Hello, insider! I decided to share my story. Having started my studies at the end of 2014 and throwing everything away several times, 2 months ago I got a job. In this article I will not talk about how and what I wrote in my resume, what I talked about with HR and how I learned English (there will be a separate post about this). I will not go deep into what I taught and where. I will simply share my observations and thoughts that arose during my training, with or without reason. I will share what I consider good and bad in the near-voitish sphere. I’ll also list 8 things that helped me become a programmer. Go!
1. Javarush
Inspired by the prospects of quick employment (in Java, ahah) I typed something like “Java courses online” into Google. JavaRush was one of the first to be found. Honestly, I fell for Futurama. :D I don’t think I would have taken a subscription if it weren’t for these heroes. The resource really helped me at first. It was interesting to read and solve problems. At that time, the resource was just developing and there were only a few reviews about successful employment. This was very inspiring (I remember the nickname - provisota, my colleague, I’m also partly a high-altitude climber, hello! Thank you! And another story of a guy I don’t remember his nickname anymore. They were especially inspiring). I believed that in a couple of months I would write my story here. But 2 years have passed since then, I have become much wiser, I hit my face on the gray asphalt several times near the offices of IT companies, and there is simply a sea of reviews on the site. In general, when I reached level 10, I was interested, I had confidence in my own abilities, and besides, there was a promotion, so I took a subscription. It’s a pity that I wasn’t enough for much, I reached about level 26-27, after which there was no more time. Perhaps I’ll definitely finish it one day, if my unlimited limit hasn’t been cancelled, of course.
Javarush - thank you. It all started with you. 2. Books.
It is possible to study only by taking courses, but it is difficult. I can’t say that I read a lot of books, but the fundamental ones, namely Eckel “The Philosophy of Java” (printed on A4 sheets), Horstmann Volume 1, Bloch “Effective Programming”, Petzold “Code” (!must read!)
, Hunt “Pragmatist programmer” and something specific like Building Maitanable Software, something on SQL, I don’t remember the name and a bunch of other little things - I still mastered it.
This is the foundation without which it will be very difficult. 3. Interviews For the position of a junior, the interview looks something like this:
I went to interviews several times at the very beginning of my studies - however, as soon as it came to the technical part (theory) - I constantly failed. It was very disappointing. On the other hand, what did I expect? It was better with test tasks. Here I felt like a fish in water and there was a flight of imagination, especially when there were problems like “Olympiads” or algorithms. This was my favorite watch. Solve the problem posed, optimize so that the execution time tends to reduce the number of iterations to a minimum, etc. Useful skills, in general, but only for solving such problems. In general, I won’t repeat myself, you can read my article about interviews at level 20 in the additional materials or at
this link . Since July 2015, little has changed in this regard. I gave up on interviews in the office (the last time was at the end of December 2015), periodically communicated on Skype and concentrated on training and a personal project, sometimes interviewing on Skype from home.
In interviews you get the most important things at the beginning of your journey. Axle, guide. What skills are needed to become a galley slave to work in this field. Even if you have very little knowledge, if you are called, you need to go. This is simply an invaluable experience. 4. Attempts at freelancing
I tried to do freelancing, but in the Java field it’s a little difficult for a beginner to do (IMHO, of course). If you want to do freelancing on upwork or somewhere else, then it’s better to pay attention to the web (js, possibly php) or C#, if you develop simple applications based on WindowForms for the desktop (Java for the desktop is a pitiful sight, as Eeyore said, friend of Winnie the Pooh). In general, my opinion is that a beginner should be lucky to write something serious in Java, and even get paid for it. In addition, it may not be possible to combine freelancing with your main non-IT work.
Freelancing, from which I did not earn a penny, gave me an understanding of how huge the market is and how huge the competition in the IT field is. 5. Internships at companies
This may seem like an easier way to get into a company, but it is not so. There is also competition here - about 20-30 people per place. Computer tests, English tests, logic tests, followed by often an unpaid internship. At Epam, for example, a young DevOps can spend 5 months without a salary + 2 months with a stipend, while starting from the 3rd month - full-time. Of course, this was not an option, because... It is also necessary to provide for yourself. But if there is an opportunity, you have to go. Just don't dwell on it.
Here, more than anywhere else, you understand that the company, by and large, doesn’t care about your candidacy. There are a dozen or two just like you who came today. Even for free practice there is a very strict selection process (I would even say that getting there is more difficult than getting into a regular paid job). 6. IT-Events There are quite interesting topics.
If you live in a more or less large city, then various meetings are probably held there on a wide variety of topics. You don't have to go for paid ones. There's a lot of free stuff out there. The coolest events I've been to are SQL Saturday and GlobalLogic Java Days. A lot of people, interesting reports and good organization (and also competitions and after-parties :D) - make this time unforgettable. Not necessarily Java. I attended events on JS, Python, C# and it was very interesting. Sometimes you may not even understand anything, ))))) but you will be 300% charged with emotions. If it’s not possible, it doesn’t matter, there’s a lot of everything online. The main thing is the presence of the Internet. You can monitor the events
here. An excellent opportunity to change the environment, unwind, learn something new and interesting, and just have a good few hours. 7. Mentoring
This and this was the key point in my employment. I am immensely grateful to this man for his patience and ability to convey information. In just a few months of mentoring, I received more information and knowledge than in the entire time before. On the other hand, knowledge fell on prepared ground, because we taught exactly the technologies that I lacked. We could hold a meeting in English, discuss current issues, talk about processes within the company, or simply discuss articles from Bath.it G)
Communication is one of the main skills in it. It’s one thing to communicate with an algorithm that checks problems and discuss aspects of the solution on a forum. It’s completely different - with a real person and in conditions close to combat. This was probably the best stage in my training. The most productive for sure! 7a. Courses.
I didn't go there and don't recommend it to anyone. There is a good paragraph in
a good article about how much courses should cost per person. I recommend reading the entire article. As for the rest, about the courses - it's up to you. I made my choice in favor of mentoring - I didn’t make a mistake, it seems to me. 8. Apathy
I gave up several times. As a rule, after another massive lack of responses to my resume or responses in the style of “Your resume has been added to the database...” The best way to escape from all this is to write code. Apathy from not writing code? It happened too. The solution is trivial - go for a walk, go to the cinema, when you sit down to code again - change the task, for example, finish something that you didn’t do before. I heard the figure from many programmers - 6 hours. You can write code productively for 6 hours a day. I could freeze at night or spend the whole weekend sitting at the monitor; after a series of such night and day vigils, I could experience a “mini-burnout” (call it what you want: “depression”, “tired”, etc.), which in in some advanced cases it could last for weeks. A feeling of insignificance and the absence of any desire to write further code. This is very difficult to overcome, but it taught me an important thing in the learning process:
Rest! Video on the topic: Dmitry Mantula - “How to learn a programming language in 25 minutes”
Link(Ukrainian) Offer On one of the still warm autumn days, they called me and, lo and behold! I couldn't believe my ears. They found my resume in the database and are wondering if I’m still looking for a job? Sometime in June I sent them a resume, but didn’t get through. They called me back(!), I re-sent an updated resume. The vacancy, of course, was more similar to Automation QA (no...), and the work was remote (oh, no-no-no), and besides, the salary did not meet my expectations (nooooo), but in essence I was already doesn't matter. I agreed to the test task, for which three days were allotted, taking into account familiarization with the project documentation. Essentially, testing involved writing unit tests for a running application. However, it was difficult to search through the terribly inconvenient (apparently, at that time, out of habit) documentation and the task took me a week. As usual, on the last day, after redoing everything (refactoring, yikes!) and almost breaking everything I had written (but with 2 times less code!), I emailed it to the recruiter. After this there were 15 days of painful waiting for an answer. And two weeks later I received an answer: an invitation to an interview (!) for the position of a full-time Java developer (!!). According to the recruiter, I liked my test task so much (!!!) that it was decided to hire me for another position. It's nice, damn it. The bonus was the salary amount that I wanted initially (!!!!). The next day there was an interview with HR, then a technical one. That same evening I received an offer. After 2 weeks I started working.
A few words about working remotely. I have been working for 2 months at the moment. At home, remotely. It's not as scary as it initially seemed. I like the work, especially when everything works out))) Despite a whole bunch of disadvantages
described here , it’s very pleasant to work. But seriously, the main disadvantage is that my wife also works as a QA remotely and we have a one-room apartment))). In addition, it is difficult without live contact. In the office, you can come to someone and kick them, saying they need help and pointing your finger at the problem. Here you need to describe it qualitatively, along with your feelings, fears and experiences. On the other hand, it forces me to study the problem in more detail and in some cases, I don’t even ask the question. Among the advantages, the main one is a more or less free schedule, time is saved on travel, the absence of Big Brother behind you (at a distance, by the way, this is not always the case) and, of course, the skill of self-organization. What else? You can calmly eat borscht with garlic and after that discuss pressing issues with colleagues :D That’s all I wanted to say. Maybe a little chaotic, because... I wrote in the evening, after work, but I tried my best to make this article interesting. I hope that some of what I have written is useful to someone. Keep calm and write code!
Inspired by the prospects of quick employment (in Java, ahah) I typed something like “Java courses online” into Google. JavaRush was one of the first to be found. Honestly, I fell for Futurama. :D I don’t think I would have taken a subscription if it weren’t for these heroes. The resource really helped me at first. It was interesting to read and solve problems. At that time, the resource was just developing and there were only a few reviews about successful employment. This was very inspiring (I remember the nickname - provisota, my colleague, I’m also partly a high-altitude climber, hello! Thank you! And another story of a guy I don’t remember his nickname anymore. They were especially inspiring). I believed that in a couple of months I would write my story here. But 2 years have passed since then, I have become much wiser, I hit my face on the gray asphalt several times near the offices of IT companies, and there is simply a sea of reviews on the site. In general, when I reached level 10, I was interested, I had confidence in my own abilities, and besides, there was a promotion, so I took a subscription. It’s a pity that I wasn’t enough for much, I reached about level 26-27, after which there was no more time. Perhaps I’ll definitely finish it one day, if my unlimited limit hasn’t been cancelled, of course.
Javarush - thank you. It all started with you. 2. Books.
It is possible to study only by taking courses, but it is difficult. I can’t say that I read a lot of books, but the fundamental ones, namely Eckel “The Philosophy of Java” (printed on A4 sheets), Horstmann Volume 1, Bloch “Effective Programming”, Petzold “Code” (!must read!)
, Hunt “Pragmatist programmer” and something specific like Building Maitanable Software, something on SQL, I don’t remember the name and a bunch of other little things - I still mastered it.
This is the foundation without which it will be very difficult. 3. Interviews For the position of a junior, the interview looks something like this:
I went to interviews several times at the very beginning of my studies - however, as soon as it came to the technical part (theory) - I constantly failed. It was very disappointing. On the other hand, what did I expect? It was better with test tasks. Here I felt like a fish in water and there was a flight of imagination, especially when there were problems like “Olympiads” or algorithms. This was my favorite watch. Solve the problem posed, optimize so that the execution time tends to reduce the number of iterations to a minimum, etc. Useful skills, in general, but only for solving such problems. In general, I won’t repeat myself, you can read my article about interviews at level 20 in the additional materials or at
this link . Since July 2015, little has changed in this regard. I gave up on interviews in the office (the last time was at the end of December 2015), periodically communicated on Skype and concentrated on training and a personal project, sometimes interviewing on Skype from home.
In interviews you get the most important things at the beginning of your journey. Axle, guide. What skills are needed to 
I tried to do freelancing, but in the Java field it’s a little difficult for a beginner to do (IMHO, of course). If you want to do freelancing on upwork or somewhere else, then it’s better to pay attention to the web (js, possibly php) or C#, if you develop simple applications based on WindowForms for the desktop (Java for the desktop is a pitiful sight, as Eeyore said, friend of Winnie the Pooh). In general, my opinion is that a beginner should be lucky to write something serious in Java, and even get paid for it. In addition, it may not be possible to combine freelancing with your main non-IT work.
Freelancing, from which I did not earn a penny, gave me an understanding of how huge the market is and how huge the competition in the IT field is. 5. Internships at companies
This may seem like an easier way to get into a company, but it is not so. There is also competition here - about 20-30 people per place. Computer tests, English tests, logic tests, followed by often an unpaid internship. At Epam, for example, a young DevOps can spend 5 months without a salary + 2 months with a stipend, while starting from the 3rd month - full-time. Of course, this was not an option, because... It is also necessary to provide for yourself. But if there is an opportunity, you have to go. Just don't dwell on it.
Here, more than anywhere else, you understand that the company, by and large, doesn’t care about your candidacy. There are a dozen or two just like you who came today. Even for free practice there is a very strict selection process (I would even say that getting there is more difficult than getting into a regular paid job). 6. IT-Events There are quite interesting topics.
If you live in a more or less large city, then various meetings are probably held there on a wide variety of topics. You don't have to go for paid ones. There's a lot of free stuff out there. The coolest events I've been to are SQL Saturday and GlobalLogic Java Days. A lot of people, interesting reports and good organization (and also competitions and after-parties :D) - make this time unforgettable. Not necessarily Java. I attended events on JS, Python, C# and it was very interesting. Sometimes you may not even understand anything, ))))) but you will be 300% charged with emotions. If it’s not possible, it doesn’t matter, there’s a lot of everything online. The main thing is the presence of the Internet. You can monitor the events
here.
An excellent opportunity to change the environment, unwind, learn something new and interesting, and just have a good few hours. 7. Mentoring
This and this was the key point in my employment. I am immensely grateful to this man for his patience and ability to convey information. In just a few months of mentoring, I received more information and knowledge than in the entire time before. On the other hand, knowledge fell on prepared ground, because we taught exactly the technologies that I lacked. We could hold a meeting in English, discuss current issues, talk about processes within the company, or simply discuss articles from Bath.it G)
Communication is one of the main skills in it. It’s one thing to communicate with an algorithm that checks problems and discuss aspects of the solution on a forum. It’s completely different - with a real person and in conditions close to combat. This was probably the best stage in my training. The most productive for sure! 7a. Courses.
I didn't go there and don't recommend it to anyone. There is a good paragraph in
a good article about how much courses should cost per person. I recommend reading the entire article. As for the rest, about the courses - it's up to you. I made my choice in favor of mentoring - I didn’t make a mistake, it seems to me. 8. Apathy
I gave up several times. As a rule, after another massive lack of responses to my resume or responses in the style of “Your resume has been added to the database...” The best way to escape from all this is to write code. Apathy from not writing code? It happened too. The solution is trivial - go for a walk, go to the cinema, when you sit down to code again - change the task, for example, finish something that you didn’t do before. I heard the figure from many programmers - 6 hours. You can write code productively for 6 hours a day. I could freeze at night or spend the whole weekend sitting at the monitor; after a series of such night and day vigils, I could experience a “mini-burnout” (call it what you want: “depression”, “tired”, etc.), which in in some advanced cases it could last for weeks. A feeling of insignificance and the absence of any desire to write further code. This is very difficult to overcome, but it taught me an important thing in the learning process:
Rest! Video on the topic: Dmitry Mantula - “How to learn a programming language in 25 minutes”
Link(Ukrainian) Offer On one of the still warm autumn days, they called me and, lo and behold! I couldn't believe my ears. They found my resume in the database and are wondering if I’m still looking for a job? Sometime in June I sent them a resume, but didn’t get through. They called me back(!), I re-sent an updated resume. The vacancy, of course, was more similar to Automation QA (no...), and the work was remote (oh, no-no-no), and besides, the salary did not meet my expectations (nooooo), but in essence I was already doesn't matter. I agreed to the test task, for which three days were allotted, taking into account familiarization with the project documentation. Essentially, testing involved writing unit tests for a running application. However, it was difficult to search through the terribly inconvenient (apparently, at that time, out of habit) documentation and the task took me a week. As usual, on the last day, after redoing everything (refactoring, yikes!) and almost breaking everything I had written (but with 2 times less code!), I emailed it to the recruiter. After this there were 15 days of painful waiting for an answer. And two weeks later I received an answer: an invitation to an interview (!) for the position of a full-time Java developer (!!). According to the recruiter, I liked my test task so much (!!!) that it was decided to hire me for another position. It's nice, damn it. The bonus was the salary amount that I wanted initially (!!!!). The next day there was an interview with HR, then a technical one. That same evening I received an offer. After 2 weeks I started working.
A few words about working remotely. I have been working for 2 months at the moment. At home, remotely. It's not as scary as it initially seemed. I like the work, especially when everything works out))) Despite a whole bunch of disadvantages
described here , it’s very pleasant to work. But seriously, the main disadvantage is that my wife also works as a QA remotely and we have a one-room apartment))). In addition, it is difficult without live contact. In the office, you can come to someone and kick them, saying they need help and pointing your finger at the problem. Here you need to describe it qualitatively, along with your feelings, fears and experiences. On the other hand, it forces me to study the problem in more detail and in some cases, I don’t even ask the question. Among the advantages, the main one is a more or less free schedule, time is saved on travel, the absence of Big Brother behind you (at a distance, by the way, this is not always the case) and, of course, the skill of self-organization. What else? You can calmly eat borscht with garlic and after that discuss pressing issues with colleagues :D That’s all I wanted to say. Maybe a little chaotic, because... I wrote in the evening, after work, but I tried my best to make this article interesting. I hope that some of what I have written is useful to someone. Keep calm and write code!
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