Hello! I hope you’ve had a wonderful first week of March. Do you have any special plans for this month?
This past week has been pretty busy. My contract with Interapt ended on Monday and I’ve been in a bunch of calls and interviews all week. I’m very fortunate to have so many opportunities available to me right now, but all the scheduling and meetings themselves have made for a bit of a tiring week. On the bright side, I’ve spent lots of time cuddling my puppy and my copy of Cues by Vanessa Van Edwards just arrived! I just started reading it and I’m in love already. I definitely recommend checking it out.
I also finally got around to taking in my passport application. The workers at the Orange County Clerk of Courts in Winter Park are amazing! I was in and out within an hour and this included having to refill out the application form because my printer messed up the sizing. In and out in under an hour. These workers are amazing.
Recently, I’ve had a couple of my students asking me for some career advice when it comes to getting their first development job. The most useful thing I can think of after filling out your LinkedIn profile, which I talked about last week, is ensuring you have a portfolio site. Don’t overthink it. Start with a free website service. Use screenshots and video walkthrough of projects you’ve completed to add enticing visuals. Write up descriptions of the projects, the tech stacks you used, and the skills you learned. Sharing your projects this way is more meaningful to recruiters than sharing just your code (which isn’t the best practice to begin with), and a portfolio is more dynamic and allows for more depth than a resume. Creating a portfolio requires a small amount of work up front, but it’s more than worth it in the long haul.
I also watched the Full Sail writing workshop on writing precisely and concisely. One quote that was shared during the presentation really stood out to me, especially given the current state of national and global affairs.
“Specificity, precision, and brevity, applied in language, drive us towards compassion… Conversely, all attempts at world domination begin with weak, evasive, impersonal language.”
– George Saunders
What do you think about George Saunders’ quote?
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you have a wonderful week!
Sincerely,
Mulan
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