Getting a Coding Job For Dummies E-Book

Nikhil Abraham

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 402

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Your friendly guide to getting a job in coding Getting a Coding Job For Dummies explains how a coder works in (or out of) an organization, the key skills any job requires, the basics of the technologies a coding pro will encounter, and how to find formal or informal ways to build your skills. Plus, it paints a picture of the world a coder lives in, outlines how to build a resume to land a coding job, and so much more. Coding is one of the most in-demand skills in today's job market, yet there seems to be an ongoing deficit of candidates qualified to take these jobs. Getting a Coding Job For Dummies provides a road map for students, post-grads, career switchers, and anyone else interested in starting a career in coding. Inside this friendly guide, you'll find the steps needed to learn the hard and soft skills of coding--and the world of programming at large. Along the way, you'll set a clear career path based on your goals and discover the resources that can best help you build your coding skills to make you a suitable job candidate. * Covers the breadth of job opportunities as a coder * Includes tips on educational resources for coders and ways to build a positive reputation * Shows you how to research potential employers and impress interviewers * Offers access to online video, articles, and sample resume templates If you're interested in pursuing a job in coding, but don't know the best way to get there, Getting a Coding Job For Dummies is your compass!

Leseprobe

Getting a Coding Job For Dummies®

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015941960

ISBN 978-1-119-05094-0 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-12101-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-12102-2 (ebk)

Getting a Coding Job For Dummies

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/gettingacodingjob to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Cover

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting a Job in Coding

Chapter 1: Seeing the Big Picture

What Is Coding?

Why Coding Matters: Past, Present, Future

Tracking the Explosion of Coding Jobs

Companies Hiring Coding Professionals

Chapter 2: Exploring Coding Career Paths

Augmenting Your Existing Job

Finding a New Coding Job

Chapter 3: Working as a Coder

Writing Code by Using a Process

Compensating a Coder

A Week in the Life of a Coder

Chapter 4: Understanding Key Coding Concepts

Developing for the Front End and Back End

Storing Data in SQL and NoSQL Databases

Saving Your Code in a Repository

Optimizing Code for Search Engines

Part II: Technologies Used When Coding

Chapter 5: Creating a Website

What Do HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Do?

Common HTML Tasks and Tags

Common CSS Tasks and Selectors

Common JavaScript Tasks and Commands

Practicing Your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Chapter 6: Programming with Ruby and Python

Introducing Ruby and Python

Coding Advanced Functionality

Choosing between Ruby and Python

Chapter 7: Creating Mobile Apps

Defining Types of Mobile Apps

Creating Mobile Web Apps for Any Phone

Coding Native Mobile Apps for iPhones and Android Devices

Identifying the Parts of an App

Chapter 8: Analyzing Big Data

Understanding Big Data

Decoding Data with R and Python

Visualizing and Interacting with Data

Part III: Getting Your Coding Education

Chapter 9: Coding on Your Own

Assessing Your Goal, Time, and Budget

Learning to Code Online and Offline

Staying on Target to Achieve Your Goal

Just Ship It

Collect Feedback

Iterate on Your Code

Share Your Successes and Failures

Chapter 10: Going to Boot Camp

Discovering Coding Boot Camps

Filtering Boot Camps by Topic and Quality

Understanding the Coding Boot Camp Curriculum

Choosing the Right Boot Camp for You

Applying to a Coding Boot Camp

Preparing to Attend a Coding Boot Camp

Finding a Job after a Coding Boot Camp

Chapter 11: Exploring Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees

Getting a College Degree

Enrolling in an Advanced Degree Program

Interning to Build Credibility

Chapter 12: Training on the Job

Taking a Work Project to the Next Level

Learning on the Job and After Work

Freelancing to Build Confidence and Skills

Transitioning to a New Role

Part IV: Launching Your Career Path

Chapter 13: Building Your Portfolio Site

Introducing Sarah Rudder’s Portfolio Site

Introducing Matt Rudder’s Portfolio Site

Creating Your Own Portfolio Site

Chapter 14: Networking for Opportunities

Networking in the Real World

Building Your Online Network

Creating a Winning Resume

Chapter 15: Interviewing and Becoming a Star

Getting the Interview

Surviving Interviews

Becoming a Star Employee

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 16: Ten Interview Questions Decoded

Can You Walk Me through Your Resume?

What Recent Project Have Your Worked On?

Why Do You Want to Work Here?

What Feature Would You Add to or Remove from Product X?

What Team Conflict Have You Resolved?

What Is Your Ideal Company and Job?

What Is Your Superpower?

Which Three Strengths and Weaknesses Would Your Friends Use to Describe You?

What Do You Know to Be True that Most People Disagree With or Find Surprising?

What Questions Do You Have for Me?

Chapter 17: Ten Job Search Strategies

Publish Your Code

Blog Regularly

Learn New Technologies

Update and Refresh Your Resume

Review Your Public Information

Attend Hackathons

Teach Yourself a Popular API

Build and Release Something People Want

Consult to Fix a Painful Problem

Do a Trial Engagement

Chapter 18: Ten Coding Myths

You Must Be Good at Math

You Must Have Studied Engineering

You Can Learn Coding in a Few Weeks

You Need a Great Idea to Start Coding

Ruby Is Better than Python

Only College Graduates Receive Coding Offers

You Must Have Experience

Tech Companies Don’t Hire Women or Minorities

The Highest Paying Coding Jobs Are in San Francisco

Your Previous Experience Isn’t Relevant

Chapter 19: Ten Coding Job Websites

Part-Time and Contract Coding Jobs

Full-Time Coding Jobs

Talk the Talk

Big Data

Employment

Mobile

Infrastructure

Web Development

About the Author

Cheat Sheet

Connect with Dummies

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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Introduction

Everywhere you turn, people are looking for coders. In offices and boardrooms, at your neighborhood bar, and around the family table, people have ideas wanting to become websites, data needing to be analyzed, and processes waiting to turn into a mobile app. Building a product requires many people — including designers, product managers, marketers, and content creators — but finding coders is always at the top of everyone’s list because they are so scarce.

On the supply side of the equation, learning to code and then getting a job can feel overwhelming. However, there have never been more ways to learn how to code, including on your own, in school, at a coding boot camp, and on the job. And companies of every size and type are hiring developers.

Getting a Coding Job For Dummies will help you make sense of all the options and show you ways to get that first coding job.

About This Book

This book is designed for the person with little to no experience with coding jobs. In plain English, you discover why coding jobs are so popular, which technologies to use when coding, ways to learn coding, and how to launch your career. The topics covered include the following:

How coding became such a hot topic and big industry

Types of coding jobs

Options for learning to code, including coding boot camps

Coding technologies used to build websites, analyze data, and create mobile apps

Building a portfolio and a network

Interviewing your way into your first coding job

As you read the book, keep the following in mind:

Skip around as much as you like. The book can be read from beginning to end, but if a topic interests you, start there.

At some point, you will have questions or something will not make sense. Do not fear! Many resources are available to help, including support forums, free tutorial websites, others on the Internet, and me! Using Twitter, you can send a public message to me at @nikhilgabraham.

Foolish Assumptions

I do not make many assumptions about you, the reader, but I do make a few.

You do not need to have previous programming experience. In this regard, you need to be able to read, type, and follow directions. I explain as many concepts as possible by using examples and analogies you already know.

Before trying to get a coding job, you will spend some time learning how to code. Chapter 5 shows you some basic code examples, and Part III outlines options and resources for learning how to code in greater depth. If you don’t have any coding knowledge, keep in mind that it will take at least a few months to learn enough to be able to get a coding job.

You’ll need a computer running the latest version of Google Chrome if you want to complete the coding examples. Chrome is a free browser and the examples in the book and in the external resources have been tested and optimized for the Chrome browser, although they may also work in latest version of Firefox. Using Internet Explorer when learning to code is discouraged because its support for coding languages varies and it doesn’t always work as expected.

I assume that you have access to an Internet connection. You can read almost all the book without an Internet connection, but you need an Internet connection to access external learn-to-code resources, such as the Codecademy website. Many listed resources are free and can be used without downloading or installing anything.

Icons Used in This Book

Here are the icons used in the book to flag text that should be given extra attention or that can be skipped.

This icon indicates useful information or explains a shortcut to help you understand a concept.

This icon explains technical details about the concept being explained. The details might be informative or interesting but are not essential to your understanding of the concept at this stage.

This icon marks a concept that likely has been explained before. It’s flagged to reinforce what you’ve already learned.

Watch out! This icon indicates common mistakes and problems that can be avoided if you heed the warning.

Beyond the Book

Online resources are available in addition to the ones in this book:

Cheat sheet:

Visit

www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/gettingacodingjob

for tips while job searching and during your interviews.

Extras:

Additional articles with extra content are posted for roughly each section of the book. You can access this additional material by visiting

www.dummies.com/extras/gettingacodingjob

.

Updates:

You can find any updates or corrections by visiting

www.dummies.com/extras/gettingacodingjob

.

Where to Go from Here

With all the administrative stuff out of the way, it’s time to get started. Remember, you can start at the beginning or jump to whatever section interests you the most. Congratulations on taking your first step to getting a coding job!

Part I

Getting a Job in Coding

Check out www.dummies.com/extras/gettingacodingjob for more great content online.

In this part …

Understand why coding matters

Explore coding career paths

Follow a coder on the job

Learn key coding concepts

Chapter 1

Seeing the Big Picture

In This Chapter

Seeing the history of coding and where it’s headed

Understanding different types of coding jobs and salaries

Learning about companies that hire coders

If you just focus on the smallest details, you never get the big picture right.

—Leroy Hood

Today, many moments in your daily life are affected by code. Code runs the mobile phone alarm that wakes you up in the morning, the word processing and spreadsheet software you use at work or in school to create letters or projections, the games you play on a phone or console, and the web browser you run to check your email and read the news. Many tasks in our lives have remained the same — there will always be people who need help waking up in the morning — but technology is increasingly influencing the way we complete these tasks.