6 Steps to Getting an Awesome Tech Job

So everyone wants an awesome coding job using the ’latest technologies’ at a amazing company right? And the competition for these jobs is tough! People from big corporations want in on the exciting world of start-ups, and well-seasoned start-up coders want to work on the next big thing. Previously you needed a great hand crafted CV and 100 years of experience building monolithic Java EE / C++ apps to get noticed. Now companies want to see you are up to speed with new school technologies like Node.js, Groovy & Grails, Ruby, Scala, Clojure and that you also actively contribute via Blogs, GitHub, BitBucket, StackOverflow etc.

How do you get one of these awesome jobs you ask? Follow NerdAbility’s fool proof 6 point plan!.....

1.  Create a tech blog! – Have you been trying to learn a new technology but found the documentation is a bit shady? Did you spend hours on forums and post multiple StackOverflow questions to finally get to a solution? Then write a blog about it! Document the problem, the steps you took to solve it and give some sample code or even put the project on online. Next make sure to share it back with the people and forums that helped along the way. This is a great way to get your solution out there and people checking out your blog (maybe even the CTO of your next employer). Sites like Blogger and Tumblr make it super easy to get started, so go make one today!
2. Tweet, Learn & Network– Twitter is a great place to find out the latest tech news but also to network with start-up’s and other places that are doing cool things. So sign up and get tweeting! Make use of hash tag searches on topics like #cloud #startups #innovation #nerdability, or your favourite area, to connect with (potentially) great content. Remember that if your Twitter is public anyone can read it. Even if you post links to your great projects, blog or share interesting content, your future employer can read this and may not be impressed if you constantly complain or post how annoying that co-worker is. Follow us @Nerd_Ability and we will make sure to say hello!
3. Share The Love (aka Code) – If you have been creating a project to learn something new, or built an app to make your life easier (and don’t mind sharing the code) sign up to GitHub or BitBucket and upload your projects for free.  This is a great way to show off what you can do and give employers some solid examples of your crazy coding skills.
4. Help a Brother Out! -  Everyone wants someone in the team that can do all of their own work and still find time to help others. So why only do this in the office? Sites like StackOverflow allow you to give back and help out others with their technical dilemmas and requests for advice. Then maybe next time you ask a question they will help you out too.
5. Meetup in Real-Life! - Yes real life, scary we know, but you can normally grab a beer, write some code, meet some cool people and  hopefully learn something too. All of this is at your fingertips with www.meetup.com. You can check out the Java meetups in London or maybe the Node.js meetups in NYC. These communities are a great place to network, often with strong links with start-ups and other cool tech companies. So make sure to get out and share your passion! Maybe you will spot one of the NerdAbility team out and about in London :) 
6. Sign up to NerdAbility – Sign up for an account and hook up your Blog, GitHub, BitBucket, LinkedIn, Twitter, StackOverflow and let us do the rest. Your profile will be automatically kept up to date when something changes on any of these social platforms. The next time anyone asks “so what else do you” you can tweet over your  NerdAbility profile and make them go “wow this guy is awesome!” Sign up at  http://nerdability.com/register

Now you are good to go and on track to being the front runner for that awesome job. While you may not need to do any of the above to get the job, the question is why wouldn’t you? (Feel free to tell us why in the comments!)