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Brooke B
Brooke B

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Staying Empowered During Job Search & Job Search Prep

I am someone who can know exactly what I should be doing and totally resist it.

I have been feeling torn between studying algorithms, applying to jobs and creating applications.

It is not easy to create structure in your life, when the bootcamp ends, or when you graduate college.

Consistency is something that creates results, however it is often a long game.

I won't be great at solving algorithms, or learning new languages and frameworks overnight, but if I practice daily for months I will strengthen my skills.

For the past week I have committed to doing algorithms on Leetcode everyday, even if it is just 2-3 new ones and 5 ones that I have already done. I also have committed to pushing code to Github everyday, but the most important thing I have added to my routine is meditation.

This is my Leetcode submissions:

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I meditated everyday for 40 days and it changed my life. It was the turning point in my bootcamp, I was able to bounce back from seemingly unsolvable bugs, frustration with new material and the stress of code challenges.

When I stopped meditating, I slowly fell back into old ways of thinking. I started to doubt myself, lose motivation, lose patience with learning how to solve various algorithms.

Being a developer is an emotional rollercoaster, the actual coding is not that hard if you practice, however running into bugs that take hours or days to solve can really mess with your head if you do not have a strong mental fortitude, which I will be honest if I do not meditate I surely don't.

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One last thing I will add is I keep seeing Junior developers complain about the number of rejections they get or the application process, and it is not productive. It is a downer to see negative posts on Linkedin, not to mention it is a red flag to recruiters. So stop that habit. Write in a journal, call a friend but do not ruin your professional reputation by having a quitter attitude.

Good luck with your job searches everyone! You will find the right role it is just a matter of time.

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