Erica Ayala

With the astronomically high number of applications each job listing receives, you likely already are attracting them. The question is "Are you hiring them?", to which the answer is probably 'no'.

You can write unit tests and use testing frameworks to contribute to code quality in several ways. Writing unit tests helps to detect errors and bugs early in the development process by testing the functionality of individual components. Through the use of automated tests, you can also prevent regression and ensure that when adding new code, existing functionalities will continue to work as expected. When developers know that an existing functionality is less likely to break, it gives them more confidence when making changes to the codebase. If the tests still pass afterwards, developers know that errors haven't been introduced as a result of the changes. This makes it safer and easier to refactor code.

When showcasing your app, one element you want to include is a thoroughly detailed README file. In this file, you should be sure to include the name and purpose of your project, with a brief overview of its purpose and functionality. Create a clear outline detailing the steps to install and set up the project, including any necessary commands or configurations needed in order to use it. Don't forget to include the project's license and have a set of guidelines in place to inform users and contributors about how they can use or modify your project. Finally, be sure to credit any contributors, as well as external resources or libraries you may have used.

It really depends on what kind of bootcamp you attend. For example, in my full stack Java cohorts, we learned the basic front-end stuff like HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, and even Angular before moving onto the command line and learning Git and Bash. For the back end, they taught us Java and Spring. We learned about REST APIs, relational databases, and how to write queries in PostgreSQL. They taught us the importance of TDD and unit testing, including testing frameworks such as JUnit, Jest, Mockito, etc. We also spent time learning the Agile/Scrum methodologies and tools such as Postman, pgAdmin, and Apache Tomcat. My cloud development bootcamp focused more on Azure fundamentals with some time spent on Java as well.

There are plenty of resources out there to learn the basics of web development! You can check out documentation and tutorials on MDN Web Docs, W3C, W3Schools, GeeksforGeeks, Educative, Programiz, TutorialsPoint, SimpliLearn, freeCodeCamp, GitHub, and Dev Docs. If you prefer having a community to ask questions, you can join Discord, Reddit, or Stack Overflow. If reading articles is more your thing, you can try DevBytes, Hashnode, SubStack, Medium, and Dev community. To practice coding and solve coding challenges, check out HackerRank, CodeCademy, Replit, LeetCode, CodeWars, and Edabit. There are also plenty of online courses and coding bootcamps on Udemy, Coursera, edX, Zero to Mastery Academy, PluralSight, and even YouTube.

Contributing to open source projects are a great way to stand out from the crowd! If you don't know where to start, here's a great list for beginners: https://github.com/MunGell/awesome-for-beginners