Industry Veteran Reveals Key to Landing First JavaScript Job: Practical Projects, Not Tutorials

For aspiring JavaScript developers seeking their first professional role, a veteran hiring manager, known as ‘Uncle Steph,’ is challenging conventional wisdom. With decades of experience, he firmly states that certifications, excessive LeetCode practice, and especially tutorial-based projects are not what secure a job. In fact, presenting a tutorial project is a ‘big red flag,’ signaling a lack of genuine understanding and independent problem-solving. Instead, the focus must be on demonstrating practical skills through a self-built, real-world project. This shift comes as the industry experiences a ‘rebalancing’ following a post-pandemic period of rapid, less stringent hiring, underscoring the renewed demand for demonstrable capability.

A compelling project, though not necessarily complex, must showcase the ability to plan, create, and deploy software, ideally within a chosen industry sector like restaurant tech or accounting. Beyond the project itself, candidates must articulate the ‘why’ behind their technological choices and implementation decisions, proving a nuanced understanding of JavaScript fundamentals, its reactive nature, and the broader web stack—including client-side vs. server-side dynamics, the request-response cycle, DOM manipulation, and Node.js. While traditional credentials are noted, the industry remains a ‘rubber meets the road’ environment where practical execution, akin to mixed martial arts, vastly outweighs theoretical knowledge. Aspiring developers are also encouraged to leverage AI as a tool to accelerate both learning and development.