How to find your first job as a Junior Developer?

As an agency, we receive more and more inquiries from people without experience on how to find their first job as a Junior Developer of a specific technology. Many people do not know how to prepare for the search for this particular profession. The most important issue here is the specificity of the IT industry. Searching for job offers for a programmer is something completely different than looking for a job as a salesperson, where our innate predispositions make it easier for us at the start. When looking for the first job as a programmer, we have to make a lot more effort. So how do you find your first job as a Junior Programmer? In this article I will try to bring it closer to dispel some doubts.

Build a professional network on Linkedin

First of all, start by building a professional image on Linkedin. Fill out your profile very carefully, focus on adding the most important achievements in the field of IT. Add a photo that presents you in a professional way (yes, you read that right, a programmer does not have to have a creative teddy bear in the avatar). The more you apply yourself to it, the more you will increase the chance of a positive reception of your person. Remember - the first impression is the most important, and the web is the place where you can be "spotted" the fastest. Then start building a network based on HR Specialists, Headhunters who publish offers for Juniors on their profiles every day.

Look for an internship

The most important thing is to start. Try to find a place where you can learn from others, e.g. an internship that will later enable you to work in a given place. Present yourself to the employer as a person looking for development, knowledge and a good environment. Looking for your first job as a programmer, thinking mainly about the salary, you will not ensure a good result. Unpaid or paid internship is a good start with the possibility of further development. This will of course be one of the most difficult moments in your career because you will have to learn everything from "scratch" - academic projects are different than those created based on real problems of companies.

Read and educate yourself

Continuous progress is the most important thing in programming. Spend a few hours each day building your craft. Read programming books, watch YouTube videos and try to buy (as far as possible) paid online and offline trainings that will increase your self-confidence and, above all, give you an injection of additional knowledge and acquaintances. There is nothing worse than stagnation and waiting for it to be ready - when looking for your first job, it is not enough to write to the recruiter that you are urgently looking for it. What you did matters? How much work did you put into getting your first job as a Junior Developer? Also look for hackathons and meetups - they are great places to make yourself known.

Build your own projects

If you are looking for a job, at the same time, despite training, books and other forms of gaining knowledge, build your own portfolio. There is nothing worse than an empty Github profile - let the future employer find you online as an active person who is learning and it is supported by a code that you can look into. This will allow you to assess your work to potential interested parties, and increase your chances of employment. Try to choose less trivial issues - the more difficult projects you create at the beginning, the easier it will be later. Ideally, if you are still studying - together with your fellow students you can try to create something bigger. Such projects can later be used not only when looking for a new job, but also in a commercial startup project.

Summary: There are no shortcuts. When looking for your first job as a Junior, the most important thing is to build a professional image on Linkedin and Github, build a few projects for your own needs to be able to "something" accost the future employer or headhunter. In addition, building knowledge in the industry through meetups and participating in hackathons organized by recruiting companies will certainly have a positive impact on the search.

If you are at this stage of your professional career - I wish you to find your first job as a Junior Developer as soon as possible!