Today, the IT field is one of the most attractive for job seekers, and interest in it continues to grow. People are attracted by prospects, high salaries, professional and career growth, and comfortable working conditions.

If you are thinking about starting a career in information technology, but work in a different field, then it will be useful for you to understand the specifics of the transition.

In this lesson, we will look at important points that are worth considering in order to build a career in IT.

Planning the transition to the IT sector

You need to plan your transition to the information technology sector using the following steps:

1. Learn what the IT sector is:
   • Study the labor market: what specializations are there, what companies work in the IT industry and what vacancies they offer
   • Start to navigate the terminology and work tools
2. Assess your current experience and create a profitable offer for the employer
3. Collect your first portfolio

When you understand the IT market, terminology and work tools, then it will be easier for you to evaluate your professional experience. If you understand the employer's requirements, you can correlate your experience, knowledge and skills with them. This way you can figure out which experiences will be interesting and which ones will not. And having a portfolio will make your resume more popular and interesting to the employer.

Let's look at each step of the transition to IT in more detail.

Step 1. Study the IT field

To study the IT field in detail, you need to become familiar with the labor market, as well as the terminology and tools of this field.

Labor market research

Let's imagine Ivan, who is 25 years old. He worked as a sales manager and had a humanitarian education. No experience in the IT field. At the same time, Ivan wants to maintain the salary level of 90,000 dollars/month. For this, he decided to become a developer, since they have suitable salaries. There is no portfolio, but he is considering the TOP-20 software development companies in the industry for employment.

Ivan’s chances of getting a job with such input data are minimal. Entry into the IT field depends not only on a person’s education and experience, but also on what position and what company he plans to get into.

The IT labor market is very diverse, for example: software developers, sellers of computers and other technical devices, analysts, customer support specialists, game creators and many other specializations:

Understanding trends in the IT field helps to build a career transition plan, saving time and money for this stage in your career. If you don’t navigate the IT labor market, you risk wasting a lot of time. Sometimes the transition is delayed or becomes impossible.

It is worth knowing not only the obvious advantages of the IT sector during the transition, but also the features:

• Junior positions pay little
• It is important to constantly improve your skills to maintain a professional level

Nowadays, the IT sector is not experiencing a shortage of personnel, and competition is inevitably increasing. Therefore, in order to get an offer, you will have to fight.

A picture of the labor market would help Ivan see other professions in IT. If the field is suitable based on interests, professional inclinations, and not just salary level, then the employee develops faster. This makes it easier for him to adapt to the IT environment and quickly move to the Middle level and higher. For example, Ivan has strong negotiation skills, which opens the way for him in other professions in IT.

Orientation in professions helps determine the right direction for transition, where it is easier to express yourself and develop. If you have experience in a different direction, then you are not starting from scratch. This means that the accumulated experience and skills can be successfully integrated into a new profession.

For example, an applicant with a financial education, his work is related to analytics, knows programs that simplify working with data. Such experience will be useful in building a career transition, for example, to IT analysts.

There are many career options in IT analytics:

• Systems Analyst
• Business analyst
• Data Analyst
• Web Analyst
• UX Analyst
• Product Analyst

To choose the right path, it is worth understanding the differences between one profession and another and building a clear career path.

Understanding terminology and work tools

This is an important condition for finding a job and adapting to a new professional environment. Understanding the terminology and work tools helps you speak the same language with your colleagues and employer and navigate new information. This simplifies the interview negotiations and onboarding process.

Ways to obtain such knowledge:

• Read professional articles
• Mark unclear words and see their meaning
• Ask for advice from a professional person
• Get specialized training
• Register in a professional community or social network

Step 2. Evaluate your experience

To evaluate your current experience, follow the following algorithm:

1. Go to a job search site
2. Find ten offers for the job you are applying for. It is important to choose the appropriate level: Junior - entry level, Middle - average, Senior - high
3. Write down the requirements for experience, knowledge, personal characteristics from the vacancies found
4. Check your experience to see what fits this description.

For points where experience or knowledge is lacking, a development plan can be drawn up. This is a list of actions that will help fill gaps in the required knowledge and skills. This list could include specialized articles, training, conferences, skills training, portfolio work, or meetings with a mentor. Thanks to such a plan, development will be predictable and clear.

Step 3. Compiling a portfolio

A portfolio increases your chances of moving into the IT field. It can be done in a separate folder or posted in specialized social networks. networks and groups. For example, developers use GitHub to work, designers use Behance.

1. Study the IT sector: labor market, terminology and work tools
2. Assess your current experience and create a profitable offer for the employer
3. Collect your first portfolio

Independent work

Key points for moving into the IT field:

1. Start with an analysis of the IT sphere: it is not limited to one development. It is important that your future profession develops your strengths
2. Learn the terminology. This will allow you to speak the same language not only with HR during the interview, but also with colleagues and customers
3. Rate your professional experience for your chosen profession. See what strong knowledge and skills you already have, and what is still missing and needs to be replenished
4. Be sure to collect a portfolio: it can be in the form of finished works, projects, or in the form of a demonstration of your skills, abilities and knowledge

It is important for aspiring professionals to not only create a beautiful resume, but also write great cover letters. Usually this is necessary not for specialists at the middle or senior level, but for juniors who do not have work experience or their level does not reach the vacancy of interest. For recruiters, they are a pig in a poke. They are not known as professionals, so it is not clear what they can offer an employer.

Perhaps the junior has valuable experience in the past, or he came from a related profession and has useful skills. He can also be a cool and responsible developer, albeit without much experience. At the same time, the recruiter needs to understand this even at the stage of screening the resume. This is why you need a cover letter.

In this lesson we will look at how to write a cover letter for a young specialist. We will also find out what should be included in such letters.

How to Write an Effective Cover Letter

A cover letter is a way to tell the recruiter why you should be chosen and how you differ from other candidates. This is a place for self-presentation and explanation that you are in this profession for a reason.

The company may indicate that they require a cover letter. Most likely, the vacancy will specify what its content should be. In this case, you need to follow the recommendations. But this doesn't always happen.

There are no clear rules for writing a cover letter. It is impossible to say how much you need to write and what. But general recommendations can be identified. Let's try to compose a letter according to the scheme below.

Let us immediately note that the resume and cover letter must be “tailored” to the specific vacancy. This is considered good form and shows the candidate's interest in the vacancy.

A good cover letter should reflect:

• Motivation
• Professional skills and qualities that suit the vacancy
• Advantages of a candidate for a vacancy

Let's look at each point in more detail.

Revealing motivation

Read the vacancy carefully and answer the question: why do you like this vacancy?

For example, this is a large company that is developing a service for selling things. You use their resource, notice their developers at conferences, and you sincerely want to be among them. You need to write briefly about this.

Perhaps you just want to find a job, and have already selected all the vacancies where you can apply for a newcomer. This is fine. In this case, there is no need to try to look better than you are. It goes without saying that you have loved high-load applications and blockchain since childhood, and have personally met Steve Jobs.

Write what is very valuable to you in an employer, that he is ready to invest in newcomers and give a chance to every potentially talented developer, even without experience. This makes the employer look good and will flatter him.

You should not start your relationship with your employer with deception. You don't have a task to break through and die at the interview. There is a task to get a job.

We talk about past experience and skills

Next you need to describe your skills and qualities. At this stage, you need to tell how you will be useful to the employer. Two points can be highlighted here:

• What experience is ideal for the vacancy?
• What skills are missing and why do you think they can be filled? For example, you are ready to learn, or are already gaining the necessary knowledge

First, carefully read the block in the vacancy with technical and personal requirements. Match the requirements with the skills and knowledge you have. “Try on” the qualities that are required of the candidate.

To evaluate yourself, try asking a few questions:

• Which technologies do I know well, and which ones are a little worse?
• How do I plan to study further?

An example of a result could be this: you have knowledge of all the necessary technologies, but you understand that you lack the skill of using layout templates. You are ready to develop this skill because you have perseverance, determination and the ability to quickly understand new technologies.

Here, too, it is important not to deceive anyone. It’s better to describe your real advantages so that you can truly understand whether you are suitable for each other. Not all jobs make sense for you to work. The sooner you and your employer become disillusioned with each other, the better for both.

Let's talk about additional benefits

Now let's add advantages - those qualities and skills that distinguish you from other candidates. Let's say you want to get a job as a developer and you have related work experience. For example, you worked as a tester and understand how to find errors in code. This will be a plus in terms of skills.

You may also have rare and valuable qualities. It’s good if you know about them and can write about them. In this case, you should not resort to imagination or cliched phrases. Recruiters often complain that most letters are monotonous and no different from each other. Therefore, it is important not to slip into listing general characteristics like: “I am smart, purposeful and responsible.”

We repeat the step with questions:

• How was I able to learn this profession?
• Why was I able to complete my training and gain this skill, while others were not?
• What did I do better than others? For example, you were at the forefront of doing your homework or passing it on the first try

We collect answers to questions and formulate a couple of phrases from them. For example: “I can quickly understand new tasks and do this with a minimum number of errors. It seems to me that these skills are very important for this type of work.”

What style to write a cover letter in

The cover letter style in the case of the IT field can be relaxed. For example, include jokes and non-standard communication techniques. He can also be a business person. Depends on the vacancy and the industry in which you plan to work. Here you need to look at the situation.

There are no clear guidelines for the length of a cover letter. But we recommend writing no more than two paragraphs. The total time to read the letter should be no more than 30 seconds.

You can end your cover letter with any form of polite farewell. For example, thank you for your time. It might also be a good idea to have an ending that encourages a response—for example, “I’ll look forward to your feedback.”

conclusions

In this lesson, we looked at how to write a cover letter for a young specialist. We also learned what should be included in such letters. Let's repeat the important points of the lesson:

• There are no clear rules for writing a cover letter. It is impossible to say how much to write and what
• The resume and cover letter must be “tailored” to the specific vacancy. This is considered good form and shows the candidate’s interest in the vacancy
• A good cover letter should reflect:
  • Motivation
  • Professional skills and qualities that suit the vacancy
  • Advantages of a candidate for a vacancy
• You should not start your relationship with your employer with deception. Your task is to get a job
• Your cover letter should include rare and valuable qualities that will distinguish you from other candidates.
• It is recommended to write no more than two paragraphs in your letter. The total time to read the letter should be no more than 30 seconds

Writing a resume for a novice specialist is a process no less complicated than training. You need to understand what to write about if you have no experience, whether you need to indicate irrelevant experience, what to write about yourself, and when to write a resume. In this lesson we will give answers to these questions.

When to start writing a resume

Many people think that first they need to study, and then write a resume and apply for vacancies. But this is a mistaken opinion.

The sooner your resume appears in searches, the more likely you are to be noticed. Whether they want to contact you or not is another question. The main thing is that you give the opportunity to do this.

If you prepare your resume in advance, you will have the opportunity to send it as soon as they are interested in you. If you say you don't have it, that won't be very cool. This situation is not fatal, but it immediately becomes clear that you did not even try to start.

Before writing a resume, it is important to understand that there is no need to deceive or embellish reality. Any deception will be revealed and close your doors forever. Be honest, it's okay to be a beginner.

First of all, they look for promising guys for starting positions. They must have an active life position, they must be able to learn independently and deal with problems. However, they should not isolate themselves.

An additional advantage is specialized education. A good knowledge of fundamental things and basic practical skills are also important.

The more powerful the company considers you, the more interested it is in fundamental training, and less in applied training. Such companies use a variety of technologies, which also change. This means that it is more important to be able to learn quickly and adapt to new things than to have ultra-deep, but narrow knowledge.

How not to format your resume

First, let's look at the typical mistakes that inexperienced specialists make. Let's look at them right away so we don't have to come back later.

Below is a list of common mistakes:

1. Resume in Microsoft Office document format

   Mac and Linux are very popular among techies. They almost certainly don't have an office installed. The doc format creates both technical problems and shows your ignorance of general issues.

   The standard in document exchange for reading is PDF. It is specially designed so that it looks the same on any system. All job search sites allow you to upload your resume in this format.

2. Inserting a resume into the body of an email

   This type of summary is difficult to read and cannot be shared. It seems that the person has not heard about job search services.

3. Errors and typos

   Proofread your resume for errors. Mistakes spoil the impression.

4. Coordination

   Write your resume in the past tense form without the pronoun “I”, for example: “worked in a company”, “created my own project”.

Now we know what mistakes we shouldn’t make. Next, we’ll look at what you need to fill out your resume to make it effective.

What information should be on a resume?

The resume of a specialist of any level should consist of the following blocks:

• experience
• Education
• Additional education
• Key skills and tools
• About Me

Let's look at each block in more detail.

Experience

Indicate any experience that is at least indirectly related to IT: technical support, administration, layout, engineering.

If you have experience, but it is not relevant, and your age is closer to a student’s age, then you don’t have to indicate anything. If you are an adult, then a resume without work experience looks strange. This does not mean that you need to indicate everything at all, but some last places are required.

Years of work mean little. What is much more important is what you did and what successes you achieved.

Your resume should include information that meets the employer's needs. If achievements can be supported by numbers and facts, then be sure to do so. This information increases your chances of getting an interview. For example: “Optimized the developer’s code from 80 to 40 thousand lines.” With this information, the employer will understand that you have achieved your goal and are not just working to no avail.

Education

Education must be indicated, even if the profession is not directly related to IT. Having a higher education, even incomplete, is considered a plus. There is a chance that your specialty is related to the subject area in which your future employer works. This factor can set you apart from other newbies.

If you participated in olympiads in physics or mathematics, be sure to indicate this. Physical training will be a good plus.

Books are also important, especially at the initial stage. Write the titles of books you have read that relate to your field. This will tell about your outlook.

Additional education

Most courses won't tell your employers anything useful. And a large number of courses in the “additional” column can even be off-putting. The employer will get the impression that the person wants to show off.

Keep only those courses on your resume that really made an impact on you and that you consider most valuable.

In addition to courses, education includes participation in hackathons, workshops and other similar events. Although they themselves are short, they are so intense that they can give a head start to many courses. They also show your passion.

Key skills and tools

This block lists the technologies that the candidate owns. These may include knowledge of programs, operating systems, programming languages, and tools. For example, the key skills of a system administrator might look like this:

• Development, design, implementation and installation of corporate networks
• Linux administration experience
• Knowledge of SQL query language (MySQL, PostgreSQL)
• DBMS deployment and administration skills

An example of key layout designer skills:

• Basic knowledge of JavaScript and jQuery
• Knowledge of web page markup language HTML
• Knowledge of CSS Cascading Style Sheets language
• Integration of layout into CMS

These are just examples of skill sets. Your lists may be different and more extensive.

This information is considered as an opportunity to test your knowledge of the subject. Therefore, do not indicate skills that you have heard about and have a rough idea of ​​them, but have never worked with them. If you have tried some tools, then write so. Separate things that you know well and that you are superficially familiar with.

About Me

Work is not only a mechanical process. IT specialists communicate and interact a lot. Everyone wants to work surrounded by people they like.

In the “About Me” section you should leave information that will tell you about you as a person and a specialist. Many people write about communication skills, responsibility and determination. But such characteristics will not distinguish the candidate from the rest.

Here you need to tell things about yourself that will potentially interest the employer. For example, if you are constantly learning new programming languages ​​to improve, write about it. Tell us who inspires you, what resources you study, which methodology for creating work processes is closer to you. For example, you are used to working according to Scrum.

The “About Me” section allows you to find common ground, and if interests coincide, create sympathy. The text in this section might look like this:

I have been involved in project and event management in the field of entrepreneurship, charity and volunteering for more than three years. We have extensive experience in organizing conferences, including international ones.

I like to think through the structure of projects, implement it and see the result. In my free time, I volunteer, go to lectures and conferences, and study.

I want to develop in the advanced IT field: improve my skills in order to create large-scale and useful services in a team of like-minded people.

Conclusions

In this lesson, we looked at what to write about in a resume if you have no experience, whether you need to indicate irrelevant experience, what to write about yourself, and when to write a resume. Let's repeat the important points:

• You should prepare your resume as early as possible, even if you have no experience and are just learning. The sooner your resume appears in searches, the more likely you are to be noticed. If you prepare your resume in advance, you will have the opportunity to send it as soon as someone is interested in you
• Create a resume in PDF format, do not paste the resume text into the body of the response letter, and check it for errors
• Do not indicate in the education section all the courses you took. Most courses won't tell your employers anything useful. Leave in your resume only those that really influenced you and you consider them most valuable
• Indicate any experience that is at least indirectly related to IT. Years of work mean little. What is much more important is what you did and what successes you achieved
• In key skills, you should not indicate those that you have heard about and roughly imagine them, but have never worked with them
• Tell us things about yourself that would potentially interest an employer. Responsibility, communication skills and determination promise everything. Tell us something unique that will help you find common ground with the employer.

Looking for a job is difficult, especially for those who are doing it for the first time or changing their field of activity. So that the search does not drag on and does not cause anxiety, irritation and despair, you need to pay special attention to it.

Before looking for a job, you need to consider that there is seasonality in hiring in any field. And it works differently everywhere. That being said, there are trends that work in most cases.

For example, at the end of January a set begins, which reaches a peak in March-April, then a sharp decline during the May holidays and a plateau in the summer. By September, hiring begins to pick up again and peaks in October. The decline begins in November and reaches its lowest point in December, when no one is hiring. The latest decline is because no one wants to pay new people for ten holidays when they haven't done anything yet. Then the cycle repeats.

You can look for a job in different ways. The most popular one is to post your resume on aggregator sites and wait for an invitation. But this is a passive search, which is effective for senior specialists and unique experts or managers. But for Junior and Middle positions this approach will lead nowhere. An active search is suitable for them - posting a resume, independently monitoring vacancies and responses.

In this lesson, we'll figure out how career goals and selection criteria will help you find a job, what three rules you need to follow, and why you should monitor the number of responses and offers. We will also share the most popular and effective job channels.

How to look for a job

To prevent your job search from being difficult, tedious and fruitless, you need to adhere to certain rules:

• Define career goals and selection criteria
• Follow important points
• Evaluate results using a funnel

Let's start with a career goal and selection criteria that will help make your job search easier.

Criteria for choosing a place of work

To ensure that a new place of work does not disappoint, but provides opportunities for career growth, it is important to determine your career goals and criteria for choosing a job. This is worth doing for several reasons:

• It will be easier to filter out unsuitable options
• You will only respond to offers that suit you
• Choose the appropriate search methods

Your goals may be very different, which means your job search methods will also be different. Let's imagine that our goal is to get a Junior Java developer position in three months. Next, for this purpose, you need to determine the criteria for the place of work.

What is important to us:

• Work up to 9 hours a day
• Hybrid form of work (50\50)
• Convenient office location
• No dress code
• Working in a team of experts
• Interesting tasks
• Quickly see the result of your work
• The product itself, development structure
• Variety - taking on more responsibility, trying new things
• VHI is not necessary, but will be a big advantage

What we don't want:

• Rigid hierarchy
• Large-scale and time-consuming tasks
• Lack of support in solving new problems

The search strategy will depend on what criteria we choose. To do this, you need to analyze which types of companies have the same criteria. Each type will have its own search methods and channels. Some criteria will be more in line with a startup, others with a large international IT company. Based on another group of criteria, it will be obvious whether it is better to choose remote or project work.

It seems that the criteria can only complicate the search, but in the end they will lead to results faster. You no longer try on every vacancy, but know exactly what to look for.

Once you have decided on your goals and criteria, you can move on to searching for vacancies. Just first you need to understand how to look for them.

Three Important Rules

There are three important rules that help you look for a job:

• Monitoring suitable vacancies and offers. First you need to decide on your search strategy and select the channels through which you will monitor new job offers
• Relevant resume. It is worth checking how closely the job requirements match the description of experience, knowledge and skills in your resume. If you understand that you have the skills described in the vacancy, then you should add them to your resume and apply. Otherwise, your chances of getting an offer will be low
• Representation in the labor market. The greater the presence of a candidate on the labor market through services, websites and professional resources, the easier it is for recruiters to find him and make a tempting job offer. This way you can increase your chances of receiving an offer or finding projects and strengthening your portfolio

These rules will make your job search effective. But to achieve your goal, you need to understand how many vacancies are worth viewing and how many to respond to. Consider a search funnel.

Job Search Funnel

To get hired, you need five invitations to interviews, 50 job applications and 500 resume views. These are average numbers and will vary from job to job. But you can check them when looking for a job.

This funnel streamlines the process and helps reduce anxiety. Failing the interview is not a failure. You just need to get four more offers, maybe one of them will end in an offer.

We know what rules to follow to search more efficiently, and we also understand how to streamline the search. It remains to figure out what job search channels are available.

Conclusions

If you are looking for a job, think about the purpose and criteria of your search, determine the channels in which you will search. Register on various resources, post your resume, look for suitable vacancies, and apply.

Job search services, social networks, telegram channels and communities increase presence in the labor market and speed up the search process. They also help to build connections, immerse yourself in the professional field and strengthen your portfolio. This does not guarantee employment, but will increase the chances of receiving an interesting job offer.

To make your first interview as successful as possible, you need to prepare for it. This will reduce the likelihood of failing the interview, as well as the anxiety before meeting.

In this lesson, we will look at what is talked about in an interview - what key topics are covered during the interview.

What do they talk about during an interview?

The interview can last more than one hour. Some companies require you to go through two or more rounds. Sometimes they go in a row and turn into a multi-hour marathon, sometimes they are divided into several days.

No two interviews are the same. The same people conduct every interview slightly differently. Much depends on which direction the dialogue will go, what mistakes the candidate will make and where his thoughts will lead. Even within the same specialization, different companies may ask for different things.

The stronger the company, the more fundamental issues and fewer applied ones, and vice versa. In simple situations, they are only interested in applied skills that are needed specifically for this position.

The interview process depends on the candidate's previous experience. If they can talk to you about past projects, they will start asking you about them. If not, then tests for general intelligence will be used.

Key topics for an IT interview:

• About Me. Past experience
• Applied knowledge
• Tasks

About Me. Past experience

Usually the interview begins with an introduction. At this stage, they take a closer look at you, assess your overall adequacy and look for clues for further conversation. Ideally, you need to have real projects behind you with your participation. Educational projects whose code is posted on Github are also suitable.

At this stage, the candidate will be asked questions based on his story about himself. They may turn out to be unusual and unpredictable, so it is impossible to prepare perfectly for them.

The main thing is not to lie or exaggerate when talking about yourself, and to understand in practice what you are talking about. This way, you will be more likely to accurately answer questions from a recruiter or employer.

Example of questions that may be asked:

• What was the last book on your profession that you read?
• What are you most proud of as a coder/programmer/analyst?
• Why did you leave your previous job?
• How was the work process structured at your previous place?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?

To prepare for these types of questions, analyze the story about yourself and try to find places in it that can be caught on or that can be clarified.

Applied knowledge

This includes a large group of questions about the technologies you will have to work with. At an interview, you may be asked about both general and specific knowledge. The first includes basic knowledge. For example, a layout designer may be asked:

• What is semantic HTML?
• What is the difference between HTML and HTML 5?
• What is the SPAN tag used for?
• Explain techniques for applying CSS to HTML documents

Specific questions may be asked that match your skills, experience, field and level. For example, a Senior-level data analyst might be asked about using ML attribution. Or they can test their knowledge using a framework or library, for example, pandas.

Tasks

The tasks for different specialists vary. In this lesson we will look at the most common ones that both a programmer, a layout designer or a tester may encounter at an interview.

Eureka or imagination tasks

There is a category of tasks that were fashionable to ask in interviews before. Microsoft was the first to ask this, then many others followed suit. Here are some examples:

• Why are the hatches round?
• How many tennis balls can fit on a bus?
• How many piano tuners are there in the world?
• How to move Mount Fuji?
• If a fuse burns for one hour, how can you make it burn out in half an hour?

The questions themselves are interesting. It’s worth racking your brains over them among your friends. The problem is that they poorly correlate with the skills of IT specialists. Such questions are not logical, but rely more on imagination and eureka - the state when you suddenly guessed the answer. There is usually more than one answer.

It is believed that the very process of reasoning about these questions shows how a person’s brain works. On the one hand, it shows, but on the other, the state of stress and the suddenness of such questions is discouraging. Moreover, the interviewee most likely will not understand what they want to hear from him.

Large companies have given up on these issues, but no one is immune. There is always a chance that you will be asked about hatches. Therefore, it makes sense to prepare in advance.

Recommendations:

• Read the book “How to Move Mount Fuji?”
• Find lists of similar questions and try to answer them

Logic problems

This is a different type of task. They have very specific answers and are based on formal logic. For example:

• How many times a day do the clock hands cross?
• What is the angle between the hour and minute hands if the clock says 15:15?
• Megamind has two identical glass balls. In what minimum number of throws can one be guaranteed to determine from which floor of a 100-story building the balls break?

The last problem is very powerful and is often asked. Although it looks cartoonish, there is a cool algorithmic problem inside it.

Periodically solving such problems improves algorithmic skills, working with number systems, logical operations and mathematics. Therefore, we recommend that you learn to solve logical problems in advance.

Key Skills Objectives

The most important tasks will be those by which the level of proficiency in the declared skills can be assessed. They are different for every IT specialist.

For example, programmers may be asked to solve a problem involving algorithms and data structures, number manipulation, or writing code. And testers may be asked to test something, for example, an authorization form on a website or an application.

It is impossible to predict what specific tasks will be asked during an interview, but you can prepare for them. Carefully review the responsibilities and required skills of the position. Most likely, you will be asked questions about these questions because the company needs you to be able to solve their need.

Also, make sure that your resume contains only true achievements and skills. This way you are more likely to be able to solve the problem.

We recommend that after each interview you write down the questions and challenges you encountered. This will give you a base that will help you pass interviews more easily.

Conclusion

In this lesson, we figured out how to better prepare for an interview in order to reduce anxiety when passing it. Now you know what you need to prepare for. All that remains is to practice and improve your weak points. In this case, you will increase the likelihood of successfully passing the interview.

Most job seekers don't like interviews, and for good reason: they have to compete with other candidates, be assessed against unknown criteria, and communicate with strangers.

During the interview, the candidate goes through tasks that evaluate the person’s experience, knowledge, skills and strengths. However, there is no guarantee that the candidate will receive a job offer. The uncertainty of the situation and the rush only increase the tension.

All these factors add up to one picture: even experienced and strong candidates are worried and anxious, cannot cope with emotions and, as a result, do not always express themselves. To prevent this from happening, you need to learn to cope with stress - then you will be more comfortable at the interview.

In this lesson, we'll learn how to manage stress and what to do before, during, and after an interview. You'll learn how to reduce stress and show off your strengths—and ultimately be able to leave a good first impression of yourself.

Reducing anxiety before an interview

Often, stress factors include thoughts of evaluation, high expectations, and fear of error or failure. Such thoughts influence our emotional state, and our emotional state influences our actions.

Therefore, you should start preparing for an interview by analyzing your thoughts using this template:

1. Write down everything you think about the upcoming interview.
2. Notice how these thoughts make you feel
3. Pay attention to whether these thoughts are beneficial and help you achieve your goal.
4. If your thoughts aren't helpful, think about how to change them.

Let's look at this example:

• What I’m thinking: “I shouldn’t have been invited to an interview, I’m still not suitable for this position.”
• What I feel: excitement, anxiety, fear
• Is there any benefit from these thoughts: no
• How to change the thought: “It’s unlikely that they would call me just like that. They have already decided to spend time on me - apparently, my experience is still suitable. Most likely, there were other candidates who were less suitable than me. This means they are already interested in me. There are no serious reasons for concern."

Let's look at another example:

• What I'm thinking: "I'm afraid of being rejected"
• What I feel: fear, horror, confusion
• Is there any benefit from these thoughts: no
• How to change the thought: “Refusal does not mean that I am a bad specialist. Even the most experienced professionals sometimes get rejected. Finding a job is a mutual process: the company is looking for an employee, and the employee is looking for the company. If they refuse me, nothing bad will happen.”

It is very rare for candidates to get hired by the first company that invited them for an interview. Therefore, it is useful to supplement these thoughts with a plan B. Answer the question in advance: “What will I do if I really don’t pass the interview?” Then the fear of failure recedes, and confidence and calm appear in its place.

Think of rejection as one step towards your goal. Shift your focus and imagine that for one offer you need to get a hundred refusals. This way you will reduce stress and improve your interviewing skills.

Sometimes working with your thoughts is enough to relieve anxiety before an interview. If this doesn't work, here are some additional options to consider:

• Content preparation helps to form a negotiating position
• Mental preparation reduces pre-interview stress

Let's start meaningful preparation

Companies often don't communicate candidate evaluation criteria, which adds uncertainty and creates anxiety. Therefore, it is important to make the situation clear, precise and understandable yourself

Try to find out more about the company:

• Explore its website and find out what values ​​and mission the company conveys. It’s useful to try them on yourself - how much do you want to work in this environment?
• Watch speeches from company leaders and department heads with whom you will work. Sometimes such speeches can be found in the public domain
• Try to find friends who already work in this company. Information from employees will provide more clarity, help you prepare more thoroughly for the interview, and strengthen your negotiating position.

In general, try to clarify as many details as possible before the interview. These steps will help:

• Make your own decision whether to go there to work
• Generate clarifying questions about the vacancy and the company
• Identify problem areas in the position you are applying for

During this research, you will weigh the pros and cons, get to know the company better, and be able to come to the interview with a ready-made list of questions and suggestions.

Rehearsing self-presentation

Self-presentation is a short extract from your resume, a story about your professional path. Even if the resume details responsibilities, experience and knowledge, self-presentation cannot be avoided. Make sure that your self-presentation lasts no more than 5-8 minutes. To meet this time, highlight experience that will be of interest to a specific employer.

The story about the experience can be structured like this:

• I got a job at company A because...
• My responsibilities included tasks such as...
• During my work, I managed to...(get promoted, improve processes, increase metrics by X%, receive awards, undergo training, etc.)
• I left company "A" because...
• Then I moved to company B because...

In your story, do not forget to indicate the time frame: how long you worked in the company, in what month and year you joined it, when you left.

A story about yourself using this template will be harmonious and structured - you will save time for yourself and the interviewer.

Think ahead about what questions the interviewer will ask. In a calm atmosphere before the interview, come up with answers to them - it will be great if the answers highlight your strengths and hide your weaknesses. Also think about answers to common questions, for example: “What exactly were the conditions that interested you in this vacancy?”

An interview is a two-way process, so asking your own questions will help you decide if the company is a good fit for you. It's best to prepare a list in advance. It will be strengthened by the following questions:

• What challenges will I face?
• What results are to be achieved?
• Who will you be working with on the team?
• How is responsibility distributed among employees?
• By what criteria is the team's performance assessed?
• By what criteria will you understand that I am coping with the tasks?

Content-based preparation helps predict the interview. The situation will become clearer, due to which the stress level will decrease - as a result, you will not worry at the interview.

But sometimes there is not enough meaningful preparation, and anxiety continues to get in the way. In this case, it is useful to prepare psychologically.

Getting Ready For The Interview Psychologically

There are many ways to deal with anxiety and stress; we will list the most universal ones. Experiment and check what helps you cope with anxiety:

• Exercise stress. Jumping, squats, or other physical activity before an interview reduces adrenaline levels and helps cope with anxiety. Pay attention to how stress manifests itself in the body. If you notice tension in your neck or shoulders, stretch the muscles with self-massage or exercises
• Voice. He often shows excitement, so he should pay special attention. Before the interview, stretch your jaw muscles - this will relieve tension in your voice. You can do this exercise: stretch your lips into a tube and make ten circular movements clockwise and counterclockwise. Bring water to the interview in case your throat gets dry.
• Breathing exercises. Take a series of deep exhalations and inhalations, or use a breathing square. Breathing exercises calm and relax the nervous system
• Music. Try different genres in advance and choose one that reduces anxiety and worry
• Walk. To reduce anxiety, choose favorite routes where you feel calm and relaxed
• Reward. An interview is about stepping out of your comfort zone, and it’s worth rewarding yourself with something for it. Come up with a reward regardless of the outcome of the interview. This way you will support your efforts and strengthen your desire to act.
• Smile. It has been proven to lower heart rate, stimulate endorphin production, and reduce pain and stress. Therefore, smile at yourself in front of the mirror - it will help you tune in
• Pose. Think about what a person looks like who passes an interview easily. What is his posture, posture, facial expressions, gestures, what kind of speech. Try trying on this image for yourself for one minute. Notice how this image changes your state

How To Deal With Interview Anxiety

Before the interview itself, you should relax and express yourself as much as possible and appropriate.

To cope with interview anxiety, imagine that you have known these people for several months. You meet with them every day in this office, sit at this table on this chair. Imagine that you have already been accepted and it is important to go through some formality - answer questions.

If the excitement takes over and it is difficult to formulate thoughts, take pauses in your answers, and during these pauses try to distance yourself from the excitement. For example: count the corners in your office or think about what you last bought in the store. This helps you regain your composure.

Name your emotions: “I’m worried.” By naming the state, you take back your power, and to the interviewer it is a sign of sincerity and high emotional intelligence.

How To Relax After An Interview

After the interview, the anxiety dissolves. But if this does not happen, then return to the recommendations above.

After the interview, you definitely shouldn’t scold yourself - even if you received a refusal or weren’t able to prove yourself one hundred percent. Remember: you did your best. Perhaps another candidate was more suitable for this position at this company, and another company is waiting for a candidate like you.

When the emotions pass, you can take stock and take time for reflection. Think about what worked and what still needs to be improved.

Conclusions

We looked at the types of preparation that can help reduce stress before, during and after an interview. We divided the preparation into several stages: working with anxious thoughts, content and psychological preparation.

We hope these recommendations will help you showcase your talents and get a job offer from a company you like.

Hexlet students have the opportunity to practice an interview before the actual interview. This option is available to those students who are taking the Career Track.

To successfully pass an interview, knowledge will not be enough. It is important to be able to show them, as well as abilities and skills. You also need to be able to make a good impression on those who interview you.

In this lesson, we will analyze the stages in the interview process and tell you how to behave, what to say and what questions to ask.

First Impression

The candidate begins to be assessed even before the interview. If you are late for an interview or don't show up at all, they most likely won't want to do business with you. Responsibility is a basic requirement for any candidate. But no one will say this out loud, since responsibility is implied by default in any business.

Be punctual, call in advance, negotiate, apologize if necessary. Situations are different, no one is immune from force majeure. Call and let them know - this way you will show that you care about other people and their time, and this is appreciated.

Appearance matters a lot even in online interviews. They say that sympathy for a person arises within the first seconds of contact. Moreover, we are talking not so much about clothes, but about neatness and neatness.

Clothing is important, but not critical. The main thing is to comply. You definitely don’t need to come in a suit and tie; most likely they won’t understand you. Dress as you would in everyday life.

After each interview, monitor the relationship between appearance, likability, and interview outcome. This way you can calculate the highest correlation, which will help in your future interviews.

We also recommend being open. Everyone likes appropriate humor; it relieves tension and makes people feel good about themselves. While you enter the office, wait, say hello and go into the meeting room, you can exchange a few words and make it clear that you are an open person.

Interview Stages

The interview consists of several stages. In each case they occur in a different order. Let's look at the most important ones:

• A story about yourself
• Closed questions
• Open questions
• Problem solving
• Questions for interviewees

A Story About Yourself

At the beginning of the interview, candidates are usually asked to talk about themselves, their last place of work, their experience and projects. This information can become the basis for further conversation.

The interviewers are most interested in your real experience, what problems you solved, what difficulties you encountered and how you overcame them. It’s great if you have such experience. If not, then it’s okay - talk about educational projects.

When you talk about yourself, don't get carried away. The interviewer probably doesn't want to hear your whole story - from school to today. Prepare this story in advance so that it is short but succinct.

Closed Questions

Closed questions require a clear answer or “Yes”/“No”. People often ask: “Have you worked with Tool N?” Such questions cannot test the candidate’s abilities and how he solves problems. At the same time, you can quickly find out how well he knows the technologies necessary for his work.

If you have never worked with this tool, then simply say “No”. If you at least know what it is, then say so: “I know that this thing solves this problem, but I haven’t worked with N.”

If you have experience with a similar tool, you can also say about this: “I didn’t work with N, I used Y for the same task.” Any such answer gives the interviewer a clue as to what to talk about next.

Open Questions

Open questions require a detailed answer. For example, a web designer might be asked: “What CSS properties can be inherited?”, and a data analyst: “What is the difference between machine learning and deep learning?” Such questions cannot be answered “Yes”/“No”. The interviewer will wait for a complete answer. The main thing is not to answer: “I don’t know.”

If you have no idea what we're talking about, feel free to say so. At the same time, check where it is better to read or watch about it. This is a good sign for the interviewer - he sees that you are ready to delve into and understand.

Open questions are asked to see your train of thought, ability to analyze, ability to ask the right questions, put forward hypotheses and find answers. An open question is almost always a dialogue. Ask clarifying questions, make assumptions, speak out loud, give reasons for and against.

The bulk of the interview is usually based on open-ended questions. A lot depends on your ability to reason out loud.

Problem solving

Interviewees have different approaches to solving interview problems. Some do not give them, others believe that without real practice it is impossible to draw correct conclusions about the candidate’s level. For example, programmers may be asked to write a piece of code directly on paper, and testers may be asked to come up with test cases for some application function.

Problem solving occurs in real time. It is important for the candidate to show not only the correct result, but also the process of solving the problem.

The interviewer should see how you reason, what tools or methods of solution you use, and whether you ask the right questions in response. In this case, you will become a more interesting specialist for the employer. This way you will show not only your key skills, but also soft skills, which we will talk about in future lessons.

Questions For Interviewees

During the interview, you will be asked to ask questions about the company, the recruitment process and the job. This is an important stage. If you don't have them, the employer will think that you have no interest in the job. Here is an example of question topics:

• About the interview itself - feedback. Ask for recommendations on what and where to read, what to understand, what knowledge to improve. Any specialist will be happy to share his experience with you and mentally add a plus to your karma
• About the product and responsibilities. Find out what you have to do. Just ask clarifying questions, since the recruiter or other specialist has already clearly talked about the main responsibilities. Ask if the product/project can be seen on the Internet, if there are any problems right now, who is on the project team
• About cultural values. Find out if there are common team activities or how the company trains employees. This will show how the company cares about its team and what is important to them

Be careful. If you ask too many questions, you will be considered meticulous.

After The Interview

This is an advanced practice that can change your hiring decision in a positive way. Be sure to sort out all the questions, answer them and make a list with them. Send the list to the company's email with an explanation that you have sorted out all the questions. Interviewers may be so impressed that they decide to hire you for being overly motivated.

Conclusions

Even if you didn’t pass the interview, nothing bad happened. You gained tremendous experience and learned about your weak points. Next time it will be much easier and clearer.

If you show insufficient knowledge, but are liked as a person, you can easily be called back for an interview again. Often companies have a rule: call the candidate again after 3-6 months. Be sure to clarify this information and prepare for a new meeting.

Applicants face refusals at all stages of employment: during the application for a vacancy, at an interview, during a test task and a technical interview. There is always a chance of receiving a polite response like “Unfortunately, we are not ready to consider your candidacy yet.” The likelihood of failure does not depend on skill level or grade.

Sometimes employers simply do not respond to responses - this is unpleasant, but completely natural. In this lesson we will look at how to act in such a situation.

How to deal with rejection during the response stage

Let’s imagine that you have compiled a resume, selected search channels, and even posted a post on social networks about your job search. Several days pass and still no response. And then disturbing thoughts appear: “What if my resume is not interesting to anyone?” In this case, you need to proceed as follows:

• Check your resume and show it to your friends
• Find your dream company
• Reduce your anxiety levels

Check your resume and show it to your friends

An outside perspective will help you find new aspects that can be corrected, for example:

• Specify job title
• Change expected salary level
• Correct grammatical errors or typos
• Expand the description of the pet project

Find your dream company

When a person receives many refusals at the response stage, he may think that with such experience they will not take him anywhere. He may also think that now it is important to get a job somewhere. In this case, it is useful to stop and ask these questions:

• What is my dream company?
• Which team do I want to develop with?
• Where and in what project do I want to apply my skills?

If you don’t receive answers to your applications, try to start not from the posted vacancies, but from the companies you want to work for. Explore the websites of companies that interest you, go to their career pages, look for HR contacts and contact them. With a good cover letter, some candidates find a job right away in the company of their dreams - this is possible.

Also pay attention to the recommendations of friends and acquaintances: they may recommend companies that you have not heard of.

Reduce your anxiety levels

Looking for a job is difficult not only from a technical, but also from an emotional point of view. Therefore, it is important to monitor your condition, work on your anxiety levels and reduce stress. Start by making your job search a routine. Plan a specific time at which you will search for a job every day:

• Update resume
• Communicate with recruiters and check emails
• Watch videos with examples of successful interviews

This way, finding a job will become a familiar daily task. This will bring order to your life and help reduce anxiety. If anxious thoughts still overwhelm you, allow yourself to feel those emotions.

You can try a visualization technique: imagine difficult thoughts as pictures in a book and calmly turn the pages. Speak and think about every negative thought, and then mentally close this book and put it on the farthest shelf.

Negative thoughts will still remain with you, but they will no longer interfere. You will be able to get distracted and get things done. Walking in the fresh air, playing sports, and communicating with friends, loved ones and pets also help.

Psychological preparation for an interview is no less important than technical preparation.

How to prepare for an interview

If you have been invited to an interview, a new difficult stage begins - you need to prepare properly. Typically, a company has several stages of interviews: first with HR, and then with a technical specialist. If you are applying for a junior position, be prepared for one more stage - a test task.

For you, a test task is an opportunity to improve your technical skills and cope with one or two more interesting problems. For the company, this is an opportunity to quickly get to know the candidate and understand whether he has the right skills. We will not give examples of test tasks, because each company has its own. However, we recommend that you prepare well for your meeting with HR.

Remember that HR is usually interested in you passing the interview successfully. His main task is to make sure that you are an adequate, efficient employee who has growth potential and a desire to learn and develop. Show this side of yourself, and the interview will go well.

How to deal with rejection during the interview stage

Sometimes employers reject a candidate after the interview. This situation happens quite often, regardless of your grade and experience. To deal with this kind of rejection, first pay attention to your emotional state . Keep moving forward and give yourself space to process these feelings. At the first stage, try to distract yourself and take care of yourself.

When the first emotions pass, try to take a fresh look at the refusal . Take it as one of the small steps towards your goal. Think of every interview as an opportunity to improve your self-presentation and technical interview skills.

Every interview is unique and you learn new things from the people you interact with. Another important thought at this stage is that a company has many different reasons for refusal . Sometimes it’s not a lack of experience or high salary expectations, but external circumstances, for example:

• HR saw a discrepancy in values ​​with the company
• The customer revised the approach to hiring or postponed hiring
• The company has an urgent need for senior or middle specialists

Often it's not about your experience and resume. Keep looking and you will find a company that you are compatible with. The important thing here is not to devalue yourself. You are an adult, mature person with your own life goals and values, and somewhere there is a “dream employer” waiting for you.

Sometimes a long job search makes you think that you need to get a job anywhere. In this case, there is a risk of being faced with a position with no growth or too low pay. Rejection after an interview for such a position is the best thing that can happen, because this way you will save time and effort.

How to deal with learned helplessness

Sometimes, due to a series of repeated refusals, a person falls into a state of “learned helplessness” - a feeling of powerlessness in which the motivation to do something drops sharply. Junior specialists often encounter this situation, because it’s not easy to get a job as a junior without commercial experience, even with pet projects on Github.

The more interviews you go through, the more confident and calm you feel during them. Remember to benefit even in the event of rejection. Ask about your growth points and find out what the reason for the refusal is. Feedback and self-reflection are a very valuable thing that helps to improve hard and soft skills, develop and become better.

Experience of success in any endeavor also helps in the fight against learned helplessness. Start small and do what you know will work. For example, clean up your desktop, sort out the folders on your hard drive, go to training, do something that you have been putting off for a long time. This will begin your journey to a sense of control. This will give you the energy to take action, such as tailoring your resume or writing a great cover letter for your dream company.

Conclusions

If you can't find a job for a long time, it's worth checking whether you really want it. If there is no desire to work, then you will not be able to focus on the search and show your interest in the interview.

The reasons for this may be different: bad experience in a previous job, being laid off, emotional burnout, or even depression. It is difficult to cope with such conditions on your own, so it is better to seek professional help from a specialist.

In this lesson, we looked at how to deal with rejection: not giving up, getting motivated, managing anxiety, and overcoming learned helplessness. We hope that our recommendations will help you get your dream job. All that remains is to start taking action.

The new job may be a continuation of your past work experience or in a new area. In any case, this is a new experience, a new challenge and new relationships with colleagues.

When you walk towards the office on your first day, you may feel nervous, happy or scared. Psychologists say that transitioning to a new job is equivalent in terms of stress to the birth of a child - 39 points on the Holmes and Rye stress scale. This surpasses even changes in financial situation. It's all about the effect of novelty and uncertainty.

You don’t know what to expect from your colleagues, your manager, or what difficulties may arise in your new workplace. You may also worry about how others will perceive you in a work context.

In this lesson, we’ll look at what pitfalls there may be in this process, what HR looks at, and where it’s best to start getting acquainted in a new place.

First steps in a new workplace

Usually on the first working day several events occur at once:

• Meet the team
• Introducing yourself
• Introduction to the company and organization of processes

Meet the team

You get to meet your colleagues. Here it is important to remember those with whom you will have to communicate most often and work closely. If you're going to be meeting face-to-face on your first day, it can be helpful to take a notepad, draw an oval table, and jot down the titles and names of those being introduced. Also make eye contact with them. It’s a little easier to do this online via Zoom or using other means of communication.

Introducing yourself

In modern IT companies, as a rule, the HR manager sends out a newsletter the day before with brief information about you, your new position in the company and even your hobbies. If there has been no such mailing, be prepared to write at least a few words about yourself in the general chat. Tell us about your interests, what you are competent in and how you can be useful to others. Colleagues should also remember you and understand what questions they can contact you with.

Introduction to the company and organization of processes

At first, you will have questions about organizing the work process. Companies work in different ways: using Agile and Scrum, Kanban or other models. One thing they have in common is that each company has its own set of meetings, events and tools. Sometimes they are called rituals. The most common are:

• Sprint planning
• Stand up / Daily rally / Daily
• Sprint Review / Review
• Retrospective / Retro
• Demo/Demonstration and others

To facilitate entry into the company’s production processes and product development, it is worth studying the most popular practices in advance.

Don't be shy to ask a lot of questions. They are expected of a newbie. The sooner you gain clarity and understanding of what exactly is expected of you, the easier it will be in the future. For example, how and when you can plan a vacation, what actions to take in case of illness or illness, what bonuses appear after the probationary period, how corporate events are held. These are questions that you can immediately ask HR or your colleagues.

It is also worth finding out whether the company has a mentoring system, whether a mentor or a mentor is supposed to be a more experienced employee who shares the company’s values. You can chat with him informally, find out where the nearest canteen is, where to write a request for office equipment, what unwritten laws have been adopted in the company. It usually helps with socialization.

If there is no coach or mentor in the company, then you should take a closer look at your colleagues or establish good contact with your immediate supervisor.

Ideally, if possible, meet with top executives or founders who will share their vision and mission of the business.

Lifehacks that may come in handy

Let’s share a few life hacks that will help you better adapt to a new place in an IT company:

• Show your interest and desire to get into the work as quickly as possible. Ask in more detail about your area of ​​responsibility, what corporate resources the company uses, and what additional tools are available to implement tasks. You can ask the team lead, mentor, project manager, HR or colleagues. Or perhaps they themselves are happy to immerse you in all the processes
• Show active, genuine interest in getting to know your colleagues. This way you are more likely to find support and maybe even a friend at work. People like it when people are interested in them
• Share some goodies. Bringing a treat is the first step towards bonding and works great. Or go to lunch together and meet colleagues in an informal setting. If possible, attend a concert or theater together, or organize an outing. All this brings us very close
• Actively participate in all online and zoom activities if you find yourself in another city. This will help you get to know each other and quickly integrate into work processes if the team is distributed, which is not uncommon nowadays
• Know how to read information about the company’s corporate culture. It manifests itself in details and nuances: what employees talk about during lunch, how they react to management, what the dress code is, what relationships are like within the team. Be understanding of the unspoken laws that are adopted in the company

The first month of work is not easy, but then it usually gets easier. However, there is an important point - you should definitely ask for feedback from your colleagues and team lead.

Feedback

After the first month of work or earlier, ask for feedback from your colleagues and team lead. This will help you understand:

• Are you moving in the right direction?
• Are you coping with your responsibilities?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses
• How to increase efficiency and improve your work
• Are there any bottlenecks?

Feedback can be positive and corrective, as well as developmental, when the manager asks you questions.

If the feedback upsets you or makes you want to defend yourself, then do not rush to make excuses right away. Take a break, breathe in and out, show that you have heard your interlocutor. Getting feedback is much better than remaining silent or hushing up a problematic situation. Emphasize that you are faced with a common task, and you are ready to make every effort to solve it.

Feedback is not a complaint, but a constructive dialogue between the employee and the company. Accordingly, there are some techniques that can help make it truly useful.

When you give feedback to another person, you need to strike a balance of support and criticism. Always start with positive moments, discussing successes. Next, share what could be improved or done differently. End the conversation on a positive note.

It is important to rely on specific facts and situation, and not on the person’s personality. It is worth paying attention to the desired positive image of the result and action that you want to see after receiving feedback.

If the company has well-structured organizational processes, the HR manager will organize a one-to-one meeting with the manager or HR. The purpose of such a meeting is to understand how the adaptation process is going, what bottlenecks there are and what can be improved in terms of communication and other processes. Such meetings help a beginner to quickly integrate into the work process.

For example, you can build a dialogue around the following key points:

• How do you feel at work?
• Did your expectations match reality?
• Was there a connection with the manager?
• Is communication with the team easy?
• Is it clear what your goals and objectives are?
• Do you have everything you need to get the job done?
• Do you have an understanding of the rules and regulations adopted by the company?
• Do you have any questions about benefits from the company? How to apply for sick leave or vacation
• Do you feel valued as an employee? Do you feel comfortable with us?
• Are there bottlenecks? What do you like? What can be improved in the company?

Tips on your first steps in the workplace, as well as life hacks and feedback will help you enter a new team with less stress. However, there are mistakes that many beginners make. Let's look at them in more detail so that you understand which rules should not be broken.

Errors in the first month of work

• Don't ignore the unspoken rules in the company. It’s always better to ask what time everyone leaves work and how company birthdays are celebrated. Don’t actively compare your current job with your previous job out loud.
• Don’t immediately delve deeply into the souls of your colleagues: start getting closer gradually, different people have their own distance in depth and closeness in communication
• Try to be punctual. This is especially noticeable at first: missed deadlines, deadlines and agreements can affect the overall impression of you
• If something doesn’t work out or goes wrong, it’s better not to pretend that everything is fine, but to ask your colleagues or team lead for help
• Don't appear better than you really are. Being open, sincere, and being yourself is the best way to gain the trust of your colleagues.

Conclusions

The process of adaptation to a new place of work is not so simple. This experience is worth going through to meet new people, get feedback, and expand your knowledge and skills.

Experienced HR people say that you can understand the level of adaptation of an employee not by the absence of questions on his part, but when the person begins to smile relaxedly. Keep this in mind and let the tips above help you start enjoying your new job as quickly as possible.

It is important for employers that employees have experience in their field, so special attention is paid to so-called hard skills. But in addition, specialists must have soft skills that help in communication and solving work problems. In this lesson, we will look at what soft skills are, what applies to them, and why they are so valued.

Difference between hard skills and soft skills

Typically, employee skills are divided into two groups:

• Hard skills or hard skills are technical skills that are directly related to work tasks. For example, a developer’s hard skills include programming languages ​​and frameworks that he knows how to work with. And for a layout designer, this is the markup language for an HTML page
• Soft skills or soft skills are more abstract personal qualities that indirectly help to cope with responsibilities. For example, the ability to communicate with a team, manage your time, show empathy and give constructive feedback

According to the Linkedin Research on Global Talent Trends, 92% of HR and hiring managers evaluate candidates not only by hard skills, but also by soft skills. It seems that soft skills are not so important: if an analyst works well with data, this is already enough. In fact, everything is a little more complicated.

Developed soft skills help:

• Communicate productively with colleagues and avoid misunderstandings
• Build coordinated teamwork and create an atmosphere of mutual assistance
• Clearly divide tasks and responsibilities within the team
• Agree on terms and rules of interaction
• Organize processes within the team
• Negotiate with customers

If all specialists in a team have developed soft skills, they will cope with tasks faster and easier. Such a team communicates effectively with each other, which saves a lot of effort and time.

A beginner may not know all the nuances of the necessary hard skills, but can learn them on the job. But developed Soft Skills will give him a hundred points ahead of a candidate who is difficult to work with in a team. Soft skills are much more difficult to develop than any technical skills.

Required soft skills

Soft skills help not only to find a job, but also to move up the career ladder faster. It is more likely that the CTO will not be the most experienced system administrator, but the one who behaves actively in relation to related tasks, potential problems of the project, discusses this with his colleagues and the manager and proposes solutions.

Nowadays in IT there is a demand for soft skills that help to see perspectives, build relationships in a project team and present your results. Progressive educators suggest focusing on 4K:

• Teamwork
• Communication
• Critical thinking
• Creativity

Let's take a closer look at these four skills and discuss how to develop them.

Teamwork

The ability to work in a team is one of the most common job requirements. A true team player easily becomes part of any company. Such a person will come to the rescue, encourage you in case of failure, will be able to admit his mistakes, and will not become the instigator of the conflict.

To succeed in teamwork, it is important to clearly understand the responsibilities of your colleagues, your area of ​​responsibility, fulfill your obligations and not let the team down. You also need to learn to accept criticism and enjoy working together.

Communication

A newcomer to IT will be able to make a good impression on the HR manager if it is comfortable to communicate with him. Skills such as the ability to express one’s thoughts, ask questions, and behave politely and friendly are important here.

To develop this aspect, you need to communicate wherever possible: in the elevator with your neighbors, in line at the store. Join a public speaking club or take a negotiation course.

The ability to negotiate is also important because disagreements in work are inevitable in any project. Learning to negotiate is a prerequisite for any successful career, not just in IT. To be known as a better negotiator, don't shy away from difficult conversations, raise difficult topics, prepare different arguments, analyze the behavior of others in similar situations, and adopt best practices.

Imagine that you are faced with a difficult opponent in a negotiation. At the same time, you need to create an atmosphere of goodwill. Most people will give up something of little value for this purpose, but this is not the best solution. If this concession is not very valuable to you, you are too focused on yourself. To learn how to negotiate without harming yourself, read Kennedy Gavin’s book “You Can Agree on Anything! How to achieve the maximum in any negotiations.”

Critical thinking

Critical thinking helps you work with a huge flow of information, look for relationships between facts, make informed decisions and take responsibility. To think critically, get into the habit of fact-checking - constantly check facts, learn to distinguish reliable information from unreliable information, look for links to primary sources.

The enemies of critical thinking are reluctance to admit your mistakes and learn new things, conformism and conservatism, perception traps and stereotypes.

It is important not only to filter external information, but also to be critical of your own thoughts: develop awareness, doubt your conclusions, test your motivation for strength. Do the Five Whys exercise regularly. It helps you clarify the situation and critically evaluate your reasoning. For example:

1. I'm reading a book on testing. Why? — I’m interested in this author’s opinion
2. Why am I interested in the opinion of this author? — Because the author is considered an expert in this field
3. Why should I master testing? I want to earn more, and this profession is in demand now
4. Why should I earn a lot? I want to travel a lot
5. Why should I travel a lot? This makes me feel free and filled with new experiences.

Using this technique, you can get to the bottom of things and understand your values. Try asking yourself every day, “Why am I doing this?” before starting tasks. This way you will find out your hidden motivation and can get rid of unnecessary tasks.

Creativity

The IT field requires people who can think outside the box and find unusual solutions. IT professionals are often faced with tasks in which requirements may change along the way. Creativity in such a situation can save the project. Flexibility, variability, curiosity, idea generation, resourcefulness are the main assistants to creative thinking.

To develop creative thinking, you need to broaden your horizons and bring something unusual into your work routine. For example, ask yourself questions like these:

• Can I perform a familiar task differently?
• How can I change my workflow to create something new?

Let's do the Number Axis Method exercise. You need to select an object of analysis, take any of its parameters and start changing the value of the parameter, tracking the consequences. Let's take a birthday party as an example and try changing the parameters:

• Holiday area: What will a holiday look like in a small room? What will change if you change the territory to an entire city or continent?
• Celebration time: What would a birthday look like that is celebrated for a full 365 days? How to spend a holiday in a couple of minutes?

conclusions

The full list of soft skills can be quite long. It includes self-organization, planning, goal setting, time management, leadership and public speaking skills, conflict resolution and negotiation skills, customer focus and decision-making skills.

In this lesson, we figured out why soft skills are needed in IT. Thanks to developed soft skills, you will be able to communicate comfortably in a team, grow your career and achieve results in negotiations.

We also looked at “4K,” one of the classic typologies that includes communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and creativity. All you have to do is choose one of these skills and start actively developing it. This will be a step towards a better version of yourself.

Social connections are an important factor in career and personal success.

The more useful contacts you have, the higher your social capital and the wider your opportunities. A wide circle of friends and acquaintances helps you achieve your goal: they help you find a new job, establish new professional contacts, gain authority, strengthen cooperation, build a reputation or launch a startup.

You can achieve incredible results if you build a network of useful connections and acquaintances - this is called networking . At the same time, it is important that these connections and acquaintances correspond to your values ​​and help you develop.

Where and how to meet new people

Truly strong connections are formed not in small talk or events, but in work situations. Therefore, one of the effective ways to establish networking is to get involved in joint projects with other people, to implement large and long-term joint projects.

For example, on Hexlet we have Open Source - open source projects that can be developed and developed by anyone. In them, together with other developers, you can modify the program, check its security, or create your own. With the help of Open Source, you can not only gain practical experience and improve your hard skills, but also become noticeable in the developer community and meet new people.

Professional forums, conferences, trainings and online intensives will help you find like-minded people, exchange best practices and share your own experience with colleagues.

For example, professional forums include Habr Q&A - a question and answer service for geeks. They ask questions on IT topics to which you can get practical answers. And you can answer these questions yourself. Participate in discussions and communicate with colleagues. This way you will score points and make new acquaintances.

You can also give a presentation, and then your chances of developing a professional network will increase significantly. The main thing is to remember to place your contact information on the last slide. Previously, business cards were exchanged at offline events, but now they exchange links to social networks. Advanced conferences even have special chat bots that help you find people with common interests and goals to chat over a coffee break.

Where else are people willing to meet people?

• Traveling - it’s easy to make new acquaintances when you help out a lost tourist or conquer Elbrus in one team
• Joint leisure or hobby - at a party or sports game it is always easier to make new acquaintances or strengthen relationships
• Social projects - volunteering brings people together and makes the world a better place

How and why to develop relationships

For good networking, it is not enough to find and establish useful connections - you also need to maintain them. For most, this is difficult: we often don’t want to waste time on this and awkwardly distract another person from their business.

But this barrier must be overcome. For social capital to be beneficial, it is important to remind others of yourself and do something good and valuable for others:

• Happy birthday and holidays
• Share useful links, recommend interesting tools and services
• Discuss new articles, books, TV series, if the level of communication is warm enough
• Invite for coffee or interesting themed events, visit

Remember that networking is not about acquaintances in large numbers, but about built relationships. They give you the right to make a request, evoke positive emotions, and make you want to help. They are not built at once, it takes time. The ability to maintain relationships is more important here than the ability to start them.

Conclusions

• People will always move and change jobs, but the value of human connections will remain unchanged.
• Actively develop business and friendly contacts. This is your social capital, which can sometimes unexpectedly lead to a breakthrough in your career or business development
• Tell us how you can be useful to people and share your experience.
• Go to events, forums, conferences, educational programs and hackathons, because it is in joint activities that the strongest connections are formed
• Maintaining connections is no less important than establishing them: congratulating you on the holidays, sharing an interesting link or discussing a new article are the first steps in this direction

The social network LinkedIn has more than 700 million users from all over the world and more than 30 million jobs.

There are now more than 60 million companies on LinkedIn, the site is available in 24 languages, and 45 million people use it to search for jobs every week.

In this lesson, we'll look at how to create an effective LinkedIn profile and update it regularly to take advantage of all the service's features. We will learn how to build a personal brand and declare ourselves as a highly qualified specialist.

Does a junior specialist need a LinkedIn profile?

On LinkedIn you can find recruiters from large IT companies who are happy to hire juniors to raise them under their wing. If you have good English, you can try to find a job abroad.

Linkedin is also an excellent network for networking, where you can subscribe to cool specialists in your profile, establish contacts, and follow news. Your resume may get into the circle of the HR manager of the same company, which will help them notice you and invite you for an interview.

Let's look at the main stages of creating a profile on LinkedIn.

Target

First, it is important to decide for what purpose you will use Linkedin. It could be:

• Job search
• Strengthening your personal brand
• Building a professional network
• Meet new colleagues from your industry
• Demonstration of your project, product or services for the purpose of promotion
• Search for new ideas that are related to your professional field

The content of your profile, as well as the keywords by which you can be easily found, will depend on the choice of goal.

Profile photo

This is the first thing people see when they visit your Linkedin profile. A profile photo increases the likelihood that a recruiter will view your profile.

It’s worth choosing a high-quality photo that best suits your career goals. If possible, get professional portrait photography done.

Background photo

A background photo helps personalize your profile. Here you should choose a photo related to your professional activity, for example:

• Footage from a conference where you are a speaker
• Photo with your team
• Your portrait at your desk

If you don't have such a photo, you can create a personalized design or collage of a background photo. Resources like Canva can help with this . The recommended background size is 1584 x 396 pixels, maximum 8 MB.

Heading

The title is located below your name. Typically the title will be filled in automatically, but you can change it to whatever you want. Try to write about yourself in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd and earn trust. For example: “Java developer, I’m participating in the creation of such a cool project/product . ”

A description of a large client or employer would also work here. If you don't already have them, think about the benefits you can bring to a potential employer. Or about your unique talent:

• “Tester. I can think like a user"
• “HRD in IT. Helping people change their lives"

Don't be afraid to experiment, show some headline options to friends, tell them about your goal and listen to feedback on what resonates with them.

Please note that the title is indexed by the Linkedin search engine. Try to include keywords that you want other people to use to find you.

General information

This is an opportunity not only to write briefly about your achievements, but also to tell a story about yourself:

• How did your career develop?
• Why did you choose this profession
• What are your unique talents?
• How do you see your development now?

Experience

Here everything is like in a classic resume: you need to reflect the main milestones of your career path, describe your path in the companies in which you worked. It is important to indicate not only functional responsibilities, but also write about your achievements and results with specific numbers. You may not describe all your experience, but choose exactly what is relevant to your current career goals.

You can also describe cases according to the “Task - Action - Result” scheme in the context of a specific project, indicating the stack and key technologies. Here you can also attach a link to your project.

Education

In the section about education, similar to the section “Work experience,” indicate your place of study. If you wish, you may not fill in the dates of study.

In the “Courses” section you can include everything related to additional training and advanced training. You can also add all diplomas that are related to your professional activity to the “licenses and certificates” section.

Skills and their confirmation

In this section, identify key skills and ask for confirmation of them. For example, you are a data analyst with the specified SQL skill. You can request confirmation from your client or team lead after completing the relevant project. In addition to technical skills, it is useful to have proven soft skills, for example, teamwork or management skills.

You can also ask colleagues or friends in your professional field to exchange proof of skills and recommendations. Skills are well indexed as keywords in your profile when searched.

Recommendations

Recommendations reinforce your reputation and build trust in your skills and experience. A good recommendation describes in detail:

• Why are you a professional in this or that field?
• What personal qualities make you stand out?
• What challenges did you encounter and how did you overcome them in a specific situation or project?

Recommendations are a letter of recommendation in 2-3 sentences. Ask for recommendations from people with whom you have collaborated on work projects, and actively recommend others yourself.

When you write a recommendation for someone, think about how it will help the person achieve their goals. Be concise, but write specifically about this person. It would be great if you could provide examples.

Other sections

On Linkedin, you can add additional sections to your profile, such as certifications and licenses, publications, volunteer experience, language skills, or testing. Use them if there is something valuable and unique about your experience, but don't add all the sections so you don't lose focus on the key points in your profile.

Once you've completed all sections, you can click the Edit public profile and URL link in the top right corner :

Here you can manage your privacy settings, for example: which sections will be displayed on your profile, who will see your photo. We recommend customizing your profile URL and using keywords that are relevant to your job or company.

Here you can see what your profile looks like from the outside and make sure that everything is in order: there are no errors, enough keywords have been used.

Once your profile is ready, start expanding your professional network. To do this, you can sync your LinkedIn profile with your email contacts list. It is also useful to add profiles of IT recruiters and pages of large companies whose vacancies you will monitor.

Conclusions

In this lesson, we looked at how to create an effective profile on LinkedIn and update it regularly to take advantage of all the features of the service. We also learned how to build a personal brand and declare ourselves as a highly qualified specialist. Some more tips for using LinkedIn:

• Publish posts and share valuable, quality information that may be useful to your subscribers
• Write about your professional interests and achievements, conduct active correspondence, communicate in thematic groups
• Stay active, update your status information