If you are learning to code, suffering from imposter syndrome, and delaying applying for your first tech job while your savings are running out, I want to say I feel you. I was in the same situation.
The good news is: You may succeed sooner than you expected. There are opportunities waiting to shower your life, regardless of your coding competency, as long as you trust your path.
Seems too good to be true? Let me tell you my story.
Last year, I quit my coding bootcamp (read more here if you are curious why), but I did not give up on web development. I still wanted to build pretty websites for myself and others. Hence, I continued reviewing the fundamentals of HTML/CSS and JS. Honestly, I would not consider myself a productive person. There were days I just lay in bed, reading technical articles. I neither finished my portfolio website nor had a strong online presence (my Twitter page in case you don't believe me). Not even in my wildest dream did I expect to land a tech job (three, to be precise).
Is it just a matter of pure luck? I don't think so. Here are the steps I took that I believe led to these opportunities:
1. Start applying early
I wasn't confident in my technical skills, but I decided to apply anyway. The first reason was to understand the job market. Another reason was to improve my interviewing skills. Fortunately, I passed the CV screening and moved on to the technical rounds. Plus, rejections (though painful) are not the end of the world because:
“Failure shows us the way, by showing us what isn’t the way.” - Ryan Holiday
2. Believe I am worthy. This is key to attracting good things into my life. Despite my lack of confidence, I believe I deserve a supportive work environment and a good pay rate. This mindset prevents me from blindly accepting any offers. I rejected the first offer because the role was more about business consulting (with no remote work) while I aimed to become a full-stack developer. The pay was good, which made me a little sad after declining it. However, I didn't dwell on my decision for long, and soon the second offer came along.
🥳 My first tech job 🥳
One day, my mentor (whom I found on Twitter) kindly asked me to help with his projects. His tech stack was my favorite, so I agreed without hesitation. The projects were short-term, but the pay rate was higher than my first offer and I learned a lot.
"When one door closes, another opens." - Alexander Graham Bell
3. Give back to the community. Long before I earned anything from coding, I had put effort into building simple websites that migh help my local community.
As I shared these ideas, people seemed interested in supporting me. A friend, who is also an animal lover, introduced me to the company she worked for. This led to my second tech job.
👩💻 My second tech job 👩💻
I messed up the interview, no lies, but the CTO still decided to take me in. I became the only junior developer with no commercial experience in the company. After 2 months of training, I started working on their real projects.
And did I mention the job was remote with flexible working hours? The pay was alright, enough to pay bills. Till now I cannot fathom what the CTO and my team saw in me. Perhaps he liked my attitude.
4. Networking
Sadly, I had to quit that job to move to the Belfast (UK) with my partner, where I had to start over, including building my professional network. I attended local tech events and meetups. One person told me to become a tech speaker because the fastest way to learn something is to teach or talk about it.
One day, a fellow speaker, who is also a CTO at a startup, asked me to work on their landing pages because he found out our tech stack was similar.
👩💻 My third tech job 👩💻
The technical test involved using Svelte to build a reusable component. Luckily, I managed to finish it in time. The team was so supportive and purpose-driven. The job was (also) short-term but I enjoyed working with new tech and found fulfillment in contributing to a greater good.
Final words:
Everyone's story is different. I'm not trying to glamorize the tech industry, as I've experienced its dark side and I'm still searching for a full-time role. Although it can be challenging for women and career changers to land their first job, if we believe in the tech community and focus on positive outcomes, opportunities will present themselves.