Don’t Compare Yourself to Other New Developers: Scrimba Student Silvia on Changing Careers

🎙 About the episode

Meet Silvia Piovesan 🇮🇹! Silvia is a Scrimba student who recently got for job offers after four different interviews. But her success didn't come overnight! Silvia used to be a project manager in the pharmaceutical industry - where she first got interested in coding. After she got laid off (and became a mom!), she wanted to learn to code so that she could become a knowledgeable project manager in IT... before realizing that she actually wanted to code!

In this episode, Silvia reveals what's the similarities between learning to code and hiking Camino de Santiago, as well as her approach to learning and finding a job as a new developer. You'll find out how to utilize your soft skills, what to do if you don't know the answer to a question on a technical interview, and what to do during your first week on the job. Alex and Silvia also discuss goal setting, and why it's not a good idea to give your 100% every day.

🔗 Connect with Silvia

• 👩🏻‍💼 Linkedin
• 🐦 Twitter
• 🌐  Website
• 👩‍🚀 Github

⏰ Timestamps

• Silvia's journey from pharmaceuticals to tech (01:11)
• How Silvia knew a lot about the inner workings of a company but wanted to pursue specialization (03:27)
• Did Silvia's professional skills from her previous career help her when she became a developer?  (06:06)
• Silvia's approach to learning to code (09:07)
• Silvia only learned to code so that she can become a better project manager. What happened next? (10:29)
• What knowledge did Silvia lack after a bootcamp? How did she discover Scrimba? (14:25)
• Key takeaways from Silvia's approach (16:41)
• On setting realistic goals (19:56)
• How Silvia knew it was time to start applying for jobs and how long it took to get there (21:08)
• On comparing yourself to other people learning to code (23:39)
• Did Silvia have doubts about whether or not she would make it? (26:41)
• Silvia's approach to finding her first developer job (plus: do you need to have a portfolio?) (28:21)
• Let's talk numbers: how many applications, how many interviews, how many offers? (31:59)
• How to stand out in a job interview (33:34)
• Silvia's job interview process (36:10)
• The most important thing you should know if you're interviewing for jobs (28:52)
• Where does Silvia work now? (40:49)
• Silvia's first pull request, and how long does it take to code a button? (42:13)
• What should you do during your first week on the job? (44:24)

🧰 Resources mentioned

• Scrimba's Frontend Career Path
• Learn React for Free
• Scrimba's Discord community
• Mock Junior Front End Web Developer Interview with Mike Chen and Silvia

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