Brian Jenney on LinkedIn: 4 little letters almost got me fired. LGTM. Looks good to me. Later… | 106 comments (2024)

I got laid off at the end of March. I just verbally accepted an offer yesterday.Here are some themes I noticed throughout my job searches, including this one:• 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗸𝗲𝘆. All my interviews came from recruiters - basically none from cold applying.• 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼. It's unlikely to work but you can only win if you play.• 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝘅 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 to prove I knew my stuff. Very little DSA.𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱:- Tell me about an Interesting project you worked on and your role.- How would you handle conflict/deadlines?- Tell me about a process/improvement you led.• 𝗚𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿, 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱 can really improve your chances of nailing an interview (𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴)• Writing down the 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗼 is helpful• Doing 𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘀 (𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘱[𝘥𝘰𝘵]𝘤𝘰𝘮 - 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵)Yes, I realize I have 25k+ followers and nearly a decade of experience. This makes my path different than yours. 𝗠𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀. The big difference is that my interviews now focus less on coding skills than they used to but I did crush a CodeSignal or 2 😎.In case you're wondering - NO I was not part of any tech layoff. This was a marketing dept layoff and the reason I did not write about it is because I'm kinda sick of the layoff talk 🙄.Oh yeah - thank you to my previous corporate overlords. Learned a ton and met really great people. I can only pray that my efforts incrementally increased shareholder value 🫡

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I don’t hate tutorials, I just don't like how most of you are using them. You’re probably making a lot of the same mistakes I did:- Passive watching- Falling down every rabbit hole- No practical applicationYou watch a 10 hour video, sit down to code and realize you have no f*ckin clue what to do.You hate to see it and I’ve been there.I use this method:- 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 from your tutorial to begin writing some code- 𝗕𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 to get something you can interact with- Reach the limit of your technical depth and 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸- 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲-𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 and build up some more knowledge for the next piece of your appRepeat.

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𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦:- Makes coding and learning a routine- Applies consistently and broadly- Has 1 or 2 complex side projects- Re-calibrates their approach when needed- Has faith that opportunity will present itself𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭:- Applies to only junior roles- Tutorial- Tutorial- Tutorial- Relies on motivation instead of routine- Doesn’t get hired in 3 months- 𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘱

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Here's how I'm actually doing my job search:𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴:- 10% LinkedIn easy apply (you gotta play the lotto)- Hired a resume writer and updated my LI profile with keywords- Apply directly through the company site after finding them on Otta or Wellfound- DM recruiters and hiring managers for positions I really want𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴:- Use Pramp[dot]com for interview practice (LI hates links)- Read Alex Xu books on Sys Design- AlgoExpert for DSA practice or my own app (JavascriptProsApp[dot]com)- Create scripts for behavioral questions (why freestyle it?)𝗨𝗽-𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴:- Build sh*t using technology I should know better like Docker, TypeScript, AWS and a little Rust just in caseTLDR - a combination of mass applying, targeted applying and interview prep for non-FAANG roles. So far so good. It also doesn't hurt having 25k followers and 10 years experience so I'm not pretending that this flow will work for everyone.Hope that's helpful.

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Unit tests are a waste of time.Instead of taking minutes to write a test you can just:- write your code- manually replicate all the scenarios you want to test- pray for the best and have your QA team ensure it all worksNow that it works, don't touch it! 😅When done correctly:- tests enable refactoring with confidence- confirm edge cases- document the ACTUAL functionality (I know your docs suck) 🤫Oddly enough, most bootcamps skip any mention of unit testing even though most dev teams write loads of tests. Not Parsity tho 😉Because you're probably smart and maybe even good looking - I have a repo for you to get your hands dirty with the basics of Jest and Unit Testing.𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴 👇https://lnkd.in/dh_bVgz9

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𝘊𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘋𝘙𝘠 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴!Except, maybe your abstraction is more clever than useful in this case.𝘛𝘋𝘋 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘦!Or you know, TaDD (test after development is done). Or, perhaps manual QA can be enough.𝘛𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘑𝘚 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴!But maybe it’s overkill for this simple UI app. Or just use JSDoc annotations.Be careful falling into dogmatic, knee-jerk responses when it comes to writing software. One thing I’ve learned is that there are exceptions to the rules we accept as coding law.***I sat down with your favorite TypeScript Wizard Ryan Talbert and learned what he really thinks about JavaScript, TypeScript and his wild origin story. You can check it out in the comments 👇

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He created a full stack app that worked pretty well. It even looked nice.But when I asked how it worked…Oof.𝗔𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗲. Too many people fall into the trap of looking at a tutorial, following along with the instructor and typing what they type. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗼𝗳𝗳: a shiny new app. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁: a false sense of masteryIt’s an enticing trap and it may even fool someone into hiring you. 90% of my side projects have never had users or been deployed. I made janky apps and sites to learn new concepts, frameworks and even join a startup as a mid-level developer in a completely new tech stack.Every side project doesn’t need to be a masterpiece. Leverage them to learn what you won’t at work or what you would like to work on next.𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦:https://lnkd.in/gEzeRC9F𝘛𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴? 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵:https://lnkd.in/gpqEgqny

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You’re having trouble coming up with solutions to problems as a software developer because you’re re-inventing the wheel.As a junior developer, there are zero problems you will encounter that haven’t been solved a dozen times over. There are tried and true approaches for that feature you’re working on.But you don’t know what you don’t know.Here’s where I’d start:- 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘂𝗽 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮-𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀 - the general design patterns that dominate the field- 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲-𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀 - like the module pattern in JS- 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀 like presenter/container and HOCs for ReactJSYou’ll begin to notice that much of the code you write either fits into a larger pattern or implements smaller patterns. You’ll be a more confident and efficient developer because of it.𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥’𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶?

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A few months ago, I wrote about a developer who bombed a mock interview because he tried to use a ReactJS API during a vanilla JS challenge.I suggested he learn the fundamentals of JS before touching React.Now, I’m not so sure.𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗝𝗦 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀?Most roles for JS developers depend on a strong knowledge of the layer above JS. Companies want ReactJS, NextJS and Angular developers (the other 5 are looking for Vue developers 😉).Is it still worth having a strong grasp on: - prototypal inheritance- closure- type coercion- scope/hoistingI realize you still need some clue about these concepts but perhaps much less than I previously thought.Is there anything so wrong with being a framework developer? It appears to be a lucrative career path. Genuinely curious.

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