Top Signs You're NOT Ready For a Programming Job

There are a few clear indicators that you're not ready for the interview process. In today's video I cover the things I see most often that are a clear sign you shouldn't be applying for jobs yet.

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[AndySterkowitz]

Did this video help give you clarity about whether or not you're ready for the job hunt process?

[florianrager]

1. can't Code in front of others (learn to deal with nervousness)
2. can't explain how data flows through your application (be able to give a high level overview of what happens when e.g. a button is pressed)
3. no substantial portfolio projects (not only build Todo Lists or similar simple applications)
4. inability to debug (be more conscious when debugging)
5. not practicing coding challenges (solving coding challenges becomes easier the more you do it)

Good luck!

[daniel]

I have worked in a software company for 2 years, sometimes i still not feel ready. But im way better than before.

[arminmatthes]

Never had a portfolio (still don't), never did any coding challenge. Never had to explain data flow or anything. I think it depends on many factors of which the ones named here are only a small subset that may or may not actually be relevant for you. I live in germany and we have actual job training called "Ausbildung" where you attend a special job academy part-time while simultaneously gaining experience "in the field" by working at a company for a total of 2 - 3 years. The company even pays you for working there - it's not too much but once you're finished and you have good grades, you won't have too much trouble finding a job in your field. At least that has been my personal experience.

[guitarman]

There aren't many videos like this on YouTube. Too much hyped-up marketing on being a developer. But sometimes that marketing is false and doesn't exactly portray what software development actually means in reality.

I certainly have the issues that are listed here. So will for sure work on these weaker areas throughout 2021 especially.

Very useful Andy, cheers!

[schanejohnson]

Dude, this is the best channel on programming period IMO. Keep it up, I’m 31 and stuck in a career I hate, but you’ve convinced me to give this my best shot.

[juliep]

Guys, just don’t think you have to be perfect at these things before applying for a job. A lot of hiring managers aren’t expecting you to be an expert already but they do want to see a willingness to learn and grow.

[elizabethgallagher]

#2 - Reason why I stepped back to dive back into basics. I realized anyone can follow a tutorial, but I couldn’t explain anything...reason being, I DONT KNOW ENOUGH. Hard pill for me to swallow... but I had to.

[GuitarSlayer]

Thank you for this.

Imposter syndrome is a huge part of any industry obviously but it plagues creative jobs more than most. Its very easy to look at the content you produce and judge it as "unworth" or "not up to standard" and having a simple video that gives you checkpoints to work towards or compare yourself too is insanely helpful.

I constantly feel like no matter how much I learn, Im just a fraud who can barely code. This has made me realise that even though I feel that way, im actually alot farther along than I gave myself credit for. I can do most of these things really easily but I would have told you "I am nowhere NEAR ready for a coding job"

[luismarques]

This is so simple but no one even thinks about that. Not just to dedicate on projects but to a to-do list of projects. Damn, Andy. You rock.

[kevinm]

0:00 - Can't code in front of others.
2:08 - Can't explain how data flows.
4:06 - No substantial portfolio projects.
5:26 - Inability to debug.
6:48 - Not Practicing Coding Challenges.

[deonrich]

Another great video! I used to see alot of these signs in myself. Its nice to see how much ive improved. Thanks for all of your help Andy!

[RaitzeR]

I'm not really sure about some of the information in this video. I've been programming for 20+ years and been in various positions in IT for 10+ years (lead developer, CTO of a startup, consultant etc). I really don't feel comfortable programming in front of others even though I am a very social person. If someone just asks me to just code, it's super awkward and I can't really get in to any kind of flow. I don't think it's a bad thing. Interviews shouldn't really be about programming but problem solving and understanding the technology. Like you said, people should have portfolio projects. This should be the indicator of how well the person can code, not an arbitrary test that you should code in front of the interviewer. There is almost no situation in a day-to-day work where you build the software in front of others. Yes some people like pair-coding and it's a good exercise, but in my opinion shouldn't be done constantly as people solve problems differently and at different rates. 99.9% of your coding is done independently unless YOU specifically want to work differently.
Also I don't find coding challenges to be at all effective. They are fun puzzles to work through but ultimately I find them to be nothing else than nice brain teasers. Most of your job as a programmer (especially entry level programmer) is to code already solved problems into the software you are working on. I would say a big majority of the code you are doing isn't things that are found in coding challenges as they are general problems and not specific like your day to day job.

[chriskerley]

1. Code In front of people. NOT important. If you can do 2-5 below, you will likely code better in front of others.
2. Data flow. VERY important.
3. Projects. EXTREMELY important. 50, 000+ lines of code 400 real users. Many useful features (Build a facebook clone or something)
4. Debugging EXTREMELY important If you just using print statements, you DO NOT know what you are doing. Read about unit testing.
5. Coding challenges. SOMEWHAT important 90% of large projects is software design and testing. Only a small proportion of the code base is fancy algorithms.

Focus on Software Design and Testing.

New programmers seem to be weakest in those areas because those areas require experience.

90% of the time on the job will be software design and testing.

[rtothec]

One I will add to this is not understanding one’s local dev environment and/or not knowing how to set up one’s tooling.

One time we hired a guy could not troubleshoot his own dev environment and would not try to learn. He expected other devs to do it for him. Eventually we let him go. He was dead weight since he’d manage to screw up his dev environment a lot.

[FacundoStettler]

Love the way this guy goes from happy smiley face to pocker face throughout the same sentence. Good stuff anyway, very helpful, keep it up

[strictnonconformist]

A note: the more capable you are in writing code of any complexity, the more important it is that you are competent at debugging.

There is never a skill level where you won’t have need of being proficient at debugging, as the more skilled you become in writing code, the more skilled you become at creating challenging bugs to track down.

[rogertunnell]

This is a good list! I would add to it the ability to test code. Testing is a skill set in and of itself, and when using test driven development (TDD), debugging becomes far more simple, if not mindless.

[Blecyn]

I like the angle you handle your topics from. Here for the deets and lessons.

[joel]

AS LONG AS I CAN DO SOME GOOGLING, THEN I DON'T MIND CODING IN FRONT OF OTHERS lol. SOMETIMES I DON'T KNOW ALL THE SYNTAX BUT WELL I