

Hey, my nameโs Daniel, Iโm 18. I have no degree in IT. Iโve just written my mature exams. I have two dream, very well paid jobs. Iโm full-time front-end developer and part-time remote Ember.js consultant.
No doubt, I got my two jobs thanks to Stack Overflow and GitHub. Hereโs how I used these great sites to get:
GitHub helped me to get not one, but two jobs! Iโve used GitHub as my advantage when I was on technical interview about my skills for part-time consultant job. Also, when I was considered for full-time front-end position I hold now, I was asked to give link to my GitHub account.
You need something to hold in your hand when you face employer. They require from you knowledge of specific language, framework, but also itโs very important for them to see that the only thing you and spaghetti have in common is your diet.
GitHub is a place where you can show your code. For example, when you learn new technology, go create a repository with some small proof of concept how to leverage that technology and upload it to GitHub. This approach has four benefits:
Iโve done that. Iโve received these offers. I didnโt follow this with all of my projectsโโโsome of them were created privately on GitLab. I had hopes for selling them in future, but didnโt manage to finish it. However now I regret it itโs not public. If I will release it as open source with small documentation how it works and screenshots, then it will start to work for me as my portfolio.
I have also contributed to various, mostly Ember related repositories. Sometimes it was documentation, sometimes it was code. Itโs useful to tell that youโve contributed to something big on interview. But in my case it were minor improvements.
Few years ago Iโve believed that Stack Overflow is the most reliable way to get me job without university. I was right.
How did I know? Iโm all hype about open source. Iโve read that employers measure your skills by looking at Stack Overflow account. Itโs not that easy. But, when I was in talks with my current company, for full-time job, almost 10k reputation (back then in June), combined with my age, was enough for this wow-effect on employerโs face. Theyโve decided to try me. Thank you, Stack Overflow!
Iโve created things with all kinds of languages and frameworks. Game server list in ASP.NET & Mono, tower defense desktop game with XNA, Java server, C# WPF client etc. The only thing that links my interests is probably using web to get or send data.
My best card in the deck is Ember.js. Iโve started learning it when I was 16 (in 2013), after Iโve watched this truly outstanding video by Yehuda Katz from San Francisco HTML5 conference. So I had my goal, learn Ember, I needed more motivation and determination. Quote from this video was in my head since Iโve heard it for first time.
Whatever you do, be passionate about it.
True. Back to Stack Overflow. First, when I was learning, I was looking for answers there. Then I started answering themโโโto get reputation. I had my tab open with new questions appearing and I was trying to be the fastest gun in the west and answer them firstโโโwhen it comes to more popular topicsโโโsuch as JavaScript. In Ember it was easier. I had lots of time to write my answers and analyse complex problems. There are less people answering questions in this tag.
After some time I was top 1 in last 30 days. I had attention, I had mails with job opportunities. One of them was part-time remote Ember.js consultant position. Iโve received offer because I helped a person on Stack Overflow in Ember tag. True story. Hereโs proof.
Later I had technical interview about my understanding of Ember. I passed. Iโm Ember.js consultant for Techolution since November 2015.
Itโs also very important that you create Stack Overflow careers profile. Two reasons here:
Conclusion
Believe in yourself, work hard. Document your skills on GitHub and Stack Overflow. Contribute to open source repositories, create your own. Get people to know you. Show them youโre living somewhere and youโre capable of doing awesome things. Show them you have passion. In IT, recruiters work hard each day to find people like you. Make their lives easier.
Thanks for reading. Please recommend it if you like it.ย :) If you have different opinions or maybe great stories to share please comment! Iโm happy with all the feedback!
Would you like to read more? Be the first to see other stories at danielkmak.com/blog!
If you would like to talk go ahead and drop me email: contact@danielkmak.com.ย โบ
Create your free account to unlock your custom reading experience.