July 18th, 2018 ×
Advice For Beginners - Tech Skills, Applying for Jobs, Focus, Imposter Syndrome + More
Scott and Wes give their best advice for beginners, including tech skills, applying for jobs, focus, imposter syndrome, and more...
Coffeecup's CSS Grid Builder Tool — Sponsor
Check out Coffeecup's CSS Grid.cc builder tool and resources to learn, prototype and build next gen layouts with CSS Grid!
Freshbooks - Sponsor
Get a 30 day free trial of Freshbooks at freshbooks.com/syntax and put SYNTAX in the "How did you hear about us?" section.
Show Notes
4:46 - Advice for gaining new skills
- Patience and momentum are key
- You likely won’t get anywhere significant in two months
- Think about where you want to be in five years
- Start small
- Start with was excites you and let that drive your exploration
- Start writing code ASAP. Don't worry about the right way, just get started.
17:15 - Advice for applying to jobs
- Apply for everything. Failing an interview is no big deal.
- Each interview is an opportunity to gain experience
- Putting yourself out there is huge - one blog post, YouTube video, or open source project will put you miles ahead
- Have an entrepreneurial mindset - you can negotiate money, hardware, vacation time, flexible schedule, etc. Don’t just google “average salary”
- Negotiate salaries and perks.
29:32 - Advice for knowing what to focus on
- What gets you jazzed? Find something cool and figure out how to recreate it.
- Find a problem and figure out how to solve it - build real things.
- Don’t focus on tech - tech is just a tool.
38:32 - Advice for impostor syndrome
- Listen to this podcast! ;)
- Almost everyone has it.
- Don’t worry about other people’s progress.
- You don't need to know how to do everything, but you should be able to figure out how to learn.
46:45 - Misc advice
- Evaluate things for yourself - don't blindly follow the loudest voices on the internet
- Focus on soft skills as well - time management, communication
- Get a mentor
- Health and Hobbies - don't let yourself burnout
Links
××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ×××
- Scott: Sony A7iii
- Wes: Zevia
Shameless Plugs
Tweet us your tasty treats!
- Scott's Instagram
- LevelUpTutorials Instagram
- Wes' Instagram
- Wes' Twitter
- Wes' Facebook
- Scott's Twitter
- Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets