If you are a coding-boot-camp graduate and are struggling to find a job, I appreciate your struggle. The job search is grueling and the amount of time to employment can easily surpass six months. Before I jump into the meat of this article, just know that the two most important things in the job-search are luck and perseverance. There are some things you can control and some things you can’t control. This article offers a fresh perspective, and some new suggestions, about the things you can control.
A few months ago, I was hired as a Salesforce Developer. The irony is that at the time I had no Salesforce experience. To add to that, I had been looking for a Software Engineering job for six months prior, with no success.
When I graduated from my bootcamp I never imagined doing anything besides React or Rails development. I think that is a mentality most bootcamp graduates can relate to. You think “Well, I don’t have a lot of experience and these languages are the only ones I know, so I guess I should only pursue jobs that require these languages.” Those instincts are misleading, but let’s take a big step back. If you only take away one thing from this article, let it be this: A job description has very little to do with how in-demand a job is: the demand is what you should be focused on.
Most people go to bootcamps to change careers or increase their earning potential. But their analysis of the job market stops there. They are in Retail or Healthcare, for example, and want to switch into ‘Tech’ because it is a growing industry. But then after three months of learning some code, they only look for one specific type of job in one sector. What I’m trying to get at is this: if you are a bootcamp graduate who is struggling to get interviews or get hired, you need to revisit your analysis of the job market. This is especially true for those who didn’t really know what they were getting into and are realizing they aren’t in love with the speciality they chose: UI/UX or Web Development for example.
For those people who knew what they were getting into and have a passion for their speciality, along with an incredible portfolio of work, continue down your road. But my gut tells me — because I was one of them — that most people don’t know what they are really getting into when they choose a domain. They think Software Engineering sounds cool and end up spending three months making bad websites/ web apps. These are the people that should keep reading. Keep in mind the following though: There is a major non-technical aspect of job hunting: leverage. While you are looking for a job, you should always be looking for something to do in the meantime, a part-time job for example. If you can’t find a part-time job you should look for an internship. And if you can’t find an internship you should find a volunteer opportunity. Find ways to put your skills to use, however you can (e.g. local store, tutor, etc.). Once you have one thing, the next becomes much more easily attainable. It’s the same reason someone who works for a big name company tends to have an easier time finding work than someone with no experience.
Unfortunately if you have no experience you have to start from the bottom. Despite what your bootcamp told you, you aren’t owed anything, let alone a full time, salaried role. There are no shortcuts to becoming a good developer or getting hired; there is no secret interview trick that is going to knock the socks off of every interviewer; there is just hard work. With that in mind, here are the three things that I recommend.
0. Have an impressive portfolio
This one doesn’t really count. It goes without saying. That is why it is a good place to start. It’s said so often that most people assume they know what it means. In reality, having a good portfolio is going to mean something different for everyone. From the perspective of one interviewer a good portfolio could mean flashy projects with modern features. To another it could mean having legible code and modular architecture. Yet to another it could mean having projects that solve technically-complex problems, or common problems in a unique way.
Even considering the different types of value that can be provided as a developer is a good start. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen long-time job seekers who have done none of the above: boring, weak portfolios that demonstrate no technical literacy, no creativity, no consistency, and nothing to be proud of. I hate the phrase ‘stand out’, but in some ways it’s undeniably important. And the easiest way to stand out is by writing documentation, adding ReadMe’s in all of your projects, and going the extra mile to have clean code.
1. Have a mediocre portfolio in a new language (like really new)
If you graduated more than 6 months ago and still have nothing in sight, you probably have enough experience building apps to pick up a new language. Before I continue, I’d recommend learning ‘design patterns’ along with the new language. Remember when I said earlier in the article that most people stop analyzing the job market after they get into a bootcamp? Here’s where this comes in. Use your brain to figure out the top-growing software languages, frameworks, platforms and services. This can be something like Go, or it can be something like Kubernetes. It can be Salesforce or it can be AWS Lambda. There are a plethora of technical needs across the software development lifecycle. Pick some tools, read the docs, put it to use by building something. Then use your new projects that very few others will have, and use it to leverage your way into the companies that use them. In all honesty it will be easier getting an interview for a position that requires 3–5 years of Kubernetes experience than 1–3 years of modern Javascript experience. There are a lot of options out there. Are you a software engineer? Tool up in an area that has some market demand.
2. REALLY learn your language, data structures, design patterns, etc.
This is a foundational point. If you are a bootcamp grad, you probably don’t know any data structures or design patterns. You probably don’t even really understand the languages you do know, conceptually. This is not your fault. But the person who’s fault it is can’t help you anymore. So the burden is on you. This is where I point you to Raymond Gan. I met Raymond through LinkedIn 4 months after graduating and he went above and beyond in giving advice. He has some of the most honest (sometimes cruel) and astute articles about coding bootcamps I’ve ever read. You can, and should, find them on his LinkedIn page here: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/raymond-gan-0ba8011/). He also hosts a Slack channel where he reviews problems from Cracking the Coding Interview. You can find that information on his GitHub page here (https://github.com/rayning0/ctci).
3. Learn Salesforce
This is a bit of a shameless plug, but I really believe in Salesforce as a company and the job growth speaks for itself. Salesforce is a massive CRM. It is used in many industries from Advertising to Finance. The companies that use Salesforce typically have some combination of admins, developers, architects and consultants managing their org. This means there are plenty of potential ways to fit into a team managing an org, and you’ll be able to continue coding in nearly all of these.
To add to that, there are a lot of new changes in the Salesforce platform that give rise to two more benefits of entering the environment now. First, the transition from Salesforce Classic to Salesforce Lightning. Along with this move comes a native UI that was modeled after the Javascript frameworks that you are likely familiar with. If you know React or Angular, it is entirely in your grasp to pick up Lightning. Secondly, it is a pretty drastic change and most Salesforce Developers either haven’t picked it up yet or they are struggling to. This means that if you can prove your chops even moderately in Lightning, you can probably outcompete someone with more experience than you for a job.
Lastly, the Salesforce documentation is impeccable. There aren’t many courses out there on Udemy, etc. that show you how to build in Apex, let alone Lightning, but Salesforce has a fantastic self-guided curriculum publicly available at Trailhead.com.
Anyways, I hope you found something interesting or helpful in this article. Thanks for reading.
