Develop Yourself
To change careers and land your first job as a Software Engineer, you need more than just great software development skills - you need to develop yourself.
Welcome to the podcast that helps you develop your skills, your habits, your network and more, all in hopes of becoming a thriving Software Engineer.
Develop Yourself
Office Hours: Answering Your Coding Questions EP 2
In this Office Hours Q&A, I got some pretty interesting questions:
- Should you lie on your resume to trick the ATS and get more interviews?
- If you’re building websites with tools like Squarespace, does it count as real experience—or are you cheating yourself?
- Is a master’s degree in computer science worth it if you already have some tech skills?
I also share thoughts on how to get experience that actually helps you land a dev job and why every learner should have a side project that they control.
Whether you’re self-taught, in school, or just figuring things out, this one’s packed with advice you won’t hear in most coding bootcamp brochures.
Shameless Plugs
🧑💻 Join Parsity - For career changers who want to pivot into software.
✉️ Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here
Zubin's LinkedIn (ex-lawyer, former Googler, Brian-look-a-like)
Welcome to the Develop Yourself podcast, where we teach you everything you need to land your first job as a software developer by learning to develop yourself, your skills, your network and more. I'm Brian, your host. Welcome to another episode of Office Hours, where I will answer questions from viewers that have submitted their questions. And, by the way, if you have a question you want me to answer and include your name, you can be anonymous. You can not be anonymous. Whatever you can be anonymous. You cannot be anonymous, whatever. You can drop a question using the link in the show notes below and, without further ado, let's get right to it. I appreciate all the people asking these questions. As I might have said in a previous episode, I've done somewhere around 600 different 15-minute conversations with developers from all around the world. I've been writing software professionally for about the last 11 years and I also run a coding mentorship program called Parsity. But what I really like is when I get these questions from people, because they're often about things that I've speak to people individually about, or they're questions that I'm like oh, that's a really good question and that's something that I haven't yet talked about on the show. So let's get right to it. First question is from Simon. It says hey, I'm a self taught student from the free online Harvard University Very impressive, he got a free certification. He says hey, I know that some companies use an ATS machine basically an applicant tracking system to go through resumes faster to get the best applicant. Do I lie about my school experience and say I have a degree to at least have a shot at an interview? Or, if they ask me about my scholarship, just be honest and say that I only have a certification and that I only wanted to bypass the ATS machine? Or should I just be honest from the start on the resume and write that I'm only certified? So basically, you went to this free online version of Harvard and they have the Harvard name attached to it and you're wondering, hey, do I just kind of fool the system and just say I went to Harvard and hopefully get an interview? I can almost guarantee that putting Harvard on there will probably get you an interview. I can also almost guarantee that once they find out that you are less than truthful about that, that will be the end of that interview.
Speaker 1:Don't lie. I met a few people I've met more than a few people and actually one person that I officially mentored a few years ago that completely lied on their resume. They made up experience and this person actually got a job at a really big tech organization. I was shocked. This was also right after the pandemic or kind of during that weird time in the pandemic where people were just hiring software developers at scale that you've never seen before, and this person didn't last. Not only did they find out that he was lying, but he was fired for poor performance at work.
Speaker 1:Don't do this right. You're gonna create distrust off the bat. You're gonna get dinged for it. You may even get to an interview, but even so at the interview they should likely filter you out unless you have really top-notch skills at that point. And if they find out later that you're lying, that's just grounds for firing a dismissal. I know it's tempting and I know that this actually works to be completely honest with you and I'm kind of a rule follower if I'm being honest. But just don't do this, because even if you don't have morals, let's say you're like I don't care about the ethics or the morals. It's just not a good career strategy because when they find out you'll be gone. So don't do that.
Speaker 1:And also this whole ATS machine bypassing thing. It's not as simple as people think and, to be honest, I don't really know what they do. I mean, I've talked to a recruiter who I actually had on the show previously and I was like, hey, how does that thing actually work? And what they'll do a lot of times is just match keywords. So they're looking for keywords like JavaScript, node, express, react, whatever years of experience, and they'll just filter like that. So I don't think that just putting Harvard on there is necessarily going to help. I can tell you as a hiring manager in my experience that seeing somebody from a really top-notch school made me take longer on their resume, meaning I gave it more attention. But it didn't mean I would just bring them in. I would just look at what did they do, because if you went to Harvard but you studied Java or you've worked as a Java developer and were hiring for React, it doesn't matter, right? The title made me pause for a little bit, but it didn't make you get the interview. So yeah, long story short, don Do good stuff and it may take you a little bit longer, but you'll have an actual career rather than just like a hustle if you don't lie.
Speaker 1:Next question comes from somebody named Timo or Timo. I'm currently learning the basics of coding and I'm trying to master as much as I can. I've been telling people that I can make websites for them, but I also let them know that I'm a beginner and it may take some time. Lately, more people have been reaching out, have been reaching out, which is exciting. However, I don't want to lose sight of actually learning to code by relying too much on website builders like Squarespace. Do you think using these tools still counts as real experience, and would this be something I can mention to companies as work I've done, and why do I sometimes feel like it's cheating, even though I know it's not so?
Speaker 1:At Parsity, a lot of mentees go this route of building websites for other people. We've had people do it for their local church. We had a person famously do it for a local barbecue and it ended up being this really cool project and they got hired basically from that project. We've had people do all sorts of things for their friends, family. I've done the same thing too. I think this is a wonderful experience and I will say this You're learning about business when you're doing this kind of thing, and you're also learning about how to talk to customers and you're picking the right tool for the right project.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes that means using a template. Sometimes it means using Squarespace. If you go to the Parsityio website, I'm using a tool called Kajabi. I didn't hand code any of it. In fact, I migrated from a hand coded version of our website to using Kajabi because I don't necessarily want to use my business time to write code. That being said, all experiences are not created equally right. So if you're building these sites with Squarespace or some sort of like drag-and-drop tool, is that experience that's really going to lend itself to credibility on your end? Probably not. Now, if you're building this from scratch, or at least you're adding some sort of customizations or going further into the tools than a regular user could, then, yeah, that could count as experience for those particular roles.
Speaker 1:Like, let me explain there's always been a demand for Shopify developers, right? These are people that really know the platform and they understand the code underneath Shopify and they understand how the APIs work and all this stuff, stuff. I don't really get, honestly, now, those people are very hireable. Would I call them JavaScript developers or just traditional software engineers? Probably not. We have WordPress developers. That's actually a way better example, we have a lot of WordPress developers. They're still in demand. People still need WordPress developers. Are they software developers? Yeah for sure. Now can they work on like any software? If all they know is WordPress? Probably not. So if you're getting really good at these tools, it could make you really good at these tools. Would that transfer or translate into like quote unquote traditional software engineering? Likely not.
Speaker 1:So it depends on what you're trying to do. If you're going for roles where those specialties are needed, like Shopify developer, wordpress developer, wix developer if that's a thing, then yes, this is completely useful. Now, if you're going for roles like full-stack TypeScript developer, then probably not. Now if you're trying to start a business, then that's a whole other bag of beans and this is probably what you want to do. You're more concerned about actually giving people a product that they can use, rather than the art or the craft of building the thing, and I feel you if it's like cheating. Here's my take on that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:If you're building for a customer, think about the customer's needs. Oftentimes that means you'll have to hand code a solution. A lot of times that means taking something that works out of the box. So it's a fine line between, like how much are you building for learning? How much are you building for learning or how much are you building to satisfy your customers? Which is one of the reasons why I always have a side project myself and that I recommend people who want to learn also have a side project, because that way, you are in charge of your own learning path and you can over engineer it and you can add all the cool bells and whistles that you want and you're not worried about a customer being like well, why are you using Nextjs, react and Kubernetes clusters for this website? I want and you're like, I just wanted to learn. It's not a good thing. No customer wants to hear that. Hope that's helpful and I hope that you do have a side project. And, of course, I have all sorts of opinions on how you should build and what you should build, but ultimately you need a side project with the sole purpose of learning some technologies that you want to learn that will help you become more marketable. That's the main goal of any side project, especially if you're trying to get that first job.
Speaker 1:Next question comes from Isaac. It says hey, brian, my dad sent me a couple of your podcasts. Hey, thanks to your pops and he sent me a link to the Inner Circle program. I just finished my first year in computer science. I have friends who are a couple years ahead of me. They already have dev jobs before finishing their degree. Very interesting, they, like me, didn't pass the 202 class the first time through.
Speaker 1:Your inner circle program describes mindset and lifestyle training. Do you think your program would fit a comp sci major whose dream is to get an internship while in school? You know, to be completely honest, if I take off my business hat and think would it actually help you out in your particular situation? I don't know If you're a full-time student and you're also trying to do a program like Parsity, which is pretty rigorous and intense and we work with you for up to a year. I just don't know if that's the best use of your time. You're in a school. They should have internship opportunities already. If you're learning the computer science fundamentals and you're also building up the practical skills on the side, then no, I don't think a program like Parsity would be the best. But if you're looking for somewhere where you can align your habits and lifestyle to learn faster, more efficiently, do some market development and get a tried and true plan on how to do that. Yes, it could be really good.
Speaker 1:I think you need to be realistic and understand that this program takes up to 20 hours per week and in addition to school. As a younger person, which I assume you are, you may find yourself a bit overwhelmed. So it's a lot. It's like basically going to two colleges at the same time, and I just don't know if that's a reasonable thing for you to do. If you were out of college, I'd say, oh yeah, this could absolutely be a great program for you.
Speaker 1:I also think it's very interesting that a few people got developer jobs before finishing their degree. I'm not here to dunk on people who get degrees. The majority of people who work as software developers do, in fact, have four-year degrees, so there's a lot of value in getting that. In fact, if my kids wanted to get into software, I don't know what I'd tell them. I mean, I'd like them to learn under me, but if they went to a four-year institution and got the degree, I'd say that's probably a good use of time too. But to be honest, I think you could just kind of skip that and go right into working in a startup if you learn the practical skills you need to. So, yeah, you know it all depends, so it's really difficult to say that, but I will say that trying to do two rigorous programs at once is very difficult, and I will tell you this.
Speaker 1:Also, we have a different version of Parsity right now, called the Accelerator. So if what you're looking for is like an intensive eight weeks of getting down your schedule, coming up with a market development plan, helping you get the kind of game plan and study schedule that you need that you can use in addition to what you're doing, yeah, that could actually be a really, really good fit for you. And that is a new program we just started offering, which is why it slipped my head. But that one is for eight weeks and it's solely focused on, like, the market development, doing some research into your schedule and finding out what is going to work best for you and coming up with a plan that's going to work for your lifestyle so you can actually hit your goals, your KPIs. You're going to get a lot of feedback from Zubin and I. It is not the intensive program that we offer, where we take people from zero through hired. This is more for people that need, like a really quick kickstart. So basically, it's everything in Parsity's inner circle besides the custom curriculum, so that could be a good idea. I would just schedule a call with me. That's what I would do, all right on to the last question. I swear that wasn't a sales pitch at all.
Speaker 1:This one is from Anonymous. It says what are your thoughts on grad school, a master's in CS, specifically for people who might have some basic tech experience but want to expand their knowledge to include more theory? Is this something you considered when changing careers? Love the podcast, thanks, hey. Thank you, anonymous person out there, and I would say this Grad school could be a good idea.
Speaker 1:I'm trying not to be so negative because I'm thinking why Master's degrees are expensive and if you're going to be in full stack software development, I really don't know the benefit it would bring, unless it's a personal benefit. No-transcript, I doubt that, highly doubt that. Now, if you're doing it because you really just wanna expand your own knowledge, great. I would argue that you could expand your knowledge and learn a ton by reading a lot of good books out there Designing Data-Intensive Applications, the Pragmatic Programmer, patterns of Enterprise Applications. There's a ton of really great books that are kind of dry and kind of boring, but can teach you a ton about modern software architecture or just software architecture in general, software design, application patterns all the things you'll need to know at an enterprise level. You could read books on, like data engineering or whatever specialty you might want to go into, and I think that could actually be more helpful than going to another two or more years of school, especially if you have some quote unquote basic tech experience.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, just set your expectations correctly. If your expectation is, I'm going to get this degree and people are going to come knocking down my door wanting to hire me, that's not the case. If you're getting this degree because I really just want to expand my knowledge and I have this personal desire and this is like a personal goal of mine then by all means you should absolutely go do that. So just have the right expectations, because I can pretty much tell you that, as a software developer, it's getting increasingly less important to have even a four-year degree. People just don't care about degrees as much as they used to, and this is not just true in tech, but it's true across multiple industries. And if you look at the biggest players in tech, they don't even ask for degrees at all. If you look at all the biggest players in tech Google, apple, netflix, amazon, openai even they really don't care, unless you're talking about data science and researchers. When it comes to researchers and data science, they absolutely want you to have a PhD Now master's degrees for a TypeScript engineer it's a lot of overkill, if I'm just being honest.
Speaker 1:I hope that's helpful and I hope you also consider those books that I just recommended. I think there's a lot of really great books out there that, if you read, will give you a lot more of that deeper understanding no-transcript in a practical way. Thanks to everybody that wrote in and I really hope to answer more of these in the future. So if you have a question you'd like me to answer on this show, you can be anonymous. You can add your name and I'll shout you out. Just go to the show notes and drop your question in there. See you next week. That'll do it for today's episode of the Develop Yourself podcast. If you're serious about switching careers and becoming a software developer and building complex software and want to work directly with me and my team, go to parsityio and if you want more information, feel free to schedule a chat by just clicking the link in the show notes. See you next week.
