How to land a good front-end developer job
Getting a good developer job is always tough. I have struggled to get a good job too. Looking back at my journey so far, I will share few tips that I have learned over the years.
There are tons of tutorials out there which teaches you Javascript, HTML, and CSS. I would not be covering that under this post.
I assume that you have basic knowledge of these three, or you are already working some unhappy job. Else head over to w3schools to begin learning, and work your way up from there. I highly suggest free youtube tutorials for easy learning.
Build something cool
Listing all the new technologies in your resume won’t fetch you a good job. Put them to use. Use your skills to build a UI kit, a simple CSS tool or any product that pop up in your mind.
It need not be the next big thing that disrupts the industry and makes the world a better place to live. But just build it. Tell the world that you built it, launch it in HackerNews, Reddit, Product Hunt etc.
Now put it on your resume.
Recruiters might be receiving hundreds of resume with all the fancy framework names listed in it, but you need to stand out. You need to let them know that you can use those technologies and build stuff.
Make your resume simple
This is my resume or the template I have always followed. Keep it simple, preferably to a single page.
As a beginner I used to write shit load of things on my resume trying to make it look impressive.
Recruiters don’t have time.
Nobody wants to know whether you are a passionate developer with a strong will to work hard. Nobody wants to know your blood group, hobbies or date of birth.
Keep it simple. Keep it minimal. When you put stuff in the resume ask yourself - does this mean something to a recruiter? If not, just scrap it.
Open source contribution
Try to make open source contribution. This will not just look good on your resume but will help you improve your existing skills and acquire new skills. If you are lucky enough you will also end up finding a good mentor ( which matters a lot ) to guide you.
There are several resources out there to help you get started.
Share your knowledge
Write about what you know in platforms like Medium or Dev.to even if it doesn’t make much sense. There might be someone that gets benefited from the piece of information you shared, and thats the purpose. The satisfaction you get when someone thanks you for this is immense.
Not everyone will want it, but there will be someone who wants it.
Again, this looks good on your resume. When you try to write about a topic, you end up researching about it more and learning more.
Don’t fear failure and rejections
Do not worry about rejections. Most of the time — around 70% of you applications might get rejected.
If you are not constantly getting rejected, your aims are not high enough.
Use StackOverflow, Angelist etc to find jobs that might suit you and start applying. There will be rejections, rub it off and move on. Be patient.
Pro tip: I use a Trello board to keep track of my applications. With 4 stages — Applied, First response, Awaiting response after interview and rejected. Trust me, the lengthiest column has always been the rejected column.
These are all tips to get you an interview call. How to perform on those interviews are a whole different story. I will share some of my experiences soon. Stay tuned.
If you want to know what all things to learn to become a better developer I have wrote another post on it:
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