...

1. Getting Started in Tech:
Building a Great Career
February 2017
http://bit.ly/thinkful-hired-in-tech

2. About me
• Jasjit Singh
• Self-taught developer
• Worked in finance & tech
• Co-Founder Hotspot
• Thinkful General Manager

3. About us
Thinkful prepares students for web development &
data science jobs with 1-on-1 mentorship programs

4. What is “tech”?
Tech isn’t just one industry anymore — it’s the new
business model. Every company is now a tech
company.

5. “Software is eating the world”
“More and more major businesses and
industries are being run on software and
delivered as online services — from movies to
agriculture to national defense. Many of the
winners are Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurial
technology companies that are invading and
overturning established industry structures.
Over the next 10 years, I expect many more
industries to be disrupted by software, with new
world-beating Silicon Valley companies doing
the disruption in more cases than not.”
- Marc Andreeson, WSJ, 2011

6. Some examples
• Largest retailer => Amazon
• Best movie production => Pixar
• Biggest media => Facebook & Google

7. Netflix
“Our goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us”
- Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer of Netflix, 2013

8. Goldman Sachs
• Lloyd Blankfein, CEO
• “Goldman Sachs is a
Technology Firm”
• 9,000 out of 33,000
employees are on tech
team

9. The good news
By 2020, there will be 1.4M computer science jobs and only
400,000 C.S. grads with the skills to apply for those jobs
- Bureau of Labor Statistics

10. The new blue collar job?

11. The implications for jobs
• Increased demand in for technical skills
• Creation of new “software plus” jobs
• Diffusion of tech organizational culture, roles,
and processes

12. One such process — career trajectory
Junior sales
Account
executive
Sales Manager
VP Sales!

13. In “tech” career trajectories are varied
Full stack developer
Front-end developer
Back-end developer
QA developer

14. In “tech” career trajectory are varied
Full stack developer
Front-end developer
Back-end developer
QA developer
DevOps
Product developer
Growth hacker
Reliability engineer
Architect
Manager / team lead

15. Goals for tonight
• Define common first jobs
• Career trajectories after the first job
• Tips for breaking in

16. First jobs
• Frontend developer
• Backend developer
• Full-stack developer
• QA developer

17. Frontend Developer
You’ll be building the parts of an application that
people interact with

18. Backend Developer
Building the business logic and handling data storage
and manipulation

19. Full-stack Developer
Build both front and backend features
+

20. QA Developer
Write software tests and conduct manual tests to catch
bugs before they’re shipped

21. Next step: Senior Developer
Everything that came before with the ability to estimate
your work accurately, handle challenging problems with
less support, and add support for junior colleagues

22. Coding plus Roles
• Coding + Product = Product Manager
• Coding + Marketing = Growth Hacker
• Coding + Community = Developer Evangelist
• Coding + Sales = Sales Engineer
• Coding + Data = Data Scientist

23. Product Manager (Coding + Product)
Turn business goals into product requirements. Work
with designers & developers to deliver — measure
success
Skills & Tools
• Customer research
• Customer development
• User stories
• Wireframes
• Project management
• Analytics

24. Growth Hacker (Coding + Marketing)
Design & implement experiments to drive customer
acquisition and engagement
Skills & Tools
• Rapid prototyping
• Analytics
• Communication

25. Developer Evangelist (Coding + Community)
Build community around a technology by helping
customers, creating content and participating at events
Skills & Tools
• Specific technical expertise
• Teaching/Mentoring
• Customer support

26. Sales Engineer (Coding + Sales)
Sell complex technical product by helping customer
understand how it works and how they’ll use it
Skills & Tools
• Communication
• Customer support

27. Data Scientist (Coding + Data)
Use statistics and programming to find valuable insights
from extremely large datasets
Skills & Tools
• Curiosity
• Statistics
• Analytics
• Machine Learning

28. The Good News
• Massive shortages in tech industry
• Hiring is based on skills, not credentials
• Anyone can learn with a growth mindset

29. 1M unfilled tech jobs by 2020
By 2020, there will be 1.4M computer science jobs available
and only 400,000 computer science grads with the skills to
apply for those jobs
- Bureau of Labor Statistics

30. Many firms recruit from code challenge sites

31. Technical interview is cornerstone of the process

32. Anyone can learn how to code
Students with a growth mindset - the belief that intelligence is
not just something that you are born with - have higher levels of
success. Neural connections grow and become stronger the
more you struggle with learning and correct your mistakes.
Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University

33. How to get in the door?
• Learn the skills
• Build a portfolio of high quality work
• Develop a relevant network
• Prep for technical interviews

34. Learning the skills
• Build stuff + Google
• Free online resources (e.g. CodeAcademy)
• Flexible coding bootcamps (e.g Thinkful)
• Full-time coding bootcamps (e.g. GA)
• Full degree programs (Georgia Tech)

35. Building your portfolio
• Find a niche (based on your background)
• Build a personal website
• Get your portfolio on GitHub
• Try and find contract work
• Have professionals guide & review your work

36. Networking the right way
• 80% of job openings are never advertised
• 120 average applicants per job posted
• 20% get an interview
*https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/04/26/why-every-job-seeker-should-have-a-personal-
website-and-what-it-should-include/#578fbf6f119e

37. Networking the right way
• Cold applications suck!
• Figure out what you want (size, industry, role, etc)
• Reach out to someone that works at company
• Ask them about their work, genuine interest, build
a relationship
• Eventually (1-2 months in), ask for referral

38. Tech recruiters
• Tech recruiters serve as your agent
• Can leverage their relationships to arrange
interviews
• They are incentivized to find you a job
• You might get less say in where, but are helpful
• Can be great in getting you feedback

39. Thinkful students find jobs through referrals

40. The technical interview
• Phone screen
• Take home tech challenge
• In-person interviews

41. Resources
• Prep sites (e.g. Interview Cake)
• Books (e.g. Cracking the Coding Interview)
• Mock interviews with technical friends

42. More about Thinkful
• Anyone who’s committed can learn to code
• 1-on-1 mentorship is the best way to learn
• Flexibility matters — learn anywhere, anytime
•We only makes money when you get a job

43. More about Thinkful
You’ll learn concepts, practice with drills, and build capstone
projects for your own portfolio — all guided by a personal mentor

44. Our mentors
Mentors have, on average, 10+ years of experience

45. Our results
Job Titles after GraduationMonths until Employed

46. Try us out!
Try the program for two
weeks, includes six mentor
sessions - $50
Learn HTML/CSS/JavaScript
Option to continue onto web
development bootcamp
Come talk to me if you’re
interested (or email me at
jas@thinkful.com)

47. Questions?
email me at jas@thinkful.com