Landing a junior web developer position seems nearly impossible. I've been working as contractor for a few months just to get the portfolio and experience but it starts to look futile. If this continues for a year, I'll become an analyst or something. Sorry for the long rant.

Welcome! That's a short rant btw ;)

@pixeltherapy

devRant is like stackoverflow meta on high quality weed. So nice to see developers getting along.

How are you marketing yourself? Maybe we can suggest ideas.

@Jumpshot44

Well, I have a personal domain plus a GitHub account. My problem is that almost all companies require so insanely much from juniors. Just coming out of university and you are supposed to know 4 languages and 5 different frameworks perfectly.

Dude, office work and corporate is shit! If you can work for yourself and make a living, more power to you! For now, build a client base and/or work on a niche.

Anyhoo... so looking forward to sitting in the hour and a half long fucking traffic tomorrow! So happy, I could shit a rainbow!

@GinjaNinja

As a junior developer with almost 9 months of experience, being a freelancer is not that great. I don't have a steady client base, nor I get so much experience.

Yeah for junior developers is difficult to find jobs, but I recommend to you to apply those jobs anyway in the interview put your cards on the table

@MrKind 9 months is too early to see any results. You can try jump ship to another company to fast track you career. However, make it a year before you do that. It just sounds better with "I spent a whole year as a junior peogrammer". The truth is an average of 3 years experience is needed before things start getting significantly better. Unless you are a rock star programmer and a genius of course.

Apply for everything and be brutally honest. People will hire you for your passion alone. I'm speaking from experience. And no degree. It wasn't easy, but if my dumb face can land a job... :)

As for languages and frameworks, do fun projects to touch on them. Make something small or silly for experience.

I'm in the same boat you are OP. It's difficult for Juniors. To be honest though, I don't think most colleges really prepare you for the working industry unless it's within the local area of the school or really big cities.

I'm thinking of doing the same sort of thing to build up skills and a portfolio etc. Do you rate it as a good way to start off as an aspiring dev?

Just do something for the hell of it. I'm writing a webserver in Golang for the hell of it.

I'm using it to learn more Golang, and to strengthen my design pattern skills. It's not that great yet though.

I've been writing Golang seriously for about two weeks really, so it's fun. :)

@MrKind You need a USP, unique selling point.

Junior Web Dev is an almost meaningless title (imho) that needs to be qualified with where your talent/focus lies. Find this and build a jobs pitch around it. Include other skills you have that are relevant too.

I would hire a Junior Web Dev who digs photography, does 3D animation or likes advanced math, bonus points if also a musician :)

Some ideas:

Pair with a designer, and create small(ish), niche projects on the side. Doesn't pay the bills but generates visibility. Document everything, and put it in a blog. Contribute to an open source project. Port an existing library to another language. Join a startup. Go to dev related conferences & meetups in your area...

@pixeltherapy it's not just about the selling pitch. Some companies I've been interviewed for have actually asked me why I don't know php AND asp .net as backend. I didn't even ask him about Symphony or Laravel, cause I knew he'd say both...

@MrKind wow! I've been out of the job-hunting habit for over 10 years now so I'm a little out of date.

Pro-tip #2: Find an interviewer who is not a dick!