Roadmap for new software engineers to get their dream job

Its easy to get your first job but its very painful to get your dream job. You just need to know basics of any programming language you are interested in and you can acquire a job easily. But when your dreams are big and you wanna work with a growing startup or MNC then the environment becomes challenging. So interviews becomes tough to crack. But the pay is worth it for that efforts.

So we will proceed thinking you wanna join such dream jobs 🔥

Data Structures And Algorithms 😉

Most product based companies have DSA rounds and you need to practice questions on daily basis to conquer these rounds. Dont run behind solutions. First try to completely grasp the question. And then first try your naive solution and then go on optimising it. Leetcode, GFG, Hackerrank, Codechef etc. are the DSA practising websites. They have very rich question bank asked from various top companies. For beginners Leetcode is enough.

If you are not consistent in solving questions then below is one way you can follow.

Pick 50 EASY questions from various topics like arrays, strings, stacks, queues, recursion etc. and complete them in 30 days.
If you feel like digging deeper choose another 50 questions from various topics but of MEDIUM difficulty this time and try to solve them in 40-45 days.
Boom!!!! You have enough DSA knowledge to crack DSA rounds of various companies. 😎
You can even continue further. Pick another mix 50 questions and complete them and increase your ranking.

You can even participate in hiring challenges hosted on these DSA practising websites. Its a few hours online DSA assesment. You will solve given problems in stipulated time frame. Pass all test cases and you can get a chance to get hired directly from there with a good pay. Keep an eye 👀 on their hiring challenge page.

But dont worry 🙅 there are lot of companies who do not assess your skills only based on DSA.

Networking 👋

The most underrated skill in software development is networking. You wont even realise how powerful it is. Its a slow progress but eventually will land you at a place where you aimed for and sometimes even better than that. Try to meet as many people of your same interest and interact with them . Learn from their experiences. Always take help and offer help. Their reference will help you some day to reach at a point where you always wanted.

MAANG Hype 😳

The first thing is dont just dream for MAANG! Dream to become a highly qualified developer. Companies will follow you.

It is no doubt that these are great companies to work with but these companies are not whole world. In terms of pay you can find much better companies out there paying much more than these. Their work culture is also great and you will find ample amount of opportunities to grow your skillsets.

Communities 🌟

Communites are there which are always there to help you. Discord is your best developer friend circle. You will find lots of developer pouring their knowledge and trying to help others.

Their policy is simple. Grow and lets help others grow.

You can join them and be part of ever growing community. You can take help and build relations with other developers. You can also offer help and that way return to the community.

Tutorials 📖

Video Tutorials wont help much. Thats why these are called Tutorial Hell. Better to have interactive tutorials. If you cant find interactive tutorials then at least start making small notes 📝 parallel. This will help you to remember what you watched and stay away from feeling sleepy 😴 throughout the tutorials.

Github 👷

Make as many projects as you can in diversified areas. You can get idea of what projects to build on google search and can pick any and start building. Share your project in discord communities and ask feedbacks. Invite collaborators and build with other peers to make your project more worthy. And please please please 🙏 update the Readme file of every project with proper description and build instructions. Make your github profile really strong to support your knowledge with a Solid Proof to show.

Open Source 😍

Best way to learn something in tech is Open source. If you really want to make an impact and learn a technology then find open source projects on github and start contributing. You can start with beginner friendly issues and then slowly gradually learn the tech which are required to solve other issue on the go. Thats I think the best way to learn anything and grow yourself in this space.

Let me tell you the reasons why I love open source so much 👇

✔️ No need to go through that 7-7 rounds of stressful interviews ✔️ No need to prove yourself before joining ✔️ No need to be expert ✔️ You are free to choose your projects and can join anytime ✔️ You are open to discuss any sort of issue you are facing without having hesitation ✔️ No need to apply anywhere ✔️ You can stop contributing anytime. ✔️ You can earn reputation in the community and can get hired by your work straightway ✔️ All Remote. Work from anywhere in the world.

The only thing you NEED to become an open source developer is "INTEREST & COMMITMENT".

You can join anytime with whatever skill level you have and can gradually increase by completing issues and raising PRs in the project.

Open source is more OPEN than you think. You dont get any monetary benefits 💵 in the starting but in the long run you will see the magic.

Learning in public 😃

Sharing is Caring. Share what you learned in a brief post and share in your social circles. If possible ✒️ write blogs in your own way of explaining language and use some graphics to explain a hard topic. That way you spend more time on that topic and you grasp it better.

Most Important Skill 🔭

Consistency. Starting anything is easy. But to continue something that you started is really hard. And thats where consistency and discipline plays the role. Motivation only works for 2 days 😐. So if you have a dream to achieve better you better train your mind to have consistency and work everyday even if little.

Self Doubt ❌

Dont get hesitated or overwhelmed by seeing Job descriptions. Dont judge yourself that you dont have proper skills.

Believe in yourself.

Present yourself with a confidence. And you will do wonders. In most cases the job description is just misleading and you never know you may have all the required skills to grab that offer. So apply if you have even 30-40% of the mentioned skills and wait for your turn to perform your best in front of hiring team.

Podcasts 🎤

If you are afraid of conveying your thoughts or you are an introvert and cant speak much publicly. Then I would suggest that start recording podcasts. You can explain a topic in your own language. That way you can improve your soft skills better. You can get rid of fear of speaking and convey yourself much better.

Job Boards 🙆‍♀️

You can obviously take help of job boards to find your job but I would say thats the least recommended ⛔ way. You will get fedup applying for 100s of companies and not getting much reverts. Dont blindly apply. Research about the company a little and try to reach to the HR of that company on linkedIn and ask them to schedule your interview if they have vacancy.

Twitter/LinkedIn 🌏

Make the best use of both. Be active and post regularly 📆 . Choose your niche and write a tweet/post about it regularly. That way you are presenting yourself in front of people and dropping your impression into their minds and that too with consistency. Who know when you may get your potential job/client from there searching out for you 😉. Follow your content creators you admire and learn from them.

Roadmaps 🚀

Follow a roadmap in your tech-stack given by some other content creators or else create your own custom-made. And stick to it. Make changes if needed accordingly. Track the progress. Share the progress. And see the wonders 😯.

Conclusion 🔮

So our Success Mantra is 👇

Get out of comfort zone >>>> Start coding >>>> Build your profile >>>> Join meetups >>>> Start networking >>>> Learn publicly >>>> Do open source >>>> Land your dream job 🏆

Thanks for reading till here 🎉. You made it. Please like and share with your friends if you found this helpful.

Nisha Jakhar's Blog