As long as I work in IT, I receive questions about how to start and how to get the first job. Before we begin, you need to know something. You will not get in this video the holy grail that will guarantee you a job. Instead, I will tell you about my path and what I did to make sure that after the first interview I would get the job. Are you ready? Let's get started.
Learn first language
First of all - learn a programming language. Which one? Actually, it doesn't matter as long as it's not some barely alive language like COBOL or Fortran. Choose one of the 6 most frequently mentioned in job offers. Don't know which one? Roll a six-sided dice. Seriously - the language you choose doesn't matter. If you master it, you'll be able to understand another language in maybe two or three weeks.
Someone might say that the language is closely related to technology, and technology to specialization. Yes, that's true. Someone who will be a frontend developer will not use Python on a daily basis. But here's the point - how do you know what you will want to do, if you don't know what work looks like in practice? I know people who ponder for several months before making a decision. Instead, just choose a language and start coding.
Fundamentals
Once you choose a programming language, start learning. How? Use free courses or choose a paid one. Honestly, they don't differ much from each other, except that in paid courses you usually have more knowledge and maybe more tasks. Often the knowledge is additional and honestly, rarely needed at the beginning. However, if you don't feel like looking for a free course or you want to have as strong a foundation as possible - invest those few dollars and buy a course from people who know what they're doing.
My courses: https://grzegorzpiechnik.gumroad.com/
Create three - four projects
Once you have a strong foundation, do three - four projects yourself. How to come up with such a project? Simple. First of all, decide on a specific development path. There are several and the most popular ones are frontend, backend, test automation, or administration.
If you choose one of them, try to plan your projects. One after the other. Try to take an application you use every day and plan it from the perspective of the chosen specialization. For example, if you want to be a backend developer and you use YouTube, think about the most important functionalities it offers. Then plan the databases, create an API for these functionalities, and finally document everything.
If, on the other hand, you want to work as a tester, then write sample test cases and scenarios for the application, preferably in an external tool. Then choose a framework like Playwright or Cypress and start building it. Step by step.
Send your CV everywhere you can
The last stage is to prepare and send your CV everywhere you can. By "everywhere you can", I mean literally everywhere. Are you applying for a Junior Frontend Developer and see an announcement for a Team Lead of a team of frontend developers? Of course, you will not get that position. That's normal. But you have a hundred percent chance that someone will see your CV in the thicket of other people who sent their CVs.
I worked in one company where we had an open senior position for several months. Because no senior applied to us, and we didn't have a separate team for searching for employees, only juniors applied to us. This resulted in us hiring several of them.
Final Advice
Finally, the final advice - don't be guided by the name of the position or what your friends tell you. I myself, starting my first job, was convinced that I knew what I would be doing - it turned out that I knew nothing. What may seem boring may not be so at all, and vice versa. It always depends both on the project and on the people you meet.
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