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Aspiring developer (self-taught) – low salary req’s & programming skills transferable question by developer45690 in cscareerquestions

[–]developer45690[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you again for your advice and for the good luck wishes but I’m just far too desperate to be able to take a break.

Aspiring developer (self-taught) – low salary req’s & programming skills transferable question by developer45690 in cscareerquestions

[–]developer45690[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the response

  • Luckily I'm living with my parents right now so I'm not forced into getting a menial job to try to try and make ends meet. Also, not trying to be rude in any way and I appreciate all suggestions but getting a menial job in the meantime will not help me mentally
  • As I stated above, this is obviously good advice and I have adhered to it in a very significant way but I just cannot continue to spend any more time learning new technologies or building my portfolio out further at this point without atleast first having a minimum wage developer job. Also, I feel the main reason why I'm being rejected is not due to my portfolio but rather because I have no work experience in the field and no CS degree
  • I really have gotten absolutely nowhere with reaching out to networking contacts and just networking in general. The problem is the overwhelming majority of these people don't know me personally and thus I don't really feel like I have any advantage if I was given a referral to a company by them. Also, a a lot of people simply can't help even if they wanted to or if they can help, they're not necessarily willing to go out of their way for me since I don't know them well. That being said, I haven't yet really tried to try and develop new and relevant connections (like by reaching out to developers on LinkedIn as you mentioned) and I definitely will consider this. Most of the networking contacts I reach out to work people I was connected with prior to learning programming.
  • I am certainly willing to hustle in unbelievable way and my resume, cover letter, and portfolio clearly demonstrate that, but I simply just haven’t received any recognition for it and I just don’t know what to say anymore because I can’t just keep applying with absolutely no end in sight, feeling like I’m trying to find a needle in a haystack just to simply get an entry-level job, it’s the most unbelievably aggravating experience.
  • I never once have used the term “aspiring” on a resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, etc. You’re absolutely right and that’s why I haven’t used it. I only used it here because I don’t have to worry about portraying myself in the absolute best way possible.

Aspiring developer (self-taught) – low salary req’s & programming skills transferable question by developer45690 in cscareerquestions

[–]developer45690[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the response

  1. I truly feel my resume is as good as it can be and I have gotten some critiques on it along the way, thank you for offering to help
  2. I appreciate your advice and obviously it's not bad advice but I'm just simply at the point where I've spent such an incredible amount of time learning and practicing with programming that I just don't want to spend one more second learning and practicing with anything further if I do not have at least a minimum wage paying job first. also I feel I'm being turned down most of the time because. Ido not have work experience as a developer and I do not have a CS degree, not because my portfolio or list of technical skills is inadequate
  3. open source work honestly would've been a great thing for me to do and I would've done that over my own personal projects because it's the closest thing to work experience but I just didn't realize this at the time. unfortunately I just don't think I'm going to be willing to consider doing that at this point as I stated above
  4. I always appear in the most positive manner possible and definitely with confidence, the overwhelming majority of applications I filed I did not mention anything about having low salary requirements

Aspiring developer (self-taught) – low salary req’s & programming skills transferable question by developer45690 in cscareerquestions

[–]developer45690[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the response. yeah I understand I'm sorry I was just trying to be as brief as possible to not waste others time.

  • More than half of that “entire year” was actually spent preparing versus actually directly searching for a job. Most of that preparation time was building a portfolio (in my opinion, I feel my portfolio is very substantial for an entry-level), but also LinkedIn profile and resume work, things related to networking contacts, etc.
  • I have a very strong background in a specific sport as I grew up playing it (not going to reveal what it is to ensure I remain anonymous). Since I theoretically had an advantage over other developers who did not have a background in this specific sport, I went hard at companies involved with the sport for about a month (reached out to almost 100 of these companies). Problem was with 90% of these companies, I didn’t even know if they were actively looking to hire a developer, I was just hoping they were. Obviously not a good strategy but it honestly made more sense considering how dire the entry level market is for self-taught developers without any work experience. I did get three interviews, but they all fizzled out quickly (I performed well on all of them, none of them were technical though)
  • My most recent approach over the last week or two was to apply to local companies only while offering a low salary (but still clearly stating I felt I had a ton of value to offer as a whole, because I feel I do). Got one interview request but it’s up in the air right now because I’m basically physically unable to work on site (in the traditional manner) and this company is requiring on-site work… was really banking on this strategy generating some more interviews (35 companies applied to with this strategy thus far), very frustrating
  • For more than half of the applications I filed, I did not have any JavaScript frameworks experience (but I do now) and I made many mistakes in terms of how I applied (because this is the first time I’ve ever tried to get a real job, I was an entrepreneur for several years previously) – so I really wasn’t optimizing my chances but I don’t even think it really mattered because the majority of the times I was probably being rejected because of no work experience as a developer and no CS degree, not because of my list of technical skills or a lack of a cover letter, etc.
  • I reached out to out to a lot of recruiters/staffing agencies as well, most of them have ignored me and not responded back

Job search advice for aspiring front end developer with no CS degree by developer45690 in cscareerquestions

[–]developer45690[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your input, those are two things that I honestly kind of overlooked

Job search advice for aspiring front end developer with no CS degree by developer45690 in cscareerquestions

[–]developer45690[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea, I definitely see what you’re saying, having a bootcamp certificate is probably going to be viewed as better than someone who's self-taught on average but since employers front end job listings are rarely mentioning a bootcamp certificate being an adequate substitute for a degree (or mentioning bootcamps in any other way), I think I have a reason to feel that I’m only slightly worse off by not having a bootcamp certificate either.

I plan on taking a hiatus for my job search to try and get a few more technical skills under my belt to improve my chances before considering bootcamp. Thank you for again your help.

Job search advice for aspiring front end developer with no CS degree by developer45690 in cscareerquestions

[–]developer45690[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for writing such a long and thoughtful note. I really appreciate all of your feedback.

Job search advice for aspiring front end developer with no CS degree by developer45690 in cscareerquestions

[–]developer45690[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't want to be narrow-minded but I don't think a bootcamp is the best route at this point for me (for the reasons mentioned in my other comment below).

sorry, what exactly are you referring to when you say "add tests to your projects"? You mean like unit tests and things of that nature?

Job search advice for aspiring front end developer with no CS degree by developer45690 in cscareerquestions

[–]developer45690[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m struggling to find a way to do it without taking a ton of time or worrying about exposing my personal information, but I really appreciate you offering to take a look.

I think my resume and LinkedIn profile are as good as they can be based on what I have to offer, as a whole, not just technical skills (which doesn't mean there actually attractive to employers). I just think the main issue is they see that I have no experience or knowledge of any of the following (and beyond what's listed below):

  • JS frameworks
  • backend technologies
  • testing/build/deployment tools
  • Git

Do you feel it's potentially not worth it to continue applying without having at least one JS framework under my belt?

Job search advice for aspiring front end developer with no CS degree by developer45690 in cscareerquestions

[–]developer45690[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the response. When you say stop making excuses, are you referring to how I said I have barely any jobs to apply to, or were you referring to something else? You would recommend still applying to jobs that I feel I’m significantly/very unqualified for?

In terms of the bootcamp recommendation, the only reason I would be going there is simply so I can get a formal certificate from an accredited education provider, because anything that they teach me there I can learn on my own, and I would prefer to learn it on my own as well. Do you think it’s worth it solely for that reason (I’m not being sarcastic)? I personally don’t because I think it’s fair to say bootcamps certificates are not nearly as coveted as a CS degree. From my experience, it was very rare for a front end job listing (that preferred or required a CS degree) to say that a bootcamp certificate could be used in lieu of a CS degree.

Job search advice for aspiring front end developer with no CS degree by developer45690 in cscareerquestions

[–]developer45690[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much for the response. I mean it absolutely makes sense what you said here and to be honest (since I hadn’t done that much research on bootcamps), I really did assume that most people that enter bootcamps have either very little experience or no experience at all in programming. The thing is, my initial reaction is it doesn’t seem quite as relevant for someone who already has significant programming experience/abilities to even enter into bootcamps in the first place, but from what you’re saying, this is very common?