How To Land Your First Job As A Developer
The world is very uncertain right now with people losing their job, getting laid off, and getting very close to being broke.
One of the thing that makes me sad and upset is to see people around, especially developers(as I am a developer) are forced to work at places where they don’t want to and take that job at Starbucks to pay their bills, support their family and to not jeopardize what they have, even with enough skills and a college degree as well.
Well, I realized so many amazing developers are extremely talented but still not able to land a job and I have full respect for them as I was one of them as well before I joined PWJ (Profit with JavaScript), but there are few powerful techniques many don’t try… they don’t go out of the box, and do that one step extra.
Fortunately, I did that and landed my first job as a developer with a fantastic company. Although, one thing I would like to mention is, I am not a professional career advisor, but I think it’s worth sharing my experience and the tactics which got me a job even in a crisis like this in the world. (I like to give free advice, lol)
Note: It’s been just a week since I have started my job, the people are amazing and I love my new job. Moreover, I always wanted to work in an environment like Clever Programmer where I get to work around unbelievable talents from all around the world and I am happy to be surrounded by such people at two jobs.
Well, let’s not stretch that and get started.
Let’s talk about how it started…
1. Improving my Resume
I recently graduated in Mobile Application Development, and I started looking for jobs, most of the time, I never got a reply from them but even if I did, it was something like this, “Unfortunately, we have moved to another candidate” and did not even have an interview and I was so curious to know why am I not getting an interview.
So, I decided to talk to Naz(instructor at PWJ), who has been interviewed by companies like Google, Twitter, Uber, and the list goes on. He told me the reason why I am failing to get any interviews is that my resume sucks and I was a bit shocked to hear that because I watched many YouTube videos to build my resume. So, how is it even possible? But if you ask me now, my resume did suck at that point, I won’t lie. So, he helped me to create an amazing resume that is simple, one page, and that stands out.
So that was the first step I did, IMPROVED MY RESUME with an expert’s help.
Here are a few resources to look out for to improve your resume:
Blog: The resume that will land you a job.
Youtube Video: The Resume That Got Me Into Google and Microsoft (software engineer resume tips)
2. Applying for the Job
I was all ready to Rock & Roll and start applying for jobs. But again, where the heck do I apply? There are so many platforms you can use to apply for jobs such as LinkedIn, Indeed, AngelList, Ziprecruiter and etc… BUT my favorite platform and from which I landed my job is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a really powerful social media platform, trust me, and if you don’t then trust Gary Vee.
Now, it’s not a piece of cake to land a job even from LinkedIn, you have to work for it. Few things I did before applying were,
I started making a lot of valuable posts that help developers…
And started sharing the projects I built…
All I would do is, just write a few lines about anything I know or have learned which would give value to someone. As soon as I started doing that, few recruiters started approaching me, again not easy at all, I did make a lot of posts, moreover, they all approached for unpaid positions but they did approach me… which was a good sign. I never ended taking those jobs, but I did make some good connections with them and helped my friends who were looking for an unpaid internship to join those startups.
Let’s talk about the most important part and the extra step that helped me to land my job.
So, as every developer would do, I applied for the job on LinkedIn but unlike many people, I decided to see who posted that job. On LinkedIn, you can see who posted the listing underneath the job description
I went ahead and sent her a LinkedIn connection (she was the HR). As soon as, she accepted my connection, I DMed her on LinkedIn with this message:
“Hello (name of the HR),
I hope you are doing great! I recently applied for a web developer position and would like to discuss a few things about that. I believe you are working for HR in that company and that is the reason I have reached out to you.
Would it be okay if I share a short summary of what I do?”
Now, what I did here is, I started a conversation(which is very important), she replied “Absolutely” and asked me to shoot her an email with my resume. So I did and sent her the following message on LinkedIn:
“I have forwarded my resume to the given email. Please reach out if you have any questions or queries.
Side note: I can assure you, I won’t let you down, I have experience working with this technology.”
Now, I was not sure if I did the right thing or not, at that point. But now, I feel it was the right move as it shows you are ambitious.
She replied to me:
“Hi, Rishi,
I just went through your resume, and it’s pretty interesting. I would surely like to have you for an interview but something that bothers me a lot is that I found your profile says that you stay in Ontario and we are based in Calgary.
So if you do not mind sharing, what pushed you to apply for this one?”
To which I replied like this:
“Firstly, thank you for your kind words.
I have just graduated and I am looking to work with amazing people so I would be happy to move if the job is offered. Plus if it’s remote, then it won’t be an issue.”
3. Getting the Interview
Now, that is the exact conversation that got my first interview.
My first interview was a technical interview with their tech lead and I was asked questions related to front-end web development which was the position. I answered it all well, as that is something I studied.
The last question they asked me in that interview was
“You do have experience with all the technologies listed in Job Description, right?”
I could have just said yes, as my technical interview was done instead I said
“No, I have heard about .NET Core but I have never worked with it but I am willing to learn it and I believe it won’t be hard to catch up for me as I have always loved learning new technologies.”
They told me they really appreciate my honesty in my second interview.
My second interview was with their project manager and general manager, and it was a behavioral interview. They asked me questions like,
“What do you feel about constructive criticism?”
to which I answered,
“I feel constructive criticism is one the most important thing that can make you or break you as a developer. If you deal with it properly and take it in a positive way, you will grow immensely from it.”
Which I felt was a pretty good answer. Another important question they asked me was
“What kind of environment do you like to work in?”
I replied,
“I always like to work in teams, you can even see on my portfolio that I have worked on many projects with a team and the reason why I prefer working in teams is that you can always learn so many things from different people”.
Obviously, they wanted to see if I am a good team player. That interview went pretty well and honestly speaking I was just being me, I just shared whatever I feel, making sure I phrase those sentences properly.
The Final Round
Now, I got an email from them saying, I have been selected for the last round of interviews and it was with their CEO and I was among their top two picks. Until now, I was not even nervous as I was just being me and did not expect any response from them but now I was extremely nervous as I was very close to land a job.
My interview got started and we had a good casual conversation for 5 mins but the first question literally shocked me which was,
“How are you with women?”
Now, I know for the fact, he wants to know if I am not a jerk, but what confused me was how the hell do I answer that? I cannot say I am good with women, as it sounds cheap.
I know a lot of you will be easily able to answer that, but English is not my first language so I was blank for 10–20 secs and was figuring out how to phrase this answer, finally, I replied with
“I work around amazing women’s at Clever Programmer and some of them have families and kids and when I see them putting that hard work at Clever Programmer while spending time with their kids, it really inspires me. I feel you have to be respectful to everyone working around you as there is much you can learn from everyone.”,
I knew I nailed the answer, lol.
The second tricky question he asked me was,
“You said you just graduated but you applied for this job which does require enough skills, so would you say you still have a lot to learn even though you applied for this job?”
I was scared at first to say YES but answering NO was never an option as no one is perfect so I replied,
“Yes, I just graduated and I understand that this job requires enough skills, I would say I have enough skills required for this job excluding .NET Core, but I would also say that I still have to learn so many things and I am pretty sure I would learn all that from amazing people like you, I am always open to learning.”
I knew that it went amazing, but I still was nervous as I was one of the two picks, and I was sure the other person would be very competitive as well. By the way, when I started working, one thing I noticed is my CEO and everyone on the team are amazing human beings with incredible talent.
A few hours later,
I got an email from them and I still remember I was driving when I got the notification and as soon I did, I pulled over my car and my heart was beating incredibly fast, I was so scared to open that email but I did and it said that I have been offered the job and they would like me to join the team.
That was the happiest day of my life or at least of the year 2020, as it was my first job as a developer. I was very emotional and feeling a sense of pride for working super hard.
So yay, that was my personal experience and that was my first and only interview so far.
I know it was a pretty long read, so let’s recall the most important steps:
STEP 1: Make an attractive resume with the help of an expert.
STEP 2: Share what you learn and your projects on LinkedIn.
STEP 3: Apply for the job but make sure to reach out to the person who posted that job. (If it’s a company’s page who posted it, you can still go to the company’s profile and see who’s the HR)
STEP 4: Just be honest in your interview.
STEP 5: Be disciplined about applying, apply to a minimum of 10–15 jobs every single day.
STEP 6: Make sure to phrase your answer properly in the interview.
Good luck with your interview! Thank you very much for reading it.
Rishi Patel
Check Clever Programmer’s Instagram
Check Naz’s Instagram (Reach out to Naz for building your top-class resume)
Check My Instagram (Reach out to me if you have any questions)
