If you are a fresh college graduate, or you are looking for an entry-level position in the field of web development, then you need to face very high competition and consequently, delays in getting your first job. This will involve applying to hundreds of web development firms, daily. You may also have to face plenty of rejections and consequently, a lot of frustration if you aren’t careful. So, the following tips will make your task much simpler.
1. Create an attractive portfolio filled with interesting projects.
Since you are looking for an entry-level position, your portfolio will be the first thing web development firms will be looking at. To begin with, create a portfolio site, by getting a domain and then include some attractive projects and designs, which you have done. This can include both dummy and real-time projects, meant for development company web.
2. Do a lot of freelance projects and increase your market value.
To start your career, do a lot of freelance projects. You will get plenty of freelance projects on upwork.com, freelancer.com etc. Freelance projects help you in gaining valuable knowledge and skills and show web development co, your worthiness. This will also help you a lot in salary negotiation. You can start with simple projects, like creating a website for your local restaurant. If you are facing issues in getting paid freelance projects, then you can also make one or two projects free under the best website developer, to increase your portfolio.
3. Add your code on GitHub
This is another very good method of getting an entry-level position with top quality web development firms. Set up an account with Github and then start adding code regularly to it. This will have a great impact definitely on website developing companies, even if they are not meant for any specific client. Ensure that your code is clean and conforms to the README documentation so that employers will consider you as a well trained professional.
4. Try to contribute to an open-source project
This is another way, by which you can very quickly obtain an entry-level position, in web development agency. You can do plenty of open source projects like Ruby on Rails, MySQL, Linux and JavaScript frameworks. An open-source project will greatly assist you in strengthening your coding skills, building teamwork and getting exposed you to real-time scenarios. You will be able to show your skills in an interview with companies. Go to ExploreGitHub and look for open source projects, which are simple initially. The initial steps are simple like checking bugs, doing beta testing, giving the priority of the issue, improving documentation and working on the project’s site.
5. Always take part in the hackathon
Do take part in hackathons. It is a fantastic way, to get to know other people, who belong to your group, have matching interests, tests coding skills, tackle relevant issues and win prizes. In a hackathon, developers usually code in a team and this makes them very attractive for hiring in web developer agency. For discovering hackathons, go to searching sites like Challenge Post, Angel Hack and hackathon.io. Always look for recruiters right at the hackathon events. Many professionals have been hired instantly at these events.
6. Increase networking all the time
Networking should not be restricted to hackathons and open source projects. You should try to meet senior web developers as much as possible, both online and face to face. This way, you will be able to keep abreast of the latest requirements of web developers companies. Join some good tech meetup groups. In case, you are residing in a remote location, which has less of tech, then you can look for online communities. Make sure, you answer questions on Stack Overflow, help at the WordPress.org forum. Alternatively, you can also comment on development threads on Twitter. This way, you will be able to know hundreds of people, who might be your future team members.
7. Keep on updating your skills regularly
If you desire to develop a fantastic web development company site, then you must keep on updating your skills frequently. To give you an example, you should be very strong in latest skills like CSS preprocessors like Sass, very good frameworks like Angular.js, Node.js, Backbone.js, Ruby on Rails and WordPress, which is the most popular CMS ( Content Management System ). For learning CMS, you can utilize the WordPress Developer Blueprint by Skillcrush.
8. Keep track of the industry news
Always be fully aware of the industry news and what’s happening in the industry. Read all the latest blogs, listen to lots of podcasts whenever you are free and scan Twitter lists. This will assist you to stay updated all the time.
9. Make a very attractive CV
This is perhaps the most important factor, for you to secure your dream job. Even if you acquire all the skills and do hundreds of projects, it will amount to nothing, if your CV is not shortlisted among the hundreds of profiles. Always highlight your core skills, achievements in school, college etc and relevant experience, if any. Use this time, to select the desired resume template, from the thousands available online. Consult senior people, who will be able to guide you on how to make your CV very eye-catching and sensational.
10. Keep on attending interviews
Lastly, attend as many interviews as possible. If you don’t get the job in the first interview, you will succeed eventually. One trick is to apply in firms, with more openings. Target both big and small firms, regardless of the compensation offered. You must understand that small firms will pay you a bit less, but the scope of learning will be much more, due to the small team sizes.
So, friends, follow these tips and grab your dream web development job. Best of luck.
