Scoring the first developer job — tears, sweat and satisfaction.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” — Warren Buffett

With all the inspirational stories aside, let’s delve into what it took and how it went when I landed my first job as a web developer. Faced with the pressure of being unemployed for almost three months while completing my bootcamp, and with only my wife providing for our family as our savings dwindled, I had to act swiftly, work strategically, and secure a much-needed job as soon as possible.

Shortly after completing my final project and presenting it during the bootcamp’s demo day, armed with a bulletproof LinkedIn profile and CV, I embarked on the job search and began submitting applications. A side note here, pay very close attention to your CV, cover letter and a LinkedIn profile, they have to be very well designed to catch the eye of the reader, bare on mind that they are looking on each cv/profile for no more than 10 seconds in most cases even less 6–8 seconds.

In my mind, I had a strict deadline of less than two months to secure a job or face the possibility of returning to my previous line of work. The process, however, proved to be more labours and time-consuming than I had initially anticipated.

At first, I received zero responses, and it felt as if there was minimal interest in recent bootcamp graduates like myself. I diligently registered on every job site I knew of and dedicated myself to job searching as if it were my full-time occupation — that was the advice of many people who had the same life journey.

Spending days sitting and sending out CVs while staring at the computer screen, hoping for a response but receiving nothing, could be quite disheartening. However, drawing from my prior job search experiences, I understood that, sooner or later, it would reach a critical mass, and the calls would start coming in — and that’s precisely what happened. I was probably 2 weeks in my search, when started receiving calls. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re either on a similar journey right now or gearing up to embark on the path of becoming a web developer. So, I’ll assume that you have zero experience with technical job interviews. In my journey thus far, these interviews can be broken down into three distinct stages.

Stage 1 — HR:
It typically starts with a call from the HR department of the company, often conducted by a non-technical individual who primarily assesses your soft skills and communication abilities. However, make no mistake, this part is of huge importance; you won’t progress any further if you don’t make a favourable impression on this person.

In this initial stage, they typically ask questions related to your CV, your prior work experience, and general inquiries about you as an individual. They often provide additional information about the company and outline the various stages you’ll need to navigate in order to secure a position with them. In some companies after the HR talk, I received a questionary to fill in and send back, which in my opinion was a bit unnecessary, as it contained almost the same questions, we talked about on the interview itself, but who am I to judge? After a bit of a chitchat, some fun talks about the weather, how motivated I am to work for their company and how good person am I, hopefully it is the time for the second stage.

Stage 2 — Technical task:

Upon the successful completion of stage 1, I often found myself presented with a standard technical task. As a Ruby on Rails developer, my tasks typically involved creating a straightforward web application with elements such as authentication and authorization methods. These tasks also required connecting to an API, retrieving information from it, and presenting it in a fancy way. In the task description of course, they have some requirements of the tools, languages and frameworks you can use, and I guess it is needless to say, excelling in these tasks significantly increases the chances of advancing to the next stage.

At this stage, their focus is on assessing your problem-solving skills, your ability to think critically, and how efficiently you can write code. If this is your first job as a developer, it is expected that you are not writing some first class super giga refactored and clean code, but they expect to see the way you approach and solve problems. Don’t be discouraged if you encounter challenges — that’s the intention. Just keep coding, and if you find yourself stuck, try explaining in simple terms what you’re trying to accomplish and your thought process for solving the problem.

It’s crucial not to give up because, upon successfully completing this task, you’ll advance to the next stage.

Stage 3 — Technical interview:

A technical interview with senior developers. In this stage they’ll ask question about your work on the task and your knowledge of the programming language you’ve been using. Here is very important to explain your approaches and why you used them. If you had not been able to completely solve the task by codding, and got to this point of the recruiting process, that means that they see something in you, congratulations, you impressed a non-easily “impressable” people! It is very important to ask questions here, they expect that from you. After their questions, ask about everything, that is my personal advice. The more curious you are — the better impression you leave in the technical team, this shows that you are eager to learn, and no matter the difficulties, you are going to ask and because of that grow!

In my experience, this stage marks the conclusion of the standard recruiting process for a web developer position, and then comes the waiting game. Companies often set deadlines, and if those deadlines pass without any response, it typically means you haven’t been shortlisted or selected for the position. For me it is very frustrating to pass the 3 stages and not get final feedback. Not even a “No” as an answer.

Often, I start asking myself questions — What went wrong? Could I do better — if yes what I could improve? The problem is that without feedback you will never know, on some occasions I tried emailing the company, asking to receive some, but most of the times I hit a wall.

Each “No” or no answer are very hard to swallow, especially when you are pressed by the circumstances, but consistency is the key. After diligently sending out over 500 CVs throughout a two-month period and going through numerous interview stages, the journey was filled with a mix of negative responses without explanations and occasional constructive feedback. Along the way, I honed my interview skills, which is an incredibly valuable skill in itself. Eventually, the tide began to turn, and I started receiving job offers. Here is very important for you to get picky at least if you have time to be so. If you hear your first YES I am sure that you will feel blessed, this is going to be the best day in your life for the past months and nothing will be more important than starting this job BUT be careful!

They know your excitement and will try to use it against you. Before saying yes, even before starting all job search process please have a look on the conditions and salaries for a junior developer in your area. I can’t stress enough how important this is!

Don’t let them trick you into starting a job which will end up not what you had expected, and because you already spend too much time searching, to feel obligated to stay with them.

It’s crucial to inquire about a company’s career development plan and whether there are opportunities for growth within their organization. Established companies that have been in the market for a while often have well-structured career development plans for their employees. For me, this is one of the most critical factors when entering the industry because it provides insight into where you could be in a year if you work diligently and love what you do.

In some cases where I was offered a position, I found that there was no clear plan for supporting my growth and skill development. Even if the salary offered was slightly higher, I felt compelled to decline the offer. Remember, money will come with time; your primary focus should be on cultivating good habits, enhancing your skills, and maintaining a strong work ethic.

After all, I have to say that I didn’t get a junior developer job as my first; I managed to score a paid internship in a good company with a long tradition of educating the people who work for them, which I count as a big success. Setting foot in the industry can be very daunting. If I had more time to spend, I would probably keep looking for a junior position, but landing a paid internship is a very good start. Some people are happy to start an internship, even if it’s not paid, in the name of getting a foothold in the industry. In the company I work for, for example, we have a very well-structured growth plan where you regularly undergo exams to assess your expertise level, and if you’ve progressed enough, they promote you immediately. So, I can’t be happier with my choice because just after less than 4 months, I got promoted from a trainee to a junior position, and I am expecting my transition to mid soon.

The journey to secure that first web development job is a testament to the power of passion, persistence, and determination. While the road may be arduous, the potential for growth and achievement is boundless. The experiences shared here are intended to guide and inspire those navigating similar paths. With a love for your craft, unwavering commitment, and the willingness to learn and adapt, you can indeed reach remarkable heights in the world of web development.
Keep dreaming!

Keep working!

Keep walking!

Never give-up!

Never look back and remember — with high power comes high responsibilities, be the superman you always wanted to be!