Forem: kerryja

Job Search and Interview Tips for Fellow Bootcampers

kerryja — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 20:05:38 +0000

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I have posted and it feels so good to be writing again. This year has been such a whirlwind. I graduated Bloc’s web development bootcamp at the beginning of October and since then I have been applying to tons and tons of jobs. I have luckily already landed some interviews and I am here to share with you some tips that I have learned along the way. I hope that this post can help some of my fellow bootcampers de-stress during the crazy job search and not give up on landing that awesome future job. 😁

If you are a complete career changer like me (I had no prior knowledge of programming before January of this year and had been working in customer service for the past 10 years) do not be so hard on yourself. I know it is easier said than done and trust me, I need to follow my own advice. This stuff is HARD. We did not go to school for 4 years for Computer Science and most of us have only been learning how to code for a year or less. But that does not mean that we can’t compete with the people who do have CS degrees. Because we can one-up them. We have real-life experience working in other career fields. Even if that field does not relate in any way to programming, this makes you a well-rounded person and as I’m sure you have seen with many job postings, more and more companies are looking for people from diverse backgrounds.
You are likely going to fill out over 150 applications before you get a job. Trust me on this one, I graduated a month ago and have already applied to 70 jobs. How many companies have I heard back from out of those 70? 12. How many of them moved onto a phone screen? 4. As my career coach told me, in the beginning what really matters is getting your resume out there and applying to as many jobs as you can. And please don’t make the same mistake I did and write customized cover letters for each one. I used to spend an hour or more on one cover letter because I thought that it would help me stand out from the crowd. Wrong. None of those companies ever got back to me, they didn’t even send me a rejection email. From my experience, it is a waste of time to write these elaborate cover letters. If there is a text field in the application to say something about yourself/why you want to work for the company, write something short and sweet and make it interesting, because that recruiter is going to scan your application for a maximum of 6 seconds.
Try to get an internship while you apply to jobs. Even if you can only give them 10-15 hours per week of your time, this experience looks so good on your resume/LinkedIn. My career coach told me to list my title as “Freelance Software Engineer” so it stands out to recruiters. I am currently working remotely for a startup helping them build out the front-end of their app. I have only been helping them for a month and have already learned so much. Even if it is unpaid, working in a real codebase with a real team will prepare you and will help you transition nicely into a new role.
Don’t work yourself up so much over the interview process. And I know this is easier said than done. With every interview that I’ve had so far, I have stressed for days about it, almost to the point where I was making myself sick. But whether it’s a live coding challenge or an on-site technical interview it is never as bad as you think it’s going to be. In my experience, the people I interviewed with could not have been nicer. They understand that you are a beginner and they are there to get you unstuck. It is okay to bounce ideas off them to reach a working solution. A tactic that has been working well for me recently is going into the interview not caring what the outcome will be. This might sound a little strange, but it is the only way for me to not stress about it. There are so many factors during the interview that you can’t control and it is a waste of your energy to worry about it. Just go in there and do your best and whatever happens, happens.
Make sure you truly know the fundamentals. Just yesterday I had an on-site interview where I pair-programmed with the hiring manager and worked on improving a week-long take-home project that they assigned to me. I had spent hours making sure the code was as modern as possible with React Hooks and functional components. I spent so much time on that upgrade, that when they asked me a question about making simple POST/PUT requests to an API, I completely blanked! If your project was focused on the front-end, be prepared to discuss how it will connect to the back-end. Instead of making sure your code looks perfect, make sure you really understand the data flow and how it actually works.
Practice, practice, practice. I know this is so daunting and I hate doing algorithm problems as much as the next person. But if you are like me and are applying to 10-20 jobs per week, you need to be prepared at the drop of a hat to complete a coding challenge. I started out learning on Edabit to help me ramp up. Then I moved onto CodeWars which is actually a lot of fun and you can compete against others. I have yet to try out Interview Cake or Pramp but I’ve heard great things about them.
Just try to put yourself out there. This is something that I struggle with as well. Even if you start trying to connect with your fellow bootcamp grads to see how their job search is coming along, that is something. Sometimes when I go to networking events I can’t find anyone to talk to because no one seems approachable. It has been incredibly difficult for me to walk up to someone and start talking to them. In my experience, it is so much better to go to workshops and mini hackathons, where you are pair programming with others and you can naturally start a conversation. I actually just went to a Vue Vixens event in Boston last week and I met some great people. So if there are events like these in your area, definitely check them out.
Join these awesome Slack channels. These are great channels to make connections and find some great job opportunities – Scotch, Women Who Code, Women in Tech and Code for America. If you have any other recommendations, please let me know!

Just remember: don’t beat yourself up if an interview doesn’t go as well as you hoped it would. Remember how many people there are out there who wouldn’t even last a day learning how to code. You are so strong for making it this far and with your perseverance and resilience, you will land that job! 💪

Getting Started with Open Source

kerryja — Fri, 17 May 2019 00:16:42 +0000

I recently have been researching how to start contributing to open source projects and wanted to make a resource for the readers of Dev.to (which is actually an open source project itself)! Maybe you are a beginner like me and have thought about getting involved in open source but don’t know where to start.

The good news is whether you’re just beginning to code or have years of experience, there is a place for you in the open source community. This post is a comprehensive summary of the resources I have found on this topic so you can learn more about it and see if you want to be a part of it.

First, let's get started with a definition of open source software:

Open-source software (OSS) is any computer software that's distributed with its source code available for modification. That means it usually includes a license for programmers to change the software in any way they choose: They can fix bugs, improve functions, or adapt the software to suit their own needs.
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-open-source-software-2071941

Google believes that open source is good for everyone. By being open and freely available, it enables and encourages collaboration and the development of technology, solving real world problems.

With so many companies joining the open source community today, there is no better time than now to get involved. Becoming part of a project can benefit you in so many ways, including:

Collaborating with and meeting other programmers
Gaining hands-on experience working on a real life project
Showing off your hard work since all your open source contributions are made public
Standing out from the crowd when applying to jobs – it’s easier to find work when employers can actually see your work!
Improving your existing skills and learning new ones
Receiving free feedback and reviews on your code!

And you don't need to code in order to contribute

There are many misconceptions out there that the only way you can make contributions to open source projects is by coding. But you can contribute in so many other ways, from organizing meetups about the project to editing documentation - if you’re someone like me who has a knack for finding typos/grammatical errors, then there are many projects out there that need your help! Casual contributions like these are actually much more common than you think and they are a perfect way for you to start building your confidence and experience with open source.

So where should you begin?

I am 99.9% sure that if you’re reading this, you have a GitHub account! And that is great because that’s all you need to get started with open source; in fact, GitHub has the largest open source community in the world.

GitHub has so many valuable resources for getting started including these guides, which will provide you with everything you need to know.

This link includes projects that are marked first-timers-only and you can search by language. I checked out quite a few of these projects and they all seemed very active.

You can use this site to find projects based on your interests.

Once you find a project that’s of interest to you, observe what’s going on a little bit before you jump into it. Make sure the project is actively maintained and there has been activity on it within the last 3 months. Start by completing tasks that no one else wants to do like fixing typos or small bugs in the code. It’s important to start small with grunt tasks that will get your foot in the door. This will help you learn the process and assure your fellow collaborators that you are someone they can count on to finish something. Once you feel good about doing these tasks, you will know when it’s time to take it to the next level!

Try this out for your first contribution!

Some tips and tricks I have taken note of:

Before contributing anything, make sure to read the contributor/README files. These will include all the steps you need to take to set up your development environment and instructions/coding standards. Most, if not all projects will have these files and if they don’t, they may not be worth your time.
Read the guidelines in full before asking questions! Make sure to do your research and Google anything you’re unsure of to avoid taking up unnecessary time from the maintainers and fellow contributors.
All open source projects are required to have an open source license, which will most likely be in a text file. No license = not open source.
If you don’t receive a response right away to the issue you want to fix, be patient. The maintainer of the project could be inundated with emails, especially if they are managing multiple projects at once.
When creating your pull request after making your changes, always check off the “Allow edits from maintainers” box so the maintainer will be able to edit your code if necessary.

I hope that after reading this you have a better understanding of open source in general and feel inspired to get involved. I’m so excited to start contributing and I plan on sharing some more tips once I have a few projects under my belt 😊 And if you have any tips that I have missed, please feel free to share!

Some Additional Resources:

This video by Kent C. Dodds provided me with so much information for this post and he walks you through contributing to a project from start to finish.

Code Triage - Over 4,000 projects to choose from

Guide to standard PR Workflow

Beginner Resources for Learning JavaScript and React

kerryja — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 22:56:58 +0000

After about two months into my Bloc web developer bootcamp I can say that overall, it’s been smooth sailing so far. I have completed two assessments in JavaScript and React.js and passed both them on the first try! I can finally say that I feel comfortable coding in JavaScript, which is a big win for me since I have struggled with it from the beginning. With React I still have a long way to go but I try to keep up with practicing and building small apps because that is the only way it is really going to stick. I have now moved onto the third Bloc module, which is Computer Science Fundamentals and I’m currently learning all about data structures. It’s so nice to be able to take a break from programming languages for a little bit and write in pseudo code! 🙌

As I continue on this journey to becoming a web developer, I want to share what parts I have struggled with so I can help whoever is reading this that might be feeling the same frustration. With that said, this post is going to be about the resources I have used to help me understand different concepts in JavaScript and React. My Bloc classes are solely text-based; there are no live lectures or recorded videos in the material whatsoever. Each module is like a giant textbook with only written examples so if you are someone like me who needs visuals to learn, it can be a real challenge!

Here is a collection of articles and videos that have been invaluable to me:

Tyler McGinnis Both his blog and videos are incredible and if I wasn’t a fulltime student I would totally take one of his paid classes. He is my go-to for anytime I need a really good explanation. Here are links to some of his free videos/blog posts that have helped me immensely:
- Beginner's Guide to JavaScript Prototype After reading so many articles on what “prototype” means in JavaScript, this is the only one that helped me finally wrap my head around it (includes a great video too).
- Understanding the "This" Keyword Great article and video on the ever so confusing “this” keyword in JS.
- JavaScript Inheritance and the Prototype Chain I can say I finally understand this thanks to this video!
- Imperative vs. Declarative Programming A must read, part of his React Fundamentals course
- Server Rendering with React Everything you need to know about React Router
- React Interview Questions Some common interview qs you should study up on!
JavaScript: Understanding the Weird Parts by Tony Alicea. This is only the first 3.5 hours of an 11+ hour course on Udemy but it covers SO MUCH. It teaches you all about what goes on in JS under the hood and Tony Alicea is just an awesome teacher.

JavaScript Info Like my Bloc classes, this resource has a whole lot of text to read. But if that is your learning style, this is perfect because it basically covers everything you need to know about JS.
I really enjoyed this Advanced JavaScript video by Jade Allen Cook that covers everything from global namespace to promises. He makes it so easy to understand and follow along.

Scrimba - Learn React for Free If you haven’t heard of Scrimba before, it is amazing. This course by Bob Ziroll is how I was able to comprehend the fundamentals of React. What’s cool about Scrimba is you can click inside the video at any time and code inside the editor. Check it out!
I love the simplicity of this video explaining the differences/similarities of React, Angular and Vue

State vs. Props This blog post by Lucy Bain will have you understanding the differences of state and props in React in no time!

So there you have it, these are some of my best resources that have helped level me up from complete beginner to amateur with more confidence 😄. It is truly amazing all of the free materials that are out there for us to use but it’s all a matter of finding the ones that keep us engaged and feeling like we’re actually learning something. I hope you get a chance to check these out and hopefully you can benefit from them as much as I have. Happy coding everyone! 🦄