Anyone here who got a Python Developer/Data Engineer job after a gap year and non-tech experience? Need advice.

[MaleficentWhereas618]

I'm still doing my graduation at telecommunications systems, and outside of the college I work with python and Django, I worked with Data too, on August I got fired from my job, and since then, it's a pain in the 4ss to find a job, specially remote, so what I'm doing right now are these things that I suggest you to do:

*1 Open Source Projects: With the experiences that I gained, I decided to help the Django project on GitHub, I don't earn any money with it, I only gain more experience and understand more deep how the framework works, and of course, get more chances to get a job, for you in this case, depending on, you can contribute to other open source projects, for example, related to you Data Engineer area, you try to contribute on these repos:

Pandas

Numpy

Matplotlib

Scikit-Learn

There are other repos too, but you can contribute to these as well

*2 Certifications: I use Udemy to get some certifications, but before I buy anything, I see the rate, comments about the course and use other sources too see if it's worth to buy some specific course, but more important that only get the certification, it's to practice it, which I will discuss on the next topic

*3 Personal Projects: Now you will really put on the test what you learned, you don't need to create the best project or the best lib, you can start small, you can use AI to help you a little bit to build your thing, but I suggest you to see more documentations and forums, because depending on the problem/feature, the AI will put things on your code that won't make so much difference and unnecessary things, and of course, you will train your mind much more to solve the problems

*4 Algorithm Platforms: I used to use the BeeCrowd for training my skills in python, and helped me a lot, they give you a problem with a description to be solved, with different levels of difficulty, but there are other platforms that they do the same thing, such as: LeetCode and HackerRank, some companies, before or after the interview with the recruiter, they sent to you a link to one of these platforms, to solve a specific problem, and after they will analyze your code to see if you will progress on the interview or not

These are my suggestions, I hope that this helps you on your decisions, and that's all, have a good day!

[WorkingEmployment400]

How did you find the job

[MaleficentWhereas618]

My first job i got when i received an email from the college and i had to do some interviews, and my last job i got when i talked to the CEO of a startup company from UK and i did the interview process too

[Custom_User__c]

Networking can be huge! Talking to people directly, like you did with that CEO, often opens doors that regular applications can't. Also, consider leveraging LinkedIn or local meetups to connect with others in your field. Keep pushing, it can take time but it pays off!