## Codebar Monthlies Talk time!  ---  ---  --- ## About Me - Parents are Chinese, born in Australia, brought up in UK --- ## Studied Biology with Psychology  --- ## Then worked in Pharmacy  --- ## Now work as a Front-End Developer  --- ## And right now... - Giving you this talk! --- 1. Getting ready to apply for jobs 2. Working as a developer 3. The future --- # Disclaimer - Please don't let this talk be daunting! - Take it with a pinch of salt - Only based on my experiences ---  --- # Step One ## Learn to code --- - Bootcamps - Founders & Coders, Flatiron School, Maker's Academy, General Assembly...to name but a few - https://www.switchup.org/rankings/best-bootcamps-london --- - Self taught - Workshops - codebar, Node Girls, FAC mini course, hackathons, codewars evenings, other meetups, befriend someone - The internetz - Freecodecamp, FrontendMasters, Codecademy, Katacode, framework docs ---  ---  --- # Founders and Coders Pre-reqs - https://www.foundersandcoders.com/apply/ 1. FreeCodeCamp - Responsive Web Design Certification - JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures Certification 2. Create a one-page website in HTML and CSS - With image carousel - Without libraries ---  --- # Step Two ## Gain experience --- ## Projects are important - Main bit since limited professional experience - What talk about in interviews - 1-2 Projects to showcase --- ## README - Intro: what project is about - Links to where can access it - Badges: build status / testing - Screenshots and videos (giphy) - Split into features - Markdown: use tables - Tech Stack/Framework used - Split into FE / BE --- ## README - Developer instructions - How to install - How to run project - How to run tests - Who are contributers - Roles - Link to gitHub profile - Extra - More info on how designed / product research - Folder structure --- ## Project Code - Good folder structure - Eslint / Prettier - Readable code - ES6 - Tests (end to end / integration /unit) - TDD: Test Driven Development --- ## Project Code - Error handling - Don't just catch errors and console.log them - Notify the user - Use: <ErrorBoundary></ErrorBoundary> (React) --- ## Project Code - Security - No sensitive information (e.g. username/password) passed to BE using cookies / url - Hash data (e.g. passwords) - GDPR privacy laws - User can delete all information --- ## Project on Github - Commit messages are good (short / point) - Pull requests made - good descriptions - Evidence of code review - Small number branches - Good workflow - Use issues (labels / assign) - Git: milestones / boards --- ## Project on Github - Contributors equal  --- ## Running the code - Make sure it runs - Ensure no errors or warnings in the console - Accessibility - HTML elements heirarchy - Good rating from audit  ---  --- ## Stand out - Attend Hackathons - Couple of days meet and code together - Online/remote ones - Together or with new people - Mentor others - Contribute to open source projects - Giving back to the community - Jobs - Document new learnings - Post on Twitter / Github .md --- # Step Three ## Advertise yourself to employers ---  --- ## CV - 1-2 pages - 1-2 Projects - Link to them - Contact details - Experience (MercyCorps bootcamp) - Other (mentor/volunteer) - Tech Stack - Check spelling etc --- ## Projects on CV - Largest section - Brief summary on aim/what about - Timeframe - Team (number of people) - How worked (paired / Agile) - Personal contributions (e.g. specific role?) --- ## LinkedIn  --- ## LinkedIn - Recommend each other - Endorse skills on each other's profiles  --- ## Twitter  --- ## Twitter  --- # Step Four ## Getting a job --- ## There are lots!  --- - Big vs small - Startup vs not - Front end / Back end / Full Stack - Company culture - How technical are higher-ups? - Agile? --- ## Interview Process 1. Informal phone call / meeting - Exchange details 2. Technical Test 3. Visit in the office - Another tech test? (Paired programming) 4. Interview --- ## Technical Test - Usually do it at home - Small project already set up - Series of tasks need to complete - Within a time frame - E.g. 2 hours --- ## Technical Test - Looking at your code - How work (commit messages etc) - How prioritise work - Be honest with your times (x hours to set up etc) --- ## Technical Test - Is reflective of the company --- ## Preparing for a Tech Test - Practice online - public tech tests - Codewars  --- ## Interview - Research the company - Focus on talking about your projects - Know why chose frameworks - Basic technical questions - e.g. What is a closure - Whiteboard simple tasks (e.g. invert) - Always have 3-4 questions to ask them - Let them give the number & then negotiate ---  --- ## Working as a Developer ---  --- ## Starting out - Can take a while to set up the project - Expect to read lots of code  --- - Expect not to understand lots of code  --- - Experiment locally - Break things - Learn how things interact - Try to understand the code --- - Ask lots of questions - There are no stupid questions! --- ## Imposter Syndrome - Most people in tech industry experience at some point - Feel like you were hired by mistake - Remember you were not! - Colleagues are there to help --- ## Writing code - Find other places in codebase achieved same thing - See if there are any util functions you can use - Or look for examples online - Read framework documentation --- ## You will get frustrated  --- ## You will get frustrated - Part of programming - Ask for help - Can ask to pair programme --- ## Breaking things - Sometimes you can introduce bugs - Everyone does at some point - How company responds - Good test of company process - Bugfixing skills ---  --- ## Working at Ticketmaster - About 6,000+ employees - Founded in 1976 - Legacy code - International (we deal about 13 markets) - Interesting problems: translations --- ## Agile  --- ## Stories  --- ## Refining session - Beginning of each week - Define stories - Discuss how to solve technically - Who in other teams need to talk to - Ensure has enough details (Problem statement) - Story pointing --- ## Stand Up - Every morning - Update: What was working on, what will work on, any blockers - Product owner sort blockers - Look at the board - Kanban board --- ## Retro - Every two weeks - Stop / Go / Continue - Set amount of time to write points on post-its - Reflection - Chance give feedback - Improve the process - Action points decided - Assigned to be done before next retro --- ## Day to day - Front End developer - React Native - Team of two FE Devs (within larger team of ~12)  --- - Assign to a story - Usually only one at a time - Write code for it - Make a pull request - Documentation very important - Code review: 2 other developer approvals - Adjust code (git rebase) - VS Extreme coding - Check with designer and product owner meets requirements - Merged into master / goes to production --- ## Step Four ### Staying employed --- - Keep updated - New frameworks etc - Twitter - Read new releases from frameworks - Conference videos - Keep learning new frameworks - Side projects --- - Attend/watch Conferences, Twitter updates - Continue volunteer - Give talks / mentor / hackathon / open source contribution - Good for finding future jobs / networking - Think about specialising (FE vs BE / technologies) - Keep CV and LinkedIn profiles updated --- Feel free to reach out via Twitter: @hel_zhou