Solo vs Teams during open-source
I have an associate of arts in Networking and a bachelor of science degree in Network Security, but I found a lot of side jobs in web/software development that I really enjoyed. Now, I'm a full-stack software/web developer with strong proficiency in Javascript and the PERN stack. I'm having fun working on a side project at the moment, but am open to new opportunities. I'm here for learning, sharing resources, and being a part of the developer community. I'm going to share what I'm working on, my resources, and what I'm learning here. What are you working on?
So far on my journey to becoming a software engineer, I have only done small side jobs as a web developer or hardware consultant for small restaurants and companies with small systems. I have worked on a few pair projects, that many times would let me work on them for a few features, but then I would get tangled up learning some parts of the documentation, but not fast enough to beat a more seasoned developer to that task.
Almost all the software engineer positions available require some form of professional experience in some capacity for some length of time. But, a catch-22 dilemma (one I am currently facing) that poses the age-old dreaded question: if I need experience to get a job, but have never had a job, how do I obtain valid experience? I have not completed a resume, or applied to any jobs recently, so that I can build develop a portfolio that hopefully resolves that exact thing.
How do I do that? Well, I am not 100% sure this theory is applicable to everyone, or anyone even. However, all I can do is test the theories and advice to see what sticks. Each year I try to muster up the courage to work on a team repository or pair project of some sort. I have started some, but ended up not completing them for lack of confidence in my ability to submit something that could pass as professional. However, this year. I am going to hold myself accountable to joining a team, where I can get some real feed back. I know I already mentioned DevFestAI in this series. But, I think that might be beneficial for meeting many of my Hacktoberfest goals (some I mentioned in previous posts), but also others (I did not mention before) such as learning to better communicate about my code and with my team.
I thought I would use this post just to sort of think aloud, but also to hold myself accountable to working toward that goal.
