Some Advice needed (Support -> Dev)

[Faziki]

Hello Guys,

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I have almost 8 years of working experience in the I.T industry mostly to do with support and monitoring servers and networks. Through the years I had my encounter with some Development languages and I did what I had to do to get stuff done, but during this year I decided to fully commit to moving over to Development so I signed up for Software Development Bootcamp, Completed it within a few months and now I am Busy with a Data Science Bootcamp (Think I will be done with it by the end of the month or so)

As you understand my background a bit more I started to look at some Dev jobs to start my career and get myself in the environment BUT with no success, I cant find to land a solid job with what I have learned and the job posting is ridiculous !"junior level" position that needs 3 years of Java experience and a ton of other technologies and languages, Excuse my french but WTF?!!!

After reading through job posts it seems quite impossible to land a job as a new developer and people say 'Start a youtube channel and showcase what you can do or do some projects that you can load onto Github" I immediately thought that the youtube thing is not going to work for me cause I don't like being recorded and I would probably end up becoming a pro at video editing (Haha) So I decided to upload some of my tasks that I completed to my GitHub and send my Github URL out with my application, still... no success. Asked someone to Redo my LinkedIn and my CV professionally and not a bite...

Now I am seeking advice because my determination has hit an all-time low and I do not have a job currently so "Tick! Tock, Said the clock" I would like to know HOW can a person with almost 8 years experience and Two Bootcamps get into a position that can kick start his career in development.

Any advice would be great!

 

[MtraX]

The market is down overall and jobs being offered are at low salaries. Either work at your strengths in the IT industry while improving your dev skills after hours (ie survive the current economy), or write it up as experience and work at a lower salary. Remember, 8yrs experience doesn't apply if it's not in the direction you're wanting to work in, but, if you highlight people, project & business skills you learnt that could still be applied, ensure you add that on your CV. In the dev world, you are still a junior, unless the employer can provide a test and you prove you are on a more senior level (to get higher pay if it's offered).

 

[bchip]

but during this year I decided to fully commit to moving over to Development so I signed up for Software Development Bootcamp, Completed it within a few months and now I am Busy with a Data Science Bootcamp (Think I will be done with it by the end of the month or so)

Hi

Curious which bootcamps you did and if you recommend them.

Thanks.

 

[bchip]

Now I am seeking advice because my determination has hit an all-time low and I do not have a job currently so "Tick! Tock, Said the clock" I would like to know HOW can a person with almost 8 years experience and Two Bootcamps get into a position that can kick start his career in development.

Any advice would be great!

Also have you thought off discussing with recruitment consultants what they think you might be missing?
Someone posted a thread about a group like: OfferZen

 

[retromodcoza]

This may not be what you want to hear ... but....

The problem with bootcamps is they generally do not prepare you properly to code in a commercial environment. As such , hiring managers will shy away from candidates that have bootcamp experience towards those who have computer science degrees or years of experience. I can filter out someone who has come from a bootcamp in 5 minutes of questioning. Its a good start , and is a step in the right direction , but it usually is not sufficient.

Contrary to popular belief , a bootcamp usually does not make you qualified , job ready , or any of the other BS you hear from their marketing. I have an honours degree in IS , have coded for 12 years and wouldn't call myself qualified.

The reason these job ads tend to require 3 years experience is because experience is a much better indicator that you can deal with the difficulty and especially the complexity of the required work. 3 years experience lets you hit the ground running more or less when you enter a job.

Dont worry about the laundry list of requirements. Most of the requirements won't apply anyway for various reasons , and are never fulfilled by any candidate ever

If you only have experience from a bootcamp , you will require 3-5 months ramp up time before you are able to start contributing. A senior will have to spend a significant amount of time (and therefore money) helping you and correcting your work. This is time the business has to pay you for , and is expensive. Businesses don't want to do this.

The good news here is that you are unemployed. This means you have the time to code 8 hrs a day , everyday , and have the ability to gain experience right away. Without seeing your github , its difficult to say , but you probably have uploaded code that is simple and doesn't demonstrate the ability to deal with complex or difficult work. It also may be driven from templates of others work with small modifications (hiring managers know if the code is your own or if it is mostly someone elses)

The only antidote to this is the old , tried and tested advice - and that is to start your own project. Code something that does a non-trivial task. Add an interface. Put it up somewhere for people to use. Make sure its tested. Then put this up on github. Make sure the code is well commented , well structured , well architect-ed and efficient.

The market is hot right now , and hiring developers who can work in a commercial environment is difficult. This means you should be easily able to pick up a job if you can demonstrate you are capable of writing code for complex problems that is elegant , well structured and well thought out.

Good luck. Maybe post your github profile and linked here or DM me so I can see it.