Drumroll, Please: Make Your Portfolio Projects Fun and Prepare for the Following Questions

<p><strong>🎙 About the episode</strong></p><p><br><strong>Meet Stevie Gill 🇬🇧! </strong>Stevie was a scientist, a medical writer and an editor, and then he wrote about video games. Eventually, he moved countries and changed careers. Nowadays, Stevie lives in Toronto, Canada, and works as a full-time front-end developer at Kijiji.  In this episode, he shares his story and everything he learned along the way that can help you land your first developer job!</p><p>You'll hear how Stevie learned to code, how he prepared for the interviews, and that LinkedIn can be useful even if you only have a handful of connections. He reveals how he took a generic portfolio project and made it his own - and why you should do the same. Stevie and Alex discuss Stevie's interview process in depth (be warned: there are some witty HR people out there) and also answer the question of whether you should be dreading the gaps on your resume.</p><p><strong>🔗 Connect with Stevie</strong></p><ul> <li>👨🏼‍💼<a href="https://linkedin.com/in/stevie-gill-495125221"> Linkedin</a> </li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/caffeinatedcod3">🐦 Twitter</a></li> <li><a href="https://hashnode.com/@caffeinated-coder">🌐  Blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://steviegill-webportfolio.netlify.app/">🌐  Portfolio</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/caffeinated-pixels">👩‍🚀 GitHub</a></li> </ul><p>⏰<strong> Timestamps</strong></p><ul> <li>Stevie's journey into coding (02:01)</li> <li>How moving countries helped Stevie switch careers... and discover Scrimba in the process (05:27)</li> <li>Is LinkedIn that important, and how can you stack the deck in your favor (07:56)</li> <li>A hiring manager discovered Stevie's LinkedIn. How? (13:40)</li> <li>Can you have seven years of React experience and still be a junior? (15:39)</li> <li>Are there any hidden perks of generic messages from recruiters? (16:44)</li> <li>What do recruiters want to know when they're getting to know you as a candidate? (18:40)</li> <li>Taylor Desseyn on how to spot a good recruiter on Linked