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How To Get a Web Developer Job in 2024 (without dying inside) 🧑‍💻💀

vincanger on May 21, 2024

Hey, I'm Vince... I’m a self-taught developer that changed careers during the Covid pandemic. I was able to switch from education to w...

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Tech Tobé • May 21 • Edited

Here's a way I think you should start your journey. (proven and tested by me 🤚)

START HERE...

Job shadowing - even if you know only a little (do it for free) ->
network at job shadowing & find out qualifications of everyone there and how they go to working there ->
Apply for internship / attempt to sell yourself to that company ->
It's likely that some people within that network may have left that company or may have started their own thing in the time passing ->
sell yourself to them & ask for referrals at where they work ->
land job mainly through networking, if they're not in your network or if the recruiter didn't reach out to you directly, I've found that it usually doesn't go as far as I'd have liked it to.

Key Take-aways:

NETWORK (through studies + job shadowing) +
GET GOOD AT SELLING YOURSELF (portfolio, LinkedIn page, resume') +
BE CONFIDENT (ANTI-IMPOSTER SYNDROME) (through studies + personal projects etc.. + believing that you will indeed get the job )

Don't primarily hunt for jobs, hunt for opportunities within your network. 🎀

Oh and if you're a faith person: You ought to pray. Trust that God's got you and that He loves you. Having His peace through out this whole process is KEY for getting through it. And don't put your life on pause, go out and live. Don't focus all your energy on job hunting. Go for a walk on the beach. Do something you love (without feeling guilty). Those are all acts of faith that you believe indeed God has your back & you don't need to worry.

vincanger • May 21

Dealing with imposter syndrome is a tough one. Definitely learning to trust yourself is something that gets better with time.

SusyZee • May 22

I did the exact same thing.... changed careers during the pandemic. From working in 2 international airports for so many years, to learning how to code and I love it!!!!🩷🩷🩷🩷

vincanger • May 22

awesome. congrats!

Volker B. Duetsch • May 23

Imposter can be a beast. Watched "I Suck." ... "I Rock!": youtube.com/watch?v=cFIF46j59LY It's "a lengthy description of the two extremes: impostor syndrome (undervaluing your skills) and Dunning-Kruger effect (not knowing that you don't know)."
Recommend it to everybody.

Tech Tobé • May 27

Ooh, sounds intriguing. I'll definitely give it a watch :)

Joffrey Kagayo • May 25

Thank you

alexnder394 • May 29

That's very interesting, thank you! Could you please explain more on how to do the first point though? How do you job shadow someone in tech if you're not in a company with a techinical division?

Ramon Polidura • May 22

Love walks on the beach

Joshua Adumchimma • Jun 27

Nice comment. The peace factor and walking by faith in this industry are very key if one wants to succeed in this industry.

Martin Šošić • May 21

I often get asked lately about the situation in the programmer market and I will be sharing this post from now on as an answer!
My quick summary of it with a bit of my own spin on it:

Is it not enough to just know how to code, you have to really go for it, build stuff, show that you are scrappy and have initiative, learn whatever technology you need for the project. There is no "Are we there yet", that is the wrong question to ask, the question you should be asking is "Where next".
Build side projects that you care about, always work on something.
Get your hands dirty and do the grunt work, it will pay off.
Be a good person and communicator, that others will want to work with.
Send a small number of high-quality applications. Research the job position, explain why you care about it, and possibly even put some effort upfront to show your dedication. This will make you jump out from the other candidates.

vincanger • May 21

Oh yeah, researching the job position and explaining why you care about are two great points I missed!

Muhammad Ridwan Hakim • Jun 10

Thank you very much.

Brian Austin • May 31

"Learn how to solve problems" is timeless advice, self taught or otherwise. I recommend this post by Chelsea Troy about how formal education is changing in response to LLMs.

Leonardo Correa • May 27 • Edited

I agree with all points on this article. The soft skills take longer to develop. I believe junior devs should learn how to implement to right behaviors from the beginning. From years of experience, learning, and mentoring, I decided to consolidate the key learning on an ebook.