Want to get access to the worlds ONLY Junior Developer Career Newsletter? juniordevelopercareers.substa... Not getting any responses to your resume? Book a 1-1 review with me: topmate.io/ishaq_amin_dev Add me on LinkedIn: / ishaqamin
I completed an online degree 2 years ago, and I have been looking for my first role for about 2 years now. I have had loads of interviews, but I keep getting the same response , you dont have enough experience. The market is tough.
Sorry to hear that! Yes, it’s horrible and quite the slog right now. In your position, your best bet is to build. Keep building and creating and developer showcase to show off.
Do a software project even if it's for free. At least you will have something to talk about when experience comes up. It can be something fun or valuable to you.
@@camgereDidn't work for me so I just went full-time into SaaS and gave up on ever getting a tech job. Probably is a more future proof skill to have as well.
I agree with everything you said. I left my job in Dec 22 to train in a coding bootcamp. I've been searching for my first entry level role since last June. Its been a rough rollercoaster! Looking back, I wish I networked a bit in my former company but I had no knowledge of people in IT. I also left because I couldn't stand my old industry (Design). Fortunately, I'm relying on savings, building and learning as I go along. I've gone from barely any call backs last year to 1-2 interviews a month this year. My mind has either gone blank during coding interviews or took too long to solve a challenge. Companies reject you without feedback and you don't explicitly know what to imorove on. I truly believe I'll come out of this one way or another. If i could turn back the hands of time, I'd enroll in a part time course which runs after work.
Yeah, the market right now is difficult however, you are doing all the right things to be in a good place once the jobs start coming back. Like I said, markets go up and down and tech hiring is no different. A lot of people feel the same way, part-time courses are the way to go. You will 100% get there, keep building, keep networking, and keep going. Just remember, there is no shame if you need to go into a part-time role or any role to get by whilst looking. We all have bills to pay.
I find tech tests really challenging, but I know it's not because I'm not capable-it's the pressure that makes them tough. The best way to improve is by practicing with mock interview-style tech tests. With more practice, I know I can get better and more confident!
It is tough even for us Senior devs but will say keep the fire burning, worst thing you can let happen is forget the craft you have learned, so keep learning. Watch videos, read a book and contribute to open source. So when things pick up and a job comes through, you are still prepared for it all.
Thank you so much for this incredible video! I wanted to share my journey with everyone here. I completed a bootcamp and landed a job as a Junior Developer, but after a year, I was made redundant. Now, I'm back on the job search grind, and it's been about two challenging months of searching. To everyone out there who's struggling, hang in there! Remember, every setback is a setup for a comeback. This tough time will pass, and there will be a beautiful silver lining waiting for you. Stay strong, stay motivated, and keep pushing forward! 🌟✨
I love that and thanks for coming to spread a positive message. Just remember, you have a year's worth of experience now so it will not take you as long to find a role. You can even start applying to mid-level roles.
>go to networking event This. This is super important. In fact, some companies may choose to sponsor a networking event instead of hiring a recruiter. And sometimes, companies will hire straight from the referrals without even posting a job listing, so networking is super duper important.
Brilliant explanation! And yes, my events get sponsored by some huge companies and it’s the recruiters who come and do all the setting up, and meeting people, etc. I always tell people, the person sitting next to you at the event could be your future referral or employer.
Thanks for your honesty, I am in early stages of self taught paid 4k for a bootcamp and they have given me codecadmy, what a rip off. (which is hard with full time job/family). will keep plodding on hopefully things will pick up.
Any chance of getting your money back? That’s terrible. I agree, it isn’t easy. I did the same with a family. I would honestly just set a target, or goal and keep in in your mind. Work towards it for 4 hours a week.
$4k for a boot camp is a guaranteed scam. More reputable bootcamps start out at $15k with a money back guarantee if you do not land a job in a certain time frame.
It also depends on the bootcamp, though. Some in the U.K. are about that much - £4-£8k but currently the government is sponsoring a lot of the places so they’re essentially now free. But I agree. There are a lot of scummy ones out there hunting on people and then just giving them codecademy or some second rate education.
@@irahazda believe it or not yeah. They’ll mix some of the course with a group activity. Quite rare though, thankfully and at least in the uk they’re regulated now if they’re an official bootcamp.
I am 48 year old software engineer pushing three decades of experience. Here is my advice to young people: Think why would you want to spend your life sitting all day on a chair, looking at a screen and typing code? I am finally seeing the absurdity of this work after nearly 30 years. I have seen all the fads start and go, all the way from 1990s to today. Why, rather than doing this, you can do a meaningful job? It is just a waste of life. Live your life, don't just sit all day and type code, that is beyond moronic career choice. Life will just pass you by!
Appreciate your input, John. I think there needs to be a balance. Quite often for many people software is a means to higher earnings and a better work life balance. With that. They can then go on to fund more meaningful hobbies and pursue interests outside of work. I do agree with your sentiment. Humans aren’t designed to just sit all day long. Thats why I use my career to fund my lifestyle.
@@ismaila5962 I am OK. I work quite flexibly which means I can do the school run. Work from home means spending more time with my family. I earn better than most so we are not starving. It is a good life.
Hey - I read that in the UK it's better to go down the .NET route rather than the traditional frontend path as that is oversaturated...do you have any thoughts? Thanks.
It’s an interesting take but ultimately it all comes down to what you want to do. The market right now is down across the board so just wouldn’t make sense to think you’ll get more opportunities depending on technology. If you want to be a .net developer than give it a try and report back to let us know. Although if you’re going down the backend route I would suggest Node, Java, Kotlin and Go is becoming quite popular.
I'm a college student working towards an embedded systems engineering certification, but i will graduate in 4 years! I'm 20 and I feel like starting my career when i'm 24 would be too late, and I'm trying to work harder on my own and learn development on my own and hopefully get a job before I graduate? I wanna know if that's feasible or realistic. (I know a few people who are a year or 2 older than me and they were able to land jobs in the CS field while still in college, so I know it's possible but are they just outliers and just a really rare case?)
I started writing code at 30 😁 the whole age thing is a myth. You’re nowhere near being phased out. You’ve chosen a really good area if you want to go into embedded systems. It’s more unique and has a higher entry point so your competition will be a lot less than say frontend development which every bootcamp grad is going for. I wouldn’t stress about it. You’ve plenty of time and you’re putting extra pressure on yourself for no reason. Work hard in college. Learn as much as you can. You’ll make plenty of money and by the time you’re ready to work the market will have been back to normal for a while.
@@ishaqhamin Thank you! I appreciate the insight, your words really alleviated much of my stress. You're a great inspiration and your content is really honest and useful. Especially for young people who are just getting into all this! I believe you will be a major name in the RU-vid CS scene and your valuable content will eventually get the attention it deserves! Looking forward to keeping up with your videos to further expand my knowledge while I develop my career!
@@OATHOFVIRTUE you’re too kind. Honestly, if I can reach someone like you and give you that little bit of guidance and reassurance then that is definitely enough for me.
@@GuyWithBeardButNoMoustache 100% it’s easy to compare ourselves to those around us but we’re all on our own journey and our arrival times are all different.
Thanks for this, Ishaq. Has the government not clocked on yet that the gap isn't being filled by all of us bootcamp grads? I'm brand new to this and completed a bootcamp in March. I naively fell into their pipe dream trap and exactly two months later, I've had enough of clicking on ads that I don't have enough experience for even at entry/junior level! 😂 Gonna build a stronger portfolio first before I even think about applying for another tech job.
Yeah. They get a lot of people with the pipe dream. Honestly, it’s doubled right now with the downward market however, it is starting to pick up. You’ve got the right idea. Time to build, build, and build. I would say keep applying whilst you’re building as you never know when the right opportunity will arise.
@@ishaqhamin I mean picking up ever so very slightly, yeah. Thanks for the advice. I've since enrolled on a diploma course with Code Institute but I'm leaning much more to going the self-employed route now.
You dont need to work for a Tech company to be a SE. Theres plenty of oil and gas companies wanting SE's because right now they lack the digital infrastructure and want ambitious people who will want to learn. They pay extremely well.
That’s a huge shout. Yeah, there are a tonne of industries outside the typical tech scene which pay very well and give you the opportunity to solve some really interesting problems. Never thought about oil and gas, though!
@@ishaqhamin I laughed when I saw a heap of SEs got laid off in Austin and it never came to their mind they are literally in Texas which is the oil capital. All these companies are going heavy into data analytics and ML.
@@ULTIMARAGNAR0K haha, yeah I should imagine the oil companies out there would be snapping them up! But I suppose unless you know you won’t apply. I bet they pay on FAANG level as well, if not more. I moved out of data a couple of years ago but I’m banking on ML and starting to dip my toes into a little prompt engineering and AI. A couple of decent udemy courses can boost the credentials.
People don't seem to realize that Tech companies are not the only places to work but the challenges are different. And there is more that NY, CA out there. The days of being a new boot camp grad and getting paid ridiculous money is over. Economy is totally different now.
