cloudleaf in
Software Engineer
Is contract work a good idea for beginners?
Hello!
My question: I'm wondering if it's a good idea for an entry-level frontend engineer like myself to start his career with contract work, say 3-4 months?
Background:
- Completed a web dev bootcamp 6 months ago (JS, React, Node, etc)
- Been job hunting the last 4 months, but hard to land interviews
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SnuggleBearSoftware Engineer
I would say absolutely. I started my career as a self-taught developer as a contractor at Facebook. That contracting role lasted 2 years, at which point they invited me to go through the Software Engineer interview process, which led to a full-time role.
Leading up to that contractor role, I worked on a lot of personal projects to try to build up some measure of practical experience that I could reference on my resume, since I was trying to get my first professional software engineering job, so I didn't have any professional experience to speak of yet.
If you haven't already, work on all of the personal and open-source projects you can in order to build up a project portfolio you can refer potential recruiters to.
Working as a contractor is a great way to get your foot in the door and gain experience with an organization where you may not yet be able to pass the interview process for a full-time role.
TL;DR - Absolutely. It's a great way to get your foot in the door. To help your chances of getting interviews, build up a solid project portfolio that you can showcase on sites like LinkedIn in order to attract professional attention.
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cloudleafSoftware Engineer
Thank you for the detailed response! This gives me hope and I’ll will now look into it.
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