Do-It-Scared: Making a Game Plan to Get A Software Engineer Role

I got motivated to do this after listening to this episode of the programming podcast! I highly recommend a listen:

1. If you prefer videos: youtube.com/watch?v=zSUItHvifVY

2. If you're short on time and just want to sneak in a listen: open.spotify.com/episode/5RVkNhLYJFZgSXQmct..

I'll use three icons throughout this article

🔥 fire = related to my why / helps with motivation

🦀 crab = a challenge to face or a block (real or self imposed)

🛠️ hammer and wrench = a tool to get over the block or help achieve the goal

If you're scared when you see how long some of the embedded videos are, fear not! The links have a timestamp so it will start at the important section.

Do you know a tip that's not listed here? Please comment or send me a message! I'll add it and link to your social next to the tip as a thank you 😁.

Take your WHY to the gym, unlock your beast mode!

"And so what's special about that 1% of individuals that are making it all the way through? There's a couple things I've noticed (from) helping so many people to through it. And a lot of them come from lots of different sources, atomic habits, things like this. But there's some things that I've noticed. People that have a strong why can make it through"

".... (remembering a tweet that went something like) my co-founder just had a child I'm excited for like the next nine months of ridiculous productivity. Right? Where they have such a strong why they know they're going to just like go beast mode to provide for the little one. So there are moments in our lives where our whys can really crystalize" 🎤 Leon Noel @ 11:30

First up. I highly recommend solidifying out your why! What is that FIRE that's going to push you to dive through that window to actually reach your goals? When you're exhausted what is going to make you peel yourself off the ground and keep going?

Dig deep and be as honest with yourself as possible. Take the time to nurture your why, to make it's flame as big as possible 🔥

For me:

🔥 I want to be able to provide for my inner circle as needed, why? It would feel good and be a source of pride

🔥 I enjoy software development, even though it can be extremely tedious at times. Solving bugs and seeing changes is a huge dopamine hit. It feels great when you see your code turn into real, live websites and full stack applications. It's a source of pride when I realize how much I've learned over the years.

🔥 comfort of having extra money

reality check: lifestyle creep needs to be kept in check, or the amount of money won’t matter

🔥 It feels great when people tell me they were motivated by my posts and it helped them keep grinding and reach their goals

🔥 It would be cool to have the ability to drop a huge tip or donation to make someones day better. why? It would feel good

🔥 I could go to events or do new hobbies that I felt too guilty to use money on, or it was out of my means

🔥 It would be cool to one day be on the other side, and connect with other engineers looking for work and help them network into a role

🔥 Shallow but honest: software developer/engineer is a respected job title

Look around! Scope our your windows of opportunity!

Figure out how you can reach your goal and figure out which "windows" fit your personality best! The key is to really sit down with yourself about the true challenges and self-imposed challenges. Dig deep and really be honest with yourself about the self-imposed challenges.

1 Networking/ making friends/ making yourself known to the community

Time and time again the same advice pops up: You've got to network your way in.

“windows”: (easiest to hardest, for me at least)

engaging with others content on social media

🦀 can become a time-sink / distraction

🦀 can be easy to miss specific peoples posts

🛠️ Twitter/X and Bluesky: set up specialized lists or feeds on and then USE THEM

🔥 I get inspired by watching their journey, celebrating their successes and being there for the challenges

"the trick... is I have private twitter lists. I put every person that I'm trying to network my way into. Like to get a job, on that private twitter list. I start liking their posts. Retweet them every once in a while. Leave a comment. You do that for a couple of weeks, you went from a nobody to an acquaintance. And acquaintances get their dms read." - Leon Noel @ 37:00

1. liking others social media posts easy to do and it will help them become familiar with you if done regularly

   reality check: but eventually you'll need to directly interact with them to build a real friendship

2. sharing their content on my feed

3. LinkedIn: Follow relentlessly

"FOLLOW a TON of new people every single day, or at least 2x week. People in tech, other engineers, recruiters, marketers, product design, hit that Follow button without reservation"

🎤 Anna Miller linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:72..

4. Commenting on other's content 🛠️ HUGE for helping build up a real friendship 🔥 Can be lots of fun! especially if we're both allowing ourselves to be silly

5. LinkedIn: Like posts that talk about job openings you're interested in

"LIKE posts that mention job openings. Like them All. The more you like them, the more other posts like those you'll see. That's how Linkedin works"

🎤 Anna Miller linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:72..

creating and posting content

🦀 Nerves/ feels awkward

Reality check: the great outcomes can't happen unless you have the courage to do-it-scared. Whats the worst && best reasonable outcomes Ex: making friends, seeing others get motivated by your posts, getting known in the industry.

🦀 feel tired some days

🛠️ if extremely tired, I can manage to at least do the easier versions everyday

1. 100 days of code/ daily check in posts on twitter and bluesky

   🔥 others have mentioned how it can motivated them in their own journey or reminded them to do anki 😂

   🛠️ Use Fedica to make it less tedious to post the same thing on multiple socials

2. Make threads about my project's progress

   🦀 longer threads about the development process takes more energy and can throw me out of the flow state

   🦀 What if I'm bugging other people about clogging up their feed with long threads?

   🛠️ this account is literally a tech account, if they're not here for talking about tech they've made some unfortunate life choices 😂

   🛠️ I try to keep them limited to one thread, so it should be easy for them to silence the thread if it really is clogging up their feed

   🛠️ focus on logging the most important changes made and learning moments

   🔥 others have mentioned how it motivated them in their own journey

3. Post on LinkedIn

   🛠️ This helps you get found easier and helps you develop a name or brand for yourself

   🦀 LinkedIn tends to feel more stiff so it feels like you can only post serious content. But people have gotten lots of positive responses by posting some personal content like sharing photos of a hike, so you aren't actually limited to posting serious content.

"Post! Post about your career lessons, life lessons and more. When you post, you can find more relevant posts in your industry from other engineers."

🎤 Anna Miller linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:72..

4. post on Instagram

   🦀 I haven't used Instagram much so I'm not sure of the best way to use it for software development. I feel like I prefer bluesky or twitter over Instagram's format.

5. stream on twitch

   🛠️ helps you become more known in the community while you code, study or recharge by playing a game

   🛠️ get practice for talking about code out loud, which can help during interviews

   🛠️ some people have gotten job offers through connections they made while streaming

   🔥 can be lots of fun when you get over the nerves!

   🔥 More motivated to show up for others than yourself? Then do what rufio did and make streaming a way to show up for the community! This way people are motivated by seeing you stick with it, so they show up for themselves and code as well Links to Rufio's content: (She's currently not streaming much because the place she's staying at for the time being doesn't have a great internet connection) bsky.app/profile/helloitsrufio.bsky.social twitch.tv/helloitsrufio

Reaching out to new people

🦀 Direct messaging a CEO feels terrifying or improper

🛠️ A CEO would be happy that someone gives a damn about their company that you asked for a coffee chat before even applying

🦀 Not sure how to direct message them for a coffee chat, the unknown is scary:

Watch Leon Noel speedrun networking messages:

Coffee Chats

Coffee chats are where you reach out to people in the tech industry. This can be someone from a company you want to work at, or a local developer in your community.

So really whenever you can.

"How do you get the coffee chat... what is the message you send" answered in the below video:

🛠️ Tips for getting coffee chats by Madeleine: abrupt-acoustic-c3f.notion.site/How-to-Coff..

🛠️ Coffee chat questions:

docs.google.com/document/d/1oG7Jc54M_XR1DTj..

🦀 not sure where to find people to get coffee chats:

🛠️

Virtual Coffee is a tech community where friendships are formed and support is given to people at all stages of their journey. Join our laid-back twice-weekly conversations and our online events to connect with people who share your passion for technology. virtualcoffee.io

🛠️ "If you are a beginner in tech trying to get a job and struggle to get into conversations, try reaching out to other beginners to have a coffee chat." bsky.app/profile/dthompsondev.bsky.social/p..

🛠️ List of potential coffee chatters github.com/fharper/coffeechat

🦀 what if they say no to the coffee chat?

🛠️ Then they say no and you go on with life! You have nothing to actually lose and everything to gain

🦀 what if they don't reply?

"if you don't get a response at first it's not an indication. Its just people are busy. I often get a better responses on my second or third attempt than I did on my first. Because the first attempt they laugh and then just don't respond. The second attempt they're like, I kind of remember this person. And then the time is like, I've just turned from from a stranger into an acquaintance because I keep making them chuckle. And then they'll respond to me. Right?

and so I think people will send one message on a random platform like LinkedIn.....some people only check LinkedIn when they are looking for a job...so if you're shooting your shot on LinkedIn and you're not getting responses back, the people you're sending messages to might not even notice you're sending messages"

🛠️ People are often distracted, try doing a follow up in a few days. For LinkedIn especially people often don't login for days, weeks or even months. Check their activity to see if they've been active.

🦀 Feeling overwhelmed and like this will never pan out:

🛠️ look at the celebrations channel on the 100devs discord (sooo many of them mention how networking was what got them their role)

🛠️ Danny Thompson shares wins/ people getting jobs on his socials: x.com/DThompsonDev linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/recent-activit.. bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fsbiew5lypmnshzzh3..

🛠️ listen to freecodecamp podcasts, so many devs that are interviewed mention how networking was huge for them

🦀 Studying alone feels isolating?

🛠️ Get an accountability buddy and/or join discords!

🦀 Setting up a time is hard and frustrating!

🛠️ To lessen the back and forth, you can ask them if they have a Calendy for you to choose a time from. Also, you can set up a Calendy and offer to share it with them! Some people have used this technique to great success.

Calendy

🦀 Should I send my calendy in my first message?

🛠️ Use care if you do, as you can come off as pompous and rude!

"Imagine you’re a 22-year-old founder cold emailing Marc Andreessen to say, “I want to meet you. Pick a time from my Calendly.” - Wes Kao newsletter.weskao.com/p/unspoken-power-dyna..

🛠️ Offer to pick from their Calendy

"Do you have a Calendly? Happy to pick from that, or I can send over a few times is that’s easier.” - Wes Kao

You can find more examples of respectful asks in Wes Kao's article: newsletter.weskao.com/i/139511912/anatomy-o..

🦀 I'm scared I'll get slammed with appointments if I share my calendy!

🛠️ set a limit for how many coffee chats can be scheduled per day, week or month

1. clicking on the event and then the settings button to the top right. It will then show a dropdown with an edit button

2. Click more options on the bottom of the sidebar

3. Find Limits and buffers, click on the drop down arrow next to it, a drop down menu will appear

4. You can then set the maximum amount of those type meetings per day, week or month!

🦀 I'm stressed that if one coffee chat starts late, it'll run into the next coffee chat!

🛠️ set a buffer

1. do the same as above to get to the click Limits and buffer screen

2. you can set a 0 minute, 5 minute, all the way to a 3 hour buffer before and/or after the coffee chat

🦀 I want to add a short description but I'm struggling to find where to add it

🛠️ same steps as above but instead of clicking limits and buffers, click description

Ta ~ da!~ You can now add a description

🦀 I want to give the person multiple choices for our online location!

🛠️ Click the settings icon on coffee chat event, its the top right corner of the event type box

1. Click on the drop down arrow next to location, a drop down menu will appear

2. look at the bottom and click add location

🦀 I'd rather link it to my calendar, so if I have an appointment/ect during my normal availability I won't have to awkwardly ask them to reschedule!

🛠️ Hook Calendy up to your Calender & tell it which events are okay to book over

1. click the arrow next to free busy rules and it'll show this dropdown

2. click on connected calendars

3. It'll load a new page, click connect calendar account. Then follow the steps from the dialog that pops up

4. Now that your calender is set up, go to your calendar application (I use One Calender, not sponsored I promise 😂).

• Choose a term to add to events that are okay to book over. I added the term "bookover" but it can be whatever you want

  

5. Go back to Calendy and the free/busy rules

• click add meeting exception

• Next to meeting name click "includes" instead of "exact"

• it'll show you how many meetings this meeting exception will apply to

• click save changes

Want more guidance? This guide goes over how to handle overlapping meetings on Calendy: community.calendly.com/featured-tips-tricks..

🦀 How could I avoid them booking a coffee chat during the time I should be driving to an event?!

1. Click on "connected Calendars" under the free/busy rules, you can click the checkbox for "include buffers in this calendar"

2. Unfortunately this will just use the buffers you set up for the coffee chat event, for example, mine is 10 minutes

3. As a workaround what I did is, if an event fell in my availability window, I added the actual time in the title and I edited the "event time" to include driving time

LinkedIn

Usually you just look for local businesses that are hiring (or whatever companies you want to work for). Then look up who works there by clicking on the companies people tab:

Direct Messaging (DM)

Often results in this getting an alert that you need linkedIn Premium

🛠️ can DM if they’re a premium member WITH open profile messaging enabled They will have a gold linkedin logo next to their name

🛠️ can DM if you work at the same company (both of us have 100devs listed as a CURRENT job. It will not work if one or both of you left that company)

🛠️ can dm through a group you both share

• no limits anymore

This youtube video shows you how to dm group members:

“There was a cap on the daily number of messages you could send to group members for a brief period, but LinkedIn revoked it shortly after" 🎤 Saurav Gupta January 9, 2025 salesrobot.co/blogs/linkedin-limit

🛠️look on their profile for an alternative contact method (github, portfolio, email)

🛠️ user hunter.io or other services to figure out the email addresses of an employee

🦀 some are behind hunter.io’s paywall, but you mainly just need it to figure out the rough pattern of the emails

🛠️ if you can figure out the pattern the company uses for their employees email, you can guess what their email will likely be

inMail

• You would need to get premium to use inMail

🦀 costs money

🦀 only 5 InMails a month for premium career membership (special note: if someone replies you get 1 InMail credit back, so if they reply back you could technically get more than 5)

Reality check: unless they're obviously active on linkedIn they’ll likely check other methods of contact much more often than linkedIn (email, portfolio contact form, twitter/x, bluesky). Someone may not check on their LinkedIn for months

🛠️ There are ways you can get a trial or a free membership:

"To find an employee that is giving away LinkedIn Premium free coupons, first go to your LinkedIn search bar. Then, type either #linkedinpremium or #PlusOnePledge and hit enter. Click on Posts, and either sort them by latest or those posted in the last week"

🎤 skylead.io/blog/how-to-get-linkedin-premium..

🛠️ get a referral from first level connections that are using premium

"Condition #1 is — They can refer you to the same plan they are using themselves. So, if they are using Sales Navigator, they can refer you the same.Condition #2 is — They can only refer to 12 first connections in a year."

🎤 salesrobot.co/blogs/free-linkedin-premium

🛠️ trials for military veterans, visual studio subscribers and qualified journalists

🛠️ sometimes they’ll offer student-specific discounts in the premium section premium.linkedin.com

Amazon ended their partnership so prime students no longer get free premium

X/Twitter specific

there are often unique spaces, most notably the community for:

"🦁THE HUNT🎤🔥Getting a Job in Tech⁉️GrabTheMic🎤🔥" x.com/i/communities/1583617553712254978

Sending Emails

🦀 not sure where to start or what to write / nervous

🛠️ template for emails resilientcoders.notion.site/100devs-Email-T..

🛠️ can also ask for advice/ someone to look over a message by asking on discord

Recruiter Specific Emails

🦀 not sure how to be most impactful when talking to a recruiter

🛠️

"Introduce Yourself: Start by sharing your name and a brief overview of what you do.

Profile Engagement: Mention something specific from their profile that caught your attention or resonates with you.

Request a 1:1 Meeting: Politely ask if they would be open to a one-on-one conversation to discuss if you might be a great fit.

Discuss Work Culture and Role: Use this opportunity to understand more about the work culture and the role you're interested in. Share Your Motivation: Explain why you want to work there and what draws you to the company.

Build a Connection: Treat it like a networking meetup; get to know the recruiter and build a genuine rapport."

Discord or Slack Channels

• Many popular frameworks like Astro have discords:

  discord.gg/astro-lounge-830184174198718474

• Code And Coffee: "A community for developers to make new friends and grow. In 37+ cities. See in-person events at CodeAndCoffee.org

  discord.gg/E7yrWXAK

• Commit Your Code: Created by Danny Thompson and is a community of over 12,000 developers of all levels

  discord.com/invite/9bf7p5gz6B

• Codedex Community: "The most beginner-friendly and collaborative coding community"

  discord.gg/codedex

• 100 Devs: "We are engineers who believe in community before code & provide a 100% free path to becoming a software engineer!"

  discord.com/invite/100devs

🛠️ 100 devs: there are voice channels where you can work with others. You can tell others you are studying and want to share your screen for some accountability, and others will join you.

🛠️ 100 devs also has silent study channels, social anxiety group, Banki Brunch (practice interview questions in a voicechat), pomodoro voice channels, has an ADHD group with body doubling

🦀 If you're nervous you can lurk, you don't have to directly interact. With Banki Brunch you just add Lurk to the end of your username and they won't call on you

🛠️ good for getting over nerves about coding in front of others

🛠️ Use FocusMate: "Virtual coworking for getting anything done" focusmate.com Has a free tier but it is limited

Meetups

🦀 I don't know how to network at a meetup

🛠️ "You're overthinking it"

🛠️ The video Danny talked about in the video

🛠️ Read Lauren Shroll's "Tips to enjoy your first tech meetup (even as an introvert)" codesubmit.io/blog/guide-to-tech-meetups/#t..

🦀 I don't know of any meetups in my area!

🛠️ Look for virtual meetups (meetup.com)

🛠️ google "tech meetups near {enter city here}"

🛠️ Create a meetup

🦀 creating a tech meetup sounds overwhelming!

🛠️ tips to create a workshop, talks, panels or lighting talks style meetup

codesubmit.io/blog/guide-to-tech-meetups/#4..

---

In this article I wanted to focus on the networking aspect. But you'll need to use at least some of the following as well:

2 do projects or freelancing

3 do hackathons or open source contributions

4 fix your resume and tailor it to specific positions

5 build a portfolio

6 active GitHub

7 do codewars or leetcode coding challenge

---

Good luck! Let's make this an amazing year for you by keeping your "why" fire blazing bright 🔥 !

You've got this, even though it will be rough at times. If you keep with it, you'll bag lots of small and big victories towards your goals 💪