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This person is correct in that: You MUST show your programming skills. How? * Github. I spent 4 months programming a project in NodeJS, ReactJS, Postgres, (

This person is correct in that: You MUST show your programming skills. How? * Github. I spent 4 months programming a project in NodeJS, ReactJS, Postgres, (+ html/css of course) on Linux. I posted the code on Github for the world to see. Within 2 weeks I was hired to my first 100% programming job: $80k, on 1099 contract. Two months later, I was hired on salary at $105k by a different company. Once I had those on my resume, plus the github code, and the two next bullet points, recruiters began contacting me. Sure, no one paid me for those 4 months, and it was a grind, but now they certainly do pay me. * A web portfolio. Web Dev is my bread and butter. How could I call myself a Web Dev without my own website? * LinkedIn presence + LinkedIn Connections To build skills: * Udemy.com , Youtube, other video sites (google "sites like udemy" for more) * IRC --> Google "nodejs community" and you'll find there's an IRC chatroom filled with hundreds of Node devs, many of whom are experts & work at major tech companies. There are also chatrooms on Discord and Slack, besides IRC. And they offer chatrooms in many languages & frameworks * eBooks. Free ones.

x0x0 5y ago
This is certainly a possible route. To be honest, I'm not sure the poster has the ability to carry through a four month self-directed project like that; a bootcamp and/or working as a junior engineer provides far more structure and direction.
- aeoleonn 5y ago
  You bring up a great point. I actually attended a bootcamp for 1 week, but thought it was over priced and didn't provide much instruction (25 students, 2 instructors, sometimes only 1 instructor. After a lecture on a topic, I'd spend 95% of the day just googling stuff. Also, the lessons were not structured in a pedagogical way in my experience there. That said, it was just after bootcamps became a thing-- I was one of the first cohorts at the one I attended). So, I dropped out after the first week and was refunded remaining tuition. I went back to the workforce and learned dev part-time. Bootcamps seem to be about 12 weeks (that's 3 months) plus about $12,000 or so. Whereas I took 4 months & paid zero. But that said, I already knew how to program when I started my project. The project was more about showing strangers that I had the skills I claimed to have.

x0x0 5y ago

This is certainly a possible route. To be honest, I'm not sure the poster has the ability to carry through a four month self-directed project like that; a bootcamp and/or working as a junior engineer provides far more structure and direction.

aeoleonn 5y ago
You bring up a great point. I actually attended a bootcamp for 1 week, but thought it was over priced and didn't provide much instruction (25 students, 2 instructors, sometimes only 1 instructor. After a lecture on a topic, I'd spend 95% of the day just googling stuff. Also, the lessons were not structured in a pedagogical way in my experience there. That said, it was just after bootcamps became a thing-- I was one of the first cohorts at the one I attended). So, I dropped out after the first week and was refunded remaining tuition. I went back to the workforce and learned dev part-time. Bootcamps seem to be about 12 weeks (that's 3 months) plus about $12,000 or so. Whereas I took 4 months & paid zero. But that said, I already knew how to program when I started my project. The project was more about showing strangers that I had the skills I claimed to have.