1. Getting into the
Tech Field: What
Next?
By Tessa Mero

2. Career Path:
● A Lost Soul
● Gamestop/Jewelry Sales/HR
● Assistant Teacher/Web Development
Intern (3 mo each)
● Graduated from College
● Web Application Developer / Web
Support Technician (OSTraining)
● Programming Instructor/Curriculum
Creator
● Developer Advocate
● Senior Developer Advocate

3. Agenda
Ask questions throughout!!!! It’s an open Q&A
● During College - What you should do to prep
● Contributions/Personal Brand/Growth
● Networking/Mentorship
● Interview Prep/Mock
Interviews/Whiteboarding

4. During College
Should you be doing anything now before
graduating? What should you do to prepare?
➔ Projects or Internships
Create a portfolio by doing projects or
doing temp internships for
individuals/companies
➔ Industry Research
Learn about different roles in the
industry. There’s SO MANY!!!
➔ Make a Plan
What is your timeline on your next
steps?

5. Learn & Create
Learn as much as you can so you are familiar
with terminology and basics. It’s impossible
to be proficient at EVERYTHING!
➔ Learn
Learn the basics on different
technologies, tools, frameworks, and
anything to widen your knowledge.
➔ Create
Make your portfolio. The first thing the
interviewer will look at is your projects.
➔ Get Feedback
Get Code Reviews Done. I cannot
emphasize this enough. I made the
mistake of not!

6. Contributions
This is what landed me my first 6 figure job
at a big company!!!!!! THIS IS THE SECRET.
➔ Find a Project
Figure out what areas of technology
you enjoy. Look into Free and Open
Source Software (FOSS) Projects.
➔ Network with that Community
This will help you learn about different
teams, where help is needed, and
figure out where you best fit later on.
➔ Build a Contribution Portfolio
Network. Make friends. Build a portfolio,
add to Resume!!!

7. My Contributions to Open Source
Communities
● J! - Bug Squad - Bug Tester
● J! - Extensions Team, then Assistant
Manager
● J! - Board of Directors
● J! - Developer Advocate (Keynoting at
PHP events)
● Organizer of Joomla, PHP, Vue.js, APIs,
DevRel, Jamstack events…
● Organized PHP Conference and API
Conference

8. Personal Brand
Okay so this isn’t really necessary, but it
makes you stand out!
➔ Create Personal Website
Figure out what areas of technology
you enjoy. Look into Free and Open
Source Software (FOSS) Projects.
➔ Social Media Presence
Follow software engineers and industry
thought leaders and learn and/or
engage with them.
Where is the software engineering
community? Twitter.com and Dev.to

9. Networking
Networking is important. This will eventually
lead to being recommended to jobs in the
future.
➔ Social Forums
Social media, dev forums, GitHub,
Discord/Slack communities, virtual
meetups, in person meetups,
conferences (scholarships fyi)
➔ Who to Follow?
95% of the people I follow are really
positive and quality thought leaders in
the tech field:
https://twitter.com/TessaMero/following
Want to follow Vue.js content writers?
Here’s an example of how:
https://dev.to/t/vue

10. (pt2) Networking
Networking on social media, dev forums,
GitHub, Discord/Slack communities,
➔ Events/Hackathons
Participate in virtual events and/or
in-person events and expand your
network organically.
➔ Discord/Slack
Find communities of technologies you
enjoy. Engage with developers. Ask
questions and/or help others with their
questions, share experiences.

11. Mentors
Finding a mentor will be your fast path to
success. I’ve had one for every dream job
I’ve had!
➔ Search Resources
http://stephaniehurlburt.com/blog/2016/11/14
/list-of-engineers-willing-to-mentor-you
Google “find a mentor software
engineer” and you’ll find endless
articles!
➔ Mentor Will Provide Resources
Mentors can help with giving you an
understanding of your next steps on
what you need to do to get to where
you want to be!

12. Mock Interviews
Practice Interviewing until you feel
comfortable.
➔ Find Mock Interviews
After networking, it should be easy to
find help with others providing mock
interviews for you. Practice until you
feel comfortable!
➔ Practice - WhiteBoarding
As someone who went through the
Google interview process, this is
important and a whole presentation on
its own. Lots of resources online,
samples on YouTube.

13. White Boarding
Practice practice practice
➔ For Code Liveshare - code with a
mentor
https:/
/codeshare.io/
➔ Google Doc
Practice whiteboarding your code in a
google doc. Use text formatting:
Roboto Mono

14. Data Structures
and Algorithms
➔ Learn as much as you can

15. Coding
Preparation
➔ Leet Code
Prepare for tech questions for each
company you’d like to apply for
https:/
/leetcode.com/
➔ HackerRank
Practice coding questions, get ranked,
and standout from the crowd:
https:/
/www.hackerrank.com/dashboa
rd

16. Interview Process
➔ Recruiter - Asking questions
(sometimes intro/sometimes
random tech questions on
algorithms)
➔ Phone Coding Questions
➔ Whiteboarding Coding
Questions
➔ In person Coding questions

17. Interview Prep
Okay you’re about to have an interview.
HELP!
➔ Company Research
Read about the company, their
values/principals, their
product/technology, make something
with it...utilize glassdoor!!!! Read
engineering blogs by X company.
Understand how they scale their
services
➔ Mental Health
Exercise, do jumping jacks, listen to
music, practice breathing so you are
less nervous and tense during the
interview.

18. Cover Letters
This is your way to quickly stand out from the
rest
➔ What position are you applying for?
➔ Who are you and why are you
applying?
➔ What is your
education/experience that makes
you applicable for the job?
➔ What value will you bring to the
company if you are hired and why
should they hire you?

19. Mental State
Maybe you have to apply to 500+ jobs. Be
prepared for rejection
➔ Understand it is difficult to land a
first job with no experience
➔ It IS possible. You WILL get hired
➔ Positive self talk
➔ Keep preparing and focus

20. Whiteboard
Interviewing -
Tell me more!
➔ Tech Interview Explained:
https:/
/www.youtube.com/watch
?v=cTuHz7uSq7M
➔ JavaScript intern/junior level
coding question sample:
https:/
/www.youtube.com/watch
?v=miiM5JJgrQo

21. Remember -
➔ Ask questions before you start. Clarification!
System requirements? How many users?
Anything you can think of. Show that you are
understanding first.
➔ Think and talk out loud the entire time. If you
need to stop talking to think, let the
interviewer know
➔ Confirm and ask questions before solving the
code
➔ Practice and memorize 1 coding question per
day for at least 3 months
➔ JavaScript: Understand Closures, “This”
keyword, prototypal inheritance, and other
core concepts
➔ Understanding the specifications is better
than getting the answer right

22. Thank You!
Follow me:
https:/
/slideshare.net/tessa99
https:/
/twitter.com/tessamero
https:/
/dev.to/tessamero