How Butcher-Turned-Developer Jamie Got the First Coding Job He Applied For
🎙 About the episode
Meet Jamie Baker 🇬🇧! Jamie is a recently hired new developer who used to be a butcher. Recently, he took the plunge to leave his growing business and, at 38, start his first front-end developer job after only interviewing at one company!
This is a story of perseverance and knowing when to niche down. You will hear how Jamie started coding, why he loves CSS, and how he fell in love with Shopify. You will learn why you should be enthusiastic about the tech you're working with and why if you're sending too many resumes, that might mean you need a better strategy. Jamie also talks about his typical day as a developer working at Velstar, a Shopify agency, why honesty and people skills matter, and why you shouldn't sleep on domain knowledge. There are also some fun quick-fire questions!
🔗 Connect with Jamie
⏰ Timestamps
- How Jamie started learning CSS by hosting a football forum (01:54)
- How Jamie landed his first paid gig while knowing only CSS (03:16)
- How Jamie decided to go from a craft butcher shop owner to front-end developer (and discovered Scrimba) (04:33)
- Jamie learned to code alongside his day job (07:29)
- His butcher shop had a Shopify website, and Jamie loved it (08:01)
- Today, Jamie works in a Shopify agency (09:17)
- How Jamie decided to narrow down his focus on Shopify-related jobs (09:58)
- Community break! (11:32)
- How Jamie left his business and started a coding job at the age of 38 (13:11)
- The job Jamie got was the only job he applied for! (13:54)
- Jamie's personality and people skills played the biggest role when it came to him getting the job (14:29)
- Find what excites you! (18:44)
- Quick-fi e questions: Favorite coding courses? Is CSS a language? Why is everybody wearing headphones? (19:28)
- What Jamie's typical day at a Shopify agency looks like, and why you should put yourself in the shoes of the user (21:50)
- Why you should be honest with your prospective employers (23:27)
- Has the career change been worth it for Jamie? (17:00)
- Next week: Saron Yitbarek, the founder of CodeNewbie! (29:20)
🧰 Resources Mentioned
- Front-end Developer Career Path
- Scrimba's Discord Community
- Scrimba Podcast: Becoming a Standout Developer with Randall Kanna
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