Thread by @akoskm

During my career, I looked at dozens of job applications from Junior developers. Some portfolios were soo good, I still remember them.

Today I'm giving you 6 tips on How to Stand Out with Your Job Application as an Aspiring Developer and make it to the interview!

Thread 🧵👇

1️⃣ Unique Project

I don't remember all the unique projects, but I do remember copies.
If there's a Pokedex in every repo, make a searchable list of SpaceX launches.

Here's a repo of free APIs: github.com/public-apis/pu…, add a bit of imagination and you already have my attention.

2️⃣ Version control (Git)

9/10 candidates will have a single commit in their GitHub repositories:

"initial commit"

If you put in the extra work and further tweaked a default app just give meaningful messages to your commits like:

"updated port"

"changed button to green"

3️⃣ Tests

Even professional developers sometimes neglect writing tests for no reason.

Learning at least one testing framework is a great investment of your time if you consider becoming a professional developer.

Having some tests in your portfolio projects would be ideal.

4️⃣ Community

Instead of just lurking on StackOverflow, Hashnode, or other online communities, open a profile, join a discussion, try to help people.

I think it's important to craft an online presence these days.

It's something you can take with you when you change companies.

5️⃣ Quality > Quantity

Taking care of your projects is much like gardening.

Just as there is work for every season in gardening there are different phases in your career.

Go back to those old projects, and try to implement what you've learned!

6️⃣ Contributing to OSS

I started contributing to open-source early, so when I applied for a job I already knew:

✅ how to work in a team
✅ what's a PR review
✅ how issue tracking systems like Redmine or Jira work

You can learn the same by contributing to OSS.

If you'd like me to further expand on these points, I also wrote a blog post:
akoskm.com/how-to-stand-o…
and recorded a video:

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Until next time 👋