Monday, May 25, 2015

The secret of how to get a QA job in 3 - 4 months.

I am going to be putting up a new blog post every Monday from now on.

NOTE:  Only 6 days left to apply for the free 4 month QA coaching, see the previous post on how to apply.

I met this really nice guy today working at Arbys who was a former inmate.  I felt compelled to try to help him, and offered to help him learn to code and get a better job.  The guy's name was the same as mine: "Josh".  He said he really appreciated the offer, but said he didn't think he could ever do coding.

I respect his decision, but I couldn't help but think about all of the people who say they do want to learn to code and get hired but won't put in the effort to make it become a reality.  I've gotten a lot of emails from people who want me to coach them.  They say they have the passion, drive, and will stick it out for 4 months.  They say they want to get hired as an entry level QA engineer in 4 months.  Here's the thing, half of the people who sent in an email to me, didn't answer my questions, and if they did, they only answered some of the questions.

I'm reminded of the Henry Ford quote:


"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right."

-Henry Ford


Getting lots of application emails and trying to pick the best ones is fun and also challenging.  I decided to share with you the simple secret of my success in over coming any and all challenges I've faced.  People write in and say things like:  "You are so lucky!", "You are so motivated and driven" or "I wish I had your passion".

Here's the thing, I'm not lucky, I am driven and passionate.  The secret to getting hired or changing your life in any area is really quite simple:

You have to REALLY want it, never give up and find A WAY to succeed!

There is no magic potion that I am going to give people that will help them get hired.  Sure there are some tricks I've learned, and short cuts to learning and landing a job.  BUT,  the main reason you are going to get hired is because of all of the "sweat equity" you are going to put into the process.  I think I've already picked 1 student from out of the crowd.  I think judging by the person's desire to make a major life change happen, that they are likely to succeed.

I can't want you to get hired and change your life more than YOU want to make massive change in your life.  I will push you and drive you on to success like never before, but you ultimately have to want it!

Okay, I will get off of my soap box now :-)

My book is out in 1 week, I can't wait.  So excited to see people's feedback on this much better edition of the book!  Work is good, life is good!  Don't tell anyone, but I think I will be moving my little family to Raleigh N.C. this coming February or so.  If you live down there, maybe we'll meet at a local Ruby meetup group :-)

By the way, if you have a blog ( doesn't have to be big ) and you'd like to get a free copy of the new edition of: "No Degree, No Problem" before anyone else, simply shoot me an email.  If you put a review of the book on your blog I'll give you a free copy of the book that simple.

All the best, keep coding peeps, you can do this!