Hello Devs,

I am Sam Overton, and I am a newbie Web Developer. In less than a year I found a Web Developer job with no job experience. The best part about it was the company that hired me is a perfect fit culturally, and the extra amenities we receive are great. Within one week I received a brand-new laptop, nice monitors, noise cancellation headphones and a Christmas bonus check. Also, I work with great people who wants to continue to exceed expectations. Best of all our company invests in our growth. They don’t just say that they want us to become better they invest in us doing so. I am not saying this to brag or boast but to get you excited about achieving your goal of becoming a developer and finding a company that fits you culturally. If you want a chance to make this happen for yourself, then continue reading this short story.

Background

I graduated from college in 2013 with a degree in communications. I had taken a course in Web and Game Development but nothing to be job ready. Also, the classes in web development were teaching HTML 4 and CSS 2 when we should have been learning about HTML 5 and CSS 3. Fast forward I worked in retail until Oct. 2015 and moved to non-profit. I thought my life sucked. I was married to the woman of dreams, and I was making pretty good money coming out college, but I still felt empty. I felt I was going through the motions and not becoming who I should have become. In Jan. 2016 I said forget the bull, I will become a developer. I always knew I wanted to build software I just thought only the super talented could achieve that status. Man, I was totally wrong!

How Did I Start Learning?

Just like a lot of beginners out there I started with Free Code Camp. Free code camp taught me the basics needed to get started in Web Development. I would come home from work eat and spend time with my wife and then onto Web Development. Every day I would spend at least 3–4 hours after work creating projects. I had good consistency and persistence but lacked a focus.

Focus?

Web development has tons of frameworks, and you can get lost in the learning process if you don’t know what you want to concentrate on specifically. I know we all want to be a full stack developers that know every framework possible, but that is unrealistic for someone new to web development. I was so caught up in what everyone was saying you should learn instead of just learning. I would go to youtube and type in “What should I learn as a web developer?” and get results that would continue to make me feel overwhelmed. I thought that I couldn’t learn on my own so I decided to enroll in an online web developer boot camp. All I will say about a boot camp is to do tons of research before going on that journey. Boot camps are meant to be rigorous, and if you aren’t committed to your time and effort, it can be a waste of money. I was able to go hard for about three months, but my wife and I ran out of funds for me to continue. I still knew improvement was needed, but there were positive gains in my abilities. Though I could see the improvements, my focus was still lacking, and greater results weren’t being achieved. I knew I had to change my thought process to change my result. So I decided to narrow down my learning by niching down.

Why niche down?

When learning web development just saying I want to learn javascript isn’t enough to achieve greater results. I believe to be the best you need to specialize. So instead of saying I want to learn javascript, you say I want to find out how to authenticate email forms with javascript. So now you are specializing in authentication and learning javascript. You will be able to learn so much faster because you’re not learning something that may be unnecessary at the moment. You start to learn the necessary things that can get you a career as soon as possible.

Will I limit myself if I specialize?

The quick answer to the question is no but let’s take a deeper dive. When you specialize, you can become an expert in that particular technology. Think about if a company you have been researching needed a javascript developer and their business is in authentication. Do you think they will hire the person who just knows javascript or you the person who has become an expert in authentication with javascript? I believe we are aware who is the clear winner. It’s no question what would be best for you and your career but will you do it?Most us continue to think by niching down you limit yourself but in reality, you are becoming an expert. I wanted to make a little extra money while I was still learning. So my niche was to create dynamic websites for small businesses that allowed the owners to update content quickly. So I had to learn PHP and how to import a custom theme into Wordpress. By niching down, I knew what technology I needed to learn, and I had projects to continue to develop those skills. It still will take time and effort to learn, but you can set yourself apart by being an expert.

How I got my job?

I took the time to research the companies that fit me culturally. I made sure that the jobs I applied to suit my abilities. I also was wanted a company that was about teaching and training their developers. I did thorough research and only applied to the companies that fit me. At first, I felt as if I was doing less but realized that more passion could be put into my customized cover letters. It’s not easy looking for a developer job this way, but it will be worth it in the end. I applied for the job in May 2016 but didn’t get an interview until December 2016. When I was going through my interview, the company told me they already hired someone for that position when I initially applied in May. When another spot opened up, they considered me out of every other candidate because I had a Github account with repositories they could review. It’s something that I didn’t see as a big deal at first but make sure you put that on your resume. Some companies might search for your account and others might discard your resume if they don’t see it on there. I say be safe and include it because it was one thing that separated me from the pack. I recently had my monthly check in with the VP of IT, and I asked him why did you hire me? He said “First I can see you have the hunger and passion for becoming a better developer. We want people to keep growing and exceeding expectations. But most of all I could tell you were a genuinely good person. I worked with individuals who weren’t good people, but you aren’t one of them.” His statement shocked me because I probably wasn’t the best developer, but I because I displayed passion and genuineness I was considered over every other person that applied. I say don’t focus on applying to every job possible, make sure you apply to jobs you think fits you and your goals. You don’t want to go from bad job to another bad job even if it is a developer position. You will still be unhappy and dissatisfied.

There are four things I want you to get out of this article

1. Pick a niche. You might pick it because of the clients you want to attract or because the company you want to apply to uses it. No matter why just start doing that as soon as possible. You want to be the expert and have skills that can set you apart from the pack.

2. Research, the company you want to work for to make sure it is a perfect fit for you.

3. Use Github!

4. You can become a developer. I believe if I can do it anyone can. I am not better than or more special than anyone. I just worked hard and didn’t let my setbacks keep me from achieving my goal.

Fear is the number 1 killer of dreams, and I don’t want you to become a victim. Remember it is alway a good day to achieve your goals and become the person you know you could become.