Hovah Yii
How I Landed a Web Developer Job at a Startup while Studying
Studying and working, is it possible to do both? I think most university students would ponder about this sometimes. So do I. Considering that I have to pay my own tuition fees while studying, looking for extra income is always my side goal while studying. To find a job is easy, but to find a job that you love and can fully utilise your skills is hard.
This is why I am so grateful that I can find a web development job during my studies at UMP. The company is actually a startup by UMP alumni. I saw the vacancy post on Instagram as I followed many UMP related pages. Before going through the interview round, we have to fill in a few questions at Google Form.
What makes me stand up from other applicants is that instead of writing about my experience with bombastic and lengthy sentences, I showed the employer my previous projects with proper URL which they can access.
And for the resume or CV, I keep my resume as simple and clean as possible. I do not include other non related job in my CV but only state about the web development jobs that I had done and the IT companies that I went before. If you are interested about how my CV looks like, kindly PM me. In my CV, I wrote about my educational background and remember to include the computer science or software engineering subjects you took in your CV. My working experience in IT or Computer Science field and the projects I developed.
During the interview, it is important that you listen to the question first before articulating your answers to the interviewer. Try to be confident and be open to the conversation, listening is more important than speaking. Introduce yourself in a comfortable and polite manner, try to open the camera and let the interviewers see your face if possible. You should speak more about the projects that you have done. For each project, talk about the problems you faced, and your solution. Kindly mention the concept you used on tackling the problem. For example, object-oriented concepts, API, front end and back end. This will give your interviewer a good impression that you do not only know about the theory but you can actually build things with your knowledge.
I would say that my previous projects and experience help me a lot in the interview, as I was able to explain the API I built with MongoDB and Express JS in my past project. So here's a tip for you guys, try to develop a full-stack project if you are applying for a web developer job. A good understanding of middleware, controller, MVC will add marks to your interview.
I think that's it. Just always be prepared and keep learning and building your own project with programming. No one knows when will the opportunity come. But if you are well prepared as always. when it comes and knock on your door, you know it is time for you to fly high and get your dream job.
Hovah Yii
Hovah, in his final year at University Malaysia Pahang studying Bachelor of Engineering Technology (Electrical) with Honours, is deeply involved in IoT research. A passionate reader and programmer, he has honed his skills through years as a student mentor at Chumbaka and as a freelance developer. Proficient in Next JS and Flutter frameworks, he has developed over seven web and two mobile apps, and contributed to backend code for business websites. Currently, he's collaborating with Go-Emerge Sdn Bhd on developing leica-store.my.