How To Become An Apprentice Developer
hugomelo.com
How To Become An Apprentice Developer
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Re: How To Become An Apprentice Developer
#2I've been trying my hardest to find a Junior position. When I finally do find something that says "Junior" they want 4+ years of experience and expert level in everything or it's no where near me and they don't hire remote.
I've taken a break on freelancing for 3months to finish some personal projects I'm hoping that will get me something. /fingerscrossed
Re: How To Become An Apprentice Developer
#3I've been trying my hardest to find a Junior position. When I finally do find something that says "Junior" they want 4+ years of experience and expert level in everything or it's no where near me and they don't hire remote. I've taken a break on freelancing for 3months to finish some personal projects I'm hoping that will get me something. /fingerscrossed
I've yet to hear of a job where the employer strictly follows their own "requirements." Most simply post it as a "perfect candidate" guideline and end up settling for someone meeting 75% of it, so don't take them too seriously.
Re: How To Become An Apprentice Developer
#4I've been trying my hardest to find a Junior position. When I finally do find something that says "Junior" they want 4+ years of experience and expert level in everything or it's no where near me and they don't hire remote. I've taken a break on freelancing for 3months to finish some personal projects I'm hoping that will get me something. /fingerscrossed
I've yet to hear of a job where the employer strictly follows their own "requirements." Most simply post it as a "perfect candidate" guideline and end up settling for someone meeting 75% of it, so don't take them too seriously.
Yep. If you're an employer, why would you advertise that you're actually looking for that 75% candidate? You'd get all the trash candidates (probably getting them anyway) and the good candidates would be like "Ew, I don't want to work for that company!" HR-types are often the ones to write those requirements, anyway, and they're just reading Internet tutorials on how to do so.
Re: How To Become An Apprentice Developer
#5I also had struggles trying to find work as a jr dev, so eventually I gave up to start building my own software and work on the consulting side.
It's strange because I see a lot of jr. guys/gals struggle to find mentorship, yet those very same sr. devs don't hesitate to poke holes in their code from afar.
For example, you see a lot of jr. devs post code and projects here on HN, and they get lambasted for poor practices.
I guess you just have to learn to weather that storm. Good on the OP for working hard and getting that first gig.
Re: How To Become An Apprentice Developer
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've yet to hear of a job where the employer strictly follows their own "requirements." Most simply post it as a "perfect candidate" guideline and end up settling for someone meeting 75% of it, so don't take them too seriously.
Yep. If you're an employer, why would you advertise that you're actually looking for that 75% candidate? You'd get all the trash candidates (probably getting them anyway) and the good candidates would be like "Ew, I don't want to work for that company!" HR-types are often the ones to write those requirements, anyway, and they're just reading Internet tutorials on how to do so.
I've been there (as an employer), and because my boss often made it very difficult for me to hire when I needed to (always based on current billing instead of future billing), I had to be very particular because I knew that if I chose poorly, I wouldn't get another chance for quite a while. I interviewed many good candidates, but often opted to not hire and keep waiting for the reasons mentioned above.
Re: How To Become An Apprentice Developer
#7I also had struggles trying to find work as a jr dev, so eventually I gave up to start building my own software and work on the consulting side. It's strange because I see a lot of jr. guys/gals struggle to find mentorship, yet those very same sr. devs don't hesitate to poke holes in their code from afar. For example, you see a lot of jr. devs post code and projects here on HN, and they get lambasted for poor practic…
Getting into App Academy was already a huge filter he passed. I say this as a junior dev who was rejected or ignored by many other dev training groups. IRRC, App Academy accepted less than 10% of their applicants.
Re: How To Become An Apprentice Developer
#8[Hugo's Hacker House roommate here]
Hugo went from zero coding experience to holding his own with seasoned Javascript & Ruby devs in 9 weeks. I'm not sure if he's just an exception, but it sure paints app academy in a positive light for me. I hope more of these "Learn to Code for Free" camps pop up around here.
Re: How To Become An Apprentice Developer
#9[Instructor at App Academy here]
I'm really proud of Hugo; he came in to App Academy as an 18 year old kid with no coding experience, and through sheer force of will, learned enough to land a junior dev job in nine weeks.
If you're interested in the course that Hugo took, check us out (appacademy.io). Students only pay us when they find a dev job after the program.
Hugo's fellow students are doing great. 11/15 of our students were unemployed before attending App Academy. 13/15 of our graduates have offers or are working in tech jobs now at an average salary of $83,000.
Re: How To Become An Apprentice Developer
#10Gotta say, as a sophomore who's been debating dropping out college, that these junior positions exist at all is encouraging.
I always thought my trajectory would be to go to my current school, transfer to a better one, get some good internships, and graduate with a CS degree. But my grades aren't where they need to be, so I probably won't be able to transfer to a good school. Honestly I've been concerned whether or not I can afford it anyways. Going for a junior position, or even a paid non-college-affiliated internship, is far more appealing.
I've got a pretty decent GitHub, and I've launched a few apps with another in the works. My major (and it is major) concern is that I don't have a good grasp on CS fundamentals - algorithms, data structures, etc. But it seems easier now than ever to teach yourself this - whether through Coursera, or through reading a variety of sources, and practicing on sites like Project Euler or Interview Street.
Maybe Hugo's experience was different than the average developer drop-out because of his ability to get into App Academy, but I'd like to think anyone who can demonstrate programming knowledge and intelligence has a shot, degree or not.