As the world becomes increasingly digital, demand for skilled IT professionals continues to boom. Whether you are a career changer or a new graduate looking for your first job, these six tips can help you launch your coding career.
Learn How To Sell Yourself
Even if you are relatively new to the world of coding, you probably have skills from education, hobbies or past jobs that are transferable. Getting the job you want is partly about how well you craft your sales pitch. Study sales culture and find the best way to package the unique combination of skill, education and passion you have to convince potential employers to give you an opportunity.
Don't Look for Shortcuts
There are a lot of people who want to sell you a book, class or boot camp that promises to get you job-ready in a matter of days or weeks. While some of these products can be helpful, it takes time and hard work to accumulate the skills you need to be a successful coder. You don't have to go to college, though it can be helpful, but you do need to spend time learning languages, writing programs and becoming familiar with various technologies.
Work on Some Projects
One of the best ways to keep your skills sharp and show off what you can do is to work on some projects. Choose something you are interested in, whether that's building a video game or creating an app to help you with your daily life. If possible, add it to your online portfolio. Projects not only show employers what you can do but also demonstrate your passion for the work.
Solicit Feedback
It can be difficult to spot the weaknesses in your own code. Once you start coding professionally, feedback on your code will be a regular part of your job. Learning to solicit and act on feedback now will give you a leg up on the competition. If you don't have any coders in your social circle, there are online forums where you can post code snippets and ask for feedback.
Don't Be a Poseur
There are so many different languages and technologies, no one coder is likely to be expected to be an expert in them all. If you don't understand something, don't be afraid to ask questions. Pretending to understand concepts or techniques that you don't will only slow your growth and erode your employer's confidence in your abilities. When looking for a job don't list skills that you don't have on your resume. It will become obvious pretty quickly that you don't know what you are doing when you get on the job. Instead, market your ability and desire to learn new skills and technologies.
Try Pair Programming
Pair programming is a method of learning where one person types code and the other observes and makes suggestions. Pairing up with an experienced programmer is a great way to improve your coding skills fast.
Start a Blog
Another way you can demonstrate your technical skills is to start a blog about coding. Cover topics such as problem solving, coding techniques, emerging technologies and whatever else that is career related that you are interested in. This will help demonstrate both knowledge and your level of seriousness about becoming a professional coder.
Join a Team
Modern computer programs are so complex that it is very rare for one coder to write an entire program. You will need to be able to work well with teams. Look for people recruiting coders for their projects online or start your own project and build a team. If you're lucky, you might even find a paying gig, but taking on some interesting projects for the experience can also be worthwhile.
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High demand, good wages and the variety of available jobs make coding an attractive career for many people. These eight tips can help any aspiring coder get their foot in the door.
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