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How to Get Your First Job as a Self-Taught Programmer

Adam Nathaniel Davis on March 17, 2023

A few years ago, I wrote an article right here on Dev.to called One Crazy Trick to Become a Programmer. (You can read it here: https://dev.to/byte...
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Aidas Petryla

Great article with really wide options to develop yourself and get attention, portfolio. I also had my journey to get my first job as a self-taught dev, however after reading this post I realize that there were even more things I could do. Congrats for the great writing! :)

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Adam Nathaniel Davis

Just read your article, and it's great. One thing I'll point out is that you say:

Figure out what you’d really like to do and focus on that single area instead of hunting many diverse opportunities in the fields. With focused learning, overtime I’ll get farther and will have better chances to hunt down particular job positions. In this case it seems to me as knowing a few tools but more in depth is far better, than knowing everything a little but not enough.

This would seem to be in conflict with what I wrote above about broadening your skillset. But I don't think it's actually a conflict at all. I do agree with the idea of learning one specific area - and being as good as you can at it.

The only reason that I recommended broadening your skillset was because I see too many fresh-from-code-camp devs who've learned only a single tool - like React. And they think that's "enough". The problem with this thinking is that most employers may be seeking, for example, a "React dev". But what they really expect is a WEB dev. So when they encounter people who can do React - and... nothing else - they move on.

I do think that aspiring frontend devs (using my personal example) should not try to master SQL, and Java, and C#, and Docker, and all the other things that imply broader programming skills. But they should strive to learn all the things that apply to basic web development.

Regardless, I really appreciate your feedback and I'm glad to see that you eventually found your "in".

Take care!

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Nickson2511

I am that guy who learned react.js and applied for a job, it was funny, I had to dig further into web dev ,still broadening everything!

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Pandita

I'm going to share this with my mentees in a non-profit I volunteer at, they have such a hard time finding jobs because they feel they don't have the experience and they sorta lose confidence in themselves during the finding a job process.

I gave them a talk about expanding their skills beyond what they learned at the non-profit and I mentioned that they should have an action plan. The way you outline it here is a pretty good example of one :3

Thank you! ✨

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Chantae P. • Edited

Wow, this article could not have come at a better time. I myself am a self-taught front end developer, seeking my first job. And boy is it tough out here!

I am definitely open to non-coding roles but seems like they want someone with degrees/experience. Is it possible to get a non-coding job at entry level?

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Adam Nathaniel Davis

Getting in at "entry level" is tough in any company or career field. But I do honestly believe that it's easier to get hired as "entry level" in roles such as QA or desktop support. It's still a challenge. But it's probably easier than just trying to get hired in directly as a software engineer.

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Chantae P.

I'll keep this in mind. Thank you!

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MorphZG • Edited

Thank you my brother. This post is a pure gold! I am in a learning stage last 2 years and now looking for my first real job. I have been smart enough to start publishing my journey on github from day one.

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Saiful Islam

Inspiring realistic article. I am trying to learn coding for last one year. Some of the steps already following. Especially "Build Stuff". I think it is the most important part for a beginner. Need to get hands dirty. Will try other steps you mentioned. thanks.

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Corners 2 Wall

Wow, amazing and great article. I feel that you puts your soul here. Good job

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Adam Nathaniel Davis

Thank you!

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Lotfi Jebali

Thanks for sharing, this will definitely help

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Aaron Reese

On the suggestion of adjacent jobs. ABSOLUTELY!. Knowing HOW to code is only 30% of the job. Knowing WHAT to code is the most value you can bring to the organisation.

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caid10

I just read the whole article and have grasp something from you. Within a period of 1year I am gonna come back here when I got a fulltime job let me do hardwork on improving my skills. Thank you in advance. I needed this

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Abdulsalaam Noibi

Thanks for sharing this article. It was really educative and informative. I would be glad if you can suggest some open source project I can contribute on as a frontend developer.

Thanks.

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Adam Nathaniel Davis

Well... there's literally thousands of open source projects out there. I can't really suggest any because it depends entirely upon what you're interested in.

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Yahaya Oyinkansola

This is a great article, thank you for sharing

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Monsur Oyedeji

Thanks very much. This is a very significant post, and I've grab so many important tips from it. Thanks.

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Yunus Ertürk

Great article; additionally, anyone who wants to find their first freelance clients can look up here;

getyourfirstclient.freelancerpath....

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MoustY MaineR👨🏾‍💻

I really enjoy this article. Thanks for sharing Adam.

You are changing lives.

Keep up the good work.

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David Jackson

This Article is very great, thank you Soo much for this gig, you have widened my knowledge on allot of staff concerning being a self taught dev,and I love it

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Adam Nathaniel Davis

Thank you!

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Dan Vin

Great article that help to build self confidence by all the possibilities we have and, probably, don't see at first sight.

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Aimun Nahar

As a newbie, it’s hard to get a first job. But your article made me realize that there are many more things I've been missing out. Thank you.

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Charles Musabi

Great article 👌
I had to click the subscribe tab.