37: When are you ready for a coding job?

It's hard to be sure when you know enough to be qualified for a career in programming

Show Notes

An oft-heard bit of advice is "apply as soon as you can, before you think you're ready". It's good advice, and it's advice we ourselves have given many times on this very podcast. But is it always the case? Can you be too early?

We think you can be. So where is the line drawn? How do you know when you know enough to have a serious chance of getting your first job in the industry? And how do these two conflicting pieces of advice manage to both be correct? Find out in this week's speculative instalment of A Question of Code.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Episode 8: When should you quit your job?
• Ericsson study: Deliberate Practice (a.k.a. "10,000 hours")
• Backend and frontend web developer roadmap  (flowcharts)
• Baseline for frontend developers (from 2012, so caveat emptor)

What is A Question of Code?

A newbie coder and a seasoned veteran discuss the questions that always come up when someone begins learning to code.

Ed is looking at getting a career in programming and has been learning to code for just over a year. During this time he’s been building up a stack of questions that keep coming up from other newbie coders. Luckily, he’s got someone he can ask for help: Tom. Tom’s a seasoned coder, having worked in the industry for a few years now and has all the answers Ed needs, or does he?