New Developers are stuck through the process of finding what they like, and what they don’t like in the tech field.
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Looking and searching on Google, I used to see the same questions about many things related to the tech field. Where people don’t know what to do in their process of becoming a Software Engineer. This is insane since you will get thousands of results if you search for things like how to become a software engineer, how to become a web developer, how to learn data structures, how to land my first developer role.
By seeing these questions, I would like to let you know that you are procrastinating your time since you should get only one course and only one path at a time to be able to accomplish your goal. If you would like to become a software and web developer, you will need to start taking action, rather than looking at Google for the best answer since you will never get the right answer because everybody is different.
As an example, I would like to share my story. I’m currently working as a freelancer, and I’m currently holding a full-time job at a tech company here in Utah. My background is in Web & App Development with an emphasis in Digital Media.
In other words, I went and did the traditional path which is going to college and finishing my college degree. At the same time, I attended a Coding Bootcamp to be able to certificate myself as a Full-Stack Developer.
However, when I was in college I felt that my skills weren’t strong enough to be able to become a developer. For the same reason, I decided to find a job in the tech industry as a Technical Support Engineer to be able to become familiar with the industry and to start figuring out what I want to do with my skills. A year in a half later, I discovered that if I change my job, I will be able to get more money, and I will be able to find better opportunities.
By doing this, I landed my first Software QA Engineer role and an internship at Utah Valley University as a UX Developer where I learned that any position in the tech field has a similarity which is being creative to solve problems.
Jumping into multiple job roles, it will help you to find the best fit for you and it will give you the experience necessary to be able to solve issues. Technical support roles will allow you to find how important is to understand the User Interface to be able to help end-users to find multiple and possible workarounds to their issues as much as the user experience will help you to understand how important is the client for the company since they are the ones that will lead the future of the tech company.
Working as a Software QA Engineer will help you to use your troubleshoot current and existing issues with any User Interface. This position will give you the skills to know how to improve and how to break the system. Also, you will learn how to automate multiple tasks to save some time. This skill is one of my favorites since I can use it to automate my job search, how to apply to a thousand jobs, how to reach out to people in question of seconds, etc.
Working as a UX Developer, you will learn how to become a designer at the same time that you are developing a website, mobile app, web app, etc. This position will thought you how to really pay attention to what developers are doing since many developers will not use the right typography, the right colors, the right spaces, etc. This role is very creative since you have to worry about UI & UX. You have to make sure that the front-end is well-done and that the back-end is tied up to the front-end in a way that the end-user can use the platform.
At this point, I would like to say that having these experiences helped me to decide what I would like to do. Now it’s been more than 3 years, and now that I finished with my college degree, and that I’m done with my internship is time to apply for a better job and for a better opportunity.
My point here is to let you know that you will have to search a lot of things on Google, but don’t get stuck in the process since you will find a lot of information, and you will find new things to learn every other week. We have to learn the basics, we have to trust ourselves, and we have to go out and do the job to be able to get experience. By doing this, you will open many doors at the end of your bachelor’s degree.
If you are not in school, you can try to do some free coding boot camps online, you can try to get enrolled in the Google Tech Degrees. Is many opportunities out there that you can do, that you will never imagine that they were there for you.
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Photo by Let’s get into the fun stuff, let’s answer some of those questions, and let’s see if we can answer some of the questions that you might have.
What is the best right path for me in the tech industry?
To be honest is not a right or wrong path. This depends on you on what your goals are and what you would like to do in a long term. For me, I love the idea of jumping into multiple projects and helping others with front-end development. Even if I don’t know anything from the programming language that you are currently using since I love working on multiple things at the same time, and I love learning new things every day.
How can I choose the right path?
Try new things and fail a bunch of times since this is the way that you will find your passion. Failing is the most complicated thing to do since everyone wants to be right all the time. However, things are different since you can do multiple tasks, and see what things are for you and what things are going to be boring, what things are going to be a challenge, and what things are impossible to do.
What projects can I do?
To start with basic concepts, you can do a website, you can learn how to use HTML, CSS, Javascript. Secondly, you can learn how to build a. mobile app with React. Thirdly, build an app that uses API like a weather app. Another one will be automating your job search where you can use any app to apply for thousands of jobs in less than 1 day.
Do I have to create a brand to make sure people will look for my profile?
Your name is your brand, and you would like to take care of your brand to make sure people know what your message is and what you are looking for. You don’t necessarily need to create a logo and a brand to start creating websites, mobile apps, web apps, etc.
How do I get my first developer role?
Apply to a thousand jobs and start having interviews because it will be a lot of rejections that you will need to be careless since you will have people that will like you and people that don’t like you at all.
How do I participate in Coding competitions?
You can participate in coding interviews all year long. You just need to search on Google and see what are the best ones to participate. Every single event is fun and amazing since you will meet a lot of people and you will learn a lot of new things.
What is UX Design?
User experience design is the process of supporting user behavior through usability, usefulness, and desirability provided in the interaction with a product.
What is UX Developer?
UX developers, also known as user experience developers, plan, design, and develop web applications and web pages using code and visual design tools.
Can I code If I like the design part of things?
Yes, you can code and design at the same time. You will need to find the right company and the right job to make sure they will consider you for both jobs. A lot of companies are separating design and code since they think is hard to have both skills. However, in my experience, I would like to say that being able to do both is pretty fun since you will always have something new to do.
What is Front-End?
Front-end web development is the practice of converting data to a graphical interface, through the use of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, so that users can view and interact with that data.
What is Back-End?
Back end development refers to the server side of an application and everything that communicates between the database and the browser. Back end Development refers to the server side of development where you are primarily focused on how the site works.
What is a Full-Stack Developer?
A full-stack developer is a web developer or engineer who works with both the front and back ends of a website or application — meaning they can tackle projects that involve databases, building user-facing websites, or even work with clients during the planning phase of projects.
Tools & Courses to Start
Things to Build and Design
Build & Design your Resume with Canva Team
Build your Website (Example: https://aharo.netlify.app)
Build a good presence in social media like LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hvaandres/)
Help & Assistance
If you need some help feel free to reach out to me at hvaandres@icloud.com, LinkedIn. If you already have these steps and you are looking to apply to more jobs, I would like to let you know that I currently build a script that can help you to apply to 1000 jobs in less than 1 day. If you would like to learn something more specific let me know and I will try to help you as much as I can.