The simple way to get the first developer job

As companies expect you to have experience, and you need a job to gain experience, it is hard to get the first job. However, there is a simple solution to this problem.

This post is mainly focused on those who are web and mobile developers.

Currently, the job market is heaven for senior level developers as many companies are looking for experienced folks and ready to pay them competitively.

It is also easy to get interviews as people are working at home. Some even work for interviews during their work hours!

However, it is the opposite for junior levels as companies expect you to have experience, and you need a job to gain experience.

It is tough to get the first job.

If you want to stand out among people who try to enter the market, the solution is simple:

**Create a project that is not a toy project and actually solves a real problem.**

I said simple, not easy.

We, as developers, are super lucky as we can easily demonstrate our skills through code.

Think about it, if you were an architect, it would be ridiculous if other architects would say, “just build something.”

If you create an application or a service that attracts people, they will come up with requests and issues.

You will try to fix some of these issues and add new features as time goes. After a while, you will realize the mistakes you made as it will be hard to add new features quickly.

With each feature, you add complexity to the application, and maybe after one year of maintaining that project, you will rewrite it as it has countless holes.

If you build a to-do app, you will not realize the problems of your code as you will not spend enough time with it.

If you maintain an actively used project, you will need to have several git branches. This makes it easier to understand the development flow.

More importantly, when you show up for an interview, you can talk about your project, the issues you had, and how you solved them.

When I started learning React and Express, I built a web app called Boun Çim.

Only the students of Boğaziçi University can sign in, and they comment on lessons and teachers.

It is a simple project with clear goals.

I spent nearly three months getting the site up as I was doing lots of things for the first time: Auth flow, backend, responsiveness, etc.

I was lucky that students liked the website, and more than 2000+ students created an account in the first month.

After I published Boun Çim, a startup approached me and asked me to work for them!

I did not stop there and published another website focused on fund tracking called Fon Adam.

I wanted to create Boun Çim as I had problems selecting electives with little knowledge, and I wanted to create Fon Adam as there weren’t any great websites for tracking your funds in Turkey.

I was the customer in both of these, so I had a tremendous amount of will to finish them because I wanted to use them.

Now, at least people who approach me know that I can push my code through the door to production.