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How to Position Yourself for a New Career

 How to Position Yourself for a New Career



You are well on your way to becoming a software developer.

You took the most important first step: you started.

While this specialization on Coursera will make you into a well-rounded junior developer, you are basically just getting started.

Here are some proven tips to make the transition to your new career as smooth as possible.

Be persistent

Succeeding in your career efforts is not easy. Luckily, it's not too hard either. Consider this new endeavor of learning to code a part of your everyday life.

Make it as much of a routine as possible. Hopefully, it will work like this: 

  • You wake up, 
  • You brush your teeth, 
  • You run some errands, 
  • And then you write and learn to code.

Obviously, there are things like your school obligations, or your day job, or other places you need to be and things you need to do.

However, if you don't code regularly - preferably on a daily basis - your progress will be slower. Try to set aside some time to consistently code and learn every day. Persistence is key.

Start building simple apps today

Don't wait until you "learn enough". There's always more to learn, and it's best to get started with any kind of a simple project right now.

Even just taking the code from this specialization and tinkering with it will do wonders for your confidence and the speed at which you acquire new knowledge.

Also, the more you practice, the better you'll retain what you've learned.

Having your own projects that you can showcase to others - no matter how small or straightforward shows a track record and dedication. This is something that your future employer might be impressed with, so start today.

Set up a GitHub account

Since we're on the topic of personal projects, head on over to GitHub and set up your developer profile right away. It's essential to have an account there since you can keep all your projects in a single location that you can access from any computer.

You can almost think of your GitHub account as an additional brain power. No matter how long ago, whatever you've worked on will remain there, waiting for you to peek into and re-familiarise yourself with.

Pair program

Try to find someone at your level or perhaps slightly more knowledgeable than you and ask them to set up a recurring pair programming session.

This works nicely because having a pair programming partner can speed up your learning. You also have someone to be accountable to.

Start a coding blog

Technical communication is important for developers, and just like anything else, you get better with practice.

Starting a coding blog will work the same as having a GitHub account, with some the additional benefits: 

  • It shows even more dedication - and this increases your chances of getting hired 
  • It helps you experiment with different technologies 
  • Setting up your own website is practical learning in its own right and one more project to add to your CV

Collaborate on open source projects

Even if you are just starting out and are really struggling to get into this field, you can still be a valuable contributor to open-source projects. 

There are so many open-source projects that are in demand for all kinds of contributors. 

Even contributing to a project by fixing some typos in documentation files is a nice start to getting more involved and putting yourself out there.

Get a certificate

Getting certified is always a good thing. The fact that you're reading this lesson right now confirms that you're on your way to receiving a certificate of completion from Coursera!

Keep a positive attitude

As with anything worth doing, you might sometimes get tired, not understanding how something works, and perhaps even feel like giving up.

Remember to stay consistent.

There are always ups and downs in life, but sometimes it's worth it to think of all the things you've achieved so far and use that as motivation to keep at it.

Never stop learning

There's always more to learn in IT, and that's probably the best thing about it. It's the very thing that makes it fun and provides an opportunity for each developer to get ahead in their career.

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