Journey to a Remote Job: Strategies and Learnings.

Hi there...

Welcome back to my blog! This is a sequel to the previous blog I posted. In it, I shared my journey, my experiences, and how they helped me get my first-ever remote job.

Check out the previous blog here: https://siddharth-chopda.hashnode.dev/midway-through-2023-my-learnings-and-experiences-part-1

Introduction ✅

This blog is about my personal journey and what I learned that helped me get my first remote job. I want to create a simple way for you to understand how things really work in the real world.

In this blog, we'll discuss common myths, look at strategies that really work, and talk about the non-technical skills you need to have if you want to work remotely.

As a web developer myself, I'll share my experiences from that perspective. If you're interested in starting web development but don't know where to start, check out this blog: https://siddharth-chopda.hashnode.dev/i-want-to-start-web-development-but

My story: How did I land a remote job being in college? 🎯

Ever since my college life started, I wanted to work as a remote developer, I had a personal motivation that I wanted to work for international clients and learn about the working standards and procedures which are their in the tech industry, I started with web development and started learning from youtube and other free online sources through which I made some projects in my freshman year and kept going on to improve myself...

Now talking about this year, I did the following things :

Created my portfolio📠: Although I didn't have a lot of work to showcase at that time I made it anyway.
Networked a lot👨: Actively started to reach out to people directly on social platforms.
Participated in hackathons👨‍💻: This year I participated in 3 hackathons at offline centers.

More details about the whole journey are already there in my first blog of this series, I insist you read that first: https://siddharth-chopda.hashnode.dev/midway-through-2023-my-learnings-and-experiences-part-1

When I deployed my portfolio website, that was the closest proof of my work that I could showcase to people and show my credibility as a web developer, the second one was my LinkedIn account, which is another representation of my and my achievements. Therefore the first step was done, I had something to show to people and share it as proof of my work.

Alongside this, I started to connect to a lot of industry professionals who were either in the position where I wanted to be or were doing something similar to me.. this turned out to be very beneficial for me. Because of networking, I was able to connect with a lot of experienced people and make some good virtual friends and mentors.

My hackathon experiences allowed me to create amazing projects which I added to my portfolio section and which expanded my learning and my skills of working in a team environment.

During this time, I was actively applying for different jobs and trying to connect with people who are working there, so that I can get an understanding of the process that they are following and learn from them and walk my path. I talked to hundreds of people and I was reaching out to 15-20 people daily on social platforms and trying to understand their journeys and their experiences.

Amongst them, I met a person🎯 who was my age, had similar skills as mine and was working as a freelance developer. I reached out to him and I asked him about how he was doing those things and expressed my interest in collaborating with him sometime soon. Two months passed by and he then reached out to me, saying he has some projects on which he's working on currently. He wanted to add someone to the project, The project was from a client from New York who was developing a SaaS product and needed someone proficient with design. I immediately agreed and started to actively work on the project.

And that's how I got the project... 🎯

This journey of mine is not traditional, and this doesn't involve mindless hours of applying to job portals, which don't reply back to you. This doesn't involve paying for expensive courses to learn the basic stuff. It doesn't involve finding "the one right project that you need to make to land a job".

I guess you get it which things don't work.

Things that work... The focus elements!!🚀

While technical skills are very important for getting a role as a software engineer. The knowledge of programming languages, frameworks and libraries. A bunch of cool projects and other things...

These alone can't get you to where you want to reach, having great technical skills is the first requirement but to get the right opportunity, being at the right time for the right opportunity is the key. You might be working hard but if you keep on hitting the wall you are not opening doors, no matter how hard you try.

I can't provide you with a roadmap for reaching where you want to, I am not here for that. But I can highlight the areas where you need to focus which will land you the right opportunity at the right time.

Accessibility: You must have heard "Your network is your net worth", that is very true, if you want to get good opportunities you are allowed to choose the hard way, You apply to a pool where thousands of people are applying and hope to get a call, which never reaches them, and only a handful of people get to the top of the competition.

But there is another way around it, you increase your accessibility to opportunities, in this case, you have lots of opportunities from which you can choose to go after any of them and do the work that you want to do.

If you have a network that involves a lot of industry professionals who are doing good work, they have ample amount of opportunities for you to prove your credibility and grow your career.
Proactiveness: I think by far you might have a clear idea of why networking is important and how you can leverage a great network to get good opportunities. But how do you get that network?

You are just starting, you don't have a lot of experience, you don't have the network, and you don't have the opportunities.

The only way out there is to be proactive and just reach out to people whom you want to connect with, show proactiveness to learn new skills, and not wait for anyone's permission or any opportunity to come to you. Be proactive and ask for it.
Belief: The last focus element, which will be the most important one will be belief. You need to believe in your abilities to get those opportunities and work in that level .

Your starting points: The actionable steps 🪜

Here are some things that I personally do and recommend to anyone who wants to get remote jobs and work in a growing and collaborative environment.

Send personalized connection invites to people in your field, who have done something similar in your field and learn from them. Ask about their experiences, and collaboration and try to provide some value from your side.
Share about your learnings and experiences online. Just share that online course you did that enhances your skills, and share that college event or seminar that you attended that gave you some valuable lessons.
Learn by building: If you are in tech, try to pick up the projects that interest you and start by building those things from yourself and learning the technologies on the go. Don't look for the perfect projects just start making something that interests you.
Participate in various college events and hackathons, the learning that you'll have here will be immensely important for you and will help you to add them to your resume and portfolio.
Make an online portfolio website today. If you are in tech you need to have an online presence, that's where people find you and get to know about you.

Final words.. 🏁

In wrapping up, I hope my story and the strategies I employed to land my first remote job can serve as your guidepost. There are key takeaways that everyone can benefit from irrespective of one's career path. It's essential to understand the power of your network and the opportunities it can bring about. Building a strong and relevant network doesn't just happen overnight but requires effort, proactiveness, and most importantly, a belief in your abilities.

While technical skills form the foundation for the roles we seek, the peripheral skills like networking, adaptability, resilience, and the ability to learn rapidly often make the difference. Start by building your own projects, participate in events, create an online presence, and reach out to people who inspire you.

At the end of the day, it's not about following a conventional path, but about forging your own and seizing the opportune moments along the journey. Remember, every path is unique and your own journey to a remote job or any job for that matter, may look nothing like mine and that's perfectly okay. Walk your path with gusto, keep learning, stay proactive, and you will definitely open doors to opportunities that align with your career goals.

Feel free to add your comments and share your feedback with me. Thanks!!

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