Learn How to Code
  • Welcome
  • Foundations
    • Introduction
      • Becoming a web developer
      • Motivation and mindset
      • Join a supportive community
      • How does the web work?
    • Requirements
      • Prerequisites
      • Text editors
      • Command line basics
      • Setting up Git
      • Setting up Node
    • Git
      • Git basics
      • Project: Practicing Git
    • Frontend
      • HTML and CSS
      • Developer Tools
      • Project: Create a web page
    • JavaScript
      • Strings and Conditionals
      • Using Developer Tools
      • Functions
      • Problem solving
      • Project: Rock paper scissors
      • Writing clean code
      • Arrays and Loops
      • The DOM
      • Project: Etch-A-Sketch
      • Objects and More Arrays
      • Project: Calculator
    • Backend
      • Frameworks
    • Next steps
  • Deep dives
    • Computer Science
      • Pseudocode and algorithms
      • Recursion and algorithms
        • Project: Fibs and sorting
        • More on algorithms
        • Big O
        • Project: Practicing Big O
      • Data structures
        • Maps, Stacks and Queues
        • Project: Stacks and Queues
        • Nodes, Linked Lists and Trees
        • Project: Linked Lists
        • Project: Trees
        • Next steps
    • Databases
      • Databases and SQL
      • Project: SQL Zoo
    • Design / UX
      • Fonts and typography
      • Grids
      • Project: Teardown
      • Responsive design
      • Project: Mobile friendly
      • CSS frameworks
      • Project: Bootstrapping
    • HTML / CSS
      • HTML Basics
        • Linking
        • Images and media
        • Project: Embedding media
        • HTML5
        • Tables
        • Lists
        • Forms
        • Project: Make a form
      • CSS Basics
        • Box model
        • Floats and positioning
        • Flexbox
        • Grids
        • Project: Breaking news
        • Best practices
        • Backgrounds and gradients
        • Project: One more thing
        • CSS3
        • Preprocessors
        • Project: Your own framework
      • Next steps
    • JavaScript
      • Refresher
      • Organization
      • Objects and constructors
      • Project: Library
      • Factory functions and module patterns
      • Project: Tic Tac Toe
      • Classes
      • ES6 Modules
      • Project: Restaurant
      • Object Oriented Programming
      • Project: Todo list
      • Linting
      • Menus and sliders
      • Forms
      • ES6 features
      • JSON
      • Callbacks and promises
      • Using APIs
      • Async and Await
      • Project: Weather
      • Testing
      • Project: Testing 1-2-3
      • Advanced Testing
      • Project: Battleship
      • Backends
      • Project: Where's Waldo?
      • Project: All-Star
      • Next steps
    • NodeJS
      • Project: Going to school
      • Project: Passing the test
      • Express
        • Templates and middleware
        • CRUD and MVC
        • Project: Message board
        • Routes
        • Displaying data
        • Forms and deployment
        • Project: Inventory
      • Authentication
      • Security
      • Project: Clubhouse
      • APIs
      • Securing an API
      • Project: Blog
      • Testing
      • Testing with a database
      • Project: Social network
    • React
      • Props and State
      • Render lists and handle inputs
      • Project: CV
      • Lifecycle methods
      • Hooks
      • Project: Memory card
      • Router
      • Project: Shopping cart
      • Advanced concepts
    • Ruby
      • Installation
      • Data types
      • Variables
      • Input and Output
      • Conditionals
      • Loops
      • Arrays
      • Hashes
      • Methods
      • Enumerables
      • More enumerables
      • Nested collections
      • Blocks
      • Pattern matching
      • Debugging
      • Project: Caesar cipher
      • Project: Substrings
      • Project: Stock picker
      • Project: Bubble sort
      • Object oriented programming
      • Project: Tic Tac Toe
      • Project: Mastermind
      • Serialization
      • Project: Event manager
      • Project: Hangman
      • Computer Science
        • Recursion
        • Project: Merge Sort
        • Data structures and algorithms
        • Project: Linked Lists
        • Project: Binary Search Trees
        • Project: Knight Travails
      • Testing
      • RSpec
      • Project: Four in a row
      • Git
      • Project: Open Source
      • Project: Chess
      • Next steps
    • Ruby on Rails
      • Using Heroku
      • Installing Rails
      • Basics
        • Routing
        • Controllers
        • Views
        • Asset pipeline
        • Deployment
        • Project: Blog
      • Active Record
        • Project: Upvote
      • Forms
        • Cookies, sessions, and authentication
        • Project: Password
      • Advanced forms and Active Record
        • Associations
        • Project: Private Events
        • Callbacks
        • Menus, helpers and nested forms
        • Project: Ticket agent
      • APIs
        • External APIs
        • Project: Animals
        • Project: Photo widget
      • Mailers
        • Project: Confirmation
      • Advanced topics
        • Action Cable
      • Project: Social network
      • Next steps
  • Getting hired
    • Preparing to find a job
      • Plan a strategy
      • What companies want
      • Get yourself together
      • How to prepare
      • Project: Make your website
    • Applying and interviewing
      • Qualifying leads
      • Project: Make your resume
      • Applying for jobs
      • Preparing for an interview
      • Handling an offer
      • Final words
  • Maintained by
    • wbnns
  • License
    • CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 © 2022
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On this page
  • Time to find opportunities
  • The best places to look
  • Using recruiters
  1. Getting hired

Applying and interviewing

Learn everything you need to know about applying and interviewing for a job.

PreviousProject: Make your websiteNextQualifying leads

Last updated 4 years ago

Time to find opportunities

You've moved beyond the preparation and knowledge gathering phase. Now it's time to hit the pavement and approach the actual jobs.

Organization is key here and a spreadsheet is highly recommended. Keep track of not just the jobs themselves, but also their websites, any connections you have to the company, and a log of your activity. Have a separate column for each "Must Have" criteria you identified in the earlier section (use a binary true/false) and each of the top 5 "Nice To Have" criteria (use a 3- or 5-point system) so you can quickly check off where the jobs rank.

Put any job opening you find into your spreadsheet.

The best places to look

Start with your network, even if it's small. Reach out to your Facebook friends and friends-of-friends to see if anyone's hiring. You should start your search with the highest probability / highest quality sources first:

  1. Your network (including people you've met in the community)

  2. Direct postings that go to a human (like when developers [not recruiters] send emails about job opening at their company to the local Ruby list). It's important to have another human being on the other end of the emails.

  3. Direct postings (like on a company website for a specific position). These will also usually go to a specific human being.

  4. Job boards (pretty much awful, you're in the herd now)

Try checking out these links for job boards. The more technically-focused, the better:

  • lets you display your engineering prowess and they can come to you.

  • - open startup jobs in a dozen cities

  • - Y-Combinator Startups

  • - for freelancers and remote

Using recruiters

There are a lot of recruiters out there whose job it is to get you hired, but you'll need to be careful about how you work with them. For starters, they get paid based on a percentage of the salary you take, so their incentive is to get you paid as much as possible (which is good). Unfortunately as a junior developer your salary is much lower than a senior engineer so you will not be their priority and they won't spend much time on you (which is bad).

If you're approached out of the cold as a junior developer by a recruiter, chances are that they won't be going out of their way to learn your story and find you the right fit -- you're more likely to get put in the pile of resumes they send out to everyone. You probably don't yet have work experience that is salable enough for them to go out of their way to find you the right position. In that case, you may find them sending out your resume to everyone just in hopes that they get their 20-30%. Remember -- if they approached you in a spammy way (e.g. through LinkedIn), they probably do the same to companies so it's doubtful they'll add value to you.

As you become more senior and your work is more unique, recruiters can add a lot of value to your career by understanding the potential market for you and opening doors you may not otherwise have found (so don't get down on them yet!). As a junior, you're unfortunately more of a commodity, so you probably won't find value in working with recruiters yet. Rely on your own ability to hustle and sell yourself.

Authentic Jobs
StackOverflow Jobs
CWJobs
GitHub Jobs
White Truffle -- Weighted towards startups right now
Dice.com
Coderwall.com
Join-Startups
Work-At-A-Startup
Hubstaff-Talent