Hey there!

Mads here with the Top 3 in Tech newsletter. I've got a short essay on catching attention and landing your first dev job, followed by an article and an awesome tool to build cooler websites.

Shouldn't take more than more than 5 minutes to read.

Enjoy!

​

1. Catching attention

As you might know, the job market can be tough for new developers.

It's pretty weird. There's high demand for mid-level and senior developers, and yet junior developers breaking into the industry often have a hard time landing that first job.

And that first job is incredibly crucial. That's where you'll actually learn to code, experience what it's like to work as a developer, and have a way easier time progressing your career forward.

So then the question becomes: how do you go about landing that first job?

The way I see it, there's 2 approaches:

1. Keep sending the same Google Docs resumé to 500 companies, hoping to get lucky (not recommended).
2. Stand out of the crowd with a killer portfolio, an online profile and a proper application.

And if you didn't guess it already, I'm gonna help you through point #2.

Fact of the matter is that companies get an extraordinary amount of applications for development jobs. So to stand out and catch their attention, a few key things make a big difference:

1. A solid portfolio. Without experience, this is how you show companies your technical skills. Use your portfolio to show off some personality, have links to 2-3 small projects you built, and highlight which technologies and frameworks you're familiar with.
2. An online presence. This is a great way to show your passion for development outside of just coding. Having an active Twitter or LinkedIn account + a blog shows employers that you're active in a community, can communicate in writing and generally care about your field.
3. Make them remember you. Most job specs have a person to contact. Reach out to them and introduce yourself before applying. Ask a few simple questions. Something like "Hey, this position looks like a perfect fit for me - just wanted to check if you're still actively hiring?". It makes a difference.
4. Target your application. When it's time to apply, spend time optimizing your resumé + application to the exact position you're applying for. If it's a React job, put your React projects on top of your portfolio. Remember: a company won't spend long on your profile unless you give them a reason to. And they can instantly tell if your application is some generic crap you've sent to 500 companies.
5. Be quick to move. Throughout the entire application/interview process, make it a habit to respond immediately to any emails and communication from their side. This + your proactivity from reaching out sends a great signal that you'll be an awesome person to work with. I know for a fact this was part of the reason I landed my first job, so take it from me!

With these tips, you'll be 100x more likely to get through the initial screening phase when going for that first job. After that comes interviewing, but that's a topic for another day.

But even just getting through the first phase can be encouraging if you're used to getting 0 replies on all your applications and can't figure out why. And the first phase is, in my opinion, the hardest to get through - so you're already much closer to the job than before 🔥

Good luck!

​

2. Explain Twitter's Source Code

​Now that we're on the topic of landing jobs, I came across an interesting article this week. It's written by a hiring manager and is called "Explain the First 10 Lines of Twitter’s Source Code to Me".

Basically he presses "View Source" on twitter.com and then asks the interviewee questions about the initial HTML. I think it's a pretty good idea to get a sense of candidates - not just their HTML knowledge, but also just how they reason about things and can explain themselves. And I definitely didn't know the answers to all of the questions, so I figured you might learn something too:

​Read the article here​

​

3. Free SVG generator

The final pick for this week is an awesome tool you can use to spice up your websites (maybe your portfolio? Wink wink).

It's called Fffuel.co and it has generators for all sorts of cool SVG stuff you can create using their intuitive UI and use in your own projects. I'm sure you can find something interesting, and I know I'll definitely use it myself in the future:

​Take a look at the website​

​

​

Thanks for reading! I would really appreciate if you would share the newsletter with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email or copy/paste the link mads.fyi/top3 on other platforms. It really helps to keep me motivated and let the newsletter grow. See you in 2 weeks ✌

Mads Brodt