You’ve put in the grafting hours and completed more midnight study sessions than you would like to admit to get your diploma in Ruby development. The next challenge? Landing yourself a job. Our courses train you for the jobs currently on the market (that’s why we offer a Job Guarantee) but it doesn’t hurt to give your profile a little boost when applying for jobs. To prepare for your job hunt, it’s a good idea to understand what recruiters are looking for in order to present yourself as the perfect candidate. Take a read of our guide of things recruiters are looking for when hiring a Ruby developer.
- Can you even code?
First things first, are you qualified? Recruiters don’t need you to have a degree, but they do need to see you have a solid understanding of Ruby and the Ruby on Rails framework. It’s important to showcase the work you’ve done, which isn’t always easy when looking for your first job.
TIP: Try project-based learning and you’ll not only get hands-on experience in Ruby, but you’ll have a portfolio of things you’ve built to prove your worth to any recruiter.
- And what about Front-End?
Yes, Ruby is used for back-end, but you’ll set yourself above the rest if you know a little front-end too. The most commonly sought-after languages are CSS, HTML and JavaScript, so if you can get a grasp in those, you’re golden.
TIP: We’ve got a 20h course for you on that.
- Can you get on board with someone else’s code?
While learning, you probably spent a lot of time building your own applications, which is great. However, the reality of the workplace is that you’ll spend a lot of time on code others have written. Recruiters need to know that you have a general grasp of shell scripting in your operating system, know how to install software from the command line, and can use it to run tools like Git and Rails commands.
TIP: Learn how to analyze someone else’s code to understand their approach and fix bugs even quicker.
- Do you know our tools?
A new hire quick to onboard is a recruiters dream. By familiarising yourself with common tools used by Ruby developers you’ll save your future team a lot of time and you’ll be operational much quicker than someone who has never used them.
TIP: Getting to grips with Git and Heroku is a good place to start.
- Can you SQL?
Web developers in every language work extensively with databases to store data from users. Since SQL is the de facto language of database communication for all programming languages, it’s a huge plus if you know how to use it.
TIP: The earlier you get to know SQL, the easier your life will be
- Do you contribute?
The only constant in the tech world is that everything is always evolving. You need to be a lifelong learner to not only excel, but to even just survive as a programmer. As you continue to hone your Ruby skills, try sharing knowledge as an open source contributor to show you’re an active learner in the community .
TIP: Show your future employer you’re an active learner but contributing to open source code on the regular.
