Helping our students find great jobs is a huge part of what we do at Epicodus. In fact, it’s our mission. Over the years, we’ve accrued quite a bit of job-hunting knowledge to help set our students apart. In the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing our best tips and tricks for junior developers who are looking for their first jobs.
As you apply for jobs, it's important to do proper research on the companies you interview with. These companies are looking for people that will help them solve problems and become more effective in their field. Before we can explain how we will be able to achieve that, we need to have a fairly complete understanding of the company itself.
It's hard to stress enough how important research is. This should really go beyond the technical aspects of the company. The more knowledge and investment you have in them, the more buy-in they’ll have with you. Here are some things you should do before your interview:
- What do they make/do?
- Who works there?
- Find their team page
- Look them up on LinkedIn
- Look the developers up on Github
- Interact with their product and submit feedback if possible
- Download their app
- Use their API
- Browse their client sites
- Follow the company and employees on Twitter, like the company on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.
- Glassdoor: Take Glassdoor reviews with a grain of salt. Get an interview with a company and decide for yourself what it will be like to work there.
- In doing this research ask yourself “why do I want to work here?” as well as “what hesitations might I have about working here?”