

Ask HN: When to apply for a real job? - insuffi

Hello.<p>My question is mostly aimed at self-taught developers - when did you consider yourself good enough to apply for a real job?<p>I realize this sort of issue is difficult to quantify, but I'm curious as to what level of skill is actually needed to work as a developer professionally.<p>At this point I've been writing a lot of small utilities(&#60;200 loc) in python, random scraper/parser scripts on odesk, and playing around with Django. I can build a site or a blog engine in Django, but the ultimate problem is this:<p>How do you know that your skills/your code are/is good enough to work at a company.<p>If this question is too broad or doesn't make sense to you, keep in mind that I probably do not know industry specifics as I haven't been exposed to the real world yet.<p>Cheers.
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eugenesia
I had a degree in electrical engineering, but only coded substantially in VC++
(self-taught) in my fourth year of university. The university syllabus only
covered the basics of Java and C++, not enough for a real job.

Thereafter, I served my National Service, and worked for 5 years in non-
development roles in the Civil Service.

About 2 years before I left the Civil Service I taught myself HTML, CSS,
Javascript, Linux, PHP and design, and did maybe about 2-3 free websites/web
apps for friends. Just before I left the Service I was able to code small web
apps in PHP.

At that point I still wasn't very confident, so applied for a
developer/sysadmin role in a small company where the pay was way below market
average, trying to "break into the industry".

After about 2 years of developing larger web apps, and working with major
clients, I finally had some substantial development work to put on my
portfolio, so I'm applying for a real developer position now.

So it took about 4 years for me to transition from being a civil servant to
considering myself good enough to apply for a developer role.

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flexxaeon
It is a broad question. To specify, we'd need to know which jobs you'd be
applying for.

From your description, you could almost surely land an intern or junior
developer position. Those of course would (hopefully) give you the work
experience to move up from there.

The only way to really know is to start putting yourself out there and getting
feedback from potential employers. There are just too many variables between
companies for there to be an external gauge for "good enough".

