Background
My name is Alexander, 20 years old. Since 10th grade, I knew I wanted to become a programmer. I really liked building things that solve problems. Currently, I am a software engineering student in the Netherlands.
Originally I am from Bulgaria and I went to study in the Netherlands. The first few months my parents helped me financially but I didn't want to be a burden and I had to find a job.
Previous job
Being a student with lectures and all that - I began working as a food delivery rider.
It was good since the working hours were flexible and I could get to know my city better. But I've always figured it as a temporary job. I wanted to be a developer.
Covid-19
Fast forward to March 2020 and Covid-19 took the world by storm. I went back to Bulgaria, while also paying my rent in the Netherlands. I couldn't work as a delivery person anymore and msot of the time I was locked in my apartment.
During this time is when I developed most of my programming skills and really gained an edge over my peers.
To keep it short I :
- learned about HTML, CSS and JavaScript
- used PHP and Laravel
- Relational Databases like MySql and Postgresql
- got to know about Vue, React, Angular
- Css frameworks like Bootstrap and Tailwind and most importantly I built projects, a lot of projects.
Many of which I ended showing on my portfolio website (which in itself is a project)
The struggle
So time passed by and I felt pretty comfortable with my skills and since I needed money I started looking for jobs. I made it into a habit every night to check local websites for junior or entry-level positions or even internships. I sent some companies my CV and cover letter.
After about 2 weeks I got a response from three companies (out of way more). Nevertheless, I went to the online interviews and every one of them went surprisingly well. However since I didn't know how long I would stay in Bulgaria, they all rejected me. So summer passed and when I got back to the Netherlands started working as a delivery rider again, the only difference being was that now I was more determined than ever to become a developer.
Getting the job
I was browsing LinkedIn every other night and looking for offers. A lot of them required Dutch, which I barely speak. As before I sent my CV to a few companies and I got two responses. One of them ended being my job today.
The job is a front end developer position in a company with a size of about 50 people. I am using Vue, Typescript, and Electron. My coworkers are friendly and I can combine it with my lectures and studies.
Resources that helped me throughout the way
and of course reading a lot of documentation, googling questions and never giving up.
Thanks for reading until the end, I am also starting my youtube journey where I will be posting cool and helpful coding videos. You can check it out here