At Benchmark Recruit we often get approached by Junior Developers looking for their first role in the industry. Although we do not always recruit for many junior roles, we always want to help people looking to get started in the sector. In this blog post, we wanted to share the expertise that we’ve picked up over the years and give practical advice on how to stand out as a Junior Developer candidate. Here are our top tips to ignite your career:
1. If you don’t have a portfolio/github…make one, and get it on your CV!
Anyone can list technical skills but if you don’t have commercial experience to back it up it’s a great way to show off what you can do. Your portfolio showcases your skills, without having to explain every aspect of your personal projects on your CV. By all means, mention what you’ve done, but a link to your github will explain the rest and show you are using an industry standard resource.
2. If you have the time and resources, continue your learning and development in your own time. Continuous learning keeps your skills updated while you’re looking for work. A lot of people we speak to use Udemy, but there’s loads more out there. Codecademy and FreeCodeCamp are also seemingly popular.
3. Use LinkedIn. It can be daunting to get yourself out there if you don’t have much experience but there are LOADS of ways LinkedIn can help you on your way to becoming a Developer. We could write a whole blog post on why you should be using LinkedIn to help land a Junior Developer role, and we will in the future!
Connect with other Devs and people in tech, it’s a good way to build a network but also, you’ll see posts that you’ll learn from. Comment on posts, ask questions.
If you’re feeling confident enough, share posts with some of your own work – Ask for tips for improvement etc (you’ll be surprised how many people want to help you out). Be brave and you’ll reap the rewards.
Follow companies that you’re interested in. Look at the tech they’re working with (going back to point 2, maybe focus your learning on these areas).
We’ve also seen a lot of success stories from simply putting a post together to let your network know that you’re open to work and what you’re looking for – you’d be surprised at the reach you can get (and again, how much people want to help out!).
It can be really hard to know where to start when you’re trying to break into a new career or land your first role fresh out of University, but these are a really good starting place for anyone! There are, of course, other things you can do to get on the right path, and here at Benchmark we’re always here to offer help and advice, so if you’d like any support in your job search please do get in touch.