Tech career advisor

Job interviews are scary, especially when you know you'll be tested on your technical knowledge. So what if you could improve your interview performance without learning any new coding skills? In this week's guest post, Yaphi Berhanu from Simple Steps Code gives you his top tips for impressing recruiters using what you already know. Here are the takeaways: Frame answers in terms of who will be impacted Don't just give the solution. Show that you've considered who will be affected by your solution (i.e. the users, the business or the team). Name things clearly It can be tempting to use shorthand during an interview, but it's also easy to lose track of what names you've used when under pressure. Naming things clearly is also crucial when working within a team. Lay out the puzzle pieces This is like showing your working in an exam. It lets your interviewer see your thought process and it'll make it easier to spot solutions yourself. If...

Hey, It's supposed to take 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. Is that the case with coding? Ken Mazaika from The Firehose Project doesn't think so. In this week's sponsored guest post, Ken breaks down why it won't take you 10,000 hours to learn to code. Click here to read the sponsored post. Here are the main takeaways: The media has changed the meaning of the rule. The 10,000 hour rule used to mean it took that long to become an expert in an advanced field. Now it seems to mean it takes that long just to be good at something. Companies don't hire people based on the hours they've spent learning. You'll be expected to have some experience in the field, but no hiring company is going to ask you exactly how many hours you've been learning for. Companies hire new developers as an investment. They won't expect you to be an expert. They'll expect you to have the ability to figure stuff out and a hunger to ...

Hey, If you're diving into app development for the first time, it can be difficult to know which platform you should be writing for. This week's sponsored post is from Geoff Perlman of Xojo. In it, he lays out the pros and cons of each platform, and lets you in on how to develop for all of them at once. Click here to read the full sponsored post. Here are the main takeaways: Desktop Apps - These normally provide the richest (and fastest) user experience, but they're not great for apps that people want to use immediately. Web Apps - These solve the problem of users wanting to use the app immediately, but they're at the mercy of your users' Internet speed. Mobile Apps - Fast, responsive, easy to install... but there's not a lot of screen space to work with. That means mobile apps are best suited to "dashboard-type" apps that display the status of something without being super interactive. Cross-Platform Development - Cross-platfor...

The number of worldwide internet users is 3.3 billion. Are you making it easy enough for them to use your site? In the latest Learn to Code With Me guest post, Christina from Day Translations lets us in on why (and how) you should be playing the numbers game and making sure your website is globally accessible. Click here to read this post. Here's a snapshot of what Christina says are the top things to incorporate to make sure everybody has a good time on your site: Minimalism. I'm a big fan of keeping things simple, and, turns out, it makes website localization so much easier in the long run. Unicode. This makes sure your site's compatible with just about any language, regardless of the script being used. Hreflang tags. There are a few different ways you can use them, but the main thing is you're letting Google know when one page is a translation of another. Space. White space definitely looks good, but it also comes in handy when tra...

Coding isn't easy. If it were, everyone would be doing it. In the newest Learn to Code With Me blog post guest writer Avi Flombaum, Dean at Flatiron School , shares five things all newbies need to know as the embark on their coding journey. Click here to read this sponsored post. Avi drops so many knowledge bombs - I kept nodding my head while I read through the article! Here are a few of my favorite takeaways: Embrace failure. "Embrace things being broken and know it's not your fault, it's not because you're stupid, it's not because you're bad at programming. It's because that is the nature of this craft: to exist in a broken state." In fact, failing is GOOD. "The only way for everything to work all the time would be to stop innovating. So get comfortable existing in a state of error." Finish learning what you started. "Even if you're learning a language that has become outdated, the act of finishin...

When I was looking for full-time jobs a few months ago, one thing shocked me more than anything: the amount of job listings looking for iOS developers/engineers. (Don't believe me? Here's one . Here's another . And another .) And according to Glassdoor , an iOS engineer in the US makes on average $110,000 per year. (By the way, a software engineer in the US earns $95,195 on average .) Now, I'm not telling you to ditch everything you're doing in life—all your hopes, dreams, and goals—to pursue iOS development. Far from it. What I am saying is that if you've had thoughts about learning how to build iOS apps, a feeling that it may be something you'd like...you should definitely consider pursuing it. Because here's the good news: Now till August 3 Udemy is offering a special 50% off discount on TWO brand new iOS 10 courses: The Complete iOS 10 Developer Course - Build 21 Apps by Rob Percival iOS 10 and Swift 3: Fr...

You may believe that as a web developer or designer you don't have to worry about marketing. After all, why would you? You're not a salesperson, you don't want to work in marketing, you don't have your own business and may not ever plan on starting one. You just want to work in engineering or design -- a technical role. But if you think you don't need to market yourself, you're wrong. Every person (and company) needs to take advantage of marketing today. Because even if you have all the skills and experience required for a job, it doesn't mean you'll get it. You can spend years getting more skills, more education, more certificates, more credentials, etc., but they won't magically catapult you to a better job and higher salary. In today's ultra-competitive world, across business models and industries, marketing is everything -- whether you're marketing a business, your services, or yourself for a job. It may not be fair, but the fac...