Getting into the tech field. what next
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The document provides career advice for getting into the tech field, including: - Doing projects and internships in college to build a portfolio. - Learning about different roles and technologies through industry research. - Contributing to open source projects to build experience and network. - Developing a personal brand through a website and social media presence. - Networking through events, communities, and finding a mentor. - Practicing interviews through mock interviews and whiteboarding coding questions.
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Getting into the tech field. what next
- 1. Getting into the Tech Field: What Next? By Tessa Mero
- 2. Career Path: ● A Lost Soul ● Gamestop/Jewelry Sales/HR ● Assistant Teacher/Web Development Intern (3 mo each) ● Graduated from College ● Web Application Developer / Web Support Technician (OSTraining) ● Programming Instructor/Curriculum Creator ● Developer Advocate ● Senior Developer Advocate
- 3. Agenda Ask questions throughout!!!! It’s an open Q&A ● During College - What you should do to prep ● Contributions/Personal Brand/Growth ● Networking/Mentorship ● Interview Prep/Mock Interviews/Whiteboarding
- 4. During College Should you be doing anything now before graduating? What should you do to prepare? ➔ Projects or Internships Create a portfolio by doing projects or doing temp internships for individuals/companies ➔ Industry Research Learn about different roles in the industry. There’s SO MANY!!! ➔ Make a Plan What is your timeline on your next steps?
- 5. Learn & Create Learn as much as you can so you are familiar with terminology and basics. It’s impossible to be proficient at EVERYTHING! ➔ Learn Learn the basics on different technologies, tools, frameworks, and anything to widen your knowledge. ➔ Create Make your portfolio. The first thing the interviewer will look at is your projects. ➔ Get Feedback Get Code Reviews Done. I cannot emphasize this enough. I made the mistake of not!
- 6. Contributions This is what landed me my first 6 figure job at a big company!!!!!! THIS IS THE SECRET. ➔ Find a Project Figure out what areas of technology you enjoy. Look into Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Projects. ➔ Network with that Community This will help you learn about different teams, where help is needed, and figure out where you best fit later on. ➔ Build a Contribution Portfolio Network. Make friends. Build a portfolio, add to Resume!!!
- 7. My Contributions to Open Source Communities ● J! - Bug Squad - Bug Tester ● J! - Extensions Team, then Assistant Manager ● J! - Board of Directors ● J! - Developer Advocate (Keynoting at PHP events) ● Organizer of Joomla, PHP, Vue.js, APIs, DevRel, Jamstack events… ● Organized PHP Conference and API Conference
- 8. Personal Brand Okay so this isn’t really necessary, but it makes you stand out! ➔ Create Personal Website Figure out what areas of technology you enjoy. Look into Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Projects. ➔ Social Media Presence Follow software engineers and industry thought leaders and learn and/or engage with them. Where is the software engineering community? Twitter.com and Dev.to
- 9. Networking Networking is important. This will eventually lead to being recommended to jobs in the future. ➔ Social Forums Social media, dev forums, GitHub, Discord/Slack communities, virtual meetups, in person meetups, conferences (scholarships fyi) ➔ Who to Follow? 95% of the people I follow are really positive and quality thought leaders in the tech field: https://twitter.com/TessaMero/following Want to follow Vue.js content writers? Here’s an example of how: https://dev.to/t/vue
- 10. (pt2) Networking Networking on social media, dev forums, GitHub, Discord/Slack communities, ➔ Events/Hackathons Participate in virtual events and/or in-person events and expand your network organically. ➔ Discord/Slack Find communities of technologies you enjoy. Engage with developers. Ask questions and/or help others with their questions, share experiences.
- 11. Mentors Finding a mentor will be your fast path to success. I’ve had one for every dream job I’ve had! ➔ Search Resources http://stephaniehurlburt.com/blog/2016/11/14 /list-of-engineers-willing-to-mentor-you Google “find a mentor software engineer” and you’ll find endless articles! ➔ Mentor Will Provide Resources Mentors can help with giving you an understanding of your next steps on what you need to do to get to where you want to be!
- 12. Mock Interviews Practice Interviewing until you feel comfortable. ➔ Find Mock Interviews After networking, it should be easy to find help with others providing mock interviews for you. Practice until you feel comfortable! ➔ Practice - WhiteBoarding As someone who went through the Google interview process, this is important and a whole presentation on its own. Lots of resources online, samples on YouTube.
- 13. White Boarding Practice practice practice ➔ For Code Liveshare - code with a mentor https:/ /codeshare.io/ ➔ Google Doc Practice whiteboarding your code in a google doc. Use text formatting: Roboto Mono
- 14. Data Structures and Algorithms ➔ Learn as much as you can
- 15. Coding Preparation ➔ Leet Code Prepare for tech questions for each company you’d like to apply for https:/ /leetcode.com/ ➔ HackerRank Practice coding questions, get ranked, and standout from the crowd: https:/ /www.hackerrank.com/dashboa rd
- 16. Interview Process ➔ Recruiter - Asking questions (sometimes intro/sometimes random tech questions on algorithms) ➔ Phone Coding Questions ➔ Whiteboarding Coding Questions ➔ In person Coding questions
- 17. Interview Prep Okay you’re about to have an interview. HELP! ➔ Company Research Read about the company, their values/principals, their product/technology, make something with it...utilize glassdoor!!!! Read engineering blogs by X company. Understand how they scale their services ➔ Mental Health Exercise, do jumping jacks, listen to music, practice breathing so you are less nervous and tense during the interview.
- 18. Cover Letters This is your way to quickly stand out from the rest ➔ What position are you applying for? ➔ Who are you and why are you applying? ➔ What is your education/experience that makes you applicable for the job? ➔ What value will you bring to the company if you are hired and why should they hire you?
- 19. Mental State Maybe you have to apply to 500+ jobs. Be prepared for rejection ➔ Understand it is difficult to land a first job with no experience ➔ It IS possible. You WILL get hired ➔ Positive self talk ➔ Keep preparing and focus
- 20. Whiteboard Interviewing - Tell me more! ➔ Tech Interview Explained: https:/ /www.youtube.com/watch ?v=cTuHz7uSq7M ➔ JavaScript intern/junior level coding question sample: https:/ /www.youtube.com/watch ?v=miiM5JJgrQo
- 21. Remember - ➔ Ask questions before you start. Clarification! System requirements? How many users? Anything you can think of. Show that you are understanding first. ➔ Think and talk out loud the entire time. If you need to stop talking to think, let the interviewer know ➔ Confirm and ask questions before solving the code ➔ Practice and memorize 1 coding question per day for at least 3 months ➔ JavaScript: Understand Closures, “This” keyword, prototypal inheritance, and other core concepts ➔ Understanding the specifications is better than getting the answer right