As a self-taught software developer or someone who attended a boot camp, it is a bit difficult to get a job in the tech industry without any working experience. While having a great portfolio of projects can help with landing a job, but some companies aren't willing to hire junior developers without any previous working experience. In this article, I will be sharing tips and resources that could be helpful to giving you "experience" for your resume, if you have no working experience. The following are ways to get experience for your resume as a junior developer:
- Internships.
An internship is a great way to gain experience, you learn a lot of things and you get to work on projects in a team. Now, while I 100% believe that all interns should be paid adequately if all fails with searching for a paid internship, go for an unpaid internship, remember, it's for gaining experience. Internships experiences show recruiters that you can work in a team and also that you have real world coding experience. Finding a good internship can be tricky, here are some websites you could check:
HNG Internship (A remote and widely competitive internship, everyone gets accepted and it is a paid internship, follow them on Twitter for updates)
Outreachy internship (A 3-month remote internship open to people around the world to apply that pays $5,500)
On twitter you could search "hiring developer intern", you could also put it out on Twitter that you're looking for an internship and link your portfolio.
Another way is to reach out to a company that you'd like to intern with them unpaid, remember it's the experience you're looking for.
2. Hackathons.
Hackathons are amazing, you get to test your coding ability under a specific amount of time, network with people, and thankfully a lot of them hold online, meaning anyone from any part of the world can attend. I recommend participating in hackathons and putting it on your resumé only if you won, like 1st place to 3rd place or a category prize winner. Here are a few websites to find hackathons:
3. Make Opensource Contributions
Making opensource contributions is a really great way to give back to the community and also it can actually be a career accelerator for you as well, you learn new skills and share your skills. It can come really handy on your resume as well. Some people are a bit intimidated to contribute especially beginners, you could read this article by Janessa tran to get started. Some open-source programs you can check out are Hacktoberfest , Google Season of Docs , contributhon by shecodeafrica.
4. The Collab lab
The collab lab is a collaborative, remote project practice for early-career devs founded by Andrew Hedges. According to their website, their mission is
to increase access to web development jobs for early-career developers and, in particular, people in under-represented groups in tech by providing experiential skills training in software team collaboration and career management.
This is a really great program because you get to work in a remote team and you have access to mentors who can guide you through it. To get into the program, you need to have knowledge in HTML, CSS, and javascript and at least 1 project using the react framework. This is great to have on your resumé as it shows that you can work successfully with a team and build a real project as well.
Conclusion.
In conclusion, as an early career dev trying to break into the tech industry and get a job, it can be hard to do so when you don't have any experience at all. You can get experience by doing an internship, making open source contributions, and much more.