An oft-heard bit of advice is "apply as soon as you can, before you think you're ready". It's good advice, and it's advice we ourselves have given many times on this very podcast. But is it always the case? Can you be too early?

We think you can be. So where is the line drawn? How do you know when you know enough to have a serious chance of getting your first job in the industry? And how do these two conflicting pieces of advice manage to both be correct? Find out in this week's speculative instalment of A Question of Code.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Episode 8: When should you quit your job?
• Ericsson study: Deliberate Practice (a.k.a. "10,000 hours")
• Backend and frontend web developer roadmap  (flowcharts)
• Baseline for frontend developers (from 2012, so caveat emptor)