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How to make your Front-End Developer portfolio stand out

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How to make your Front-End Developer portfolio stand out

There’s never been a better time to kickstart your career as a Front-End Developer. Not only are they in high demand, but with the rise of remote work over the past year, front-end development is a great choice if you’re looking for a high-paying tech job that lets you work from home. But where do you start?

After learning the required skills for the role and building a technical resume, creating a Front-End Developer portfolio is the next step in the job-seeking process. But, while many industries require portfolios, they look very different between roles — so knowing what to include is key.

To help you kickstart your career as a Front-End Developer, we’ve put together this guide that’ll help you create (or optimize) your portfolio. Below, we’ll explore what a Front-End Developer portfolio is used for and what you should include in yours to stand out from the competition.

What is a Front-End Developer portfolio?

A Front-End Developer portfolio serves to showcase your skills, past projects, and experience with front-end development. Potential clients and employers rely on this information when deciding whether or not you’re right for the job.

The benefits of having a Front-End Developer portfolio include:

  • Increasing credibility and visibility in a highly competitive industry
  • Creating trust with potential employers by illustrating your experience
  • Showcasing your variety of skills

The ideal portfolio should include several items. We’ve broken them down below to make the creation process easier.

What should be in a Front-End Developer portfolio?

Creating your Front-End Developer portfolio requires some work on your end, but it’s well worth investing the time. Here are the essential elements to include in your portfolio:

Logos might be small, but they send a strong message and heavily impact your potential employer’s first impression of your portfolio. As a designer, think unique. Include graphics and text that’ll stand out in their memory.

Add a tagline to highlight specific information

Communicate a strong message that tells visitors what they’ll find on the site. Recruiters go through dozens of applicants (if not more), and making your information easy to find can help you leave a good impression.

Polish your design

As a Front-End Developer, you’ll be responsible for creating beautiful web pages, so your portfolio should be polished, clear, and concise.

Usability should be your primary concern. The people who visit your portfolio should be able to navigate it easily without any confusion. After you ensure everything functions the way it’s supposed to, implement a creative, attention-grabbing design that appeals to your intended audience.

Include relevant skills, education, and work history

As a Front-End Developer, you’ll want to showcase your familiarity with front-end languages like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. Libraries and frameworks like React or AngularJS that help expedite development are also a plus.

List only the skills that are most relevant to the role you’re applying for. As we mentioned, recruiters go through many applicants, so they’ll be scanning for specific words and phrases.

Along with your skills, synopsize your education and include any certifications you’ve earned. You’ll also want to list any relevant work experience. Even if it was a non-technical position, find a way to tie it into your new role and explain how your skills transfer.

Add a downloadable resume

Give people the opportunity to choose how they want to access your information. Some will prefer reading it on the computer, while others may print out a hard copy instead. This is especially true in traditional work settings that have a human resources department.

Add your bio in an “About” page

Along with your skills and experience, hiring managers want to know a little about who you are as a person. Use your bio to share any relevant information that doesn’t quite fit elsewhere in your portfolio or resume. Share an anecdote about why you got into programming — tell your visitors why front-end development is your dream career. Explain what drew you to it and why.

Include a photo

People like to put a face to a name. This builds trust and shows people you’re a professional.

Use a picture appropriate for a portfolio. Formal attire is a plus. It’s all about the first impression, so make it count.

Make your contact information easy to find

If potential clients or employers need to wade through your portfolio to find your email address or phone number, they’ll likely take their business elsewhere.

Many people prefer using email, so consider making that your primary point of contact. Listing your email address as a clickable link is a plus, as recruiters can reach out to you directly from your portfolio. Lastly, you’ll want to add a phone number as a secondary contact option.

Add social media accounts

Only include links to active accounts with regular postings. These should go on the about or contact page.

A LinkedIn profile is a necessity. Everyone from freelancers to full-time employees should have one. It can serve as a resume on its own, but it’s also where job recruiters and clients go to find talent.

Establish a presence on industry-specific platforms. These include:

  • GitHub for developers
  • Dribbble or Behance for designers

Ensure the information on each account is current. Only include those accounts that are relevant to your industry.

If you’re including social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, follow a few important rules:

  • Never complain about an employer (past or present) or any of your coworkers.
  • Don’t post unprofessional pictures.
  • Avoid getting caught up in any drama.

Most employers or clients will check if social media accounts are included in the portfolio. Keep this in mind when posting.

List your specialties and services

Listing your specialties will help your portfolio stand out to clients and employers who are looking for specific services. For example, a small business owner may want to target only Front-End Developers who create websites for startups or smaller companies.

With such a wide array of skills and specialties in the tech industry, even for specific roles like Front-End Developers, listing your specialties is a great way to distinguish yourself from the competition. Plus, it’ll also help you screen unsuitable clients by decreasing queries from people who want something completely different.

Include testimonials and awards

Positive words from clients won’t go unnoticed by potential employers. This benefits all Front-End Developers, whether new or seasoned.

A testimonial can be something as simple as a few sentences about a specific service provided to a client. It can also be a review of a completed job.

Along with your clients’ testimonials, list any recognition or awards you’ve received. These can include:

  • An award for project involvement
  • Winning a contest
  • Placing in a hackathon or other relevant competition

Adding your clients’ testimonials and awards to your portfolio helps showcase your real-life experience, dedication to the industry, and creativity.

Include relevant projects

Your projects are one of the most essential components of your portfolio. By illustrating your proficiency with the tools in your tech stack, your projects will help recruiters gauge your capacity with the competencies required for the position.

If you haven’t completed any projects, don’t worry. The opportunities are endless. As a Front-End Developer, your projects should illustrate your ability to make attractive, functional web pages with beautiful visual elements and user interfaces. So, build a few websites. While you’re at it, test out some new languages and frameworks to add to your tech stack.

If you need help finding projects to include in your portfolio, check out our Front-End Engineer Career Path. Throughout the Path, you’ll refresh your knowledge of front-end tools and concepts and use them to build several projects that’ll showcase your skills to prospective employers. You’ll also earn a certificate you can feature in your portfolio or resume, and we’ll even give you some tips on how you can ace your upcoming technical interviews.

What is Java used for?

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What is Java used for?

The motto of Java is “write once, run anywhere.” And it’s true. You can find Java code just about anywhere. It is used in Android app development, web development, game development, smart devices, and so much more.

In this article, we will take a look at Java’s interesting history. Then, we’ll explore all the places Java code is used.

What makes Java interesting?

Java was developed by a group of developers at Sun Microsystems in 1995 and is now owned by Oracle. The goal of the developers who designed Java was to create a language that could run on appliances. They were already thinking ahead to the time we live in now, where houses are full of smart devices and smart appliances. This was one of Java’s selling points — that you could write your code once in the language and run that code anywhere. Not just on every operating system but every type of hardware.

However, it would be quite a few decades before smart devices became a way of life. Despite this, Java still became popular and for a completely different reason. Java was released about the same time the Internet was born. Java had a feature called applets that could run inside a web browser. A lot of web applications were built in Java when most websites still consisted of static pages.

Java gave web developers the ability to build dynamic websites that reacted to user input, and its popularity took off from there.

Java was also based on the C and C++ programming languages, which were very popular. C++ was usually the programming language taught in computer science courses in those days, so many programmers were familiar with it, even today. They could apply that knowledge of C++ to programming in Java.

What is Java used for?

Java can be used in many different applications, but here are the most popular ways the language is used:

Android mobile apps

Java is the official language for Android mobile app development. In fact, the Android operating system itself is written in Java. Even though Kotlin has recently become an alternative to using Java for Android development, Kotlin still uses the Java Virtual Machine and can interact with Java code. Today, Android has 85% of the global market share for mobile devices. Therefore, developing Android apps is probably the most popular use of Java just because of the prevalence of Android phones.

Desktop applications

Java has been used to create desktop applications since its inception. AWT, Swing, and JavaFX are Java libraries that give desktop application developers pre-built components like buttons, menus, and form fields that they can use to build full-featured desktop applications.

Web applications

Java first became popular as a web development language because it provides applets that can run in a web browser. Applets are a thing of the past, but Java is still very popular for creating back-end web applications, which run on a web server. Now web developers use Java technologies like Struts, Servlets, or JSP instead of Applets to create all types of full-featured web applications.

Game development

Java is a free, open-source language. Many game developers use it because they can get started without paying any licensing fees and because of the powerful Java 3D game engine, JMonkeyEngine. Some video games written in Java include Tetris, The Sims 3, Space Invaders, Street Fighter II, and Contra. One of the best-known Java games, Minecraft, was created by a single developer.

Big data processing

Java and big data go hand in hand. Many of the top applications used for big data are written in Java. Hadoop is a Java framework that helps data scientists process large datasets. Spark is a tool that data scientists use for stream processing, machine learning analytics, and other big data processes. Storm handles real-time data streams. All of these frameworks are written in the Java programming language.

IoT applications

Java was originally designed to run on all types of hardware, making it one of the main programming languages used for the Internet of Things, or IoT. IoT refers to a network of physical devices that connect and exchange data over the Internet. The devices include smartwatches, wearables, smart TVs, smart lighting, and more.

Distributed applications

Many distributed applications run in a cloud environment and are designed to scale when the load changes. But distributed applications are not necessarily easy to deploy and manage. Java provides the Java Intelligent Networking Infrastructure or JINI to make distributing applications simpler. JINI is an infrastructure to provide, register, and manage distributed Java applications.

Cloud-based applications

Java is also heavily used in cloud-based applications. Because of its low cost and wide use, many companies use it to develop SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS services in the cloud.

Enterprise Development

Java is used heavily in enterprise development to build intranets and internal software for all types of businesses, big and small. Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) is specifically designed for enterprise development. It comes with network applications, web services, and a scripting environment that make setting up an intranet with Java simpler.

Getting started with Java

Ready to get started with Java? To start learning, check out our Learn Java course, which will teach you basic programming concepts and introduce you to building complete applications with the Java programming language. To explore even more of what you can do with this popular language, you can learn how to build Android apps with Java or take more of our Java courses.

40 Educators Join The New York Times Teaching Project

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40 Educators Join The New York Times Teaching Project

The Learning Network is thrilled to welcome 40 distinguished educators to our second cohort of The New York Times Teaching Project. These middle and high school teachers, chosen after a competitive selection process, hail from 19 states and represent a diversity of subject areas, including U.S. history, English language arts, mathematics and philosophy. What unites these 40 educators is their passion for bringing the mission of The Times — helping people understand the world through on-the-ground, expert and deeply reported independent journalism — to their students and school communities.

We will kick off the program with a four-day virtual institute in July, during which participants will explore new ways to use The Times and The Learning Network; learn more about behind-the-scenes journalism; and begin to create their own innovative curriculum projects for their students. The program continues through the 2021-22 school year as participants work on their curriculum projects, collaborate virtually and share ideas with their fellow cohort members, their schools and the larger Learning Network community.

Meet these 40 educators in the slide show above. As this school year continues, we hope to tell you more about each of them, share their expertise and show you how you can adapt their curriculum projects to your own classroom.

Alexa Arboleda | DC International School, Washington, D.C.

Candice Autry | Sheridan School, Washington, D.C.

Christopher Anderson | Algonquin Middle School, Averill Park, N.Y.

Sharon Bunyan | Jettie Tisdale School, Bridgeport, Conn.

Jocelyn Burlew | Mason Middle School, Mason, Ohio

Jessica Castiblanco | Hoover Middle School, Albuquerque

Javier Gonzalez | Hollydale School, South Gate, Calif.

D’Essence Grant | KIPP Academy Middle School, Houston

Katelyn Janssen | Glen Hills Middle School, Glendale, Wis.

Amber Joseph | East Side Community High School, New York, N.Y.

Taylor Kockenmeister | Honors Academy of Literature, Reno, Nev.

Jenna Konstantine | Stephen Gaynor School, New York, N.Y.

Maura Raleigh | Central Middle School, Evergreen Park, Ill.

Kate Rennie | Kenilworth Junior High School, Petaluma, Calif.

Daniel Riggs | Ida B. Wells Middle School, Washington, D.C.

Valeria Rodriguez | Daniel Ortiz Middle School, Houston

Kenton Shimozaki | STRIVE Prep – Federal, Denver

Cori Abdolhosseinzadeh | Montbello Career and Technical High School, Denver

Maria Bartlett | ASU Preparatory Academy – Casa Grande, Casa Grande, Ariz.

Yumiko Bendlin | Keio Academy, Purchase, N.Y.

Kristen Fischer | Carlynton Junior-Senior High School, Carnegie, Pa.

Jordan Harris | North Shore Senior High School Tenth Grade Center, Houston

Lora Hawkins | Franklin School of Innovation, Asheville, N.C.

Celene Ibrahim | Groton School, Groton, Mass.

Rama Janamanchi | Lawrence School, Sagamore Hills, Ohio

Jonathan Lancaster | Bergen County Technical High School, Teterboro, N.J.

Brian McCormack | Lyons Community School, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Elizabeth Mee | Alliance Leichtman-Levine Environmental Science High School, Pasadena, Calif.

Rachel Nichols | High Tech High International, San Diego

Sarah Older Aguilar | Vistamar School, El Segundo, Calif.

Magen Rodriguez | Brooklyn Collaborative Studies, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Marcus Soule | The Governor’s Academy, Byfield, Mass.

Marla Sperling Reich | Freehold High School and Freehold Township High School, Freehold, N.J.

Jessica Stamler Cook | Big Sky High School, Missoula, Mont.

Anne Tommaso | Yarmouth High School, Yarmouth, Maine

Tom White | Morgan County High School, Madison, Ga.

Shreya Vora | The Nightingale-Bamford School, New York, N.Y.

Kristian Ward | Kingsway Regional High School, Woolwich Township, N.J.

Alexis Wiggins | The John Cooper School, The Woodlands, Texas

Faydra Womble | SandHoke Early College High School, Raeford, N.C.

It Took a Global Pandemic to Stop School Shootings

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It Took a Global Pandemic to Stop School Shootings

In March of 2020, when we received notice that we would be subjected to the chaos of a hastily put together online class due to the pandemic, I felt a small core of relief amid the roaring vortex of confusion and negativity inside of me. While I lamented the loss of prom, sports and social interaction, I was secretly grateful: no more traumatizing active shooter drills, no more instinctive searching for exits every time I entered a room, no more running for my life. Despite my isolation, I was safe at home.

During the yearlong lockdown, school shootings dropped to historic levels. In fact, March of 2020 was the first March in 18 years with zero school shootings. Of the 10 total reported school shootings in 2020, five of them occurred in January, before the first mass quarantine.

As we inch closer to achieving herd immunity through vaccinations, schools have begun to reopen, with more students returning to in-person classes. With this steady renewal of prepandemic life comes another indication of normality: gun violence. In 2021, there have already been 17 reported incidents of gunfire on school campuses across the United States, despite most schools still operating at a limited capacity.

No student should have to go to school wondering if they will leave in the afternoon. School is a place for learning, not violence, but our lawmakers and politicians have enabled a society where school shootings are so common, they barely warrant a headline. Even an inept administration with no preventive mask messaging could stumble their way to the fastest vaccine development in the history of modern medicine; yet no administration has been able to brainpower their way to a vaccine for gun violence. So far, the most effective solution to ending school shootings has been a global pandemic that sent the entire world into lockdown. As the Covid-19 pandemic comes to an end, it is time to focus on the true pandemic for the youth of America: school shootings.

Works Cited

Cramer, Maria. “Mass Shootings in Public Spaces Had Become Less Frequent During The Pandemic.” The New York Times, 19 March 2021.

“Gunfire on School Grounds in the United States.” Everytown Research, 12 April 2021.

Maxwell, Lesli, Holly Peele and Denisa R. Superville. “School Shootings in 2020: How Many and Where.” Education Week, 2 March 2021.

Transforming the Fashion Business Specialization from Parsons School of Design, The New School: Q&A with Keanan Duffty

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Transforming the Fashion Business Specialization from Parsons School of Design, The New School: Q&A with Keanan Duffty

Keanan Duffty is the lead instructor for the Transforming the Fashion Business Specialization. This intermediate-level three-course specialization gives learners the opportunity to build and strengthen their knowledge of the fashion business landscape, develop new creative skills, and gain vital insights into how to transform their creative careers. Duffty is an award-winning British fashion designer, educator, and author of “Rebel Rebel Anti-Style” (Rizzoli/Universe, 2009). He is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America Education Committee and currently serves as the Director of Fashion Programs at Parsons School of Design. 

Why is the Transforming the Fashion Business Specialization so applicable to today’s world?

Fashion exists at the intersection of creativity and commerce. In order to understand the industry holistically, this specialization addresses the evolving landscape of the fashion industry. It’s important to understand how factors such as technology, innovation, local and global leadership, sustainability entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusivity, and new business models affect what we do. This specialization is taught by a diverse group of Parsons faculty and industry experts who bring years of experience and real-world application to each of these topics. 

Who is the ideal learner for this Specialization?

This Specialization is ideal for those who have fashion industry experience and are looking to develop a deeper understanding of their world, as well as those with similar creative backgrounds looking to get their start in the fashion industry. 

Why was this Specialization created?

Fashion is always at the forefront of innovation. It’s important that learners acquire the necessary skills to keep up with the evolving landscape. These lessons are designed to get students to challenge existing paradigms in the fashion world. They’ll also be asked to develop new and innovative ideas. Are there new technologies that can help designers increase their efficiency? An on-demand service for fashion production? Innovation in fashion isn’t limited to design. 

What knowledge will learners gain in this Specialization?

The professionals who complete this Specialization will gain a deeper knowledge of the fashion industry, learn advanced skills in global and local manufacturing, ethical production, value chains, marketing, and forward thinking design practices.

What do you find most exciting about the launch of this Specialization?

I’m most excited about the Fashion Retail Transformation course because there has never been a better time to learn about the new opportunities that come with consumer shifts. This past year, we’ve seen how our world can shift to meet the needs of life during the pandemic. There’s a greater willingness to shop online,  more intense brand loyalty, and an openness to new brand relationships that wasn’t there before. All of this breeds new opportunities. 

What is one of the most surprising things about Transforming the Fashion Business that you will cover in this program?

Professionals who take these three courses will be surprised to discover new ways to streamline processes, explore rapid innovation methods that unlock opportunities in retail, and develop strategies to influence consumer behavior, all within one Specialization.

What do you want prospective learners to know about this Specialization?

I want our prospective learners to know that this unique program will teach them how to reinvent fashion industry systems, create solutions for issues related to social media and e-commerce, integrate sustainability and social responsibility at all levels, and innovate for a constantly evolving industry. 
Get started by enrolling in the Transforming the Fashion Business Specialization today.

 

How to become a Full-Stack Developer without a degree

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How to become a Full-Stack Developer without a degree

Full-Stack Developers are in high demand. These engineers have endless job opportunities because their skill sets are valuable across most industries. Plus, you don’t even need to get a traditional engineering or computer science degree to enter the field.

If you’re wondering how to become a Full-Stack Developer, you’re in the right place. In the paragraphs below, we’ll show you how to become a Full-Stack Developer without a degree.

First, we’ll walk you through the role’s responsibilities. Then, we’ll explore the skills you’ll need, where you can learn them, how long it’ll take, and more. Or, if you’d rather jump right into training, check out our Full-Stack Engineer Career Path.

What does a Full-Stack Developer do?

A Full-Stack Developer (or Engineer) performs both front-end and back-end development. Before we dig deeper, here’s a brief description of the difference between the two:

  • Front-end development involves creating the parts of a program that users interact with, like visual elements and user interfaces.
  • Back-end development involves working with servers, databases, and other background programs that keep an application running smoothly.

In another article, we take a closer look at the difference between front-end and back-end developers.

The “Full-Stack” within a Full-Stack Developers title refers to their tech stack. Complete with both front-end and back-end programming languages, libraries, frameworks, APIs, and other tools, these tech stacks allow them to build complete web applications from the bottom up.

Taylor, a Full-Stack Developer at RightNow Media, sheds more light on the role’s responsibilities, explaining how:

“A Full-Stack Developer is writing code not only for the user’s front-end web applications or mobile applications, but they’re also writing API code that sits in the middle, they’re writing server code that sits in the back, and they’re also connecting and communicating with databases.”

To learn more, watch the video below, or read our article about what a Full-Stack Developer does.

Full-Stack Developer skills

As Taylor explains, Full-Stack Developers need to have a variety of skills. First, you’ll need to know both front-end languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and back-end languages like SQL and C#.

There are a lot of choices, but try not to get overwhelmed. Do some research on the languages used by the companies you want to work for. Then, just start. There’s no such thing as learning the “wrong” language. Regardless of what you choose, you’ll learn fundamental programming concepts and methodologies that can be transferred to other languages. In the video above, Taylor echoes a similar sentiment:

“Sometimes it’s difficult to get started because there’s so many options out there. You don’t know what your first step should be. And in all honesty, if you learn one front-end language, you can probably transfer that to other front-end languages. If you learn one back-end language, like Java or C# or Node.js, you can probably transfer it to those other languages.”

Along with their programming languages, a Full-Stack Developer needs to understand how front-end and back-end systems communicate. They also need to be able to write code that allows programs to access servers and databases. Remember, they’re often referred to as jacks-of-all-trades. Here are a few skills that Full-Stack Developers have:

  • Basic web design
  • Web architecture
  • Servers
  • APIs
  • Version control systems
  • Databases
  • Git
  • Command line

Beyond the technical skills, developers in any role need to be great problem solvers. They need to be able to come up with programs that meet the client’s requirements or the design brief. That means they need to be excellent listeners, good communicators, and big-picture thinkers.

Full-Stack Developers need to be especially good at recognizing the bigger picture, as they need to understand how each of an application’s components fits into its overall development.

Full-Stack Developers also need to be experienced with coding best practices. You’ll want to be familiar with commenting and documentation to make it easier for other people to understand your code.

You should also be familiar with pair programming and code reviews. In short, Full-Stack Developers must pay close attention to detail and follow the standards that their company or teammates have decided upon. Software development is a team sport, so they’ll also need to be respectful, collaborative, and helpful.

More broadly speaking, developers in all industries need to be adaptable, willing to learn new things, and open to feedback. There are very few jobs where things change quite as regularly as they do in software development. So, Full-Stack Developers need to be quick on their feet, know when to ask questions, do research, and learn new skills.

Some professionals love this aspect of their jobs because there’s always a challenge. Approaching work with this positive mindset will help you enjoy your work even more. These are skills that can be cultivated just by practicing, contributing to codebases, and having a growth mindset.

As you progress along your path to a career in full-stack development, remember to recognize that your mistakes are merely learning opportunities. With code, mistakes are where we learn the most, so keep a positive outlook and stay resilient.

How long does it take to become a Full-Stack Developer?

The answer to this question, of course, is that it depends. If you already have years of programming experience, it won’t take you as long to build the skills you’ll need to become a Full-Stack Developer. For example, if you’re already a Back-End Developer, learning front-end programming languages won’t be very difficult.

If you have less experience — maybe you’ve built a few projects or websites in your free time — it might take you between six and twelve months to learn the skills you’ll need as a Full-Stack Developer. If you’re completely new to programming, it could take a year or two.

Still, all of these time frames depend on your circumstances. You might be able to learn full-time, which will accelerate your timeline. You might have other responsibilities or a full-time job that force you to take longer than the average timelines we’ve given. Either way, it helps to set a goal for the number of hours you’ll learn each week. If life happens, then you can just start again tomorrow, knowing it’s a journey toward becoming a Full-Stack Engineer.

How much does a Full-Stack Developer make?

The average salary for a Full-Stack Developer is $99,134 in the United States. You might have thought that to make close to 6 figures, you’d need to invest a lot of money into tuition fees. That may have been the case before, but now it’s different.

You can learn to become a Full-Stack Developer without a degree, and because you’re in high demand, you can earn a great income. In fact, the job market for Full-Stack Developers (and other Software Developers) is expected to grow by 22% over the next decade, which is much faster than average.

How to write a Full-Stack Developer resume

After you’ve built the skills you’ll need for your career as a Full-Stack Developer, it’s time to start building your resume. Don’t panic if you have little related experience. You can still highlight your past jobs on your resume and show what you were responsible for, as well as what you accomplished in each position. Remember, teamwork, communication skills, and problem-solving are all valuable skills for your new role.

You’ll also want to highlight the development skills you worked hard to learn. Include a short section on your technical skills and highlight your proficiency with programming languages and other development tools. Here’s an example:

  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • SQL
  • Java
  • APIs

You can also highlight softer skills, which are equally important. Skills like problem-solving, communication, leadership, and teamwork are all valuable skills for Full-Stack Developers. Be sure to add any certifications you’ve earned as well.

You’ll also want to adjust your resume for each job you apply to. Review the posting and make sure the skills that are mentioned in it are included in your resume. Taking the time to customize your resume helps show your interviewer that you’re interested in that specific job and can boost your chances of being called for an interview.

If you have a portfolio, be sure to include a link to it on your resume. Professional social media handles are always good to include as well. If you post about programming on LinkedIn or Twitter, you can demonstrate your passion for the industry on top of your communication skills. Your interviewer is also likely to Google you before they interview you, so save them some time by showing them where you talk about work online.

Lastly, it’s never a bad idea to have a technical friend or colleague review your resume before submission. You don’t want any spelling mistakes or glaring omissions to be on your resume. It’s your first impression at your new workplace, and since a Full-Stack Developer needs to be great at documentation and attention to detail, your resume should reflect that.

Building a Full-Stack Developer portfolio

As you learn the skills you’ll need to become a Full-Stack Developer, you’ll probably build a few projects. Use them to create a portfolio, which serves to illustrate your skills to potential employers and clients.

If you designed a few websites for friends or created a game or two on your own, make sure you save all the links and files to a common location. Many developers will even design their own website to showcase their front-end engineering skills. In the video above, Taylor shares this advice:

“Build your portfolio. Start small. Build little tic-tac-toe games or start somewhere, and you can build up from there.”

If you’ve contributed to larger open-source codebases on websites like GitHub, include them in your portfolio. Another way to gain experience, and document it in your portfolio, is to take on some unpaid work or start an internship. These learning experiences are a great way to build your skills and bolster your resume.

Full-Stack Developer technical interview

It’s not uncommon that Full-Stack Developers will need to pass some sort of skills test before they’re hired. Some companies will offer an online test. Others will incorporate their technical questions into the in-person (or virtual) interview.

Feeling nervous for this portion of the interview is normal, but you can take an hour or so each day to prepare. Go over some practice interview questions. You could make this fun by asking a partner to test you.

Each company will use a different set of skills, languages, and questions, but in general, you’ll want to be able to answer questions about your entire tech stack. If you can’t think of an answer in the interview, it’s important not to panic. Just explain how you’d find that particular answer and what steps you would take to solve the problem they present. Here are a few questions that can help you get started:

  • How can you reduce the load time for a web app?
  • What approach do you take when debugging?
  • Share a problem you faced recently on a development project and how you overcame it.
  • What programming languages do you need to complete a project from scratch?
  • What are design patterns?
  • Can you explain continuous integration?
  • What is multi-threading?
  • How are GraphQL and REST different?

Some interviewers may question your skills with specific programming languages. Use any of the links below to make sure you’re well prepared.

How to become a Full-Stack Developer without a degree

By now, you’ll hopefully have a better understanding of what a Full-Stack Developer does, the skills you’ll need to become one, and the hiring process. All that’s left is to take your first steps. Ready to start exploring front-end development? Check out any of the courses below:

After learning the languages above, explore frameworks and libraries like React that’ll help you build your applications more quickly. If you’d prefer to start with back-end development, explore back-end tools like:

But what if you want to learn everything at once? Don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. Our Full-Stack Software Engineer Career Path will teach you all of the programming languages listed above. We’ll also show you how to use them to build web apps, APIs, and more. Plus, you can use the projects you build along your Path to create a portfolio that’ll help you showcase your skills to future employers.

There’s no rush to complete your courses either. While we said that you can learn the skills you’ll need in as little as 12 months, that doesn’t mean you need to force the timeline. Make the learning process your own. Do it your own way.

How to work with code written by someone else

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How to work with code written by someone else

When you just start out on your learning journey toward becoming a developer, you primarily work with code that only you have written and that only you will use. But as you progress, one of the big milestones you’ll come across is when you begin to work with code written by someone else.

When you start working with code written by someone else, it might be within a team in a workplace, but it might also be as part of the larger open source community online. There are a few potential stumbling blocks and things you should know before you take this next step.

From solo developer to team player

The benefit of writing your own code as you begin is that you truly get a handle on core concepts and what each and every part of the program is for. But as you take part in the larger developer community, you’ll need to start working with other developers and their code. One of the biggest hurdles that new developers encounter is learning how to understand code written by someone else.

When you start taking part in larger programming projects, there may be 2 or even 30 other developers contributing code. The trouble is, some of the code you need to understand may be messy or complicated. It may also use data structures or design patterns that you’ve never seen before. When you’re a new developer, this can be quite intimidating. So, we’ve put together 10 tips to help you understand someone else’s code.

10 tips for working with someone else’s code

If you follow these 10 tips, you’ll be on the right track toward making a difference in the codebase.

1. It’s only code

Remember — it’s not a foreign language. It’s just code. You can figure it out, no matter how intimidating or overwhelming it may look. If you’re working on this project, then you probably know the language can trust in your abilities.

In bigger projects and codebases, however, there may be libraries, frameworks, and external APIs that you won’t be familiar with. A good first step, then, is to identify these dependencies in the code.

2. Set up your environment

Most of the projects that you’ll work on with a team require your local machine to be set up in a specific way. This does two things: It ensures that both your environment and your teammates’ environments are the same, and it will allow the code to perform as intended.

To set up the environment on your laptop or desktop, you may need to do the following:

  • Modify your computer’s host file
  • Download and install external programs
  • Use special IDEs or text editors
  • Change the version of a program on your computer
  • Log into a VPN

“This is the most important part and the most annoying part, especially if you’re dealing with complicated codebases,” shares Mike, the developer in the video above.

3. Run the tests

If you’re a new developer, you may not have much experience with running tests. But any codebase worth its salt will have some form of testing in place to ensure that the code is doing what it’s supposed to do.

If you’re tasked with debugging or adding a particular feature, you may need to also modify the test to check on the functionality of the pieces of code you are working on. Testing can be tedious and detail-oriented, but it’s an important part of working with code written by someone else.

4. Follow the style guide

While you may have your own style when writing code, the larger codebase you’re working on will have a style guide that needs to be followed. It’s important to understand the style guide and ensure that any additions you make to the code follow the same standards.

You’ll also want to know if there are any design standards in the code you’re working with, which could include colors, fonts, and spacing. Think about how crucial these elements are if you are working in front-end development. The interface and structure of a website will need to follow a set of rules or a style that’s been previously established.

5. Code like everyone’s watching

When you’re working with code written by another person, you want to add to the codebase by considering your teammates. If someone was to pick up the code you wrote, would it be easy for them to understand and add to it? You want to make your contribution as clean and easy to modify as possible.

6. Make use of good patterns

Good patterns naturally evolve in the world of programming to form a set of best practices. Some developers will call these design patterns. Writing code this way means:

  • There’s no repetition.
  • The code is extensible.
  • It’s structured for maximum security.
  • Efficiency is built in.

7. Ask questions

It’s easy to second-guess yourself and think you need to struggle through trying to figure out someone else’s code all on your own. It can be intimidating to start working with other developers, but they’ll be happy to answer your questions about the code they’ve written. “This is something I think new developers don’t do enough,” says Mike.

8. Stay positive

If the codebase you’re working with is legacy code, it can be easy to get bitter and frustrated toward the person that wrote the code in the first place. But your frustration won’t help to fix the problem. A positive attitude, on the other hand, could be useful.

If you approach the legacy code with the mindset that you can make a difference, you’ll make your workday much more enjoyable. It’s not the end of the world when code is written poorly and you need to take some extra time to understand it. Learning from others will make you more aware of how to write your programs to make them easy to modify.

9. Know the code

Before you jump in and start improving the code or adding your new feature, you must understand how the entire code works. You want to have a handle on how all the components work and fit together before you start moving things around and modifying the code.

10. Keep changes small

Resist the temptation to fix every single little problem you encounter in legacy code. The best practice is to not make any changes to the codebase unless it relates to the task you are currently implementing. If you start to change too many things, there may be unintended consequences that can quickly escalate.

How to get experience working with code written by someone else

Now that you have a handle on how to understand code written by another developer, it’s time to get some practice. The first way is to start working on an open-source project. For instance, there are many projects on GitHub that allow you to go in and make little corrections.

The second way to gain experience is by doing an internship or volunteering. Lastly, you can build things with your friends or fellow learners if you have an idea for an app or a website. Even if you’re just starting to learn how to code, you can gain experience by taking part in group projects and contributing to the online forums. If you’re enrolled in a Career Path on Codecademy, you can also find fellow learners to collaborate with in Career Path groups.

How much do data scientists make?

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How much do data scientists make?

If you’re interested in a career in data science, you’ll be happy to hear that it’s one of the fastest-growing fields. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks Data Scientists as one of its top 20 occupations, with a job market expected to rise by 31% by 2029.

Not only are Data Scientists in high demand, but they’re also paid handsomely, with the average Data Scientist making 6 figures. Read on for an overview of data science, what Data Scientists do, and how factors like experience and location can influence their salaries.

What is data science?

You can think of data science as an amalgamation of statistics, probability, and programming. In essence, data science involves using methods from these disciplines to gain insights from data — but it also has other applications like natural language processing, machine learning, and more.

Modern businesses generate large amounts of data, such as transactions, consumer behaviors, and engagement levels across platforms. Data science allows these companies to make the most of their data by pulling out meaningful information that can improve their decision-making. In another post, we take a closer look at what data science is.

What do Data Scientists do?

Data Scientists are responsible for interpreting large amounts of raw data. Although they often work alongside other IT professionals, they aren’t exclusive to technology companies. Most businesses can benefit from data science, so you’ll find Data Scientists in almost every industry.

One of the main goals of a Data Scientist is developing and implementing a set of techniques or applications for data analysis. It’s important to note that while data science does include data analytics, there’s a big difference between Data Scientists and Data Analysts. Data Scientists generally have a wider range of responsibilities, including reporting, performing predictive analysis, and building machine learning models.

Catherine Z., who manages our data science team, sheds more light on a Data Scientist’s role and responsibilities.

How much do Data Scientists make?

If you’re pursuing a career in data science, you’re probably wondering how much Data Scientists make. According to Indeed, the average salary for a Data Scientist is $119,916 per year in the U.S. Still, factors like your experience, location, and management level will influence your earnings.

Data Scientist salaries based on experience

Your experience in the field is typically categorized as entry-level, mid-level, or senior-level. Entry-level Data Scientists usually have up to 3 years of experience and are responsible for basic modeling and analytics.

Mid-level Data Scientists have between 4 and 8 years of experience, take on more advanced projects, and train Data Analysts.

Senior-level Data Scientists are typically considered subject matter experts who support staff through mentorship and training and have at least 9 years of experience.

The following figures show what you can expect for a median base salary range based on your experience:

  • Entry-level Data Scientists: $75,000 – $90,000
  • Mid-level Data Scientists: $97,000 – $110,000
  • Senior-level Data Scientists: $125,000 – $145,000

Data Scientist salaries based on location

Along with your experience, your location will also influence your income as a Data Scientist. For example, research indicates that Data Scientists in the Northeast tend to earn higher salaries than those in the middle regions of the U.S.

Here’s a breakdown of how the median salary for entry-level Data Scientists can vary based on location:

  • Northeast: $100,000
  • Middle U.S.: $92,000
  • West Coast: $102,500

Data Scientist salaries based on management level

As a Data Scientist, your specific job title can impact your salary. According to LinkedIn, the top job titles in the field include Data Scientist, Data Science Specialist, and Data Management Analyst. The salaries for these jobs range between $100,000 to $130,000.

You can also make a higher salary if you have the word “manager” in your job title. For example, the median salaries in 2020 for non-manager Data Scientists ranged from $95,500 to $165,000. On the other hand, Data Scientist Managers ranged from $150,750 for entry-level management and up to $250,000 for managers with the most experience.

Working in the data science field can be a fulfilling career path that helps you drive meaningful, actionable change for any organization. As a Data Scientist, you can work alongside IT professionals and fuel your passion for problem-solving through data analytics.

If these possibilities excite you, our Data Scientist Career Path can help you achieve your goals. We’ll teach you all the skills you’ll need to excel in your future career — including data analysis and visualization, programming, building machine learning models, and more. We’ll even help you build a portfolio that’ll help you stand out in your job search!

If you’d prefer to take it step-by-step, start out by learning the popular programming languages used in data science, like SQL and Python. Check out our data science career guide to learn more.

20 code challenges to put what you’re learning to the test

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20 code challenges to put what you’re learning to the test

Code challenges help you build problem-solving skills, better understand the programming language you use, and get to know algorithms you may not be familiar with. If you want to improve your skills in programming, there’s no better way than by writing code. In addition, coding challenges are convenient because they allow you to exercise your skills on a bite-sized problem and rarely require you to build a complete application, so you can usually complete them rather quickly.

Code challenges are also part of most coding interviews. Hiring managers may see the skills listed on your resume, and you may be able to talk like a programmer, but they also want to know that you can write code. By having you solve a coding challenge, they can assess your skills and be sure you can do the job. So working on coding challenges will also help you prepare for job interviews. We’ve collected 20 popular code challenges to get you started.

General programming challenges

While most code challenges are small in scope, that doesn’t mean they won’t involve a complex solution, so it is best to choose a challenge that stretches your skills but isn’t completely out of your league. Below, we’ve ranked a few coding challenges by their complexity so you can find the best challenge for your skill level.

Basic code challenges

These are good beginner challenges. They may not actually show up in a coding interview, but everyone has to start somewhere. These challenges are good for practicing your skills at using a programming language.

Intermediate code challenges

These code challenges are examples of what might be asked in interviews. There may be a big difference in difficulty compared to the basic challenges. If you get stuck on these, go back to the basics, practice more, and you will get there.

Hard code challenges

The point of these challenges is to challenge you, which will help you learn more. These will be similar to the type of work you’ll do on the job. Most of these challenges will be hard but use Big O notation and expect a certain type of performance. If you are struggling with these, search StackOverflow or Google for direction. Many developers have run into these types of problems and will help you find the solution. Just don’t cheat and copy the answer. What good would that do?

Technology specific challenges

If you want to try some coding challenges that will test your skills on specific technologies, we have a few of those challenges.

Web development code challenges

  • Build a web page for your favorite band. A fun challenge can be creating a webpage for your favorite musical artist. Start by using only static HTML, and if you want to challenge yourself, even more, add CSS and JavaScript. Then, for extra credit, build it in a front-end framework like React and make it an interactive experience.
  • Recreate a magazine layout using Semantic HTML and CSS Flexbox. It is not always that easy to recreate a design. This code challenge will really test your skills with HTML and CSS by having you recreate a design from scratch on your own. Once you are a working web developer, you will be doing this daily.
  • Build a static portfolio site. Once you finish the first two web development challenges listed here, you will have demonstrated your skills in web development. So why not take it a step further and show off those skills to the world or a potential employer by building a portfolio site? With this challenge, you will do just that. You can use HTML and CSS and, if you want, JavaScript.

Financial data analysis code challenges

Maximize stock trading profit. This is reportedly a question asked in a Google interview and will test your skills in analyzing financial data. There are three levels to this challenge:

  • Basic: Given the daily values of a stock, write a program that will find how you can gain the most with a single buy-sell-trade.
  • Intermediate: Given the daily values of a stock over several days n, write a program that will find how you can gain the most with a combination of buy-sell trades.
  • Hard: Complete both the basic and intermediate algorithms in the most efficient way possible.

Summary

Code challenges are a great way to practice your coding skills or keep yourself from getting rusty. Building complete applications will also teach you a lot, but they can take time to finish. On the other hand, a coding challenge can be completed in an evening and will expose you to new algorithms and programming concepts. They are also part of many coding interviews, so completing a few can help you prepare for a job interview. For more details on the code challenges we have, check out Essential Information on Code Challenges.

How to Make Blogger Images Unclickable

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How to Make Blogger Images Unclickable

How to Make Blogger Images Unclickable

All bloggers know how important photos and all kinds of images are for your blog posts. When you spend lots of time perfecting them, you really do not want someone else to copy your work. Previously here on the DB Blog, we posted a tutorial about right-click disabling to protect your images. In addition, you can make the Blogger images unclickable. This helps to keep readers from taking your images

Making Blogger Images Unclickable

Even after disabling the right click on your blog, readers can still click on your image, enlarge it, and save it. Well, I was running into this problem on my personal blog and wanted to find a solution. So today, I thought I’d bring you a tutorial that fixes the problem! Blogger now makes this super simple.

Here we go:

#1 Create or Edit your Blog Post

Making blogger images unclickable - step 1 - uploading image

Open up your post editor and create a new post and add an image. You can also edit an already existing post if you want to edit photos that are already posted on your blog.

#2 Pick the image

Click on the image you just added (or one you want to edit). This will highlight the image.

Removing link from the blogger image

With the new Blogger dashboard, you need to use the ‘Clear formatting’ button to remove the link from the image and make it unclickable. To do so, click the last button on the right side of your toolbar just above the post area. If you do not see the crossed-out T letter there, click on the three dots icon to see all options.

Yep, it’s really that simple! You just made your blogger images unclickable. Enjoy your safely uploaded photos. As always, if you run into any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments.

Looking for more Blogger Tips & Tricks? Browse our tutorial library.

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