As an app or web developer, normally there are a lot of difficult tasks ahead of you, but, the moment you master the skills, you realize nothing is impossible. The intricacies of scripting language and OOP will assist you in building apps and webs and ultimately result in job opportunities.
As a professional, you have to decide whether you want to work as a start-up employee, solo/freelancer/ consultant or become a rank and file developer in a well established company.
Here are a few tips and tricks to help you take you career to the next level;
- Start with open source projects
Most professional developers encourage beginners to spend time working on open source projects, the kind of experience you get from them educates you, challenges you and helps you in building your career. Open source projects provide a platform for meeting other developers whom you can network with. In addition, you get to learn a few things from them that can help you improve your skills.
- Expand your web browsing repository
If at all you want to learn how to become a professional developer, you need to associate you self with people who share a common goal and vision with you. For instance, Hacker News is a good platform where you can get advice, meet resource developers and learn about the ecosystem. Other sites include; Source Forge, Stack Overflow and Google Code.
- Networking
Instead of spending your valuable time on social media doing things that are not beneficial, try networking with people who can be of help in your career. Social media networks such as Face book, Twitter and LinkedIn are good platforms for networking with highly skilled app/web developers who might guide you in improving your skills and broadening your career. There are several developer oriented face book groups that you can join.
- Show your code
Once you are done working on a functional code, you should have the urge to show it to the world. GitHub or Source Forge are some of the best and accessible platforms you can use to release your code to the rest of the world. Additionally, make sure you code samples are well documented, have good architecture and they are versatile enough.
- Learn to market yourself
Some people might refer to it as bragging, but, if it helps in advancement of your career, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do it. Focus on creating a good portfolio that shows a variety of projects you have worked on previously. These include; any open source project that you’ve worked on or app/web that you’ve developed for a client. Lastly, don’t forget to highlight the frameworks and languages you are good at in you resume.
