₦airaland Forum

Ednirex:
Hi , this is my first time posting on a thread. Honestly going through this thread has been so insightful and has really enlightened me as a total beginner in the tech world. I am so new to tech and I chose front-end Dev as a start for me to learn. Thanks to university strike, I am still slowly getting acquainted to what it entails and looking through your experiences, I was a bit worried if tech is the right path for me, cos I am a second year medical student and I am just looking to learn a lot and maximize this break in the best way possible.
Please what advice can you give me to encourage as I embark on this tech journey, thanks .
And yes, kudos to you @TheManoftheYear, your story has been really inspiring, wishing you many more wins ahead

Lol bro, I know final year med students whom I left in school, and they are working as programmers. Of course it's not easy, given that medicine is equally demanding, but everything I believe is possible if one puts his mind to it.

My story inspiring? There's nothing special about my story so far. I'm just like every other person looking to break into tech. Just sharing my experiences bro.

You've got this

I submitted that US startup interview task today (which was the deadline). I really hope to get a call back to move to the next stage because I love their product.

Oh did I mention that I was finally able to do the OAuth login stuff. I had to set up a proxy server and use it to request for an access token from GitHub, which would grant the user access to the app.

I had to do a lot of documentation reading and stackoverflowing to figure it out. Sometimes it's not just about code, you have to learn the skill of reading documentations

It's a fintech company specialising in cryptocurrency trades, decentralised finance and some fiat stuffs too.

One of the joy and perks of working in tech as I've noticed, is the fact that you can get a chance to work on exciting products which millions of people around the world would be using. It's insane. It's one of the things that drives me in this journey.

To many of us, tech gave us hope. Especially in this country that basically has nothing to offer the youths.

Back to my laptop.

Joesno:
Bro, I need ur help, can u reach me out?
Our stories are almost similar but u bettered mine sha..
I'm a reactjs developer currently learning nextjs, I want to start job hunting this month... Although I haven't build much project like you, I started reactjs fully January this year after graduating last year November...

This technical writing stuff u mentioned caught my attention, I will love to hear more abt it if u can lend a help pls reply me and I will drop my portfolio link, chk it out and contact me from there cuz I knw u are stl maintaining ur anonymity as u called it, so make I nr go disrupt am

Read through some of the replies I dropped, and you would know how to get started in technical writing.

I'll be dropping about 15 sites where you can apply for writing gigs. That would be later sha. Cuz I'm too occupied with some interview tasks.

monikulapo:
They primarily only hire senior engineers, the equivalent would be senior / staff engineers at Google.

This could be an easy read.
https://hbr(dot)org/2014/01/how-netflix-reinvented-hr

Thanks. I appreciate

llaykorn:
Hi TheManOfTheYear

I really enjoyed reading about your experiences. I hope things turn really really beautiful for you. I'm an aspiring web developer too. I just started studying React with the fullstackopen course and I'm totally glad about what you're doing.

Thanks for the feedback.
Glad you're learning, it's not gonna be easy to be honest but consistency is what would count in the end.
I wish us the best

monikulapo:
Gate keeping is too deep, I was just protecting the integrity of the post

In the context of the post. I was referring to ‘developers’ or people whose interests in computer science or coding is primarily an afterthought to make good money. Prior to making the clarifications there were comments from other users making a big deal about the maths requirement, whether it was hard or not, whether DS&A is even important or not, bla de bla.
If you’re going to complain about those, chances are your journey into this field is primarily through bootcamps. As with all things there might be exceptions to that.
Also take it for what is is but there was a guy who was arguing about what an algorithm is or some other bs. That’s someone who I would refer to as a bootcamp developer. It’s easy to tell hes good but he just got work ready … his fundamentals are off.

Finally if you meet actual developers you’ll know not everyone is a developer and not everyone can be a top engineer, ask Netflix engineers. But that’s just an aside.

Could you clarify on the Netflix aspect.
Even if it's just a briefing, I might do the rest of the research.

monikulapo:
FWIW loops, conditionals and other program syntax and semantics are not algorithms. Look up basic sort algorithm (bubble, insertion etc) to have a feel for what an algorithm is. Think about it this way algorithm is like a food recipe.

It’s also why the people who say it’s easy or it’s hard are both right. Anyone can cook spaghetti, but there’s levels to bachelor spaghetti and a restaurant chef spaghetti. That difference is the quality of algorithm.

My original post was for Hannania actually coz he mentioned he has a friend in meta, he’s aiming for FAANG, he didn’t mention Javascript and he came across like he has academic interest in CS.

My post was not for bootcamp developers who see Tech as an easy way to escape Nigerian troubles. You don’t even need DS&A or good logical reasoning to make decent money if that’s your reality.

What do you mean by "bootcamp developers". These talks reeks gatekeeping vibes to me.

Everyone is a developer, and every developer can be a top engineer if they put in the work. Regardless of their background, or whether they have a CS degree or not.

President Buhari

3exe3:
Are u done with the take home

I'm like 80% done now.
Im talking about my 2nd take-home. The first one still dey ground lol

But this latest one has a short deadline, so I had to make it priority.

I'm just having issues running my Node server, it keeps "crashing". I need it to properly implement the OAuth login feature.

But no worries, maybe it wouldn't crash on their own computer when testing. Lol

kalex0:
Seen

Also, please edit it out of d quoted tweet. Thank you sir. I saw ur mail.

This my latest take home test isn't as easy as I thought.

Well, the hardest part is implementing a GitHub OAuth login to the react app.

I'm still a bit stuck, because it probably involves some backend icing. Na wa. Is this how hard it is to get a tech job? Una no tell me on time, I for go learn carpentry from Baba Rufus for Fadeyi.

The other part of the projects were relatively easy sha. I struggled with the CSS too, thank God for Chrome Dev tools, I was able to overcome.

Thank God for Adrian, Brad and other YouTube tutors, some of the things I learned are now coming in handy for me in this job search. If not, how I for take sabi use Redux toolkit to fetch data from a REST endpoint? Abi na the context API for global state management?
God bless them for me.


I have until 4pm on Monday to submit. Let me try to hit this thing to the best of my ability.

Please if any of you guys know how to run a simple express proxy server. Let me know. Help a junior.

kalex0:
I don’t have access to this mail again.

Can I get yours please?

I will send you a message

Okay.

I'd reply almost immediately.
Let me know when you see this mention, so I can take it down

Maclink288:
@TheManOfTheYear
Can you please send me a copy of your CV and technical writing so I'd revamp mine.
Please mine is not taking me to any stage.
I've sent you a PM.

I'm trying not to pull out my anonymity. I already dropped tips on what I did to my CV.

I hope you understand

kalex0:
Technical writing samples

I just sent you a PM

From my job search experiences so far, what I'd tell aspiring devs is to build real-time projects.
Mostly projects that require you to fetch API data, solve a basic need in everyday life.

Brush up on your basic CSS, because most of the take home test I've gotten forbade me from using CSS frameworks, component libraries and stuffs.

Learning GraphQL and REST APIs would really play a great role here. Alongside their client queries like Apollo, Axios, FetchAPI etc

You may likely be given a design to replicate alongside the task.

Of course I'm speaking from a front-end point of view.
I can't really say what's applicable to other fields.

Just last week, I had a phone call interview with a Nigerian based start-up in Yaba.
The guy seemed to like my personality because I could accurately describe the milestones I achieved in my previous internship experiences.
Learning some professional tech terms helped me there.

But a phone interview is just a preliminary stage. Waiting to hear a call back from them for the next stage.

I'm not really that interested in Naija companies lol.
Majority of them require on-site presence, me wey love remote work.
And considering the economy, the salary would be pretty low especially for juniors.

Let's see how it goes.

tensazangetsu20:
Na so e be. I remember when I started applying to jobs. Foolish me was applying to like 100 jobs a day. The fall out after 3 weeks wasn't what I was ready for. Tens of interviews. Infact I purposely avoided some interviews. Calls on my phones. I didn't even know which ones I applied to when I got those calls. Just focus on getting the ones you have gotten now.

Exactly boss.
And another thing I noticed about making too many applications is that, you could find yourself in a situation where you may receive offers from different companies at different times.

If you happen to take the first offer, you might receive another offer with better packages

This is if you killed most of your interviews.

What airsaylongcome stated is true.
One of the US based start-ups I applied to just reached out to me to proceed with my interview process.

They are based in Delaware, which I believe has like 6 hours difference.

Well, they are giving me a take-home test, but I'm to submit in 3 days.
This is definitely easier as compared to the one the Europe based start-up gave me.

I'm on it already. Everything is overwhelming at this point. I'd stop making further applications for now

ovanda:
Guys, please I need a mentor. I don't need to be taught how to program cos I already know that part. All i need is somebody to tell me what path to take. Please @TheManofTheYear. My God given talent just dey waste.

Me I don't have a mentor, I never had one.

Just utilize communities like twitter to get a clear path depending on the path you're taking.
In regards to courses, platforms like YouTube and Udemy, udacity, codecademy are there for you.

If you're stuck with a bug or how to add a feature, you can check sites like Stackoverflow, geeks4geeks etc or you can also read official documentations.

Na so me I dey run am o.

Maclink288:
Bro, Product design interview no be here oh! The process is too long. I remembered a time I was given a design task, after completing it and doing interviews. Then it was time for the company to onboard me and give me an offer letter, that was how the CEO asked me which country I was, I told him Nigeria. 2hrs later I was sent a rejection letter stating "time differences" cause it was a US job (remote) .

I believe LinkedIn, Indeed and Twitter are the core platforms in getting a job in tech though I haven't gotten any but I'd keep applying and modifying my portfolio and resume.

So sad to hear that. It can be really disappointing after thinking you've almost clinched it.

Na their loss jare. You know how many US startups are working with Nigerian devs remotely. Time difference shouldn't be an excuse as long as the candidate is fine with it.

I even prefer working at night sef.
Great things are coming your way bro

longlife101:
I've double checked, PM not seen bro. I've sent you one. Could be Nairaland glitch thingy. Should you not see mine too. Kindly look over my 'signature' for an email.

"You are doing well!"

Seen it, would reply soon.

Eniwealth23:
Product design interview mad bro(Europe o coz I don't apply to naija jobs) I mean the task sometimes goes beyond the ordinary. I was given a design task last week to be submitted in 2-3 days. I feel some candidates already submitted but nobody seem to get the scope. I know this because till now the employer hasn't stop adding clues and hints on how to solve the problem. I had to reach to out to few designers that are close so we can work on it together. Till now bros no hope.

Another interview like that begins with the design task, then interview with company hr. It was remaining two, one with the lead designer and a junior ux. The last one will be with the CEO. Like I normally do I sometimes check these individuals profile on LinkedIn to know the wereys I'm up against. The lead designer happens to be a chinko babe like that and her profile scares the sh*t out of me. I mean I was just seeing Cambridge, something Harvard I can't even remember.

Fast forward to interview day na. Interview with hr and lead designer was the same day, I hour each. To cut the long story short, the chinko babe drill me no be small. As a naija boy, I know I can't carry last so I try giving it all it takes. Sometimes during the interview I will just smile and try not to Bleep it up with my responses but that babe is either a saddist or racist. Why? I've had interviews in the past where the white babe will smile and even joke about my name and country.

Now I understand why a naija employer will offer you N70k monthly and their European counterpart go dey beg you with N800-N900k (as long as you are very good). And yes, the job the chinko girl interviewed me for is a remote job in Poland and its 900k monthly.

Though I'm confident I will get a job soon. All the interviews and design tasks have done are well documented so I keep working on them. Though design tasks come in different dimensions so it's difficult to really tell what to expect next. Currently, I have one naija job(remote) which I'm using to sustain. If i mention the pay you will weep for me. I remember telling the CEO I'm only doing it to build my resume, work experience and recommendation afterwards.

Bottom line bros, no be only you o we all share similar challenges.

I can imagine bro

The funny thing is, even as the rejections keep coming, we keep getting better and better. Finally, offers would start flying in.

Just keep the grind. We must celebrate soon.

Devynecheeh:
I'm an aspiring Web developer with knowledge in html,css,Sass(with some projects) and currently learning JavaScript.. Reading through your story as truly been insightful.. I'm particularly interested in the Technical writing part, I've been looking for resources to guide someone on how to start and i saw a list of sites who pay pple to write contents on Twitter with their pay included.. So can you pls share how i can use the knowledge I've gained so far to start, like areas i can pick to write on...I look forward to your reply... Thanks

Getting started in tech writing is just similar to development.
You'd need to build your writing portfolio by writing articles on your blog.
I'd suggest you use Hashnode, for your blog. Just create an account there and start writing articles.

Write comprehensive articles centered around your stack, usually something you've learnt or some other stuffs you've discovered.

After having some solid articles under your belt, then start applying for jobs online. There are many sites that would pay you to write for them.

kalex0:
Can I get some of your samples?

I have a job for you

A sample of my writing or development work?
Which exactly sir?

What I believe really made my LinkedIn profile began to receive more views and appear more in search results was my headline.

I could remember a twitter space where Danny Thompson outlined this.

Putting a crude headline like "Front-end Developer using React" or "Python Developer (Django)" or whatever would not really appeal to most recruiters or tech poachers.

I got to find out that most recruiters, when searching on LinkedIn, put in search terms like "Experienced Frontend Developer", "Result-focused backend engineer" and stuffs like that.

Those prefixes, believe it or not, seems to separate one out from the crowd. (Or so I think).

So I did just that to my headline.
And guess what?
My profile views grew like twice the number I was getting before.

I started appearing more in search results. Recruiters and LinkedIn premium members began viewing it more.

These were stuffs I observed. I could be wrong however.

Well, sometime last week (3rd week of April), one recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn, asking if I was open for a Front-end role in a startup based in India.
I replied, yes. Wow. This was the first time a recruiter would reach out to me without even applying.

This made me wonder, could my LinkedIn profile be that stellar?

Let me tell you guys how I structure my profile.

In my "Introduction" section, I wrote a straight-to-the-point paragraph about my self as a front-end developer, with my skillset which I offer.

Another brief paragraph centered on my self as a technical writer too.
Finally, an indication that I'm open for a job role.

In my "Feature" section, I added a link to my GitHub profile. Sometimes I usually add some newly completed personal projects there too.

My "Education" section saw me putting my bachelor's degree, and also a diploma degree I had. Nothing much. Who really care about degrees in tech?

My "Experience" section, I added the same experiences as listed on my resume. But the key thing I believe, is adding the milestones you achieved during your time in each experiences.

For example, I could add my internship experience, and under it, I'd be like: "I helped contribute to building various hotel websites for top agency clients"..
"I led and also assisted in reviewing PRs from my fellow interns as well as their code reviews"..
Something like that. You get shey?


Furthermore, I remember sometime last year, I asked some of my colleagues in school to write me a recommendation on my profile, which I also returned the favour.

The recommendation revolved around me as a web developer. So make sure the person has either worked on a project with you, or has seen your work as a developer.

It's better if it's someone tech savvy.

I also reached out to one of my fellow intern from back in 2020. She wrote a recommendation for me too.

But me doing all these didn't really changed much in regards to my profile views on LinkedIn. So what was the story changer

genaro2000:
They offered you that because you are living in Nigeria, but it’s not bad, in getting your foot to the door

Yeah, they called it "location-based" payment. Lol

longlife101:
Still wishing you all the best of success ��.

Baba, you fit 'shot' me your CV sample via email on my signature?, I'll greatly appreciate.

Sure just send a PM.

I'd talk about the Nigerian start-up later.
But this European startup is where I really want to be honest. The job perks included
- training the junior developer
- assigning a mentor throughout your time with the company
- a chance to grow into a mid-level developer and even senior. Depending on how long you stay
- a laptop upgrade

What more can I ask for?

But the recruitment process was a two step one. First, they gave me a take-home test (which I'm still on now). The test was given alongside the UI design for it.
Omo. It tests every nook and cranny of your react skills.
From redux to Apollo to fetch data from their endpoint.
I am not allowed to use any library or any framework.
Just pure CSS, and React.

Even hooks because they stated it's must be Class Components

Meaning I had to put myself through a brief learning curve, to learn about class components and even classes in JS.

They said the test has NO deadline, but deep down I gave myself one month to finish it.
All these oyinbo people, they go say no deadline but be careful. It doesn't mean you shouldn't time yourself

Now, that was a disaster, clearly my skills were too junior for such an assessment. Maybe in one year time after I get real experience, I can give them a try again. But for now, I need my first job. Man gats start from somewhere.

I started dropping applications on sites like weworkremotely, indeed and of course LinkedIn.

My CV is a killer I must tell you. The way I structured that thing, it would be hard for most recruiters to resist. Especially if it's a junior role.

The first week, I dropped about 12 applications. And about 3 got back to me with a rejection mail.

Only 2 got back to me with an offer to proceed with my candidacy. I was excited to be honest.
The first is a Europe based web development company. While the second is a Nigerian based start-up with nice product.

The Europe based one asked me about my salary expectations for the junior role before I would proceed with my interview process.

I told them I want $1,500 for a start. (I be wan write $2k sef )

The next day they got back to me and said they cannot pay me that for a start. That their range is between $400 to $700 for a junior role. They asked if I was okay with it.

Omo, I said yes o. Biko.
They decided to proceed with my candidacy.

My first attempt at getting a full-time job was with Remotebase.com
It's a Pakistani startup that aims at recruiting and connecting software developers to startups in Silicon Valley, remotely.

The thing sounded so sweet, I say make I apply jare. That would save me the stress of looking for open roles in various companies.

Omo, as I registered on their platform, they asked for my skill set. I put React. Afterward, they said I must pass a skill assessment test, then a technical round, before finally doing a phone call interview. Nawa.

Shey na Google I dey apply for ni?
I sha proceeded with the assessment, which was the first stage.

It was a 1hr+ test on hackerrank. The test was to complete an album store that would return the list of users and music. Omo.

Me wey no get rigorous experience, I sha attempt am. Na only onclick event I managed to write.

I gave up on the test. I never Sabi reach that level naa.
Now I can't try again until 3 months time. Mtcheew. Who cares. I move on jare.

Now if there's something I know everyone in tech agrees on, it's the fact that the tech interview process is broken.
Like, most interview process are too hectic and mentally draining even more than the actual job. (I'm speaking from a developer's point of view).

I don't know if the designers have it easier, but I suspect no one does. Even the PMs and the rest.

I'd always see tensazangetsu20, qtguru and the rest talk about data structures and algorithms, and how hectic it is to learn them. When majority of them wouldn't even be used in real life software development.

Well, for juniors like us, I wouldn't reckon we need to learn that. At least I've not come across any company asking DS and A for a junior role.

Except of course some FAANG-ISH companies and startups. I'd be documenting my interview experience in the last 2 months, unbiased.

Playermayweda:
Where did you get your CV templates from?

I can't remember the site, there are many free templates online you could use.