How to Get a Developer Job: A Step-by-Step Guide to Breaking into Technology

Many people starting to learn programming often think: “I’ll go to college or university, and they’ll definitely teach me there.” However, the reality is somewhat different. Few programmers who have completed their studies at universities or colleges can say that they were truly taught programming there. While these educational institutions provide a foundation and offer valuable bonuses such as practical experience and connections with people in the field, ultimately, it depends on how the student approaches their learning.

True professionals understand that universities or colleges won’t teach them everything they need to know for the job. The main work of mastering programming, developing skills, and gaining a deep understanding of technologies happens at home. This means that self-learning and continuous improvement are key to success. Programmers who aim to reach a high level prefer self-study over reliance on the educational system. They prioritize effectively, dedicate a lot of time to practice, and explore new tools, which allows them to grow and develop to a level where they can take on projects and earn money with their skills.

However, even after finishing their studies, many face difficulties when looking for a job. This is not surprising, as there are many job openings, but often they specify a requirement for one or two years of work experience. This can be confusing, as candidates applying for junior developer positions have typically just completed their studies and do not have commercial experience. But is that “one year of experience” really important? In reality, this requirement is often not so much to filter out candidates without experience, but to find someone who can take on the job and immediately perform it at a high level without needing too much guidance.

Thus, “one year of experience” is not always a critical factor. Often, it is simply a way to filter out those who are just starting their programming journey and do not have real practical experience. The real goal of such requirements is to find not just a junior developer, but a strong junior developer.

So, what distinguishes an ordinary junior from a strong junior? A junior is a beginner who has completed a course, created a few simple programs during their studies, and is confident in their theoretical knowledge. However, these skills need practical confirmation. A strong junior is the same beginner but with practical experience. This person not only has a good foundation of knowledge but also understands the stages of project development and is capable of working on real projects. This could be even a test project created for themselves, such as an e-commerce store with a cart and user registration. If you’re applying for a position as a frontend developer, it could be a few web pages hosted on GitHub or another platform for sharing projects.

Real employers are looking for strong junior developers because they are not only able to develop a project but also have practical experience in this field. Therefore, your goal during learning is to become not just a junior developer but a strong junior, with at least a few completed projects or at least one big project, like an e-commerce store. This approach allows you to not only get a job but also quickly gain recognition in the profession, as companies are looking for people who already have some practice and understand how the real development process works.

Let’s assume we’ve finished our studies, created a few personal projects, and published them on GitHub. What’s the next step? The next step is to describe your projects and create a resume. In the resume, it’s important to mention how long you studied, which projects you created, what technologies you used, and what skills you have. This should be clearly and thoroughly stated, as it will be the first impression of you as a professional.

Next, you need to register on LinkedIn, a job-search platform that is especially popular among developers in Europe, though its use is less widespread in Ukraine. On LinkedIn, it’s crucial to complete your profile as fully as possible, as this serves as your virtual professional portfolio. You should mention all key points: your development experience, which projects you worked on, which technologies you used, and especially your practical skills. If you don’t have commercial experience, no problem — you can list the experience gained while developing your own projects. This might be six months or a year, considering your self-study.

It is also important to register on Djinni, another job search platform that is actively used in Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. This platform allows you to quickly find a job and is a great tool for beginner developers. However, it’s important to remember that there are other freelance platforms, such as Freelancehunt and Upwork. You can also find work here, but to achieve a good income, you’ll need to spend significant time developing your profile and increasing your rating. Moreover, some people, after working for a long time as freelancers, believe their experience guarantees them a senior position at a company, but this is not always the case. Each company has its own requirements for knowledge and experience levels, which are tied to internal standards and needs. Unlike freelance work, where you often work independently, in a company, you’re given the opportunity to develop under the mentorship of more experienced colleagues, which significantly accelerates your professional growth.

Once you’ve completed your profiles on the platforms, you can confidently start applying for job openings at companies looking for specialists like you. At first, it may be difficult, and many may ignore you. But don’t be discouraged. The most important thing is to not give up. Companies that are genuinely looking for talented developers will surely respond and offer you an interview. For example, I found my first job in a relatively simple way. While still studying at university, during an internship, I stayed on to work at the company where I was doing my practical training. This was a great start to my career since I already had experience working on real projects, which greatly helped me in subsequent job searches.

Don’t be afraid to start small and set clear goals for yourself. Over time, you’ll gain more experience, and this journey will become much easier. It’s important to remember: your development is not limited to just courses or university. All you need is self-discipline, a desire to learn, and the ability to effectively apply your knowledge in practice. Your efforts will definitely pay off.

I haven’t had many interviews, but I will share two of them that stood out the most. They helped me understand how a good company differs from a “galley,” where you are treated like a robot. On the other hand, there are companies that care about their employees, treat them with respect, and are invested in the career development of each worker. Let’s take a look at the types of interviews you can expect and what you should be prepared for.

Main Types of Interviews

1. Phone or Video Interview (Screening Interview)
   • Purpose: To assess the candidate’s general knowledge, motivation, and qualification fit for the job.
   • Usually, at this stage, the recruiter will ask about your experience, projects you’ve worked on, and technologies you’ve used. There may also be basic technical questions to see how well you understand the fundamentals (for example, the difference between HTTP and HTTPS or how caching works).
   • Duration: 20–30 minutes.

2. HR Interview
   • Purpose: To evaluate the candidate’s personality traits, communication skills, motivation, and ability to work in a team.
   • Here, you may be asked questions about your career goals, strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to show that you are capable of self-development and open to new opportunities. Often, at this stage, the terms of employment, salary, and work schedule are also discussed.

3. Technical Interview
   • Purpose: To assess your technical knowledge and ability to solve specific problems.
   • This part may include questions about algorithms, data structures, databases, and system design. You may be asked how to solve certain technical problems or design a system that takes scalability and efficiency into account. In some cases, the interview will involve solving tasks on paper or in an online format (for example, on LeetCode).
   • Duration: 1–2 hours.

4. Coding Interview
   • Purpose: To test the candidate’s real programming skills.
   • This is an interview where you may be asked to solve an algorithm or data structure problem in real-time, usually using online tools (such as CoderPad, HackerRank). The tasks are designed to assess logical thinking and optimization skills, not just knowledge of programming language syntax.

5. Test Task
   • Purpose: To test the candidate’s real skills in conditions that are close to actual work.
   • This is a task given to you to complete at home within a certain period. After completing the task, you must submit your solution to the employer. Key evaluation criteria include code quality, correctness of implementation, comments, testing, and solution optimization.

Sometimes, an interview combines several of these stages in one call, which can last anywhere from an hour to several hours. Other times, the interview may be split into several meetings or calls, each focused on testing specific skill areas.

My Interview Experience

Now, I’d like to share my experience. One of my interviews was conducted via video call, and the interviewers were sitting in a café. Since I was young, I wasn’t taken too seriously and was treated somewhat condescendingly. They didn’t have a clear plan for assessing my skills or experience, and the questions the lead developer asked were more about their stack rather than the position I applied for. There were about five questions, and I answered them confidently and in detail, but my responses didn’t satisfy them. They said they would get back to me later, but a couple of hours later, I received a message saying that my hard skills were too weak for the role and I wasn’t a good fit. I found this quite amusing since they didn’t even ask me about WordPress development but instead asked questions about the DOM tree and JavaScript, which weren’t quite related to the job requirements.

Another interview was much more professional. I was told in advance that the interview would be recorded on video, and it was immediately clear that they took the candidate seriously. Before the interview, I received a test task, which I completed successfully. They liked my implementation, and we discussed a few small improvements that could make the code more elegant. After that, we moved on to the interview itself, where all the questions were well-prepared, and I was able to openly and honestly share my experience. It was a constructive conversation, and I received feedback after the interview, highlighting my strengths and areas where I could improve. They even provided learning resources, which was very helpful. I never received such feedback from any other company.

Important Lessons

After each interview, I made notes about the questions I couldn’t answer or where my response wasn’t entirely accurate. This helped me improve my knowledge and prepare for future interviews. I also realized that it’s important to be ready for any situation, and even if you don’t succeed in the first interview, it’s not the end of the world. Yes, there were times when my friends submitted over a hundred applications, but they only received responses to 8 of them and had interviews with only 4 companies. However, after a few attempts, they felt much more confident and were able to handle more complex questions. It’s important not to give up and to keep growing until you find what’s right for you.

A friend of mine, after going through several interviews and tests, became so confident in himself that he landed the job of his dreams. He learned from his mistakes, and each experience gave him more confidence.

This experience shows that interviews are not just a test of knowledge but also an opportunity for you to grow and improve. Every stage of the interview process provides new lessons and a chance to improve.