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After having my job opening for a junior developer go semi-viral, I wanted to share some tips for 
aspiring junior devs who are look into breaking into their first role.
Both what you can do to improve your chances, and also what not to do.
7 tips below
aspiring junior devs who are look into breaking into their first role.Both what you can do to improve your chances, and also what not to do.
7 tips below
1. Realize that good junior jobs are s c a r c e, but there are many, many juniors looking for their first gig. Supply outweighs demand massively. This means you have potentially *hundreds* of people who want the same spot 
2. 5-10 quality applications will serve you better than 50 mediocre ones.
If you have applied to loads of jobs and been rejected *before even having a call*, reconsider if your application reflects the kind of quality work you'd do on the job.
If you have applied to loads of jobs and been rejected *before even having a call*, reconsider if your application reflects the kind of quality work you'd do on the job.
3. Make it easy to find your work! Whether it's github projects, blog posts, codepens, make it easy to find on your CV so we can quickly jump in and understand a bit about where you are in your journey. Again, it distinguishes you from the crowd.
4. If possible, get feedback on your projects *before* applying. For instance, if you have open-source code on GitHub: ask a friend or someone in the community to give you feedback on how to improve it. I did this for my sister, for example.
5. Don't underestimate yourself! If a good company is hiring for juniors, they aren't just trying to get someone "cheap" with a lot of experience.
They want to get someone to teach and invest in.
If you have 2+ years work experience, try applying for mid-level roles instead.
They want to get someone to teach and invest in.
If you have 2+ years work experience, try applying for mid-level roles instead.
6. Keep practicing. It's controversial but a 3-month bootcamp does not make you *immediately employable* just because you finished it. You need to keep working on your skills after that, *especially* when employers have a choice of 100s of similarly eager candidates.
7. Ask for feedback. It's often not possible to provide detailed personal feedback early in the process, but the further you go, the more feedback you can request. Even if the answer is truly, "Another candidate was just a better fit" that is still better than not knowing.
I'm super grateful that we got to hire not 1, but 3 juniors in our last round. We created openings to accommodate the potential we found
I'm also grateful we have a mature team that can responsibly support these new devs
I'm also grateful we have a mature team that can responsibly support these new devs
P.s. If you love teaching juniors, we have a number of senior frontend roles up now @SumUpEng. We're looking for the next cohort to build up teams that can support junior devs in the future.
I hope this helps! If you have more tips, feel free to append them below :)
I hope this helps! If you have more tips, feel free to append them below :)
