Start your tech career

Pre-stage ignition is like firing up your booster rockets while still on the ground. We have to make sure your gear and navigation are set correctly before taking off. You will prepare yourself mentally, decide if you want to live the tech lifestyle, discover what specific tech job you want, understand what you need to learn and do to prove you can do the job, and take important steps immediately to begin building relationships of trust with potential peers and employers.

📺 The following outline contains links to specific YouTube videos of varying lengths and can be considered a linear playlist in outline format. Line items that are not linked are videos yet to be made. To be notified of updates follow the repo (and drop us a star while you are at it).

1. Prepare yourself mentally

   1. Find happiness and motivation to overcome depression and self-doubt
      1. Regularly make a list of what makes you grateful
      2. Listen to great music
   2. Put in the time to get results
   3. Know that it is never too late
   4. Think like a hacker
      1. Find purpose like Aaron Swartz
      2. Unlock your creative potential like Sir Ken
      3. Be lazy, impatient, and have some hubris
      4. Stop labeling/calling yourself "junior"
      5. Fight back Imposter Syndrome
      6. Avoid Anakin Syndrome (Dunning-Kruger Effect)
      7. Don't become a tech bigot
      8. Know what it means to have "strong opinions" that are "weakly held"
   5. Find focus
      1. Use a timer
      2. Talk to the duck

2. Discover what you want to do and where

   1. Discover what tasks and activities you enjoy
   2. Research which careers involve those activities
   3. Make a short list of employers hiring for specific job listings
   4. Reach out to employers with matching job listings
   5. Track your skill stack (SKILSTAK Coding Arts)
   6. Discover what career opportunities exist in the tech industry
   7. Determine if you want a tech lifestyle
      1. Maximum flexibility for remote work/life balance
      2. Become an autodidact
      3. Learn on your own time (and insist on Fridays)
      4. Be willing to meet whenever and wherever needed
      5. Understand why coworking can be too distracting
   8. "Ops? Apps? Which one should I focus on?"
   9. Know which job you want and why?
   10. How to survive the collapse of late-stage capitalism
   11. Know how to find all the "blacksmith" jobs, and why
   12. Know why freelance web developers fail
   13. Pay your way through college with tech skills
   14. "Will cybersecurity be included in the Boost?"
   15. "What job would resemble that of Elliot in Mr. Robot?"
   16. "Will AI take my job?"
   17. "What is MLOps and should I learn it?"

3. Learn what is required for the specific career you have targeted

   1. Don't quit your job
   2. ASK yourself
   3. Know when a Computer Science degree can help (or hurt)
   4. Know if you need to go to college or not
      1. The five main reasons to go do college
      2. Consider accredited online college degrees like WGU
   5. Know if you should "certify" or not
      1. "Got CKA, now what"?
   6. Learn how to self-assess
      1. How do I determine if I can actually do the job?
      2. Are you good at math? If not, avoid tech
   7. "Where should I read about stuff? Books, man pages, or Interwebz?"
   8. Leverage as much free learning as possible
      1. Don't waste time on "leetcode"
      2. Eventually, yes, master algorithms in C
      3. Build passionate "solutions" to real problems
      4. Do what TJ Holowaychuk does to learn
      5. Gamify your own project-based learning
      6. "Should I pay for tech books?"
      7. "What is the best tech book to learn from?"
      8. "For education" (like FreeCodeCamp) fails
      9. Beware of "bootcamps"
      10. Avoid CompTia (unless it is absolutely required)
      11. "What about Codecademy?"
      12. "What about Odin Project?"
      13. "What about HackTheBox and CTF games?"
      14. "What about CS50?"
      15. Tech jobs that lead to tech job you really want
   9. Start a home lab of cheap hardware
      1. Don't spend too much on tower right away
      2. "Can't I just get 3 OptiPlex machines instead of a tower?"
   10. "What if I am not an American?"

4. Build a professional learning network in person and on social media

   1. Learn from those with actual experience and passion
   2. Find a good mentor
      1. Understand the role of a mentor
      2. Remembering Rob's mentors
   3. Find a good recruiter
   4. Make yourself discoverable to other tech professionals and employers
      1. Create a GitHub special profile repo
      2. Create a Twitch account
      3. Create a LinkedIn account, but understand its limitations and flaws
      4. Create a Mastodon account
      5. Create a Twitter account (ugh, yes, I know)
   5. Document your projects and learning publicly

5. Get the job

   1. Understand how employment happens
   2. Know what your job is
   3. Leverage your professional learning network
   4. Publish a resume or CV
      1. No one really cares about your resume
      2. Maintain career experience data in YAML
      3. Include currently learning and projects
   5. Never cold-call or spam applications
   6. Beware of LinkedIn
   7. Shun companies that require "white board" interviews
   8. Seek opportunities to demonstrate your skills (internships, take-home projects)
   9. Know what to say and ask in the interview