I’ve had a very tough time finding my first position as a junior dev and have been looking into getting a paid mentor to help me out. Someone who can give me a specific, clear idea of what skills I might need to have, refine, etc, as well as some looser guidance and direction after losing my confidence.
Do any of you have experience with services like this? Somewhere like Mentor Cruise or something similar?
Edit: to be clear, I’m looking for my first role as a web developer, ideally frontend with React (which is what I feel most confident in). I’ve been at this for over a year and a half - I do have a portfolio, Github, etc with projects in JS and some basic Python. I’m aware of how to look for a job, but actually getting anyone to look at me has been the hard part, as I’ve only had two interviews that went nowhere. The handful of people who’ve seen my portfolio seemed fine with it and the impression I have is that it is enough to demonstrate my skill level, but I’m still getting very little back.
Part of being a developer is solving your problems and reduce complexity in a very complex field. So I guess when you want to be a good dev, most of that is part of your learning experience.
To your skills. I may suggest do what you like to do. Wanna tinker with Linux and systems? C/C++ or Rust may be a good start. Webdev? Have a look at typescript. Or just do some stuff in python (it’s really fun)
If you do not know what you like. No problem, just play around with stuff and find out what you like.
If you get stuck on something, THEN is moment to reach out for help. You hardly will have to pay for advice, there is always a helpful hand if you can describe what your problem is.