
 
Mystic Twilight said:
That normally gets caught out very quickly nowadays, not easy to fake through an actual programming interview test if you don't know your ****.
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What do they ask locally in a junior full stack interview? I read a lot of different things. Some say its too easy and others say it's too hard.
 
Arandompeer said:
What do they ask locally in a junior full stack interview? I read a lot of different things. Some say its too easy and others say it's too hard.
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The answer to your question is extremely broad, it all depends on the company and what they want from you. You basically have to write a program that can do some specific tasks (that may be related to your job advert), it could be fetching data from a rest server and displaying it, directly talking to a database and storing user submitted info, consuming an api, making a pretty frontend interactive webpage, etc. Complexity is also subjective. Best is attend a few interviews, pass or fail you will quickly get a grasp of what to sort of expect.
 
How do I know if I'm ready

Usually you ask her first before sticking it in the tradesmans entrance.
 
Going to expand OP question a bit,

How does one know they are ready to be a Android app dev?

Profile on GitHub?
App on app store?
Completed udemy training?

What do most interviewers want from you when you apply to be a Android app dev?

Or again, is it all up to chance?
 
I still feel like I have a lot to learn. I started applying but no responses yet. Trying to learn some more data structures and algorithms in the meantime. Where is the best place to get a job if you got no formal work experience? I tried career24 so far.
 
Also, when you are ready, your body begins to glow.

tenor.gif
 
Arandompeer said:
I still feel like I have a lot to learn. I started applying but no responses yet. Trying to learn some more data structures and algorithms in the meantime. Where is the best place to get a job if you got no formal work experience? I tried career24 so far.
Click to expand...
You're going to have to go through a lot of postings, first job will be by far the hardest to land.

Best places to search are LinkedIn, Career Junction and Offerzen, though I don't think you'll manage to get onto the lattermost one as they usually require experience already before allowing devs onto the platform, but try your luck, you'll just need a couple of good projects to show off.
 
Arandompeer said:
I still feel like I have a lot to learn. I started applying but no responses yet. Trying to learn some more data structures and algorithms in the meantime. Where is the best place to get a job if you got no formal work experience? I tried career24 so far.
Click to expand...

Career24, is where developers go to die. Align your skillset with companies and people. You can't expect work to land in your lap, by using a search portal. You have to work for your spot, otherwise someone else is.

Alot of us have been there, self taught or uni qualified, and now what? I can't tell you what or how others have walked their path, but I started (at 16) by doing pro-bono work for people, and then getting in touch with them, and giving it to them. Yep, just handing over a few weeks of work, for nothing.

I'm a ui guy,
So I would pick an industry, pick a site that needed some ui love, and would look good on my portfolio, and then go ahead and build out an updated interface. I've done 17 projects like this, throughout the years, and only 2 people have said no thank you.

Don't think Facebook or Apple, think some local business in your area, or a south african based company that could use a refresh in some way.

From this I've received more payed work requests than I can remember, and a varied portfolio of code and design.

Embrace the grind, get used to thinking in systems, get used to slinging assets on command. Get used to thinking on your feet, these are the skills you need in addition to creating software.

Read the posts from the forum users above and below, (almost) every piece of info should inform your decision.

tl;dr Get started, and get ready to put in the hours.
 
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