How do you get an employer to take a chance on you. I have been doing desktop support for some times now and recently got into software development (about 1 year experience). I feel that everyone wants experience and no one is willing to take a chance on a new developer. How can I show employers that I am motivated and will work hard and won't let them down.
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Top comments (4)
Good question! I've been in your shoes before, and here's what's worked for me and folks I know:
Show that you have a history of learning quickly with little guidance. Maybe you learned a new Javascript framework by working through exercises from a book? Maybe you're comfortable with CSS animations because you did some research? Make sure the potential employer knows that you're self-motivated and are very willing to learn by giving them examples of your self-guided learning.
Make something! It doesn't have to be fancy or complete, but you should have some code you can show off and talk about.
Share your knowledge. Write blog posts or give talks at meetups! Show them that you're an active member of the developer community.
Give examples of other people that have taken a chance on you. Maybe you were on a hackathon team? Maybe you collaborated with a friend on some small code project? Maybe you volunteer at a meetup? If other people believed in you and it went great, then the potential employer should believe in you, too!
Be excited about what they're doing. If you don't have experience in the language/framework they use, learn a little bit about it and tell them! Make sure they know that you're interested in learning it and getting up to speed.
In general, show them the experience that you do have, and all the awesome skills you already have. If you've done all that and an employer isn't willing to give you a chance, they're likely not the sort of company you'd want to work at anyways.
I can well relate to this. I have been working as a remote full stack developer for an american startup company for almost a year now. Just a few months ago, I asked them if they are willing to grant me a visa to work with them onsite. It was a risk asking them to give me a chance.
Same boat here, I've even offered straight up free work and been turned down lol. I bring a lot of more consultey type skills to the table as well so its frustrating lol. If i walked up to me and offered me what i offer some people i'd be over the moon and hire me on the spot.
What if you propose a solution to a problem or bug they have been having?
If you work in the support department you know the issues the software has, maybe you can tell them to assign you a bug if you feel confident enough?