My first job as a self-taught programmer

It has been 7 years since I wrote my first line of code and I feel like sharing the story of how I found my first job as a self-taught programmer with 0 work experience might help someone who is also trying to explore the world of coding.

A bit about my background

I moved to Denmark from Ukraine at the end of 2015 with the purpose of taking a master's degree in Mathematics, because that is what I was studying in Ukraine. While preparing all the documents to get accepted to the university, I took a course in Web development on Coursera, which is an educational platform similar to Udemy. And I literally fell in love with it because it was more practical compared to what I have been doing before. I was spending all my spare time taking online courses.

Job hunting

3 or 4 months later I felt like it is time to try to get a real job, so I wrote my CV and started applying to different companies. I sent my resume to some big and mid-sized companies for trainee and junior developer roles. Unfortunately, I was getting rejected by everyone and some of the companies never got back to me.

It was a very stressful period of my life. I was getting frustrated and upset, I can not even remember how many times I wanted to give up the idea of being a programmer. When I am thinking about it, I would not probably even hire myself back then. Mostly, because I knew that I did not have a college degree and it really dragged down my confidence. I was thinking that if some will hire me they will give me a favor. What I should have thought instead is that it is a win-win kinda deal. So, the most important lesson that I learned as a self-taught is that self-confidence plays a huge role and dramatically increases your chances to get your first job. 

But how can you get a job if no one even gives you a chance for the first interview? That is a very good question that I was asking There it is where I realized that I need to change a strategy and have at least one legit job experience on my CV. The first thing that I did was create my own company. It is very easy to do in Denmark and I thought that even if I do not find any customers I can still state in my CV that I was a freelancer and I will just keep building my portfolio.

Meanwhile, I was asking everyone around if they needed a website, a banner, a landing page, or a webshop. I even went to my dentist and I said, "Look, it is 2016 and people still need to call you if they want to make an appointment. Let's make you a website!'' I was talking to people at birthdays and weddings asking where they work and if they need any kind of help from a person who can code. This is how I met a guy who had his own publishing company and he was looking for help to create an educational platform for Danish kids to learn English.

At that time he had a freelancer that was doing the backend job for him and he needed someone to do the frontend. By the way, during the 2 years I worked there, I have never spoken with that backend guy. 

In short, I had to create a website with the rules from a book and some interactive tests that children could complete and collect points. At that point, I could do only HTML, CSS, and some basic JavaScript. But the task required much more than that.

Facing real challenges

After 2 weeks of working there, I realized that I needed some help because even at that point if I studied for 14 hours I could not deliver my tasks before the deadline.

That was 2016 and I did not have any programmer friends back then, so I started thinking if I know anyone related to programming. Then I remembered that back in 2010, when I was studying Mathematics in Ukraine, I had a roommate who had a boyfriend who was into programming. I found him on Facebook and asked if he could help me to speed up my learning process. He said that he is working as a system administrator but he has a friend who is a self-taught front-end developer and he gave me his phone number.

And that guy basically saved my ass. He spent so much time explaining to me basic concepts of programming and giving me code reviews. That was extremely helpful. The funny part is he did not want anything in return because he was also self-taught and he said “My friend helped me when I just started my coding journey and I have to help at least one person for that”.

And this is how I learned how to code. Obviously, it was not great at the beginning. I did not use any concepts of clean code and design patterns but that was the start and I was getting paid for it.

Salary

It was a part-time job but I was spending all my time on it as a part of the learning process. I was paid approximately 1 400 USD per month to my company account and I paid 680 USD to myself. The rest stayed in the company. Eventually, that company went bankrupt with all the money but it is a different story.

Do I think that I was underpaid or overpaid? I was extremely happy to get any kind of payment at the beginning. I was expecting that I will have to work for free for a few months to gain some experience. So, the payment seemed to be quite fair.

What I wish I have done differently

I think that if my first job was in some big corporation where newbies usually have a mentor that helps them, then my experience would be less painful. I would have fewer sleepless nights, I would not get stressed and burned out. But on the other hand, I got pretty “Lucky” to get a job after only 4 months of learning how to code by myself. And I have no idea how long it would take me to get into a mid-sized or big company. So, I would not change anything here.