Is It Possible To Get A Dev Job
Post COVID-19?

Introducing Coding Career Fastlane Coaching Program

I’m here to tell you… YES, you can get a job right now! Let me show you how by sharing the story one of my students, Eric Wang, who had two companies competing for him amidst this pandemic.

He got a new job just two weeks ago, in the middle of this coronavirus pandemic.

I received a message from Eric one day, who had been referred to me by one of my peers, asking for my help with his job search.

“With a bachelor’s degree and coding boot camp under my belt, I landed a few interviews but never got invited back for a second one. Then I didn’t get ANY interviews for about a month, despite sending out applications every day.”  

This is honestly pretty typical. I can tell when someone is not taking advantage of the most optimal strategies for a job hunt. 

This was right about when the coronavirus pandemic was starting to impact the United States, so we talked about what it was going to be like finding a job in this new environment. 

Eric said something to me that struck a chord and speaks to why I believe career coaching is priceless. He said, “I have no idea what I’m doing wrong and I’m scared I’ll never find a job because it seems like I’m always getting turned down.

We immediately started working on Eric’s resume, market analysis, and interview preparation. We ended up spending about two weeks finalizing everything and preparing for interviews.

Eric said, “(Jason’s) resume course and building service allowed me to streamline my resume and highlight the experience I did have.”

What I want to mention here is that he had a decent resume to begin with. It looked and sounded good on the surface, however, it didn’t sell him as a job candidate. We needed to find his story and communicate it in a way companies want to see.

Eric says he “started getting multiple responses within a week!

Even better, he started getting second interview requests. He went from having near zero interest from any companies, to having several responses, interview requests, and even second interviews within two weeks.

At this point, we started ramping up Eric’s interview preparation. He needed to be comfortable and ready for those behavioral and technical questions because, as he shared with me, “technical interviews are something that make (him) very nervous.”

He’s not the first person to tell me this, of course. This is pretty common for most job seekers entering the interview phase.

So we practiced, practiced some more, and kept practicing. We formed a systematic approach to answering interview questions that helped combat his nerves.  

After just two weeks of working together, this is what Eric told me after his first in-person interview:

“I felt a lot more confident going into the interviews, which helped me have a positive experience.”

By this time, Eric’s confidence resulted in job offers during a pandemic-driven job market and economic decline. 

Obviously, results will not be the same for everyone but seeing him move from feelings of inadequacy to confidence, and ultimately getting job offers, takes guidance and hard work.

What happened next really surprised me. Eric reached out and told me about an offer he had received, but he still had another interview scheduled for the next day that he was equally interested in.

He had two companies competing for him to fill an entry-level coding position in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic!

This just goes to show that if you tell your story the right way, prepare, and put in the hard work, great things can happen for you! There’s a lot more that goes into making a successful plan, but having one is the first – and most important – step.

I wanted to share Eric’s final thoughts with you, as I think it really summarizes his overall experience in working with a career coach.

 

“Admittedly, I wasn’t sure how worthwhile the service would be at first but Jason exceeded my expectations time and again, and I would undoubtedly use his service again. This was truly a great investment.”

If you’re trying or thinking about trying to get a job during this difficult time, I would encourage you to work with a mentor or coach. Find someone that can give you the right guidance for navigating this new job market, because things are changing daily and traditional techniques are no longer enough.

I’m happy to share that Eric Wang is now gainfully employed in Boston.

This just goes to show that with 

patience and hard work, along with the right plan, you can do just about anything you want.

Less than two months ago, our economy was thriving and the unemployment rate was so low, it was relatively easy to get a job. 

A coach or mentor wasn’t really necessary, as you could probably just study a book, brush up your resume, complete a bootcamp, land a couple interviews and BAM, job offer!

As you know by now, the coronavirus pandemic has greatly impacted our economy. Job cuts and hiring freezes have become widespread, leading to ten times as many applicants trying to fill fewer positions. 

The job that wasn’t so difficult to land just a couple months ago now requires substantially more effort to win over.

Layoffs. Furloughs. Hiring freezes.  

Most of us personally know someone whose job has been impacted. You might be wondering…

How am I ever going to get a job?

When will the job market ever come back? 

How am I going to pay the bills?

The world as we know it has completely changed in the last several weeks.

We went from a low unemployment rate to 10% unemployment (and growing) in a short amount of time.

This is truly a black swan event that no one ever saw coming, with major impacts to everyone’s day-to-day life. Now it’s up to you to adapt.

Coding Career Fastlane is here to help you enhance your technical abilities as a coder, create a career plan, GET A JOB, and then grow your career to new heights.

In the last few months, I’ve been asked to do more mentoring and take on new students. For those who did reach out, you might notice I’ve turned down all requests because I’ve been working on other products and content for you.

What I’ve gained from this pandemic is clarity around what you guys need now more than ever: guidance.

I’m opening up the Coding Career Fastlane coaching program to 4 individuals looking to change the outcomes of their lives in coding and web development.

Two months ago, you were only competing against a hundred thousand people across the technology industry within the United States. 

Now, the market just got flooded with new job hunters because of this pandemic. Your competition has grown to over a million people.

You need to be on your A-game and figure out how to position yourself at the top of the market.

The game has changed and I want to show you 

how to adapt with it.

My coaching is not just for the job hunters. We can also help anyone ready to advance their career and get to the next level. 

In times like this, coaching can create new opportunities you never thought possible.

Consider this: the person you work for was just laid off and you’re left to fill the void, but you don’t know how. 

The imposter syndrome might be creeping in. You want to know what to do to fill that void and get promoted.

It’s not always your skillset – sometimes it’s the power of negotiation along with that skillset.

This is also for anyone about to go through a boot camp or already in a boot camp. It’s the perfect time to pivot in your career, especially if you don’t like what you’ve been doing.

Join a boot camp that will propel you into the technology industry. With the world at a standstill and many of us stuck at home, what better time to become a developer?!

Some of the coaches at Coding Career Fastlane are previous bootcamp grads themselves, so they know exactly what you’d be going through.

Maybe you just want help in your current career, whether it’s technical or behavioral. 

Or maybe you’re just trying to manage your time better or improve your processes, and you want to put a plan together that will set you up for success.

This is the coaching program for you.

I have 4 slots left to start coaching this month and would love to help you get where you want to be.

Getting The Job You Want Or Need

The situations most people find themselves in at this point is they have been laid off, or are looking to switch careers.

Or maybe they’re just coming out of a boot camp, or just really want a new opportunity.

They try to do it all on their own and get really tired of not seeing any results. The problem is there’s not a good plan in place to stand out and get more callbacks.

In the end, they can’t get the job they want in today’s market.

I want to tell you a story about someone who faced these frustrating challenges and then eventually overcame them with the resolve and expertise he gained through the help of our coaching program.

Life can be really tough sometimes… but I know you know that already.

What I wanted to share with you today is the story about a student of mine that had everything go wrong for him, all at the same time.

Three years after being his bootcamp mentor, he reached out to catch up. Things were going great. He had just gotten a brand new computer, and was going to start a podcast, mentor people and start teaching more.

I was excited for him. I love seeing my students succeed.

A month later, I received a message of desperation.

His company hired a junior developer that was supposed to be his mentee, to help develop his leadership skills. 

As he later found out, the junior developer he trained was actually hired to replace him. Just a month after he told me life was great, he was fired from his job.  

Shortly thereafter, he and his wife find out they’re expecting a second child.

He said

“Jason, I’m going to literally run out of money in 6 weeks. If I don’t do something now, I’m in trouble.”

What would YOU do at this point?

You have no health insurance, no income, and another baby on the way. You splurged on toys because you thought you had a solid job. 

And you haven’t practiced anything remotely close to interviewing in 3 years.

Let me tell you exactly what we did.

Franklin and I got together and planned out how to adapt to his new circumstances and make him successful again.

The biggest task was to rework his resume. After spending some time updating it, he came back to me with three pages. 

While you might have enough experience to fill three pages, one should really consolidate the information as much as possible, so you can avoid being vague and keep the interest of the reader.

We worked together to condense his resume into one page. We crafted a narrative that sold him as someone who had progressed really fast in their career, and who would be a leader for the next company he works for.

At this point, the holidays were just around the corner.

Anyone who’s tried to get a job around this time knows it can be one of the most difficult times, as hiring budgets lock down until the new year.

But he needs a job NOW.

So we worked on a social media plan to ensure he was taking advantage of LinkedIn, local networking events and other platforms.

One day he crafted a social media post that expressed the raw emotion of everything that had happened.

After that one post, he received over a hundred inquiries to apply for a job opening.

Needless to say, he was not on the market for long after that.

It took about a month to get settled into a new job, which was just in time to avoid major financial impacts and continue to afford a comfortable life for his family.

The biggest thing I like to point out about Franklin’s story is that you can always feel down and out or hit rock bottom, but you shouldn’t stay there.

When you work with somebody who is at (or has been) where you want to be, reach out to them!

Follow their guidance and create a plan that will get you where you want to be.

Anything is possible in this industry.

I’m telling you, the hard work can pay off with the right guidance.

This is exactly why we offer the Coding Career Fastlane coaching program.

We know there are more Franklins in the world that could use our help to get where they want to go.

Putting a plan together that you follow can be extremely effective in a time like this, and it will help you avoid the normal barriers your peers will run into.

Grow Faster In Your Career

The most common thing I hear when people tell me they want to grow their career fast is they don’t know how to expand their technical skills.

They really want this promotion and feel they deserve it, but don’t know how to communicate that. When it comes to asking for a salary increase, everyone thinks they deserve it but no one knows how to ask for it the right way.

They leave the door open, only for it to get closed on them.

The problem here is that growth in your career does not come by simply asking for it. Whether you want a promotion, pay increase or just want to grow, you have to have a plan to achieve it.

Why you SHOULD seek growth in your career

Oftentimes I get pushback on the subject of growing your career. People will say, “I should just be happy with what I have”.

Let’s look at why you SHOULD seek growth in your career. 

First off, you might eventually get bored, which can lead to feelings of sadness or depression. 

This can seep into other areas of your life outside the workplace, too. Additionally, career growth will inevitably lead to a higher salary. 

This means you can afford a new house, more toys, and more travel opportunities. 

Lastly, a lack of career growth leads to stagnation. This will make you more susceptible to potential job loss in a tough economy, as well as less desirable in a crowded job market. 

We’re seeing this situation play out now, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Any changes to your career will fall into one of the following categories: Start, Growth, Lateral, Upward, Change, Step Back.

Every scenario prompting one of these changes will require a different plan. 

 We will help you figure out where you’re at now, which option you should pursue, and how to achieve it.

The worst decision is to not take any action at all and remain stagnant.

I want to tell you a story about another student of mine.

Picture this:

A few weeks ago you sent in an application for the job of your dreams. Naturally you heard nothing back.

Then your phone rings.

They want to interview you a week from today.

Are you ready?

How do you prepare?

I spoke with a developer named Jessica Cottrell who found herself in this exact situation not long ago.

Jessica was attending a coding bootcamp program when she heard about an opening at Twilio, a major Silicon Valley player that specializes in SMS messaging. 

“I was freaking out. I’ve never been so sick and nervous at the same time,” she says. She hadn’t even graduated yet, and she had no idea how to get ready.

She reached out to some friends on Twitter, who sent her some coding challenges to try.

She tried three of them, she says.

“I bombed so terribly that I just sat in silence for 20 minutes.”

Ouff.

After that Jessica started to panic.

“My brain would not slow down. Anytime I sat down to study, I was thinking a million miles a minute. I’d just constantly make lists of all the concepts I wanted to go over. But as soon I started in studying one, I’d think of another one that I needed to jump to. And so I was really scatterbrained.”

In desperation she reached out.

Immediately Jessica realized that Jason took a different approach than the other mentors she’d worked with.

“I thought he was just going to give me a coding challenge and we’d work through it. But instead he started asking me about where I was at in my learning, and what I wanted from my career.

Then Jason walked her through a process he’d developed to discover what Twilio was likely to ask her about in the interview.

“He said to me, ‘It sounds like they’re going to ask you questions about X, Y and Z. Are you ready for that?’ And I was like, ‘No.'”

So we made a list of the things that seemed to come up quite frequently. 

Before long, Jessica had a solid study plan—one based on insider intelligence rather than blind guesses.

“Once I started connecting with Jason, that’s when I figured out how to hone in and figure out what to study and how to calm myself down,” she says.

Then she explained how she was having trouble studying:

“I was telling him, ‘I can’t slow my brain down. I can’t study, because I keep getting sidetracked whenever I try and read something.'”

Jason started describing for her the pre-interview morning and evening routines he’s used with his other coaching students. 

“My thought was, ‘This is insane,'” she says. “But I had a week to prepare for this interview, so I decided, ‘Okay, I’m going to put in this routine.’ And so I started doing it.”

Jason’s routine helped her reinforce concepts she was studying.

“When I went to sleep, I was marinating on it. And the next day I wasn’t like, ‘Okay, did I forget everything that I studied yesterday?'”

“it was so helpful.”

When Game Day finally arrived, Jessica felt surprisingly relaxed.

The interview began with a few questions to test her general technical knowledge.

Then it hit her:

The questions the interviewer was asking were straight out of her study guide!

“I was elated,” she says. “I was like, ‘I’m ready. I know this. I can do this.’ 

When they rolled into the pair programming portion of the interview, the two exercises that they gave her were almost exactly the challenges she’d prepared for.

“It just felt so good,” she recalls. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so ready for anything.”

By all accounts Jessica crushed her interview. 

And while she ultimately didn’t land the Twilio position, she’s used the tools that Jason gave her to land three offers and two jobs—including one offer from General Electric.

“No matter what point you are in your readiness for an interview, Jason can prepare you even better,” she says. “He can bring you to that next point where you don’t get nervous and you just seem prepared.”

“It is worth all the money in the world to go into your interview feeling prepared and confident in yourself. There aren’t a lot of opportunities in the world where you could actually pay for that, but I think that that’s a service that he can legitimately offer.”

In the Coding Career Fastlane coaching program, Jason will give you the exact game plan that helped Jessica cruise through their interviews.

With these tools you’ll head into YOUR next interview and think:

“I’m ready. I can do this.”

Overcome Your Imposter Syndrome

Overcoming your imposter syndrome is one of the biggest challenges in a developer’s career. It manifests in so many different ways and can have subtle, unnoticeable effects.

It can especially show up when we start talking about your overall happiness, and how you act and feel on a daily basis.

Most people don’t know how to grow their confidence, nor are there many resources available to learn from.

Why is it so hard to overcome Imposter Syndrome?

The reason it can be so hard to overcome Imposter Syndrome is that most of what’s happening is occurring below the surface, at a subconscious level.

Science has shown that as high as 95% of the actions we take are automatic—your brain is rerunning “legacy code” over and over to conserve energy and help you focus on tasks that demand your full attention.

Most of the time this is a good thing.

You don’t want to have to muster all of your mental resources to brush your teeth. 

But when your brain gets programmed by powerful, emotional experiences to view certain kinds of challenges as a threat to your very survival…

Then every time you encounter that kind of situation in the future, it’s going to default to behaviors designed to keep you alive.

Not only that, but these mental programs get more efficient and more “hard-wired” every time they execute. 

So Imposter Syndrome is self-reinforcing—imposter feelings beget imposter actions, which beget more imposter feelings…

So what CAN you do about it?

Because Imposter Syndrome is an automated, self-reinforcing response, you need to interrupt the cycle to combat it.

You need the ability to instantly spot when Imposter Syndrome is starting to kick in…

Then you need the ability to set a “mental breakpoint” to pause the legacy code at the critical moment as it begins to run.

And instead of executing the default script, sinking into the same old negative downward spiral of self-doubt and retreating and withdrawing from the world…

You “hotswap” in a new set of instructions that allow you to quickly move past those feelings, recover your footing, engage and take action…

And that action in turn creates new powerful, emotional experiences that begin to rewrite your mental “legacy code.”

Giving you a systematic way to do this is our commitment to all who utilize our coaches certified by the American Confidence Institute (ACI).

Here's How It Works

Here’s how the Coaching Program works. First, we do a free 15-minute strategy session with a Coding Career Fastlane coach to make sure this would be a good fit for you.

Then we’ll do an onboarding session to determine where you are now, fine-tune exactly what you want or need, and create a plan to get there. Generally, we would meet on a bi-weekly basis.

My coaching programs range from 3-9 months, depending on your situation. Sometimes you just need help defining a career plan and working through it.

This should only take a few months. Other times, you might need a resume overhaul and interview preparation, then you land the job and want a plan to grow faster than your peers.

This would take longer to achieve, which is why the length of coaching time can vary.

The cost will depend on your needs as well, and will be determined during your initial 15-minute information session. Keep in mind, this will be time spent one-on-one with a Coding Career Fastlane coach, working through YOUR needs.

You’ll have access to your coach in between sessions as well. We have multiple coaches with different backgrounds and experience available to help you.

If you’ve made it this far, I want to acknowledge you for taking the next step in improving your professional skills and getting the job you’ve been dreaming of!

You’re here because you recognize a couple of things…

First, you’ve been struggling to get a better job that pays you what you’re worth and that gives you the career opportunities that you’ve been looking for

Second, you want to know what other programmers are doing to land their job effortlessly. What do they know that you don’t? What are they doing before, during, and after job interviews that you aren’t?

I know what it feels like to be left in the dark

I had to learn the hard way. If I got rejected, I’d have to wait another year — no feedback provided by the recruiter.

“I’m sorry, we can’t provide you any feedback. Please feel free to re-apply in 12 months.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have another 12 months to try and figure things out

That’s why I created the Coaching Program to give you the tools and resources you need to be successful.

They say that small decisions in life have the biggest impacts in life

Keep that in mind as you read on

DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS OPPORTUNITY!
RSVP to Save Your Spot Today

Jessica Cottrell –  Full-stack developer, Nerdery

Evan Harris – Full-stack developer, Securiport

Still unsure if this is a good fit for you?

Try for 7-days and if for whatever reason you change your mind, we’ll give you your money back as long as you’ve completed the required assignments

Think about all the time, money, and effort that you’ve invested in your career so far: college, high-school, textbooks, dormitories, studying for exams, studying coding tutorials, coding boot-camps, low-paying internships, freelance work, dead-end jobs, etc.

After all of that hard work, don’t trip just short of the finish line by failing to have a solid career plan and the tools needed for success.

That’s like taking a final exam without studying.

We’re that confident you’ll have a positive experience and get the results you want

Save yourself the years of struggle, rejection, and frustration. 

You have nothing else to lose than that crappy job you’ve been wanting to get out of.

Thanks for reading this far. I’m excited to join you on your journey to success! 

My spots are limited, so schedule a free strategy session to get the process started

If you see no slots open then email me at [email protected]