Forem: Eliot Sanford

Embracing the Aesthetic-Usability Effect: Beauty Meets Function in UX

Eliot Sanford — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 14:13:58 +0000

TLDR; A personal dive into the Aesthetic-Usability Effect from The Laws of UX—exploring how beautiful design tricks our brains into loving usability.

I absolutely love The Laws of UX. It’s one of those books that never fails to get me rethinking the way I approach design. One idea that really resonated with me is the Aesthetic-Usability Effect. In simple terms: when something looks good, we tend to believe it works better—even if the nuts and bolts might tell another story.

So, What’s the Deal?

Imagine this: you’re checking out a new app. It’s got a slick, modern design that catches your eye immediately. Suddenly, you’re less bothered by a few minor quirks. That’s the Aesthetic-Usability Effect in action. Here’s what I find so cool about it:

Positive Impressions Count: A gorgeous design sends a message that the product is crafted with care, even if it's not flawless.
Forgiveness Factor: When an interface is visually appealing, we’re more forgiving of little usability hiccups.
Hiding in Plain Sight: Great aesthetics can sometimes mask usability problems, a double-edged sword that designers both love and need to be wary of.

A Quick Dive Into History

Back in 1995, researchers Masaaki Kurosu and Kaori Kashimura put 26 ATM interface designs to the test. They discovered that users rated the more attractive interfaces as easier to use—even when the actual performance was similar across the board. In other words, our brains take a shortcut: if it looks awesome, it must work awesome!

What I’m Taking Away

Here’s what sticks with me about this effect:

First Impressions Are Vital: A sleek, stylish design sets the tone for how we interact with a product.
Design Beats Perfection: A beautiful interface can make minor flaws seem trivial.
Striking a Balance: While aesthetics are powerful, they shouldn’t completely cover up serious usability issues. Balance is key.

Why This Matters to Me

I’m all about creating designs that don’t just function well, but that also spark joy. Whether you’re a designer, a developer, or simply someone who appreciates great UI, understanding this effect has changed the way I build projects.

Embracing the Law of Delight

UX isn’t just about making things look neat—it’s about sparking genuine moments of delight. The Law of Delight teaches us that thoughtful micro-interactions, subtle animations, and even clever copy can elevate a mundane digital experience into something truly remarkable. It’s akin to the spirit we infuse into our work at SANFORDEV Consulting—where each project is nurtured with care, just like tending to a well-tended garden that surprises you with hidden blossoms along the way.

Consider how delightful experiences emerge when design isn’t solely focused on functionality. For example, a clean, straightforward UI can set the stage for engaging interactions that capture the user's senses. Here are three standout examples that embody these principles:

Apple: Known for its refined simplicity, Apple’s user-friendly site marries aesthetic beauty with effortless usability.
Slack: Known as one of the best in class chat platforms, Slack's dynamic interface employs subtle animations and intuitive design to create a conversation flow that feels both lively and efficient.
Dropbox: With a clean, modern design, Dropbox's site simplifies file sharing, ensuring users always know exactly where to click.

These examples reflect the Aesthetic Usability Effect in action: when an interface looks good, we’re more inclined to trust and enjoy using it. This, combined with moments of delight, not only enhances usability but also builds an emotional connection that’s hard to beat.

Beyond Beauty: Why It Matters

I’m all about creating designs that do more than just function—they spark joy. They enjoy using your site so much that they can't contain their enjoyment so they share the experience with their family and friends. Whether you're a designer, a developer, or simply someone who appreciates tasteful UI, these principles have reshaped the way I build projects. They remind us that design is a conversation between the product and its user, where each delightful detail can tip the scales in favor of a truly remarkable experience.

In the world of UX, delight isn’t an added bonus; it’s a core ingredient that I'm passionate about creating for each application I create.

A UX Series in the Making

This post is just the opening chapter in a series dedicated to exploring UX from every angle. I’ll be diving deeper into how these laws influence our everyday design decisions and sharing practical tips on crafting experiences that are as functional as they are delightful. Stay tuned for more insights on how to make your digital products not only work well, but also feel amazing.

What are your thoughts on the Law of Delight in UX?

Have you experienced a website or app that surprised you with its ingenious simplicity?

Have you noticed how a beautiful interface can make you overlook those little imperfections?

Drop us an email at hey@sanfor.dev. I’m always excited to chat about how beautiful design can transform our digital experiences.

Happy designing, and keep building amazing stuff!

Creating Fluid Animations with Framer Motion

Eliot Sanford — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 12:59:44 +0000

TLDR; Learn how to create smooth, engaging animations in React applications using Framer Motion with practical examples and best practices.'

Animations can turn a static screen into a vibrant experience—much like the gentle sway of a flourishing garden.
Framer Motion is your go-to tool for crafting dynamic, engaging animations in React that feel natural and refined.

Getting Started

First, install Framer Motion:

npm install framer-motion
# or
yarn add framer-motion
# or
pnpm add framer-motion

The magic begins with the motion component, which brings an element to life:

import { motion } from 'framer-motion';

export default function AnimatedBox() {
  return (
    <motion.div
      initial={{ opacity: 0, y: 20 }}
      animate={{ opacity: 1, y: 0 }}
      transition={{ duration: 0.5 }}
      className="w-32 h-32 bg-blue-500 rounded-lg"
    />
  );
}

Animation Fundamentals

The Animate Prop

The animate prop tells your component its final state. For example:

<motion.div
  animate={{
    x: 100,
    backgroundColor: '#ff0000',
    boxShadow: '10px 10px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2)',
    rotate: 180,
    scale: 1.2,
  }}
/>

Transitions

Customize your animations with the transition prop. Framer Motion supports several types:

<motion.div
  animate={{ x: 100 }}
  transition={{
    type: 'spring',
    stiffness: 260,
    damping: 20,
    delay: 0.2,
  }}
/>

Hover and Tap Interactions

Add interactivity using whileHover and whileTap:

<motion.button
  whileHover={{ scale: 1.05 }}
  whileTap={{ scale: 0.95 }}
  className="px-4 py-2 bg-purple-600 text-white rounded-md"
>
  Hover & Click Me
</motion.button>

Advanced Animation Techniques

Variants for Coordinated Animations

Variants let you manage complex animations by defining states outside your JSX:

const cardVariants = {
  hidden: { opacity: 0, y: 20 },
  visible: {
    opacity: 1,
    y: 0,
    transition: { duration: 0.5, staggerChildren: 0.1 },
  },
};

const itemVariants = {
  hidden: { opacity: 0, x: -20 },
  visible: {
    opacity: 1,
    x: 0,
    transition: { duration: 0.3 },
  },
};

function Card() {
  return (
    <motion.div
      variants={cardVariants}
      initial="hidden"
      animate="visible"
      className="p-6 bg-white rounded-lg shadow-lg"
    >
      <motion.h2 variants={itemVariants} className="text-xl mb-4">
        Card Title
      </motion.h2>
      <motion.p variants={itemVariants} className="mb-4">
        Content that feels as gentle as a breeze over ripe blueberries.
      </motion.p>
      <motion.button
        variants={itemVariants}
        className="px-4 py-2 bg-blue-500 text-white rounded"
      >
        Learn More
      </motion.button>
    </motion.div>
  );
}

🫐 (Optional playful nod) While some liken animation to the rhythm of nature, here we celebrate the art of cultivating movement.

Gestures, Drag, and Scroll-Based Animations

Framer Motion easily adds gestures and drag functionality. For example:

<motion.div
  drag
  dragConstraints={{ left: -100, right: 100, top: -100, bottom: 100 }}
  dragElastic={0.2}
  whileDrag={{ scale: 1.1 }}
  className="w-32 h-32 bg-green-500 rounded-lg cursor-grab"
/>

Use useScroll to connect animations to scroll position:

import { motion, useScroll } from 'framer-motion';

function ScrollAnimatedSection() {
  const { scrollYProgress } = useScroll();

  return (
    <motion.div
      style={{
        opacity: scrollYProgress,
        scale: scrollYProgress.interpolate([0, 1], [0.8, 1]),
      }}
      className="h-screen flex items-center justify-center"
    >
      <h1 className="text-4xl">Scroll to feel the motion!</h1>
    </motion.div>
  );
}

Conclusion

Framer Motion gives you the tools to animate your React applications with the subtlety of nature—adding movement that feels organic and engaging. Whether you're drawing users' attention or injecting life into a static screen, let your animations give your reader's a more engaging experience.

Happy animating!

Should you work for free to gain experience?

Eliot Sanford — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 23:17:36 +0000

Should you work at a dev shop for free on a temporary basis and after that period allow them to decide whether to offer an entry-level front-end role?

It seems sketch. Red flags should rise up on this type of opportunity. It could mean that it would be a toxic place if they are attempting to exploit someone's time without paying them. I have not yet heard of someone coming out of that type of situation with an offer, though I imagine someone has—not taking anything away from them for doing that.

Let me elaborate a few things I would suggest trying in this scenario. If offering free trial-period work is being discussed, then before writing a line of code, I would immediately transition the conversation to at least an acceptable hourly rate on a month-long trial.

See what they are willing to pay you hourly and what amount of hours they would allow you to work part-time 15 hours or up to full-time 40 hours. See if they pay you 10-25% lower than the average in your area for one month—at min $25-30/hr seems reasonable but do your research. If your skills are above the average beginner, then don't sell yourself short. Figure out what would be the lowest you would be willing to accept and have that in the back of mind during your conversations. Plus, hopefully, you won't be second-guessing whether they're going to fire you any minute—time boxes the relationship a little longer.

After the month-long trial then they either extend a full-time offer at something around $30+/hour or don't. Be prepared to walk if the offer is not extended. This move will give you the assurance that you've been compensated for a month of your time and gained solid resume-building intern-level experience. If they don't have the budget to do that, then they are financially not able to hire you after a week and a half of free work, let alone a month.

If you do anything for free, then it should only be that you shadow a developer(s), but aren't actually doing work at the keyboard or installing anything in terms of a developer environment on a computer. You'd just purely be a fly on the wall with access to developer scrums, asking questions about the confusing technical bits in the codebase, learning their tech in the process of your talks, and just generally taking notes and talking shop with the developers about their tickets

I shadowed for two weeks at a local dev shop startup when I was starting as a career switcher. I was unemployed at the time, so I had the time to shadow while I was job searching. It was unpaid, and I spent up to 4 hours a day at the office just watching and asking questions and attending scrum/sprint ceremonies.

I had just left a dead-end job the week prior—gosh, I hated that job. The shadowing was a valuable change of pace, and I treasured that experience. For example, I had never experienced scrum or even knew what agile was. I also learned more about JavaScript because my mentor was telling me about mapping and working with arrays. Ultimately, It set me up for what I would be doing in my professional journey.

My mentor thought his referral meant they would hire me.

They didn’t.

I was way too junior, I suppose and I was looking back—Had passion but was too green.

My mentor—a junior React developer at the time—was self-taught and now he works for a fortune 5 company as a senior software engineer. He's probably 4x'ed his salary and works with an amazing team.

I also shadowed the CTO and he went on to another larger established startup as CTO and now works as a software engineer manager at a large brand-name tech company.

Another self-taught Junior developer is still there at the startup but has moved up the ranks.

My point is that you should never do actual development work for free. The exception to the rule would be your legit open-source passion project or a hack-a-thon weekend for non-profits and everyone is working on a free basis.

You should not in any scenario do dev work for a for-profit business without compensation in hopes of a job. Interns for college credit should be compensated, too. I've known plenty of engineering students over ten years ago who were co-oping and were compensated at $25 per hour.

If you are doing anything unpaid then it should be a shadowing experience—no coding or offering consultation of any sort. Use shadowing to be exposed to day-to-day dev life.

How I write cover letters for developer roles

Eliot Sanford — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 13:33:30 +0000

A friend who's job searching for developer jobs asked me recently:

"What points do you try to cover in your cover letters?"

Here are some of my main objectives with the cover letter.

What's the goal of it?

First, understand what the cover letter is doing for you.

Its goal is not to land you the job. Its purpose is to get you an interview. Approach writing one with that angle.

Network

Before even laying hands to the keyboard to write a cover letter at all, think of the number of ways that you can get an interview. One major way is through someone's referral, so ,firstly, seek to network with someone to get a referral.

Probably 9 times out of 10, I don't need to write one because my referral or recruiter is my cover letter.

When seeking a referral

Make sure that:

They have a positive reputation (and some respect, gravity, and influence at the company never hurts)
They know enough about you to vouch for you (reach out to them for a quick call if you don't know them that well yet or haven't spoken with them in a while to talk about how you are qualified)

It's still usually a good idea to have a person to reference in the first section that you spoke to about the position. Having a positive existing relationship with someone that they know is a positive step to get what you want from the cover letter anyway—your foot in the door for an interview.

Plus, they referred you, so you want them to be contacted and given credit for a kickback when you're hired. That's a great way to say "Thank you!", indirectly.

You're applying, so write a cover letter

If given the option to write the cover letter, write one. Unless you do some of the things I suggest not doing, then it can't hurt you.

I've heard that some screeners or hiring managers might not read it, but someone might think you're a classy person for taking that extra step. A low percentage of candidates take those steps, so if you're writing one you stand out.

In the end, your qualifications are the most important thing to getting you in the door, but it can demonstrate attention to detail much better than merely listing attention to detail on a resume. It gives them one more reason to call you in.

Having a clean resume and a well-written optional cover letter is at a minimum like wearing a belt and suspenders. The suspenders aren't that necessary but certainly give you confidence.

Plus, a short and sweet letter linking why you're a fit in at least three main ways, could help you, especially in the absence of a referral.

Things I do:

Match the title and contact info header from your resume (consistency shines)
Address the person by name (I like to show personality, so I use a waving emoji with my "Hey" but I understand if you want it to be professional)

NB A little hack I learned: call the HR contact person to find out who by full name reads the cover letters, find out insider information about the position, and let them know that you'll be applying. I cannot overstate this, but making contact with a human at the company and knowing them by full name, again, it increases your chances of getting your foot in the door.

Mention your referral early in your letter as I detailed above
Explicitly mention the full title of the position with job id number if used and known (including whether its listing has a location, hybrid, or remote)
Tailor your letter for this specific role (a rubber-stamped template is just a recipe for mistakes or including irrelevant information for that role)
Pick either a paragraph or a bulleted list to demonstrate that you meet most if not all the qualifications, laser-focusing on including things not already stated in your resume

NB If at this point, you realize that you've only got 40 percent or fewer qualifications for the role, then it's unlikely you'll get the interview. Your chances for successfully getting the interview go way up after you've hit the threshold of at least 60% of the qualifications. Demonstrating an interest to learn the remaining percentage is typically enough to get your foot in the door.

If you opted for a paragraph, include at least one to three sentences about why you want that specific role and/or why you're a good fit for the role with the value you bring to the company or specific team if known
Or if using bullets for your qualifications, have a line that says "Here's my qualifications:"
Then, use 3-7 bullets after that colon that goes line by line down the job description and tells them the number of years experience that you have with it, your passion for learning something, or a detailed explanation of how you are qualified
Say thank you with a salutation

NB I've also literally stopped saying "Looking forward to talking with you soon". Instead, I have been referencing this article for months now, 7 Clever Alternatives to “I Look Forward to Hearing from You”.

Add a P.S. if you have space that says "I'd welcome an opportunity to talk about what you have in mind for filling this position at [company name]. If you wish to schedule a video interview, I'm free at 3 p.m. Central each weekday the next couple of weeks and please email me at [your email]."
Keep it short and concise
Triple check for typos and grammar
Ask a friend or family member to read it
Save the letter as a PDF to fix the formatting in place

Things I don't do:

Continue to apply without at least researching the company
Not even trying to speak with someone about the company
Forget to validate that it's a real position, at a real company, and that it's still open (how deflating to work up a cover letter and the role is closed)
Reference the wrong job title and/or job id (spell check can't fix that)
Using the same cover letter for every role (be careful because it can lead to the next mistake)
Misspell someone's name or the company's name—even worse using the same cover letter format and including the wrong person or company's name (guilty).
Fail to demonstrate that you want the role with reasons
Fail to thank them
Have large blocks of text—few will want to read that so bullets help here
Use long confusing sentences
Include too much information
Forget to proofread
Use an unprofessional sounding or off brand email
Send a word document (Only send those to your 3rd party recruiter)

Hope this helps you. I offer this entirely as my opinion from my experience, and I'm open to others thoughts, especially hiring managers or recruiters. Please leave a comment with your feedback.

Try this one thing

Eliot Sanford — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 22:09:56 +0000

Struggling to find work as a junior developer?

At least try to get one client. Work for yourself as contractor on a client work opportunity. Give it a shot. It can be an unlock.

Well, you might say, “Well where do I find clients?".

To find leads for client work, volunteer and bring people value, build relationships, offer your services to people who don’t have websites or apps for their business. Offer your skills to people in need of your help. You don’t have to be an expert. You just need to have some sort of confidence in your value that you can offer along with your time.

Again, you might be saying, "Well it's still COVID times or I'm just not that well connected. What then?"

Try the people in your family and friendships. Go to your email and phone contacts. You could try to message people in your network like literally one-by-one phone contacts and message or call them. Just touch base and start a conversation where y’all left off. Don't be all sales-ish. Call them out of a genuine desire to talk with them and find out how they are doing, especially if it's been a while.

In the conversation or at least towards the end of the conversation weave in and let them know about your bootcamp completion or self-taught path. You could share completed projects, your resume, and/or your current job search with the list of interviews that you've done so far.

Without asking directly for a job, let them make the next move whether they have a development contact who has work or client work.

Be polite if they know nothing about tech and suggest something unrelated to your path. Just remember that people want to help you. It's not a small thing that they've suggested something, even if it is not helpful.

Be ready to reach out to share your resume and contact information and reach out to those leads immediately that are connected to those contacts. They will talk with those people. It reflects poorly on your desire to truly find work if you flake on reaching out. Plus, it really shows them that you're not serious. Be serious. Make a good impression. Go get what you want.

Well, again you might say, "But, I'm shy, what then?"

Don't overwhelm yourself with it. Set an achievable goal. How about you reach out to one or two contacts a day for five days a week. Start with people closest to you, or the people who've helped you in the past, or better yet the people who've said, "I owe you one." That is doable. Build confidence from the easy wins.

You might discover some tough project and say, "It's just too much what this person needs done. What then?"

Saying "No thanks." is an ok answer. Especially, if the person ends up being a toxic person or leads you to people that are taking advantage of you. You should certainly decline those opportunities. Don't do anything illegal either.

If interest but the work is a lot, there's another option. Invite bootcamp friends or experienced devs to join your client project. Ask mentors for advice, what you should do. Find referrals for people that are also looking for work. Distribute the work responsibility. Find others who are strong where you are weak.

You might say, "Well, that's a lot of work. What then?"

Think through whether it's worth it to you. You could still decline the project at any point still, or you could get creative with how you want to continue. You've got more in you than you want to believe at times.

You also might say, "Well, we verbal agreed. What then?"

Get the contract in writing. Find a template or ask for advice from successful contractor friends. Don't start the work until you get paid a portion upfront. Negotiate something fair, but at the end of the day, give yourself the ability to walk away and have gotten paid for some of your efforts.

After that first payment, focus 100%, everything you've got to crush that project. Resist the urge to add a lot of clients all at the same time. Focus everything on just the one for now.

Carve out the needed time. Reduce your interviews or other activities if needed. Put in at least 20 and up to 40 hours if you can. Try it like it’s your job because at that point in time, it is your job. Be professional and put in the work to get the desired outcome for the client. Be patient, it could take time to finish the work depending on the scope of the job.

Having a production app or client MVP out there is huge in terms of gaining experience. Like I said it can be the unlock since it’s created your own junior experience.

Returning back to referrals for work, sometimes people don’t have work at the moment but because you broadcast you’re searching and/or you're volunteering in the tech community and bringing value, then you’re top of their mind when opportunities are there.

Think of it your way of building relationships to gain recommendations from established developers and successful friends.

Hope this advice is helpful. Would love to hear your feedback and additional thoughts. Please drop them in the comments.

Which came first? Work experience or the first tech job?

Eliot Sanford — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 15:27:24 +0000

How can anyone escape the tech chicken and the egg conundrum?

The Quest for the First Job

Like so many people these days, one of the hardest things is to get that first tech job with no experience. Whether you're a recent college grad, bootcamp grad, or a self-taught code newbie, most of these people are having this issue finding that first job.

It's the chicken and the egg problem. Which came first? It's the first job in tech and the lack of work experience problem. Which came first?

How does anyone get a job without experience? They have no experience and no one is letting them get experience. How can anyone break in then?

There are a few key ways to stop the chicken and the egg problems and the hang-ups that employers can have when hiring junior developers.

Volunteerism

One important way to gain some traction with LinkedIn and your resume is to volunteer to get relevant tech experience.

Review job descriptions for entry-level roles that you're applying for, then find ways to volunteer to gain primary skills related to those job descriptions.

Make sure that when you volunteer that you put your best value into making it a success for the people that you've volunteered. Show up early. Stay late. Do things that no one wants to do, and make sure that you communicate through the issue. Find ways to reduce the burden on the leader. If no one is stepping up to lead, then step up and lead. Seek ways to fill into the gaps that employers want to see from you.

If you're volunteering is 20+ hours per week, then it's worthy of "internship" work experience. If it's education, then it needs to be in the education section only. Aim to have tech volunteering experiences that can be put into work experience because it was worthy of internship work experience.

A rung up from volunteering for free is taking an internship or apprenticeship that's practically working for half of what software engineer earn or it's a short-term free gig, but a little bit of pay is better than free. Again, look to find chances to get experience however you can find it.

You could also try to find a tech role that's not exactly development yet it's at a development company. You could work as a designer, product manager, scrum master, quality assurance engineer, technical support specialist, or any other number of alternative roles. After six months you could then seek a lateral move or a transfer to that coveted developer role that you were initially seeking.

Translate volunteer experience to an internship or full-time role. Translate an internship to a full-time offer. Translate an alternative tech role to a full-time dev role. Their are many scenarios here to land that first role, or they can be used in tandem with the next thing to do.

Documentation and Storytelling

Along the way, plug all your big win volunteer experiences into your resume and the featured section on LinkedIn. Ideally, you've got some front facing production code that you can be proud of and can give you conversation starters for interviews.

Another important way to show your value is to learn how to tell your story well in written form and in conversation. Collect all your relevant experiences and make them shine.

Giving anyone reviewing your resume and LinkedIn profile a reason to think, "this person is a noob" (even if it is true) is the quickest way to be dismissed.

Give them reasons to believe that you're a professional with some valuable entry-level experience already.

See ways to again volunteer and remove this stigma by documenting your journey. You'll be surprised the experience you can build over time by starting now. With those experiences you'll undoubtedly have chances like the next thing to build on.

Recommendations

Another great way to improve your chances of getting hired is through recommendations or referrals. Once you've finished that experience, seek feedback whether you brought them value. If they say "Thank you. You were amazing.", then don't be shy to ask for a recommendation or referral and ask whether they know someone hiring.

This step can remove doubts from employers that you're a noob that will need lots of hand-holding because others are saying that you're not a noob but a professional that's ready to step in and contribute.

Look at what they say about your skills and jot those down for yourself before you forget what you did. Add it to your LinkedIn and resume. Put those highlights into bullets. It's important to document everything that you can.

Another powerful way to gain a referral is to reach out to junior software engineers with a similar story as you that are at companies that you want to work at that are hiring. Message them with a congratulations note in your connection request. They just went through the same thing that you did, so they will really appreciate someone taking the time to give them kudos.

Find out their story. How did they get into development and what things did they do to land at their current job? You might be really fortunate and land not only a recommendation but a friendship.

You may not want to look at only large companies for referrals. Look at the smaller startups, too. A recommendation or referral from a developer at a smaller team would mean a lot more in most situations.

Collecting referrals and recommendations are one thing, but building on those relationships can be important for the next step.

Reputation

The last thing is being active in your network to build your reputation as a person worthy of a referral.

Your network is filled with people that want to help you out. Get to know them. Find ways to help them out. Initially, be genuine and seek nothing in return. Use the steps I've highlighted above and aim to be a helpful volunteer on a short-term basis.

Sign up for free demos, newsletters, live streams, and newsletter of senior engineers and hiring managers. Participate and offer some excitement and passion at the places where they hang out. Ask genuine questions unrelated to your job search but on the topics they are discussing and be friendly. Let them be the one to ask you about your story. Again this point is where it's helpful to be a really good storyteller with a good bit of resume experience that you've built up like I've mentioned above.

At that point if you're going to layout your "big ask", then ask "Would you mind telling me if your team hires someone with my experience who also has a solid portfolio?" Sometimes those people don't have opportunities to share in the now, but six months later something comes up where they know of a junior developer role that would be perfect for someone looking to break in. Who might be top of their mind at that moment? Aim to make that person you.

Build those experience to the next level, repeat. It won't happen overnight but start somewhere, then over time you'll build some experience and have better stories to tell in conversations with others in your network and in interviews.

Conclusion

Seize the opportunities because it's one of the best ways to accelerate your career that costs absolutely nothing to do. Play this out and see where it can take you.

Yes, it's really frustrating. Trust me when I say that I've been there. It can be one of the hardest things that you'll face, but hopefully some of these strategies help you avoid it taking longer. You can do it.

Want to have tech recruiters find you? Sixteen important things to remember

Eliot Sanford — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 14:12:19 +0000

I've used LinkedIn to find my last three developer jobs, and that was also my first three developer jobs ever. 🟦

Tagline

Hands down, the most important thing on LinkedIn is a well-crafted headline, otherwise known as the title or tagline at the top of your profile.

✓ I suggest placing the title of the role that you are seeking—in multiple ways including the tech stack that you know.

For example, if you are a web developer, I wouldn't say "Web Developer at Acme" or "Owner at YourLLC".

Say something like "React Front-End Software Engineer | React.js, Redux, and Node JS | Web Developer".

Search can't find keywords that are not there.

✓ Additionally, this type of tagline doesn't make the recruiter wonder, "What tech stack do they actually work with? What type of engineer are they? Java? JavaScript? Python?".

Picture

The second most important thing is a professional mugshot.

✓ Doesn't have to cost a lot or be a professional 💰

✓ Find a friend to take free pics 📸

✓ Nice work-appropriate collared shirt or dress 👔👗

✓ Big grin on your face. 😁

✓ No selfie pics from your bathroom mirror or car. 🚗

Featured

The third most important thing is your "Featured" section, especially projects with meta images.

You should have one or more:

✓ Polished projects with meta og images (Google it if you're struggling here) 📽
✓ Published blogs or articles 📄
✓ Some accolades that you received 🏆
✓ AWS cloud certificates (practically one of the only certifications that matter to tech recruiters) 📜
✓ Anything that you would brag about (if you were the bragging type). 🔥

About

The fourth most important thing is your "About" section, or your bio.

This section should include these things:

✓ The stack you want to build in and currently build in 🥞
✓ 5-10 skills bullets listed by most in demand first
✓ What role you are seeking 👀
✓ 1-3 sentences or bullets to summarize what you can do to help an employer 3️⃣
✓ Invite them to message you 📥

Recommendations

The fifth most important thing is your "Recommendations":

✓ Ask mentors, instructors, and co-workers to give a positive recommendation 👍
✓ Find people who know you well enough to speak to your character and tech skills 🗣
✓ Find people to recommend you for work that you've done recently 📆

Think of it like this:

You're up against an equally qualified candidate for the last interview slot. They also have 1 through 4 down, but...

They have 5 sterling recommendations and you have zero.

Who gets the last interview spot❓

Work Descriptions

The sixth most important thing is your work history bullets:

3-5 well-written bullets for past work experience and any volunteering.

✓ Bullets should start with descriptive verbs other than "Responsible for" or "Worked" 🚅
✓ Weave in the tech skills that you want to get hired for 👷🏼‍♀️
✓ Craft the title for your role for what you actually did with the tech stack included. 🎨

For example, do not use a meaningless title like Software Engineer I. What is that anyway? It just tells me that HR pays you less than a II or III. But say something like "React Front-End Software Engineer | React.js Redux TypeScript AWS". Again, you are allowed to re-craft the title as long as it's what you actually did and skills used in the job.

Recruiters do use these keywords from past titles to find you.

Proofread

The seventh most important thing but maybe it's the most important really in terms of leaving a positive impression:

No typos on your profile

✓ Don't use poor grammar 😶
✓ Use words that you actually use 🎙
✓ But write business formal 🎩
✓ Triple check 3️⃣
✓ Ask a friend to proof your profile and offer feedback 💁‍♂️

Links

The eighth most important thing is your tech projects near the item in your profile where you did them:

Link relevant projects underneath your roles and volunteerism.

✓ Try to show a before and after shot
✓ Tell your reader what you specifically did to create or contribute to the work
✓ Give details in terms of numbers or stats
✓ Demonstrate results with great visuals and meta images on links (improves clickthrough rate)

Meaningless words

The ninth most important thing is avoiding fluff or vague clichés.

✓ Be descriptive and include examples of what you know and what you've done.
✓ Describe what you did as if you're painting a picture with words. 👩‍🎨
✓ Don't give someone the impression that you're a newb.
✓ Try to convey that you're a pro who can step in and give the employer value.

Activity

The tenth most important thing—being active on LinkedIn

✓ Create a meaningful well-written typo-free post regularly (more often and consistent is better)
✓ Try to offer free value to your reader
✓ Comment on a trending relevant topic
✓ Mention people who don't mind being mentioned

Networking

The eleventh most important thing is networking with other people

✓ Attend popular live streams
✓ Follow cool people
✓ Like cool people's posts
✓ Comment on their posts
✓ Send new connections
✓ Always request a connection with a thoughtful note based on mutual interests
✓ Send recruiters a three bullet summary about you including your years of experience with your most high-demand skills and what you're looking for in your next role
✓ Be kind and treat others how you want to be treated

Selling

The twelve most important thing is that you're not selling your best projects well.

Don't put your best projects at the bottom of the profile in the "Projects" section where no one clicks. Sell your polished work in the visible places.

✓ Best projects need to go in "Featured" and/or under the role in "Experience" or "Volunteerism"
✓ No one will click on the link that's at the very bottom with no picture or description... no one

Concise

The thirteenth most important thing is to not be too wordy or put links in the about or roles

If the links aren't active as they are in the "About" section and in the work experience bullets, then no one will copy and paste it

✓ You need to be brief and write with bullets mostly.
✓ No one will read a lengthy paragraph

Banner

The fourteenth most important thing is that a good banner picture doesn't hurt

✓ Avoid landscapes with no words
✓ Find open source images from Unsplash and Pixabay
✓ Go for images with technology in it
✓ Bonus points for using Canva to add your name, a short summary of you, and contact information in an attractive, legible color and font

⚛️ 🐙 👋

The fifteenth most important thing is emojis.

Don't be afraid to use emojis because they demonstrate tone and that you're likely more personable than the average engineer.

Yes, emojis on a LinkedIn profile.

✓ Emojis in good taste can improve your clickthrough rate
✓ Google emojis that get traction and engagement
✓ Use them appropriately and sparingly
✓ Don't get too crazy—a simple 🔵 or two is good
✓ Place them next to things that you want them to read most

Tagline part 2

The sixteenth most important thing is to avoid unhelpful words in the tagline.

✓ Don't include your current company in your tagline and "About" section.
✓ No one who will recruit you for a job will search for your company by its name to find you—NO ONE.
✓ You have them listed in your work experience, so they will pop up at the top of your profile just to the right of your tagline anyway.
✓ That's where it should go, so you don't have to be redundant by placing your employer in your tagline.

What have I missed?

After the top four, this list is probably unordered really and would be bonus points, but the top four-six are must-haves.

Hope this helps you. That's it. Thanks for reading.

All the best on your LinkedIn improvements and job search.

Free ways that you can get build a resume after bootcamp or college

Eliot Sanford — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 15:38:11 +0000

Are you a junior web developer fresh out of bootcamp or college and struggling to find work? Even if you're self-taught, then you could still do the things in this blog to gain experience.

Look for ways that you can get experience working on your own projects, working with other developers, and helping people in the community. One of the more helpful things that you can do with these things is to broadcast them to your network of friends, so others will know that you're looking for work.

Here are some ideas to do that in the midst of the Corona Virus Pandemic:

👤 Shadowing

Shadow a dev that you've met on Twitter or at a virtual conf or live stream or an in-person job

This kind of thing will give you pseudo "internship" experience.
You'll see what day-to-day dev jobs are like + you'll start to be exposed to things that will really stretch your growth.

🐦 Twitter

Interact with devs on Twitter

Like and RT the posts of all the cool tech Twitter devs that are amazing
Engage with their tweets
Share the things that they find valuable
Become a known name for them b/c of all the good reasons (don't annoy them)
Ask to dm with them

🙋🏻‍♂️ Volunteerism

Volunteer to help your local meetup organizer to make their job easier.

Don't have a local meetup, then join a virtual one in NYC or the Valley or anywhere else.
Feeling extra gung-ho, then create your own meetup.
Meeting people and learning will be great exp.

👷🏼‍♀️ Build

Always always always build projects of the things that you are learning

Don't watch a course or do a tutorial just by reading/watching/consuming only
Build something really simple and avoid getting too complex. You won't build a full-fledged Spotify clone starting out. But, you could start by building a unit converter, tic-tac-toe, or some other simple app.
Create content and ship

👩🏾‍🏫 Meetups

Teach at a meetup how to do one simple thing that took you a while to grasp.

Talk/write like you're just talking to you when you were learning
Your learning will grow so much while teaching others.
The opportunity will also give you an opportunity to find like-minded people and potentially network with future colleagues or managers.

💬 Groups

Create a discord study group

Invite and talk with bootcamp-ers and CS majors about what they are learning.
What are they building, then try to build their projects and ask them when you're stuck.
Go through a free course with them in the study group and learn from them.

🙌 Hack-a-thons

Go to virtual hack-a-thons

You will likely be surrounded by CS majors and newbies of all sorts
Plus, the engineers who have experience that you network with can potentially help you get a job through a referral
Brushing shoulders with those new friends will also give you a chance to learn from those who know information that they've learned from expensive degrees.

👍 Events

Attend virtual conferences/ YouTuber live streams and participate actively

You might be one of 3 people in the live stream, but that is a great place to get one-on-one answers
it can also help an awesome content creator get better at live streaming or giving chats so it's a win-win.

📍 Self-employed

Start your own contract self-employed business opportunities

Start dirt cheap but get paid to learn
Start with the low-hanging fruit skills that you know how to do today, then skill up and scale up and raise your rates.
Ask people to refer you to their friends
If you do an amazing job volunteering or at a hack-a-thon or attend a conference, then hey someone their who knows your abilities might know someone that has a role.
Even if they don't have a role at the time, then they might think of you at a later date.

🏗 Create

Make content

Make a game/tutorial
Make a course
Write a blog/book
Making some content that helps others will help you become an authority and known by others—even if only a few people use it

📄 Projects

Build some take home projects as if you're doing one for a job interview

Try to get an interview coding assessment that you know you will fail
When you fail, just build it through anyway (no one knows that you failed and took longer than the deadline unless you tell them.
Fail forward
Need ideas, build some of these take home projects.

🎙 Podcast

Have a knack for talking, then start doing a podcast about tech.

Again you can collab with people in tech and grow your knowledge with yet another opportunity to find people who can help you out and you help them out.
Doing the podcast consistently will force you to learn.

🧑🏽‍💻 Beginners

Teach kids, career-switching adults, anyone who is interested in learning HTML, CSS, and basic JS.

Apply for roles over the summer to teach teens how to code like at INTechCamp.
Not only will you learn more deeply what you know already, but you'll feel good about it.

😎 Mentor

Offer to mentor someone one-on-one who is just getting started that has no idea what they are doing.

You might feel like you don't know what you're doing either, but hey neither do I.
Go for it. I'm sure you'll gain an amazing friend from it, too.
That small amount of interaction is huge and again you'll find a support network at the same time.
You'll have someone to share knowledge.
You can practice interviewing, resume writing, or helping you and your friends improve your LinkedIn profile and portfolios.

😺 Open Source

Contribute to open source.

Do Hacktoberfest in October, but keep the momentum going into also in November and December.
Contributing doesn't have to be massive.
Fixing typos in documentation or correcting a small amount of css or picking up a beginner "good first issue" and asking for lots of help is ok, too.

✍🏼 Go Public

With anything that you're doing to gain experience use #100DaysOfCode to #LearnInPublic.

If you have been gaining experience, but hardly anyone knows about it that's a huge missed opportunity.
Leveraging social media helps. People tell me every week, I saw your post, idk u coded.
Tweet your non-tech interests, too.
Some only like others' tech tweets.
Share what makes you unique because maybe the FAANG developer whose tweets you ❤️ also likes Baby Yoda and might just invite you to a zoom call with friends to watch Star Wars and geek out.
You never know where a random interaction might end up.

Fin

Well, that's all I've got for this blog Hope you enjoyed it. Leave a comment for ways that you've gained experience.

Always do these 16 things when you're taking screening calls with recruiters

Eliot Sanford — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 21:10:46 +0000

When doing a screening call with a recruiter ALWAYS have these 16 down:

1 - have shared your updated resume before the call

include portfolio page, GitHub, + LinkedIn profile on resume
few things slows it down like no updated resume
offer to share pdf and word doc
the word doc is often appreciated by the recruiter to prepare before sending to the client

2 - be able to quickly in < 2 min. preferably tell:

a. what you're excited about doing
b. share your story
c. share the number of years or months you have with each of the three main required skill

sharing years before them (be proactive because they will ask)
show passion to learn

3 - prepare to tell what are you currently doing in < 1 min. preferably

what you do like you're telling a 6 year old
avoid using company or industry jargon

No experience?

Place a high priority on gaining experience by networking and making "intern" experience, e.g. offering to build an app

4 - look up the company's web presence and prepare to tell why you want to work there

keys to focus on:

company website (what do they do?)
what's the mission of the company in your own words
view social media accounts to see what they value
view reviews like Glassdoor and/or talk with current employees if possible

5 - prepare your 1-3 most polished and most recent projects

place them in a public repo
deploy to a url
have them ready to share when requested

Stallers here:

projects only in private repos (no public code)
code older than a year
public repos don't represent your current ability

6 - glance at the job description before chatting with the recruiter or interviewer

if you don't have it before the call then request it via email or LinkedIn (I wouldn't schedule the call without it)
note the tech and soft skills
find out what the top 3 must haves are

7 - be prepared and be on-time

get sleep the night before
have energy for the call
have a clean, quiet distraction-free workspace for the call from desktop preferably
if you've not got these 3, then reschedule
arrive at least a couple of minutes before time

8 - seek to get to know the recruiter's story

where are they from?
what cause them to become a recruiter?
how many people have they place at this company and other companies in the past year?

Most recruiters are never asked this and appreciate it when they are.

9 - build rapport

seek to know what sort of rapport the recruiter has with not just the company but the hiring manager
if not much then ask if they have a company with similar needs that they would
ask them if their senior's in their company have rapport at the company

10 - ask what the interview process is like

This gives you heads up if:

the process is one-off or it's a 5-step process
the next step will happen in a week or tomorrow
it's a technical or cultural interview

11 - know your availability for the next week

have your calendar bookmarked
be ready to tell them a few best times
understand if the scheduled time is a zoom call invite or a phone screen
accept the calendar invite
create a reminder if one is not sent to you

12 - ask what is the specific team that you're going to work on and the size

it makes a difference if you'll be working on a front-facing app for customers or the internal app for the employees
is your team all remote and made up of 10-15 people or is it a small team < 5 devs?

13 - seek to understand the scenario that you'll be walking into

has the role been open for 6 months or was it just available today?
was someone fired or is it a brand-new team?
are there colleagues from the team who've been with the company a long time?
is it agile?

14 - know the salary range that you would need to take the sort of role that they're asking you to fill

if you're uncomfortable to answer then ask some questions and tell them you'll return to answering when you've gotten some answers
ask if contract-hire or direct
ask them what's the total compensation package
how have comparable candidates been paid (also gives you an idea if they've placed devs in the team)
if contract to hire will they submit a conversion salary
if contract do you get full health benefits and PTO

15 - seek to understand what the hesitations would be with you as a candidate

seek to know how you would mitigate those and ask again at the end of the call whether they have hesitations
the best scenario is that they have zero hesitation
if they have hang-ups, address it without being defensive or hurting your prospects
do sell your strengths and your passion
tell them that you want the role

16 - seek to know all the tips and advice that the recruiters have to share

ask and you shall receive
good recruiters explode with every bit of information that they've got to help you succeed
bad recruiters will have not gotten this far with you and moved to the next quota

You've reached the end. Go you!

That's it. That's all the nuggets I have. Trust me, the more time you spend putting focus here, the better your odds will be of landing a great role that you enjoy. I'm rooting for you to get the role. Now go seize your next role.

The 4 things I recommend to everyone on the developer job search in 2021

Eliot Sanford — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 18:06:17 +0000

Finding a job in 2021 is about being prepared and responsive to the right opportunities on LinkedIn, Twitter, and in your email inbox.

Four main things to have ready...

1️⃣. Do you have the demonstrable work to show on the ready? 🏗

For devs, is your code:

Front-facing, especially if it's on a large-scale enterprise app, is that on the ready?
On a live site for non-techie peeps?
Linked in a repo so tech peeps can see your commits and logic?

2️⃣. Do you have your portfolio and resume easily accessible? 💼

For devs, are your apps:

easily found on your portfolio page? Assuming you have one — make one from https://html5up.net/
including thorough descriptions of what you contributed
can anyone download your updated resume from your portfolio

3️⃣. Do you have your calendar open and ready to schedule a video call? 📆

As a dev, are you good at:

scheduling zoom calls, then creating a google calendaring
only doing zoom calls for initial meetings to build a rapport
making a Calendly account that automatically does it

4️⃣. Do you ask good questions❓

As a dev, have you:

found out a little about the recruiter, not just the role and the salary
gained an understanding of what the company does and what its mission is
discovered if the role is full-time or contract to hire

To piggyback off of number 4. I highly recommend these free guides from Taylor Desseyn.

https://www.taylordesseyn.com/freeguides

Be ready to ask your own unique questions, but it's great food for thought.

I definitely have asked many of these questions during the first meetings or tech interviews.

All the best on your job search and drop a comment.

Is your GitHub empty?

Eliot Sanford — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 17:48:12 +0000

🟩 As a developer, your lack of GitHub contributions does not necessarily indicate that you aren't good at coding, but it can be a wasted opportunity to confirm that you're passionate and good. 🟩

To help change this, here are four ideas to contribute more to GitHub. 💡

1️⃣. Private repos

Create a private repo and add at least 1 sentence of what you studied/worked on into a readme at least every weekday. 🟩

Make it your own little journal. 📓

I did not do this but heard of others who have.

It would be good practice for #100DaysOfCode or studying algorithms.

2️⃣. Committing often

Make a small commit often during the time you code (3 hours a weekday at minimum is best)

Get something to finally work? Commit 🟩

Ending the day? Commit a WIP (work in progress) 🟩

Branching off and trying something that might break the app? Commit working code first 🟩

3️⃣. Issues

Create issues for projects 👍

See something that needs to be developed❓

Click "New Issue" and fill in the details. 🟩

Keep tasks small — think "Is it doable in a sprint or two?"

Web devs work with an issue every day, e.g. "feat: create responsive navbar with bootstrap"

4️⃣. Perspective

Remember that your GitHub graph is not you or where you find your value, but it doesn't give a good impression if it's completely empty. ⬜️ 😬

When your graph is on fire, then people see you as someone who shows up and knows GitHub and git concepts.🔥

At best, you're a competent professional rather than a novice that must be guided, or worse you're just lazy.

Take initiative and do something to show what you know, especially if you're self-taught.

Conclusion

This list isn't exhaustive. There are many ways to contribute like forking a repo, making a pull request, reviewing code, etc.

Activity on GitHub is a great way to showcase your expertise and allow them to cut past questions about what you do and don't know.

Recruiters and hiring managers do look at it, so why not leave a great impression because guess what? It costs you nothing to be active on GitHub.

I would highly suggest improving your graph with these small steps first, then branching out. 🌳

Pun intended. 😉

Newly hired software engineer, are you doing these six things?

Eliot Sanford — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 19:06:43 +0000

📣 Newly hired software engineers!

Congratulations! 🎉

You’ve worked hard to get the job on a large team, so kudos to you! But, now the work begins. I'm working on an amazing team and have been learning so much. I've only been working within an enterprise-level company for a short time, but I've learned these six things so far as a new hire as I've gleaned things from team members and mentors outside of work.

Take it easy on yourself 😅

Typically, it takes at least six months before a new hire is fully acclimated and ramped up to become a contributor. Sometimes it could take a whole year. Don’t be too hard on yourself when you don't understand something. That's normal. Just utilize the time you have, and don’t feel like you're expected to know it all.

Ask for help from Senior Engineers 🙏

When you're blocked for 30-60 minutes after all your Googling and understanding have been exhausted, it’s time to ask for help from another newly hired person and/or a friendly senior team member. Go ahead and admit that you don't know and need help. Someone on the team is smarter than you at that moment. There’s no shame in not understanding as a new hire. If you're the smartest person in the room as the new hire (or at any point for that matter), then you're probably in the wrong room. Maybe you needed to ask one person, who led you to another person, and another person, but in the end be kind, yet persistent in tracking down the answer.

Identify ”bus” people 🚌

You might be wondering what is a "bus" person? What if one of the most knowledgeable people in your company was hit by a bus, would business as usual come to a halt until that person returned or a replacement was trained or found? That person was a "bus" person. Know who the most knowledgeable people are on your team. Before too long, you will know exactly who they are anyhow because they seemingly answer all the questions and your team members each say, "Go ask so and so".

Seek additional time ⏳

After noting your team’s ”bus” people, then collect your questions and seek an available time to meet with them, specifically. Aim to pair program with them where you're stuck and give them the chance to help you. Alternately, bring a list of questions and allow them to review the shortlist and provide feedback. Seek to develop a friendly relationship. If you have value to offer them, then seek to reciprocate. Get to know them. Get to know what has helped them succeed. Learn from them and if inside the scope of your work, aim to become an unofficial understudy. Learning from this person can alleviate the "bus" factor of that person.

Taking it a step even further, seek 1:1's with every member of your team and the ancillary team members. Take notes and listen. Find out the holes in the onboarding process and learn as much as you can. Everyone on the team has a super power and something to offer—even the most junior and/or non-technical people teammates.

Review your company's docs 📄

Maybe you learn best by reading before reaching out to others, well, either way, it’s a really good idea to read your company’s docs before and after asking for help. I’ll provide two reasons why.

First of all, you’re reading the knowledge straight from the source of creators and maintainers that have gone before you. They’ve struggled with these technologies and have oftentimes mastered them.

Secondly, you're gaining technical sophistication, as well, through getting comfortable with documentation. Going to the docs is sometimes a little like reading between the lines. Sometimes, it's usually fairly logical and structured, but other times the writer is assuming a baseline of knowledge. Something you might begin to notice is that specific documentation is outdated or has gaps. This leads me to my next point.

Enhance the docs yourself ✍️

Find these outdated or gap places and improve them—reference your notes from 1:1's and training. Contact the creator of the documentation and let them know about your question regarding the docs. They might have the willingness to give you credit for your contribution, or they might even give you the right to edit the document directly. In an opportune situation, they might ask you to help re-write the section or all the documentation leaving your stamp in the company docs. Not only would this bring value to you, but it could also reduce the headaches for your entire team and new hires in the future. You could gain a positive reputation as a contributor to the company docs.

As a review, don't be hard on yourself, ask for help, find the experts, seek time with them, and go to the docs enhancing them where you can.

Thanks for reading my post, but many of these words are not my own and are paraphrases of my seniors that are kind to share their knowledge with me. Thank you specifically to Adam Fisher, Alex Wright, Rich Smith, Taylor Desseyn, Dan DiGangi, and Conner Bush for sharing your insights.

If you know of other wisdom, then please drop those in the comments below.