How to land a coding job in Singapore.
There are A LOT of things you can do as a fresh graduate to land a gig in Singapore. And I’m pretty sure that most of us will expect similar salary packages – regardless if you are from say..France or USA or especially India perhaps? But is that true? Let’s dive into it.
Personal Development
To keep up with the fast-paced environment of today’s workplace, you need to be open to new ideas and able to adapt to changes.
You need to be disciplined and organized in your work. With the number of projects that we have on our hands, being able to prioritize tasks will not only make you a better worker but also increase productivity within your team.
A Commitment to Learning
There are many ways to keep up with the latest technologies and programming languages. The most common is by taking online courses on websites like Udemy and Coursera, or by reading technical books. Another way to stay updated is by keeping up with industry trends in media publications such as TechCrunch or The Next Web. You can also participate in meetups or attend conferences regularly.
One of the best ways to gain skills is by doing projects. After learning something new, you should immediately apply it to any project you are working on. This will help you understand how things work in the real world, which cannot be taught in classrooms or books.
If you want to fast-track your learning journey, you can attend coding boot camps such as General Assembly, Le Wagon, and Coding Campus. They will give you in-depth knowledge of the latest technologies and provide hands-on experience through their projects throughout the course duration.
Relevant Skills, Relevant Portfolio
I think it’s safe to say that the job market for computer programmers is a bit bleak right now. I’ve been pretty disheartened after looking at some of the job listings online. There are lots of C++ jobs, which are certainly nice, but they don’t always come with a salary commensurate with the experience required. And then you also have to consider that there’s also an increasing demand for more professional skills like Java and Python, as well as front-end dev tools like Packagist and Webpack. When you’re just starting in this field, it can be difficult to find something that fits your skillset and your desired salary.
I also know that many people who want to become programmers are unsure about what kind of stuff they should look for in a portfolio when applying online. They have no idea how long it takes before you start earning money from being a programmer; they cannot imagine going through such rigorous graduate school courses where most of your time is spent learning computer science theory (and getting nothing useful done).
Now, I don’t mean to sound brash or offensive here—I’m not trying to dissuade anyone from pursuing programming as their career! I’m just saying that this is my personal experience, and if you’re considering making the switch from another industry, I wanted to give you some food for thought on how best to approach an application process in Singapore so that you can land yourself an awesome new job!
The Job Hunt
Before you can even begin the job hunt, you need to get your resume up to date and ready to send out. Once that is done, it’s time to reach out to those around you! Send your resume to everyone you know – friends, family, coworkers. You never know who might be able to help connect you with the right people.
Next, start using some of the many job boards available online. Some boards are specifically for IT jobs in Singapore (JobStreet), whereas others are more general (LinkedIn). In addition, there are websites like Glassdoor which list all open positions at a single company if you already have one in mind!
Recruiters can also be a huge help during this process because they work with different companies and have accesses that companies don’t typically offer applicants directly. Most recruiting agencies will work on commission so make sure they understand what type of salary range would fit your lifestyle before beginning an interview process through them as well!
After finding positions that match your qualifications (or close enough), it’s finally time for interviews! Prepare yourself beforehand by researching typical interview questions ahead of time; this will ensure that when asked complicated questions about programming languages or algorithms you’re ready with an answer.
Build Your Network
We were both sitting in the airport lounge, only a few hours away from arriving at our next destination. We’d gone to India for a holiday, but on the way back, it was time to leave for home again. We were excited at this change and eager to travel again, even though we knew that life would get busy and we didn’t know how much time it would take us to fulfill all our goals.
In some ways, I feel guilty about not taking full advantage of this one opportunity to travel. And while international meetups are usually less broadly focused than regular ones in Singapore (usually focusing on a particular technology or programming language), they can still be a great thing. The community may include people who could be potential mentors or even employers later on down the line. After all, you have something in common with them—they’re in similar situations as yourself: they might want to go abroad too! And meetups are also great because they’re often more social than just hanging out with your friends over coffee—you can make connections with people who share an interest or passion that you share… and maybe learn enough about other parts of the world that you were previously uninformed about!
Build Your Product
Your first step should be to find a project that you are interested in and build it from scratch using your favorite language or framework. It is a great way to learn and get comfortable with the tech stack.
There are so many things you can build that will give you a lot of experience and also serve as a portfolio piece. You can start by building something fun like an application that takes pictures of cats in hats. Or something useful like an app that allows people to order food online. Or even something more complicated like a social networking platform.
Whatever it is that you decide to build, make sure it’s something you’re interested in and solves a problem you have. This will help ensure that you have enough motivation to finish the project.
You need to be passionate about coding, relevant and social.
To truly land a coding job in Singapore, you should:
- Be passionate about coding. It’s important to have a desire to learn and become better at your craft as a programmer, so you’re able to keep up with new technologies as they come out. If you’re not passionate about programming, it can get monotonous and repetitive after a while.
- Be relevant to the market. You’ll stand out if you are highly skilled in the latest technologies that the job market is looking for right now. For example, cryptocurrency development is always in high demand nowadays. Keep yourself updated on industry trends and be ready with new skills or knowledge whenever possible!
- Be social, to get noticed by employers and recruiters who are looking for great developers like yourself! The more connected you are online (e.g., LinkedIn), the better chances there will be of companies reaching out first before anyone else does–and then when your name comes up during interviews too because of these connections made earlier on social networks such as Facebook or Twitter for example.
