*Disclaimer:
I wrote this post (and recorded the video) a few weeks ago and scheduled it to be posted today. I wasn’t sure if I should still post it since I’ve recently gotten an internship offer but I want you all to see where I was and what I was working on and planned to do. You might see determination -> success because of this news but had I not applied and gotten this good news it would have been determination -> give up -> new goal/path/etc (my reality). The information below is still accurate and I am still doing what I posted. You’ll receive another update soon 🙂 Thank you.
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Hello readers! So I have some updates for you.
I’ve decided to take another avenue into tech as I’ve been finding it difficult to enter the industry via development.
I’ve shifted from r/cscareerquestions to r/ITcareerquestions. I’ve been reading a bunch about help desk, cloud and cyber security roles. From what i’ve researched Comptia A+ is THEE entry level certifiction to begin a career in IT. I’m thinking after obtaining my cert I could apply to a bunch of help desk level 1 positions here in NYC and if that doesn’t work out I will utilize a technical staffing agency. I’ve also been eyeing cloud certs as well, but I’ll discuss those in a further post.
So, CompTia A+. I bought the 901 and 902 Mike Meyer’s courses on Udemy. I finished the 901 course already and am working through several exam crams. Man, I don’t know how I’m gonna remember all of these ports and stuff, but it’s exciting learning something new.
To prepare for the exam I will be using Exam Cram/Crucial Exams for free test preps, Professor Messor’s videos on YouTube, his notes & quizzes and Udemy. I’m hoping to take the exam in another month.
*I still plan to do software development stuff, but right now my energy is focused on IT and starting my career. I have more algorithm videos and posts coming soon so look out for that. I’m not where I need to be in terms of cracking algorithms so I plan to brush up on my skills after my test 🙂
ColorfulCode's Journey 
Congrats on the internship! Can I ask how you got it?
I haven’t got any offers at all and I feel I’m on the same boat as you!
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Thank you. I really did not do anything different. My interview had no algorithms solely questions about my projects. I had previously gotten rejected from them before but they chose other people. How long have you been searching? I wish I could give advice but I just don’t know what it takes. Best of luck this new year. 🙏🏾
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Hello! Can you tell me how did you learn algorithms and data structures? I am completely lost and every resource availabe go heavy on math. Can you suggest some resources?
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I understand, that was me also. Which language do you program in? Any python? I used interactivepython.com. They have an online algorithms book. Can you tell me more about where you are at currently in development?
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I program in JavaScript. I am a beginner and want to be a Frontend Web developer. I also did the FE Nanodegree on Udacity. Do programming challenges need a strong math background? Can you suggest all the resources you used to learn DS&A? My brain doesn’t get recursion.
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okay perfect. For you I’d recommend googling algorithms in JS. Stack, Queue, Linked Lists ordered and unordered, bubble sort, big O, bubble sort, merge sort, quick sort, the 3 tree traversals, binary search, binary heap, binary search tree, breadth first search and depth first search. I believe these are all of your general intro to CS core algorithms. It’s all you really need for the basics and backbone of algorithms. Google each of these and watch a youtube video as well as googling for the implementations in Javascript. For example, “Javascript implementation bubble sort”, etc. I just googled it and this was the first result: https://initjs.org/bubble-sort-in-javascript-19fa6fdfbb46 Go to youtube and watch a video on bubble sort, then come back and read through the above link, take their JS code and put it into http://pythontutor.com/javascript.html#mode=edit Make sure to add a list argument when you call it. Then begin the visualization so you can see every step of the process. Once you understand it, write down the code in a notebook you have for all your algorithm work. Move on to the next ones above. You can follow the course I linked earlier to understand each algorithm and DS function but just google JS code. You need to implement and understand all those algorithms I’ve listed. Write them over multiple times and put them in visualizers multiple times. To understand recursion is difficult, but for me I really understood it after visualizing a Depth first search algorithm. Like earlier, watch a recursion video even though it may go over your head, then take an algorithm like “number of islands” and search for the JS code online. Make sure their code is readable so you can grasp it more in a visualizer.
Code challenges are another beast. If your strength is in JS and you’re applying for only Front-end roles you may only need to know how to solve array and string manipulation questions. Those just take practice. To get good at those. Google top 10 javascript array questions and same for top 10 string manipulation questions. Try to solve all of them on your own. Once you’ve tried, look at the answers from others online, put their code in a visualizer with an argument and call it. To get good at this stuff is a numbers game if you do not have a CS or Math background. It does not come naturally. I don’t want to scare you but I did about 100 of these type of questions before I felt even the slightest bit of comfort. Please update me further, I hope I didn’t
give too much confusing info. Feel free to email me at codescolorful@gmail.com
I also found a udemy course for JS that goes over the algorithms you may most likely see: https://www.udemy.com/js-algorithms-and-data-structures-masterclass/
Still learn the core ones above. Those are the ones expected for all CS graduates. Don’t worry about not understanding recursion right away. It was the last thing I truly understood. Good Luck.
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Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. It means a lot to me. I’ll spend time and try to do as you said. Again, thanks a lot. I’ll keep you updated.
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No prob! Looking forward to it.
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