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Tech talents like you are special. They are judged not only by their awards and achievements, but by their skill and how much they can value-add to employers too.
A resume can only tell so much about you.
If you did not take part in activities and have no experience, companies may think you are not qualified.
However, unknowingly to them, you may be proficient in coding and can efficiently produce a high-quality output.
That would make you a highly qualified tech talent that a company is looking for, but the resume does not show it.
Hence, how do you showcase your coding skills to employers?
Here are 5 ways to help you stand out.
1. Attain awards from events
Although I mentioned earlier that awards and achievements are not enough to assess someone, they are still by far the most traditional and easiest way to do so.
They show what you have accomplished and what you are capable of.
Now, you may be wondering what events should you take part in and attain awards from.
Events include competitions, hackathons, bootcamps, game jams and more!
Even something like “The best coder in bootcamp” or a high rating in game jams could work and help you stand out.
The point is to have some awards to show in your portfolio. The more awards and the more prestigious they are, the better!
These awards can also be ways for you to describe your talents to employers.
2. Contribute to coding forums and platforms
The online coding community is an active and sharing one.
As such, codes, techniques, solutions and more are often shared between tech talents on the internet.
For instance, Stack Overflow is a popular site where tech talents come to learn, share and build their coding knowledge and skills.
Someone asks a question and others reply with a solution.
If you could answer difficult questions that many can’t, this would expose your talents to the coding community, which may pave the way for potential job offers.
Why?
Recruiters often search through such platforms for tech talents.
Even if recruiters don’t initially notice your contributions, the coding community would likely appreciate it and spread it around, which could get the attention of recruiters.
Once recruiters notice your contributions, they would likely contact you for a follow-up.
Hence, while contributing to the coding community, think of it as a way land a job too.
Help as much as possible and try to solve the most difficult problems faced by coders and you will get noticed in no time!
3. Work on projects
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Working on projects is another way to showcase your coding skills to employers.
There are 3 types of projects that you can work on:
a) Personal projects
Personal projects include developing an app or a game that you had always wanted to or had a passion for.
Not only will personal projects help you to continuously learn, but it will also be something that you can talk about during interviews.
This would likely get the attention of interviewers and help them understand your talents.
b) Open source projects
Open source projects include Ubuntu, Firefox and LibreOffice.
These projects exist because volunteers, be it coders, developers etc, work on them to provide a fantastic experience.
Furthermore, coders also use open source projects to hone their skills and distinguish their coding talents.
Whether you want to improve your coding skills or showcase them, an open source project is an excellent avenue for you to do so.
c) Targeted projects
Targeted projects are targeted because they depend on the employer you are trying to impress.
If you are trying to show a company your coding talents, why not develop a new and better version of something similar to what the company offers.
For instance, if the company is in the game industry, build a game and show it to them.
If they are in the website building industry, build an outstanding website that will immediately grab their attention.
It is not a coincidence that many tech talents have their own websites. They use websites to display their talents to employers when applying for a job.
4. Use results from tests and challenges
There are a ton of tools and websites out on the internet that provide challenges, tests and more for the coders.
Some examples are Coderbyte, HackerRank, LeetCode and GeeksforGeeks.
Go try them.
Afterwards, put your stellar scores online and on your resume for everyone, including recruiters to see.
Let them know that you have a high mastery of coding and have aced countless coding tests.
This will increase your chances of being seen as a talented or skilful coder that they would not want to miss out on.
Moreover, when applying for a job, employers may ask you to do them anyway, so why not try them out beforehand?
5. Display your solution to difficult problems or questions
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If the above 4 choices don’t work with you, another way is to go straight into solving the most difficult problems many coders face.
It can be an interview question, a problem that professors are struggling with or a question that has not been solved for a long time. As long as it is a question of significant difficulty that few can solve, go ahead and do it.
If you manage to solve a difficult question, that's great!
Doing so differentiates and establishes yourself as a knowledgeable and skilful coder in the field.
Not surprisingly, recruiters would flock to you too.
Conclusion
Now, what are you waiting for?
Try out at least one of these 5 ways and showcase your skills to employers.
Help yourself stand out from the crowd of applicants and get your dream job.
Alternatively, feel free to contact us so that we can link you to your dream job too.
At HubbedIn, we connect software talents to companies globally, helping them build and expand teams.
