How I Got Started and you can do it too

A year ago I posted a Youtube video with how I became a Developer where I quickly told you how I ended up working in a multinational IT company doing something I love. One year after, my experience not only increased but developed my ambition to show you how you can do it too. There is why today I’m going to show you exactly that:

While I was working on this blog post, I decided to add a little sneak peek of this conversation to an About page which you will be able to find at all times in the top menu of this blog. There I will be updating my experience while going on this wild journey I started in 2005.

How did I got started?

Although I’m terrible in re-watching my Youtube videos (and just want to hide them from everyone else, only a year past), I battled with myself and decided to include this one in here so you could have a little intro to this blog post, which, I warn you, it will be a bit too big if you’re not in the mood for reading a lot of information.

But keeping this short, this is what I shared in the video:

• I started by discovering the incredible world of blogs in 2005,
• I worked on this hobby through middle, high school and college,
• I finished college and found out that this hobby had given me everything I needed to start a career as a developer.

It seems pretty simple, right? Well, it was and it wasn’t. I will share more about this whole process in future blog posts, but in this video I share how you can do it too, and in the About page I write a little bit more about what other things I did to explore this passion of mine that led me to incredible experiences.

But what you want to know is how you can do it too, right? So, here it is:

1. Find a hobby you love

I was 14 years old when I discovered these things called blogs. I didn’t have any idea how this could change my life, especially because at the time no one knew what they were in my country, no one was making money out of them, Zoella was still as lost as I was, and Facebook wasn’t even created. But I fell in love. I was right there addicted to having a little place in the www just for me and my creativity flowing. I loved to write, I loved the community and loved all the possibility of having that little place on the web could give me to create and share what I loved most. I simply went for it and dived into knowing, studying and trying more and more about this field.

2. Focus on getting better at it

As I dived into it, I spent nights, afternoons and mornings in forums, other people’s blogs, videos, e-courses, everything I could get my hand at during the next 10 years. Why? Because I loved it and had the curiosity about how I could do it better. How to create a template? How to set up my WordPress blog? How to buy a domain? How to have my own WordPress hosted blog? How to start a Youtube channel? How to create the perfect article? How to build your brand online? You name it, I researched it and tried it.

3. Turn yourself into a specialist

Because of that curiosity, I ended up as a specialist in Digital Communication. I studied everything since creating your personal or business space in the web, to create a strong digital marketing presence, to run a Youtube channel, to work and create audio content as a radio host in the digital days, from the content to the marketing, to the visual aspects of everything. You name it, I did it. It was through that curiosity and trial and error that I got my experience in Web Developer and got my first job as a Web and Mobile Developer which led me to be now a Scrum Master & Team Leader in the IT field. You just need to focus on what you love, study, try and error what interests you most and that’s it, you give yourself the experience you need to get started.

4. Go to college if it is something you really want

As I shared in the About Page and a little bit in the video above, my experience in college wasn’t perfect. I was expecting a lot more from it than it gave me, but I still have a piece of big advice to give you regarding that: go for it, if it is something you really want or if your field really asks you for it. If not, don’t feel obligated to have a degree only to have a degree. It is not worth it. Experience is more important these days.

5. Sign up for an internship in something that interests you

One of the best things I did while in college was this: go looking for an internship. I wanted to know and have more experience in communication, which I felt I wasn’t having in college, which was making me feel lost and, truth is, depressed. A few years before, while working on a project for a class in high school, I had the opportunity of visiting my local radio station and was really captivated by it. I recalled at this time that the radio director had shared with us that he had a few colleagues from our school collaborating on a young radio show there and if we ever wanted to try radio, we should give him a call. I was in my e-mail in minutes. I sent a quick message to him explaining I was studying Education & Multimedia Communication in college and asking if there was any possibility of having an internship there where I could learn more about everything related to the radio field. I was having my first live radio experience a few days after. It was this simple. You don’t need to start by having an internship in Vogue, Google or whatever is your dream place. You just need to start somewhere, and I can tell you, I couldn’t have chosen a better place to do it. I was having an internship that really thought me how to do things, where I really was taught how to do radio, how to record, how to edit, how to plan and create content, how to go live, how to communicate with an audience. This internship opened doors and experiences I never dreamed of and more important than that opened my vision for what it was possible to forseek.

6. Build your resume

For some fields like this one (or, I dare to say, to every field), having a good resume isn’t only about having a first work experience or a good school in there. There is a lot more you can, and I advise you to, have on your resume and that the above points can help you with. One of the better tips I took when building my first resume which led me to have my work experience was to add there my hobby experience. When I finished college I had already 10 years of experience in building websites and blogs for the web, so I included that to my resume. I had already 2 years of internship and had collaborated with two radio stations: I add that to my resume. I had a few good templates/web designs I was proud of building for my www spaces: I created a portfolio and added that to my resume. I had already started a Youtube channel, and had been editing and working on my video presence for a few months: I added that to my resume. Short story short: that experience you got from your hobby and internship? Add that to your resume. That is how you build a good and strong resume before you have your first work experience.

And there you have it. I hope you enjoyed my little tips on how I got started and how you do it too. Let me know in the comments below if you have any doubts or questions about my process or how can I help you get started on your own. 🙂

See you in a week,

Tânia