Scott and Wes give their best advice for beginners, including tech skills, applying for jobs, focus, imposter syndrome, and more…

Coffeecup’s CSS Grid Builder Tool — Sponsor

Check out Coffeecup’s CSS Grid.cc builder tool and resources to learn, prototype and build next gen layouts with CSS Grid!

Freshbooks - Sponsor

Get a 30 day free trial of Freshbooks at freshbooks.com/syntax and put SYNTAX in the “How did you hear about us?” section.

Show Notes

4:46 - Advice for gaining new skills

• Patience and momentum are key
• You likely won’t get anywhere significant in two months
• Think about where you want to be in five years
• Start small
• Start with was excites you and let that drive your exploration
• Start writing code ASAP. Don’t worry about the right way, just get started.

17:15 - Advice for applying to jobs

• Apply for everything. Failing an interview is no big deal.
• Each interview is an opportunity to gain experience
• Putting yourself out there is huge - one blog post, YouTube video, or open source project will put you miles ahead
• Have an entrepreneurial mindset - you can negotiate money, hardware, vacation time, flexible schedule, etc. Don’t just google “average salary”
• Negotiate salaries and perks.

29:32 - Advice for knowing what to focus on

• What gets you jazzed? Find something cool and figure out how to recreate it.
• Find a problem and figure out how to solve it - build real things.
• Don’t focus on tech - tech is just a tool.

38:32 - Advice for impostor syndrome

• Listen to this podcast! ;)
• Almost everyone has it.
• Don’t worry about other people’s progress.
• You don’t need to know how to do everything, but you should be able to figure out how to learn.

46:45 - Misc advice

• Evaluate things for yourself - don’t blindly follow the loudest voices on the internet
• Focus on soft skills as well - time management, communication
• Get a mentor
• Health and Hobbies - don’t let yourself burnout

Links

• Ep 044 - How to Learn New Things Quickly
• Javascript30

××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ×××

• Scott: Sony A7iii
• Wes: Zevia

Shameless Plugs

• Scott’s Level Up Tuts Pro
• Wes’ Stickers

Tweet us your tasty treats!

• Scott’s Instagram
• LevelUpTutorials Instagram
• Wes’ Instagram
• Wes’ Twitter
• Wes’ Facebook
• Scott’s Twitter
• Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets