Starting out in tech can be audacious most especially when you know what you are really getting into or you've stuck around the tech community for a while. You must have read, heard or personally seen how hard it is to get the first tech job, how expensive good bootcamps are, and the many trials and errors attached with self-taught, to mention a few.
These knowledge usually come with stress and frustration right as you start the journey. Moreover, if you've heard about success stories from those who at last transitioned to tech, then you would agree that all the troubles are only prices to pay to get into tech the right way.
The objective of this writing is to make you pay less of that price. We will talk about ways to reduce the overhead cost of transitioning to tech.
First, reduce the stress and frustrations with these
- Spread formula: Just like you spread some butter on a sliced bread instead of concentrating it on a spot, you can spread frustrations. If you are curious, you could have asked "What am I to spread really? ". Well, what I mean by the spread formula is a mental model to imbibe. It states that you should remind yourself that there are others who are experiencing this same frustration now or before you and it all ended at some point.
Sincerely, I wish I knew this earlier. An experienced senior dev shared a story with me on how this exact formula drastically reduced the stress while she was starting out in tech.
- Make friends with devs: A popular platform to easily achieving this is via twitter. Check out some devs whose tweets interest you and follow them. Try to join popular spaces and make friends. The excitement and all in between can reduce your overall stress experience.
OH, now that you have reduced those frustrations and stress while learning, quickly will the next trouble set in: How to get your first tech job ?. From overall experience and conversations,the easiest way to get a job is through your connections or recommendations. It can be so hell randomly applying to jobs online. Most tech companies don't take chances on new devs, connections is the cheat in.
Use these and get recognized quick [in order of easiest to difficult]
Learn Publicly: You can start with 100daysofCode hashtag. Share what you intended to learn or what you finally learnt through the hashtag. I have seen devs who got jobs even as learning advocate from this trick.
Build publicly: Aside from the exposure this gives you behind your back, this also ensures some degree of responsibility to build something yourself. One way to make this trick do wonders is to build projects, host them, take a screenshot and share on LinkedIn or twitter.
Contribute to open source: Remember you are just starting out , and you must not have been familiar with code, not even products with huge numbers of code...Eeew. However there is a cheat, contribute to docs. In fact, docs maintainer are crazily scarce presently. Doing as little as correcting typos could even get you employed in no time.
Engage quality audiences on twitter: Notice the emphasis on quality. This have been my strength. I don't have plenty of followers but the few are really awesome. They possess rather the same level of understanding, engagements and interests like I do. This makes them so concerned not just about my tweet but even I myself. From experience, avoid tweets that only pull quantity, remember you need potential connections. Avoid tweet like this
Here are twenty free resources to start web development, ...follow this thread
Usually thread like this attract desperate learners who are majorly bothered about cheap and free stuffs. Remember you intend in making connections and not just gaining followers.
Another recommendation I preach is consultations from an experienced dev in your niche (web, android, ios, network security, etc). This can be expensive but they are definitely worth it. Consultations can help you build a map into what the future requires, accompanied with the do's and don't as you proceed in your new career.
At last I'm done. If you read this far, I hope it's been worth it. Now go and conquer. Since I mastered these tricks my life have literally changed, let yours be next.