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Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

29 points by platevoltage 4y ago

Hello everyone. I was sent over here by some folks on Discord who told me that this was a good place to get advice from a knowledgeable group, so I hope you don't mind me staring my story. About a year ago now, I completed a Full Stack Web bootcamp. This entire year I have been submitting resumes, developing skills, building projects, working on my portfolio etc, but have gotten little traction as far as getting a job. The few interviews i've been given usually go fairly well, but result in being ghosted. I understand that this is normal, it's just that I get granted an interview so infrequently, it feels like much more of a blow. A bit about myself. I am 39. I have been computer literate ever since we got our Macintosh LC when I was a little kid. I have been working mostly automotive jobs as an adult, some of which gave me the opportunity to do some things like build a fuel system controller, and do factory automation. Throughout the last 10 years or so I had wanted to get serious about moving into software engineering as a career, which is why I did a boot camp. Regardless of your opinion on these courses, I feel that I got what I needed out of it and have been further developing my skills ever since being done. I have (from what i've been told) a decent portfolio and body of work. I feel my interview performance is adequate for a junior level position. Where I feel the problem lies is that my resume just isn't doing what I need it to. I have a couple jobs that could be considered relevant, but with huge gaps in between when I worked not so relevant jobs. If I were to accurately represent my work history, my resume would be 2 pages long. I also don't have a college degree. I've heard opinions ranging from "Jobs only care what you are capable of" to "It's possible, but extremely difficult". The big question I have is, with all of this being said, how do I make myself seem like I'm worth giving a chance when the person making the decision is only looking 1 page of my life story for 8 seconds before putting it in the trash? I'm putting my portfolio URL below, which has links to my github and resume. If anyone has any helpful advice, I would love to hear it. https://jgarrettcorbin.com

bosch_mind 4y ago
Have you considered going to meetups, attending networking events or applying to internships? I feel like right now it’s more of a who you know situation and less of a what you know. You’re in Oakland, CA, which is the land of networking. Good ops to squeeze into some role. Don’t be too picky and you can morph into whatever you find passion for. Btw, neat projects!
- platevoltage 4y ago
  I have considered going to meetups, but I haven't really found an in with that yet. I think pre-covid this would have been a lot easier. I spend a lot of time in discord communities, which is how I ended up here. It's been incredibly helpful. I felt like I was flying blind before. I haven't been picky at all. I have no expectations of getting an insane salary out of the gate. I'd be happy with anything that moves my career forward. As far as internships go, I do look at them, but more often than not they are only looking at recent college grads. Thanks for you input!!
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
SinisterAlex 4y ago
Great looking portfolio atleast. Looks like you have been busy making alot of apps and "things". Interested in what the people here at Hacker News has to say about this.
- platevoltage 4y ago
  Thank you!
cole-k 4y ago
Honestly I quite like your portfolio. Judging from it alone I'd give you an interview if I were a recruiter. However, I'm not, so I couldn't tell you what sort of secret sauce goes into that pre-interview pass. My experience is having worked in the industry for a few years (have I made it clear enough that my worldview is very narrow? I don't want to beat you over the head with this fact) I hope you don't mind some constructive criticism about your site anyway: List your languages/skills strongest-to-least-strongest left-to-right. I clicked C++ since it was the the first language I saw and it told me that you weren't actually that good at it. I would probably opt for more positive sounding language like "this was my first language and while I'm familiar with it I mostly program in X." (here's my naive take - C++ and Java are some of the "traditional" backend languages, so if you want to sell yourself as being fullstack it would especially behoove you to be more forward about your experience with them). Load things quicker. At least on Firefox, it would take as much as a second for the animations to finish as I was scrolling down. I know that I might have no attention span, but surely any recruiter looking at your page has a legitimate reason to want to see your work easily and fast. On that note, the top bar seemed to disappear unless I scroll up. IDK if this is like a common pattern, but I'd prefer to have it more easily accessible. I'd recommend that you put yourself in the shoes of the recruiter who is giving your life story an 8 second glance when it comes to your website. Try and flush your mind (I know you're intimately familiar with it), open it, and decide within 30 seconds whether you'd give yourself an interview. Ask your friends to do the same if you can. Regarding your resume, I think that for junior roles your stuff is good. Don't pad it and make sure that the recruiter's eyes go immediately to your most impressive projects/skills. I think you have more than enough stuff, so you'll have to be careful about what you pick and how you present it. I want to say again, your page is seriously cool. I hope you don't take my criticism personally - I wish you the best of luck!
- platevoltage 4y ago
  Thank you for the reply and I appreciate the constructive criticism. I'll go ahead and address the points you made. * This is a good point, I should probably do some rearranging on the order. There seems to be no shortage of Node.js Fullstack/Backend positions, but I see your point. * I have heard this criticism about the timing on my portfolio. I'm going to speed up some of the fades since this seems to be the main criticism I get. * The top bar hiding itself was an artistic choice. I see this behavior on a lot of other sites. To me it's pretty intuitive, but I can see where you are coming from. To address your overall point, I have put together a simple hit tracker with geolocation as an experiment to get an idea of who is actually looking at my work when I put in an application. My estimation is that it's about 5% or less. This is why I think my resume is the issue. Why bother clicking a link if the resume is full of red flags? This being said, I appreciate the kind words about my work. Thank you.
linuxftw 4y ago
Going straight to 'software engineer' is hard IMO. Unless you graduate from a 4 year degree in CS or have an internship or some other real professional software design experience, I think it's a hard field to break into. You might want to aim lower initially. Help desk or field rep for a tech company, etc. Ansible, terraform, linux automation, those kind of jobs are more widespread than straight software development jobs. If you want to go straight software, there's lots of jobs in Java. IMO, front-end javascript devs are disposable and that's what everyone tries to do because it's less abstract. Backend languages are where the money is.
- gtirloni 4y ago
  > Ansible, terraform, linux automation, those kind of jobs are more widespread than straight software development jobs. There's literally 10 or more frontend jobs for each DevOps position you find advertised. Unless you think frontend dev is not "real software development", which wouldn't make any sense. Additionally, DevOps requires much more knowledge about infrastructure than just learning some automation tools.
  - linuxftw 4y ago
    With a straight development role, you're going up against people with 4 year degrees. For the 'devops' side, these are skills that aren't typically achieved by university students. While there might be 1000 front end jobs, you're competing with 10k applicants. For 100 devops jobs, you're competing with 10 applicants.
    - gtirloni 4y ago
      > Ansible, terraform, linux automation, those kind of jobs are more widespread than straight software development jobs.
- savorypiano 4y ago
  Arguably this guy's portfolio is already better than most new CS grads, no?
savorypiano 4y ago
I was in a similar situation as you, and found a software engineer job. But I also benefitted from timing, as I was able to find a job before the market starting turning down last year. Basically I was able to find a startup willing to take a chance on me, perhaps for lack of better options. Unfortunately that will be the case for those coming from non-traditional ways and entry level. FWIW, the Who's Hiring and Who Wants to be Hired threads here on Hacker News had led me to a few interviews each month, when I was looking. That's all you need, plus maybe brush up on LeetCode.
- platevoltage 4y ago
  This is my impression as well. I understand that I missed the gravy train, so I'm doing my best to stand out from the rest. Thank you for the suggestion. I will surely check out those threads.
keiferski 4y ago
Look into less "cool" industries and companies for getting that first job. The pay will be lower and your company won't be featured in TechCrunch or wherever, but the entry bar will be lower and the people generally less competitive and difficult to deal with. Personally, I recommend the WordPress industry. There are a lot of themes, plugins, hosts, etc. that need developers.
- platevoltage 4y ago
  I have been mostly applying to companies that I haven't even heard of. I honestly don't care if the company is "cool" either. I'm not even looking for super high pay. I know that will come later, plus it will almost certainly be more than I'm used to making, and will definitely be more than I'm making now, which is nothing. Maybe I should go for wordpress/shopify liquid jobs if you think there are more opportunities with this sort of stuff.
ineedausername 4y ago
> If anyone has any helpful advice, I would love to hear it. Skip the Junior part, go for mid level and find a way to justify it. Somehow show that you already have 2 years of experience and you now qualify as mid. I'm not saying "lie", but I'm also not saying not to.
- pull_my_finger 4y ago
  Wouldn't you be cheating yourself out of any kind of mentorship one would expect as a junior (in addition to lying and putting yourself in a position to slow your team down r/t lack of expected experience) ? Title inflation is a thing, but maybe they're not "totally" arbitrary.
  - ineedausername 4y ago
    In his case not so much, i think he is competent based oh his portfolio.
- platevoltage 4y ago
  I have been applying for jobs that aren't explicitly junior. I know that "years of experience" is really just a wish list. I have used coding at work for several years, although i've never had a "software engineer" title.
deafpolygon 4y ago
When I look at your site, I can't tell what your bread & butter is. I think that needs to stand out... what is it? Your site says to scroll down - how can you tweak it, so I don't have to read that to know what to do next? It took me a while to figure out you had a live demo of each of your project. Make that button stand out. Add some color to your site - it's black, and depressing. You want the person going to your site to feel drawn in. This may sound harsh, but it's not meant to be - but do you have a better photo for your site? It's a cool Facebook photo style... but it's not good for a portfolio/CV type photo. First impressions count for way more than people would like to admit. If your potential employers first impression of you is from the site - then you're starting a step behind. You do have an interesting and good breadth of work on your portfolio. So you have that going for you.
- platevoltage 4y ago
  I don't really know what my bread and butter is. I make whatever I want to make. If a tool is needed that isn't in my arsenal that I need to make the project work, I learn it. I'll take your portfolio suggestions into consideration. I know for a fact that around 95% of my applications don't result in my portfolio being looked at, but maybe putting the boring headshot I used for LinkedIn on there is worth doing.
  - deafpolygon 4y ago
    > I know for a fact that around 95% of my applications don't result in my portfolio being looked at At some stage, it will be. And if it comes down to you and this other guy, the portfolio page is going to be a deciding factor.
danielmakestech 4y ago
I can see one potential improvement in your resume: BRAND YOU PROJECTS. It would look so much better if you had something like "Built StoryFactory.io" with cool logo rather than a link to ec2 instance. And that would be my advice in general - build something that looks professional and not like a project from a coding tutorial. It can be as simple as a to-do app at its core, with a few features, but make a killer landing page for it (you can obviously use a template), figure out a good name, buy a domain, etc.
- platevoltage 4y ago
  That's an interesting idea.
diffstrokes 4y ago
Things that stand out in your resume: It doesn’t look like a developer resume because the skills are hidden at the bottom, job history doesn’t mention specific development skills. You say full stack but everything else indicates front end focus. Your education only shows 1 year (looks like you are trying to over represent you went to Berkeley). Your job history gaps stand out. If you applied for a full stack job, I would likely reject based on resume… for front end job would likely interview. I’d contribute to open source projects and add that as a line in work history xxx-current and focus on front end for now.
- platevoltage 4y ago
  Fair points all around
iamflimflam1 4y ago
Honestly, I would make the link to your well formatted, easy to read, resume much more prominent - https://jgarrettcorbin.com/pdf/resume.pdf https://jgarrettcorbin.com/pdf/resume.pdf
- iamflimflam1 4y ago
  Something that jumps out to me from the resume is the gap from 2011-2016 and then 2019-2021. This will be seen as a red flag by many recruiters and for anyone reviewing your CV - which may explain why you are doing well in interviews, but then not getting any further.
  - SinisterAlex 4y ago
    To be fair - it says "Relevant Work Experience"
  - platevoltage 4y ago
    Yeah. The gaps look bad. I have no idea what to do to fill them, which is one of the main reasons that I'm posting here. Is there a way to mention "during this period, I worked an automotive job or 2" or most recently "I was a bicycle courier" without it sticking out like a sore thumb and taking up precious page real-estate? I'm not a college grad who entered their field right after graduation. I don't know how to explain that I am a competent worker in a list of previous jobs.
    - iamflimflam1 4y ago
      Just in case you check back. I wouldn't focus too much on the experience not being technical. Showing that you've been responsible for things is equally important. You can probably "dress up" any experience so that it is relevant - e.g. working as part of a team, managing complex instructions/requirements. Even just turning up to work on time...
aga_ml 4y ago
You seem like a cool person, and are working hard towards a transition - congrats on getting this far. I think with a bit of effort you can follow through. A few thoughts: - Website makes you look like a front end developer, but you are applying to full stack. Stepping back a bit, an employer is asking the question: is this person the best person for the job that I'm hiring for? As the job seeker, you need to think about what type of job you are going to be the ideal candidate for and really focus on communicating that. - Bullet points on resume could be improved. For example, Content is easily added or removed using a JSON configuration file Its a given that you would do that. It is so basic that it raised a flag in my mind. Its like saying, I used numpy to do math computations in python. It would be better to not include that statement. Full stack web developer who will help your company succeed by completing projects on time and under budget. This sentence comes off as pretty generic, and it is not clear that you have experience with that. It would be better to have an experience where you delivered a project under time constraints. Anyways, sorry that I'm nitpicking a bit. It is hard to know exactly what is holding you back without knowing more about what jobs you are applying to, what is happening in the interviews, and so on. I'd also think about if there is any company you can work at where having some background in industrial automation would be a plus.
- aga_ml 4y ago
  I suppose I'm also curious, are you applying to jobs that do algorithms and data structures interviews? If so, you really need to nail those. A lot of people complain about those interviews, but they do serve a real purpose. There is a significant gap between building a small website and building a system that scales. If you are going after high impact software engineering jobs in the bay area, then you'll need to demonstrate that skill set. I don't see anything about algorithms and data structures in your resume, so I'd assume that you don't have that knowledge. Granted this may be an unpopular opinion, but not having those skills significantly limits your upward potential.
  - platevoltage 4y ago
    While i've yet to be put through one of those interviews, I would imagine that I'm applying to some of these places. I've been applying to mostly smaller companies, so it's hard to know what kind of interviews they do in a lot of cases. This being said, I do brush up on time complexity/data structures/algorithms/bitshifting etc. before I go to an interview.
anonXae8ip7r 4y ago
First of all, I'm not currently a manager, but I think your website is great; it definitely demonstrates that you have real skills and could be productive as a junior-level developer. So I'll focus on the resume, where I see a few things that could be improved: - You mentioned that you've worked automotive jobs with some technical aspects. I would strongly consider listing those jobs, even if they don't include any software experience. They still demonstrate a lot of things that managers are looking for: work ethic, conscientousness, general technical ability and intelligence, motivation, and so forth. And for HR screeners, they eliminate resume gap concerns. - More broadly, I'd try to make sure that your resume tells a clear story of what you've been doing in recent years. A progression of technically oriented automotive work to a UC Berkeley extension program to a portfolio of working software projects is a great story, but someone skimming over your resume for five seconds might not see that story. They might just notice a smattering of disconnected dates and wonder if you've been in prison, or fired from a succession of short-term software jobs, or sitting at home watching TV. (And if any of that does apply to you, I don't mean to discourage you. But one way or another, I'd focus on structuring your resume to tell a clear story.) - I'd add something below the UC Berkeley heading to make clear that you were enrolled in an extension program rather than a degree-seeking program. Otherwise, someone might think that you enrolled for a semester or dropped out, or that you're trying to make an extension course look like something more. And if you completed the program and got some sort of certificate, you might want to make that explicit, to demonstrate persistence and follow-through. - I'd rewrite the summary statement to focus on your story without anything buzzwordy (like "on time and under budget" and "agile"). The key points I'd include are: 1) you've done professional, serious work as an adult; 2) you're making a transition into software; and 3) you've completed a UC Berkeley extension program and a number of projects and thus have demonstrable knowledge and skills. That tells your story upfront, and every point is something substantive and meaningful. - This is minor, but the fact that the text runs all the way to the bottom of the page with no margin stood out to me. I'd reformat things so that the resume has nice, even margins all around, even if you have to trim some text to make it fit. You obviously a sense for design, judging from your website, and your resume should demonstrate that too. - You might want to consider trimming your skills section a bit and tailoring it to each position you apply to, if you're not doing that already. The embedded C++ and IoT experience stood out to me; it's actually impressive if you're competent in both C++ and front-end JS, but if you're applying to a front-end dev position, the C++ probably isn't relevant, and I could imagine a hiring manager being slightly bemused by seeing that mix of skills. The last thing I'll say is that I've had some ups and downs in my career and gone from being really discouraged to finding great opportunities through a combination of persistance and chance, so keep your chin up. It seems like you're approaching this with the right attitude. Good luck!
zamnos 4y ago
Ooh your site's fancy. Summary could use some rewording. Maybe something like > Full stack web dev with experience completing projects on time and under budget and working with other teams. For my next opportunity I’m looking for ... Skills goes up top, under summary. You want people to know your areas of expertise sooner so they know the rest is worth reading. Keep education at the bottom. Since you're coming from a non-traditional background (absolutely no judgement, just means we have to tweak the template is all), my idea is put your work experience and projects in one section. Organize them as relevant to the position you're applying to instead of chronological, with the most relevant up top, so start with Story Factory, then portfolio-v4.0-react (I'd drop the "professional portfolio" and just call it by the github project name) and continue on from there.
- platevoltage 4y ago
  Thank you for the helpful tips. I'm going to make all of these changes today.
dieselgate 4y ago
First of all your portfolio is really good in my opinion. I finished a boot camp in 2017 after moving to wa state from Berkeley. One thing I think is tough about the industry now is everything being remote - I’ve gotten my two dev jobs through in person connections (and ironically of all the hundreds of jobs applied the only two I’ve worked are the ones I didn’t apply for). My suggestion (based on what’s worked for me) is to work in dev adjacent roles as a way to get your foot in the door. For me this was technical writing and qa/manual testing. That way you’re getting real world experience and at the same time making quality connections. There are also contract opportunities which can sometimes be worthwhile. Based on your portfolio you are competent to be considered for an interview, dont get discouraged but possibly find the things you haven’t been doing and focus on that. Applying online is a tough way to get a position, keep up the good work Edit: not my first choice but have kind of found a niche as a Ruby on Rails dev. When starting out I think it’s good to have a specific stack to focus on, for looking for job postings and having subject matter expert experience in a single thing. Python is a widely used language and a good one to know (wish I had more experience and something I’d do differently if possible) I also think your skills should be near the top of your resume.
- platevoltage 4y ago
  Thank you for the feedback! I've gotten the feeling that networking with people is the only way I'm going to get hired, so I've been doing a lot of that lately. I have looked at things like QA roles, but in a lot of cases, I'm even less qualified for those positions. They all want you to have done QA testing for several years already. I do have a stack of choice, but I'm also pretty language agnostic. I've been focusing on Node/React jobs since that's my bread and butter. I'm redoing my resume and I have seen the error of my ways. Skills will go at the top.

29 points by platevoltage 4y ago

bosch_mind 4y ago

Have you considered going to meetups, attending networking events or applying to internships? I feel like right now it’s more of a who you know situation and less of a what you know. You’re in Oakland, CA, which is the land of networking. Good ops to squeeze into some role. Don’t be too picky and you can morph into whatever you find passion for. Btw, neat projects!

platevoltage 4y ago
I have considered going to meetups, but I haven't really found an in with that yet. I think pre-covid this would have been a lot easier. I spend a lot of time in discord communities, which is how I ended up here. It's been incredibly helpful. I felt like I was flying blind before. I haven't been picky at all. I have no expectations of getting an insane salary out of the gate. I'd be happy with anything that moves my career forward. As far as internships go, I do look at them, but more often than not they are only looking at recent college grads. Thanks for you input!!

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

SinisterAlex 4y ago

Great looking portfolio atleast. Looks like you have been busy making alot of apps and "things". Interested in what the people here at Hacker News has to say about this.

platevoltage 4y ago
Thank you!

cole-k 4y ago

Honestly I quite like your portfolio. Judging from it alone I'd give you an interview if I were a recruiter. However, I'm not, so I couldn't tell you what sort of secret sauce goes into that pre-interview pass. My experience is having worked in the industry for a few years (have I made it clear enough that my worldview is very narrow? I don't want to beat you over the head with this fact) I hope you don't mind some constructive criticism about your site anyway: List your languages/skills strongest-to-least-strongest left-to-right. I clicked C++ since it was the the first language I saw and it told me that you weren't actually that good at it. I would probably opt for more positive sounding language like "this was my first language and while I'm familiar with it I mostly program in X." (here's my naive take - C++ and Java are some of the "traditional" backend languages, so if you want to sell yourself as being fullstack it would especially behoove you to be more forward about your experience with them). Load things quicker. At least on Firefox, it would take as much as a second for the animations to finish as I was scrolling down. I know that I might have no attention span, but surely any recruiter looking at your page has a legitimate reason to want to see your work easily and fast. On that note, the top bar seemed to disappear unless I scroll up. IDK if this is like a common pattern, but I'd prefer to have it more easily accessible. I'd recommend that you put yourself in the shoes of the recruiter who is giving your life story an 8 second glance when it comes to your website. Try and flush your mind (I know you're intimately familiar with it), open it, and decide within 30 seconds whether you'd give yourself an interview. Ask your friends to do the same if you can. Regarding your resume, I think that for junior roles your stuff is good. Don't pad it and make sure that the recruiter's eyes go immediately to your most impressive projects/skills. I think you have more than enough stuff, so you'll have to be careful about what you pick and how you present it. I want to say again, your page is seriously cool. I hope you don't take my criticism personally - I wish you the best of luck!

platevoltage 4y ago
Thank you for the reply and I appreciate the constructive criticism. I'll go ahead and address the points you made. * This is a good point, I should probably do some rearranging on the order. There seems to be no shortage of Node.js Fullstack/Backend positions, but I see your point. * I have heard this criticism about the timing on my portfolio. I'm going to speed up some of the fades since this seems to be the main criticism I get. * The top bar hiding itself was an artistic choice. I see this behavior on a lot of other sites. To me it's pretty intuitive, but I can see where you are coming from. To address your overall point, I have put together a simple hit tracker with geolocation as an experiment to get an idea of who is actually looking at my work when I put in an application. My estimation is that it's about 5% or less. This is why I think my resume is the issue. Why bother clicking a link if the resume is full of red flags? This being said, I appreciate the kind words about my work. Thank you.

linuxftw 4y ago

Going straight to 'software engineer' is hard IMO. Unless you graduate from a 4 year degree in CS or have an internship or some other real professional software design experience, I think it's a hard field to break into. You might want to aim lower initially. Help desk or field rep for a tech company, etc. Ansible, terraform, linux automation, those kind of jobs are more widespread than straight software development jobs. If you want to go straight software, there's lots of jobs in Java. IMO, front-end javascript devs are disposable and that's what everyone tries to do because it's less abstract. Backend languages are where the money is.

gtirloni 4y ago
> Ansible, terraform, linux automation, those kind of jobs are more widespread than straight software development jobs. There's literally 10 or more frontend jobs for each DevOps position you find advertised. Unless you think frontend dev is not "real software development", which wouldn't make any sense. Additionally, DevOps requires much more knowledge about infrastructure than just learning some automation tools.
- linuxftw 4y ago
  With a straight development role, you're going up against people with 4 year degrees. For the 'devops' side, these are skills that aren't typically achieved by university students. While there might be 1000 front end jobs, you're competing with 10k applicants. For 100 devops jobs, you're competing with 10 applicants.
  - gtirloni 4y ago
    > Ansible, terraform, linux automation, those kind of jobs are more widespread than straight software development jobs.
savorypiano 4y ago
Arguably this guy's portfolio is already better than most new CS grads, no?

savorypiano 4y ago

I was in a similar situation as you, and found a software engineer job. But I also benefitted from timing, as I was able to find a job before the market starting turning down last year. Basically I was able to find a startup willing to take a chance on me, perhaps for lack of better options. Unfortunately that will be the case for those coming from non-traditional ways and entry level. FWIW, the Who's Hiring and Who Wants to be Hired threads here on Hacker News had led me to a few interviews each month, when I was looking. That's all you need, plus maybe brush up on LeetCode.

platevoltage 4y ago
This is my impression as well. I understand that I missed the gravy train, so I'm doing my best to stand out from the rest. Thank you for the suggestion. I will surely check out those threads.

keiferski 4y ago

Look into less "cool" industries and companies for getting that first job. The pay will be lower and your company won't be featured in TechCrunch or wherever, but the entry bar will be lower and the people generally less competitive and difficult to deal with. Personally, I recommend the WordPress industry. There are a lot of themes, plugins, hosts, etc. that need developers.

platevoltage 4y ago
I have been mostly applying to companies that I haven't even heard of. I honestly don't care if the company is "cool" either. I'm not even looking for super high pay. I know that will come later, plus it will almost certainly be more than I'm used to making, and will definitely be more than I'm making now, which is nothing. Maybe I should go for wordpress/shopify liquid jobs if you think there are more opportunities with this sort of stuff.

ineedausername 4y ago

> If anyone has any helpful advice, I would love to hear it. Skip the Junior part, go for mid level and find a way to justify it. Somehow show that you already have 2 years of experience and you now qualify as mid. I'm not saying "lie", but I'm also not saying not to.

pull_my_finger 4y ago
Wouldn't you be cheating yourself out of any kind of mentorship one would expect as a junior (in addition to lying and putting yourself in a position to slow your team down r/t lack of expected experience) ? Title inflation is a thing, but maybe they're not "totally" arbitrary.
- ineedausername 4y ago
  In his case not so much, i think he is competent based oh his portfolio.
platevoltage 4y ago
I have been applying for jobs that aren't explicitly junior. I know that "years of experience" is really just a wish list. I have used coding at work for several years, although i've never had a "software engineer" title.

deafpolygon 4y ago

When I look at your site, I can't tell what your bread & butter is. I think that needs to stand out... what is it? Your site says to scroll down - how can you tweak it, so I don't have to read that to know what to do next? It took me a while to figure out you had a live demo of each of your project. Make that button stand out. Add some color to your site - it's black, and depressing. You want the person going to your site to feel drawn in. This may sound harsh, but it's not meant to be - but do you have a better photo for your site? It's a cool Facebook photo style... but it's not good for a portfolio/CV type photo. First impressions count for way more than people would like to admit. If your potential employers first impression of you is from the site - then you're starting a step behind. You do have an interesting and good breadth of work on your portfolio. So you have that going for you.

platevoltage 4y ago
I don't really know what my bread and butter is. I make whatever I want to make. If a tool is needed that isn't in my arsenal that I need to make the project work, I learn it. I'll take your portfolio suggestions into consideration. I know for a fact that around 95% of my applications don't result in my portfolio being looked at, but maybe putting the boring headshot I used for LinkedIn on there is worth doing.
- deafpolygon 4y ago
  > I know for a fact that around 95% of my applications don't result in my portfolio being looked at At some stage, it will be. And if it comes down to you and this other guy, the portfolio page is going to be a deciding factor.

danielmakestech 4y ago

I can see one potential improvement in your resume: BRAND YOU PROJECTS. It would look so much better if you had something like "Built StoryFactory.io" with cool logo rather than a link to ec2 instance. And that would be my advice in general - build something that looks professional and not like a project from a coding tutorial. It can be as simple as a to-do app at its core, with a few features, but make a killer landing page for it (you can obviously use a template), figure out a good name, buy a domain, etc.

platevoltage 4y ago
That's an interesting idea.

diffstrokes 4y ago

Things that stand out in your resume: It doesn’t look like a developer resume because the skills are hidden at the bottom, job history doesn’t mention specific development skills. You say full stack but everything else indicates front end focus. Your education only shows 1 year (looks like you are trying to over represent you went to Berkeley). Your job history gaps stand out. If you applied for a full stack job, I would likely reject based on resume… for front end job would likely interview. I’d contribute to open source projects and add that as a line in work history xxx-current and focus on front end for now.

platevoltage 4y ago
Fair points all around

iamflimflam1 4y ago

Honestly, I would make the link to your well formatted, easy to read, resume much more prominent - https://jgarrettcorbin.com/pdf/resume.pdf https://jgarrettcorbin.com/pdf/resume.pdf

iamflimflam1 4y ago
Something that jumps out to me from the resume is the gap from 2011-2016 and then 2019-2021. This will be seen as a red flag by many recruiters and for anyone reviewing your CV - which may explain why you are doing well in interviews, but then not getting any further.
- SinisterAlex 4y ago
  To be fair - it says "Relevant Work Experience"
- platevoltage 4y ago
  Yeah. The gaps look bad. I have no idea what to do to fill them, which is one of the main reasons that I'm posting here. Is there a way to mention "during this period, I worked an automotive job or 2" or most recently "I was a bicycle courier" without it sticking out like a sore thumb and taking up precious page real-estate? I'm not a college grad who entered their field right after graduation. I don't know how to explain that I am a competent worker in a list of previous jobs.
  - iamflimflam1 4y ago
    Just in case you check back. I wouldn't focus too much on the experience not being technical. Showing that you've been responsible for things is equally important. You can probably "dress up" any experience so that it is relevant - e.g. working as part of a team, managing complex instructions/requirements. Even just turning up to work on time...

aga_ml 4y ago

You seem like a cool person, and are working hard towards a transition - congrats on getting this far. I think with a bit of effort you can follow through. A few thoughts: - Website makes you look like a front end developer, but you are applying to full stack. Stepping back a bit, an employer is asking the question: is this person the best person for the job that I'm hiring for? As the job seeker, you need to think about what type of job you are going to be the ideal candidate for and really focus on communicating that. - Bullet points on resume could be improved. For example, Content is easily added or removed using a JSON configuration file Its a given that you would do that. It is so basic that it raised a flag in my mind. Its like saying, I used numpy to do math computations in python. It would be better to not include that statement. Full stack web developer who will help your company succeed by completing projects on time and under budget. This sentence comes off as pretty generic, and it is not clear that you have experience with that. It would be better to have an experience where you delivered a project under time constraints. Anyways, sorry that I'm nitpicking a bit. It is hard to know exactly what is holding you back without knowing more about what jobs you are applying to, what is happening in the interviews, and so on. I'd also think about if there is any company you can work at where having some background in industrial automation would be a plus.

aga_ml 4y ago
I suppose I'm also curious, are you applying to jobs that do algorithms and data structures interviews? If so, you really need to nail those. A lot of people complain about those interviews, but they do serve a real purpose. There is a significant gap between building a small website and building a system that scales. If you are going after high impact software engineering jobs in the bay area, then you'll need to demonstrate that skill set. I don't see anything about algorithms and data structures in your resume, so I'd assume that you don't have that knowledge. Granted this may be an unpopular opinion, but not having those skills significantly limits your upward potential.
- platevoltage 4y ago
  While i've yet to be put through one of those interviews, I would imagine that I'm applying to some of these places. I've been applying to mostly smaller companies, so it's hard to know what kind of interviews they do in a lot of cases. This being said, I do brush up on time complexity/data structures/algorithms/bitshifting etc. before I go to an interview.

anonXae8ip7r 4y ago

First of all, I'm not currently a manager, but I think your website is great; it definitely demonstrates that you have real skills and could be productive as a junior-level developer. So I'll focus on the resume, where I see a few things that could be improved: - You mentioned that you've worked automotive jobs with some technical aspects. I would strongly consider listing those jobs, even if they don't include any software experience. They still demonstrate a lot of things that managers are looking for: work ethic, conscientousness, general technical ability and intelligence, motivation, and so forth. And for HR screeners, they eliminate resume gap concerns. - More broadly, I'd try to make sure that your resume tells a clear story of what you've been doing in recent years. A progression of technically oriented automotive work to a UC Berkeley extension program to a portfolio of working software projects is a great story, but someone skimming over your resume for five seconds might not see that story. They might just notice a smattering of disconnected dates and wonder if you've been in prison, or fired from a succession of short-term software jobs, or sitting at home watching TV. (And if any of that does apply to you, I don't mean to discourage you. But one way or another, I'd focus on structuring your resume to tell a clear story.) - I'd add something below the UC Berkeley heading to make clear that you were enrolled in an extension program rather than a degree-seeking program. Otherwise, someone might think that you enrolled for a semester or dropped out, or that you're trying to make an extension course look like something more. And if you completed the program and got some sort of certificate, you might want to make that explicit, to demonstrate persistence and follow-through. - I'd rewrite the summary statement to focus on your story without anything buzzwordy (like "on time and under budget" and "agile"). The key points I'd include are: 1) you've done professional, serious work as an adult; 2) you're making a transition into software; and 3) you've completed a UC Berkeley extension program and a number of projects and thus have demonstrable knowledge and skills. That tells your story upfront, and every point is something substantive and meaningful. - This is minor, but the fact that the text runs all the way to the bottom of the page with no margin stood out to me. I'd reformat things so that the resume has nice, even margins all around, even if you have to trim some text to make it fit. You obviously a sense for design, judging from your website, and your resume should demonstrate that too. - You might want to consider trimming your skills section a bit and tailoring it to each position you apply to, if you're not doing that already. The embedded C++ and IoT experience stood out to me; it's actually impressive if you're competent in both C++ and front-end JS, but if you're applying to a front-end dev position, the C++ probably isn't relevant, and I could imagine a hiring manager being slightly bemused by seeing that mix of skills. The last thing I'll say is that I've had some ups and downs in my career and gone from being really discouraged to finding great opportunities through a combination of persistance and chance, so keep your chin up. It seems like you're approaching this with the right attitude. Good luck!

zamnos 4y ago

Ooh your site's fancy. Summary could use some rewording. Maybe something like > Full stack web dev with experience completing projects on time and under budget and working with other teams. For my next opportunity I’m looking for ... Skills goes up top, under summary. You want people to know your areas of expertise sooner so they know the rest is worth reading. Keep education at the bottom. Since you're coming from a non-traditional background (absolutely no judgement, just means we have to tweak the template is all), my idea is put your work experience and projects in one section. Organize them as relevant to the position you're applying to instead of chronological, with the most relevant up top, so start with Story Factory, then portfolio-v4.0-react (I'd drop the "professional portfolio" and just call it by the github project name) and continue on from there.

platevoltage 4y ago
Thank you for the helpful tips. I'm going to make all of these changes today.

dieselgate 4y ago

First of all your portfolio is really good in my opinion. I finished a boot camp in 2017 after moving to wa state from Berkeley. One thing I think is tough about the industry now is everything being remote - I’ve gotten my two dev jobs through in person connections (and ironically of all the hundreds of jobs applied the only two I’ve worked are the ones I didn’t apply for). My suggestion (based on what’s worked for me) is to work in dev adjacent roles as a way to get your foot in the door. For me this was technical writing and qa/manual testing. That way you’re getting real world experience and at the same time making quality connections. There are also contract opportunities which can sometimes be worthwhile. Based on your portfolio you are competent to be considered for an interview, dont get discouraged but possibly find the things you haven’t been doing and focus on that. Applying online is a tough way to get a position, keep up the good work Edit: not my first choice but have kind of found a niche as a Ruby on Rails dev. When starting out I think it’s good to have a specific stack to focus on, for looking for job postings and having subject matter expert experience in a single thing. Python is a widely used language and a good one to know (wish I had more experience and something I’d do differently if possible) I also think your skills should be near the top of your resume.

platevoltage 4y ago
Thank you for the feedback! I've gotten the feeling that networking with people is the only way I'm going to get hired, so I've been doing a lot of that lately. I have looked at things like QA roles, but in a lot of cases, I'm even less qualified for those positions. They all want you to have done QA testing for several years already. I do have a stack of choice, but I'm also pretty language agnostic. I've been focusing on Node/React jobs since that's my bread and butter. I'm redoing my resume and I have seen the error of my ways. Skills will go at the top.