Learn to Land Software Developer Interviews!

When you've just finished studying, gotten that degree or graduated that bootcamp, your next steps aren't always clear. You want a challenging, well-paid job as a developer — but how to get there from here? This book is your map to landing software developer interviews. It's full of helpful advice from industry authorities who will tell you how to stand out in a crowded job market.

Hack Your Job Search is here to help you launch your tech career by showing you how to find jobs, stand out from the crowd and build your skills and network so more opportunities come your way!

Each chapter comes with an action plan and a worksheet to put you firmly on the path to landing your dream interviews.

Who This Book Is For

This book is designed for newly qualified software developers seeking to land their first interviews in the field. That said, anyone seeking a tech job can learn from the expertise shared here.

Topics Covered in "Hack Your Job Search"

• Are You Ready to Be Hired?: Learn which skills are vital for junior devs and what to do if you're missing any.
• Research the Job Market: Reflect on your must-haves and match your skills to job descriptions.
• Create a Resume & Portfolio: Turn early experience and personal projects into compelling application materials.
• Get on Recruiters' Radars: Polish your LinkedIn profile so it passes ATS screens and draws the attention of reputable recruiters.
• Grow Your Network: Form and nourish professional relationships to give you a supportive community as well as job leads.
• Build in Public: Participate in community coding events and pursue personal projects to improve your skills and raise your profile.
• Learn & Share: Keep skilling up while sharing your learning journey. Give back to the community while building your reputation.

One thing you can count on: After reading this book, you'll be prepared to apply for the kind of software developer jobs you'd really like to work at and land software developer interviews.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Evaluating Your Options

Chapter 2: Types of Jobs Available

Chapter 3: Decoding Job Listings to Find the Right Roles

Chapter 4: Creating a Resume & Portfolio

Chapter 5: Traditional & Nontraditional Ways to Find Jobs

Chapter 6: Working With Recruiters

Chapter 7: Growing Your Professional Network

Chapter 8: Building in Public

Chapter 9: Learn & Share

Chapter 10: What to Do if You're Still Not Landing Interviews

About the Editors

Sandra Grauschopf is the developmental editor of this book. She is also a writer and content strategist as well as the Operational Project Manager for Written Content at Kodeco. She loves to untangle tortured sentences and to travel the world with a trusty book in her hand.

Emily Wydeven is the editor of this book. She’s an avid scavenger of typos and grammatical errors and has worked extensively in the tech industry. Emily is a nerd for technology, cats, medical history, and comic books (among many other things). While her favorite comic book characters are Deadpool and Squirrel Girl, the character with whom Emily most closely identifies is Nancy Whitehead.

Susannah Skyer Gupta is the final pass editor for this book. She’s an experienced communicator, a veteran of Silicon Valley and a lover of pretty much all things Apple. As someone improving her coding skills later in life, she strongly believes in learning at all ages and making room for everyone in software development. Find Susannah on social media @SuzGupta and listen to her on the Kodeco Season 1 podcast.

About the Authors

Jennifer Bailey is a former software engineer who is now a fulltime professor for Aims Community College in Colorado where she teaches mobile app development for Android and iOS. She also teaches courses in Python, Java, C++, and .NET platform utilizing C#. She is the lead organizer of Google Developer Group of Northern Colorado. She enjoys various Android meetups and conferences around the United States. In her spare time, Jenn enjoys rollerblading, horseback riding and spending time with her teenage daughter, dogs and cats.

Tim Condon is a software developer from Manchester, UK. He runs Broken Hands, a Server-Side Swift consultancy working with clients all over the world. He’s also one half of the Vapor Core Team and spends much of his time working on open source and advocating for Swift on the server.