[Non-CS Major, Surviving as a Developer] 7. What Helps and Doesn't Help When Applying for a Development Job

Surviving as a Non-Computer Science Major Developer

#7. Things That Help and Don't Help When Applying for a Junior Developer Position

In developer communities, there are many questions like, "Will doing ~ help me get a job as a developer?" when it comes to applying for a developer position.
I'd like to organize the things I personally believe are helpful and unhelpful among these suggestions.

1️⃣ Technical Blog
Many people summarize what they've learned from academies or self-study in their blogs. Even popular service companies like Baemin (Baedal Minjok) operate technical blogs, and somehow it feels like a developer should have one. While writing a blog to review and organize your learnings is recommended, I personally believe that spending too much time on it is inefficient.

There's already a lot to do, such as acquiring and reviewing what you've learned from the academy, as well as previewing upcoming lessons. Instead of spending time on formatting and editing blog posts, it's more efficient to invest that time in studying. To be honest, most of the content in blogs is already available elsewhere, and recruiters don't have much time to thoroughly examine them. Developers are always busy...ㅜ)

I'm writing this blog post now, but I mainly focus on summarizing my personal learnings or projects I've built at work that I might want to revisit later. During my job search, I think it's better to focus more on studying than blogging!

Personal Recommendation: ⭐️⭐️

2️⃣ GitHub
Git is used for version control. It's used to share source code, manage different versions, record deployment history, and is almost essential in the industry. Academies sometimes use it to merge source code with team members during projects, and it also serves as a repository for storing personally studied source code.

I recommend managing source code on GitHub. It's an essential system in the industry, but it doesn't seem to be included in most academy curricula. Learning Git beforehand can help you adapt quickly after getting a job. However, there's no need to commit every day just to show your commitment (e.g., "daily commit streak"). Recruiters probably won't look at that level of detail, and constantly committing only academy source code isn't very meaningful.

Even if it's a small and simple project, categorizing it into separate repositories, committing, and summarizing what the program is, what you learned, and any difficulties you faced in the README.md file is a much better way to learn and showcase your abilities. (Later, you can also attach the Git URL of the project you think is the best and a brief summary of it to your documents.)

Personal Recommendation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

3️⃣ Obtaining Various Certifications
There are various development-related certifications like SQLD and OCJP. Sometimes, I see questions like, "Will getting SQLD help me become a developer?" Most developers, including myself, believe that only the "Information Processing Engineer" certification is necessary for developers. (Perhaps many developers aren't familiar with other certifications.)

Depending on your educational background, you can choose between the Information Processing Technician, Information Processing Industrial Specialist, or Information Processing Engineer certifications. If you have a higher-level certification, the lower-level ones don't really help. If you have the experience or educational background to get the Information Processing Engineer certification, it's best to get it in one go. However, if you don't meet the requirements (e.g., you only have an associate's degree), I recommend getting the Industrial Specialist certification first and then working towards the Engineer certification after gaining experience.

Don't bother with any others... It's a waste of time and money...

Personal Recommendation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️