Learning what counts, in 4 steps
How to focus on the skills you need to know and stop wasting time learning the things you don’t.
I have a confession to make. I have a love/hate relationship with bootcamps.
Free Code Camp and other sites have the best intentions for trying to teach you the basic concepts and the skills you will need to know for 90% of what it takes to be a developer, and you really need to spend time getting the basics down before you have a chance landing a job in this field.
With that said, however, most companies are not interested in a generalist - they most likely already decided on the frameworks/technologies they are using for a certain project, and are looking for developers with a specific set of skills to complete that work. You can spend months (or more) focusing on skills that you may never use on the job, and that means waiting months longer to finding work and getting paid!
I’ll let you in on a little secret. You don’t have to know it all.
My favorite site to see the future of web design is codrops. They are magicians of their craft — for example, look at this multi-level slideshow:
That’s the kind of thing you want to put on your personal portfolio site, but:
most companies are not looking for web developers that can build things like this.
If you’re interested in flashy user experiences, you’re probably more interested in a job at a creative agency or going freelance.
Most jobs in web development are in the corporate setting, and they revolve around displaying and manipulating data (like sign-in forms, for example).
1. Master the Essentials
It goes without saying that you can’t find a job in this industry without knowing at least the rudimentary skills. I’ve already touched on the bare minimum you should expect to know before being able to land a job, but that is only the beginning. This industry changes quickly, and the skills in demand in one metropolitan area will differ from what’s necessary somewhere else.
2. Know your market
Look at the jobs available in your area. I have used Indeed.com with great results, Dice.com is another option but I have gotten a lot of spam from them. Here are the results for ‘entry level web developer’ in my area:
Not a lot to pick from for entry-level, and often times you will find this to be the case.
My entry-level skills with HTML were not enough to find a starting job! So what now? Try this search instead:
Start printing job requirements for any jobs that sound interesting to you. It does NOT matter if you’re under-qualified. In fact, that’s the idea! Right now, you’re looking at job descriptions to see what skills are commonly sought after in your area.
3. Focus on the skills you don’t have.
Now you know exactly what you need to learn in order to be a contender for the jobs in your area. You’re building the custom curriculum to your very own bootcamp, and now you won’t waste time learning things that aren’t important to know (right now).
I printed off every job description that sounded like something I wanted to learn and taped them to my wall, and then I stood there with a highlighter pen and circled every skill I didn’t have yet. I focused my time on learning the skills I was lacking, until I knew enough to finally get hired. But then something amazing happened:
4. Repeat the cycle
Don’t rest on your laurels yet, just because you’ve found a job and joined the white-collar ranks of the corporate machine! There are certain unspoken rules about how many “years of experience” you need to a) get a job in the first place and b) advance in your career.
This is categorically false.
When push comes to shove, ability trumps years of experience. I have more than doubled my income in 5 years to make well above the average salary for the positions I work in. How? I hustled.
I broke into this field as a contract worker, a step I would recommend to anyone just getting started. Contracts last anywhere from 3 months to 2 years, and when one ends you are able to start over at another company with a new one.
This allows you to “promote” yourself in the industry much faster than if you were waiting for yearly promotions just sticking it out at one company.
Every contract I finished, I took the time to learn what I needed to jump ahead to a more advanced position.. learning one skill at a time.
With all the tools, techniques, and tricks out there, learning your way into this industry can be daunting. It can be difficult to even know what’s worth learning, or what you need to know to get by — for example here are over 60 different ways to build a to-do list app, and you won’t get anywhere by trying to learn it all. Following these steps, you should be able to zero-in on the list of skills you need to learn to land your first web developer job.
Happy Coding!