10 TIPS FOR GETTING YOUR FIRST

DEVELOPER JOB

MAKERS ACADEMY

INTRODUCTION

• Makers Academy is a 12 week full-time web development bootcamp based in London, UK. Our students learn web development through Ruby on Rails along with HTML5, CSS3, Javascript and jQuery using Test Driven Development. !• We place students afterwards in entry-level developer jobs

with top tech companies with an average salary of £30k. !• We’ve made this guide for you to show you the advice we

give to our students when applying for jobs after the course. !

• Check out www.makersacademy.com for more information. !

1 NEVER SEND A GENERIC EMAIL

• Never send the same ‘bog standard’ email attaching a cover letter and a CV in word, PDF or some other evil format.

!• Find the person on Twitter/LinkedIn (Developer not

Recruiter) and email for advice, help and mentorship first.

2 WRITE YOUR “GITHUB CV”

• See: http://blog.makersacademy.com/github-cv/ for information in how to make the most of your ‘GitHub CV.’

3 KNOW YOUR CODE

• Whilst this may sound obvious, we mean having quality repos with quality code, TDD’d.

4 SHOW YOU’RE LEARNING NEW LANGUAGES

• Build projects in new languages, no matter how small.

5 MAKE OPEN SOURCE CONTRIBUTIONS

• Build a gem/API or contribute to some open source project. Show you have external projects that you’re passionate about, even small ones.

6 BUILD WITH THE COMPANY’S API

• Or any kind of tech related content: build something with it before the interview.

7 CLEAN YOUR GITHUB

• Have tonnes of projects on it, with read me files on each repo explaining what you built, why, how, when and in what context.

!• If you think it’s missing some code then mention it.

8 ROCK YOUR TECHNICAL TEST

• This means TAKE YOUR TIME - time is not the essence, code quality is.

!• If it takes you a week but it’s done well, that’s what

matters. !• Know how to pair too as most tech interviews include

pairing.

9 DON’T BE AN ARSE!

• Remember to show passion, be nice and friendly and show professionalism on your emails and everything you do.

10 ASK MORE QUESTIONS IN THE INTERVIEW

• Ask more questions than you’re being asked. !• Never ever say ‘no’ to do you have any questions? !• Ask lots of questions ranging from ‘Why did you

choose this test?’ to ‘How long do you expect me to be up and running’ to ‘What do you look for in a junior developer’ etc.

THANK YOU FOR READING

• If you want to find out about Makers Academy and how to Learn to Code in 12 weeks then please check out the website:

!

www.makersacademy.com !

• If you’d like to check out more of our content, follow our Twitter, @makersacademy.

!• Drop us an email at contact@makersacademy.com if

you’d like to have a chat. We won’t bite!