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In the latter half of the internet era, it is almost impossible to start a business just by developing an APP; the challenge lies not in development costs, but in operational costs.
Introduction
I transitioned from Android development to Web frontend development, not for any particular reason, but purely out of interest. The website development, mobile web development, H5 event pages in social circles, mini-program development, and public account development you see all fall under the category of Web frontend development.
About Quitting Without a Backup
There is a saying: “Quitting without a backup can lead to poverty for half a year.”
Why did I quit without a backup?
Firstly, I am very certain that I want to do Web frontend development in the future, but I have almost no foundation or experience in this area. If I directly look for related jobs, it is obviously impossible to find one. Therefore, before looking for a job, I need to self-study for a period of time.
Some may think: “Aren’t all programmers the same? Is there really such a big difference between Android development and Web frontend development?” Let me draw an analogy: hospital registrations are divided into different departments; it is naturally not easy for a surgeon to transition to an internist. Similarly, the number of people who fit the characteristics of a full-stack engineer is also very few.
I tried to use my evenings and weekends to learn, but I found that even without overtime, the available time is very limited: socializing, exercising, dining out, sleeping in, occasionally cooking, singles wanting to find a partner, those in a relationship wanting to go out on weekends…
Time is our most honest friend, but our biggest enemy is the lack of time.
Therefore, in order to have enough time to focus on systematic learning, the only option is to quit without a backup. It is said that the period of March and April is the golden period for job hunting, so I planned to resign in early January, study for two months, and start looking for a job in March. In fact, I executed this plan.
Here, I would like to give everyone a piece of advice: If you want to transition, do it as early as possible. If you miss the excellent opportunity of “March and April,” you may have to wait another year.
Of course, some will say that jobs can be found at any time, regardless of the season. But this is only true for those with strong abilities.
Risks and Backup Plans
If your job falls under the following circumstances:
Working at a company where you cannot see a future, but you can still manage your current job
Low salary, but it can still sustain your life, just without savings
After two years, your salary hasn’t increased by more than twenty percent. This increase is not high; it merely keeps pace with inflation and rising prices.
I have considered changing jobs, but my wings aren’t strong enough; where can I fly?
At this point, it is time to consider transitioning. Of course, there may be other reasons for changing jobs, but based solely on personal salary and prospects, the above reasons can already justify a job change.
Another type of person chooses: “Even if my current job isn’t ideal, it’s not too bad. I can continue to stay, and I don’t have to make a choice.” Yes, you can certainly keep everything the same. However, don’t expect to get rich and achieve financial freedom while remaining stagnant.
Every decision carries risks, but without risks, where do rewards come from?
Investment itself is a kind of risk. For example, pursuing further studies may fail and cause you to miss the best time to find a job, but if you try to work while studying, you may end up with neither. At this point, you can only firmly choose one path and not leave yourself a backup plan.
At this point, my advice is: if you always hide in your comfort zone, you will eventually enter a panic zone.
These Days After Quitting—Learning
If I could study at home for eight hours a day for two to three months, that would be no problem; I do have that self-discipline. However, since graduation, no one has a purely learning environment anymore. Because of possible financial pressure, inner restraint, future uncertainty, and of course, facing the emotions of others, etc.
In these two months after quitting, I faced two issues: on one hand, the more I learned, the more I felt that time was insufficient, because there were so many things I didn’t know; on the other hand, there was psychological and financial pressure.
This year, the Spring Festival was on February 16, 2018. By this date, I had already self-studied for more than a month, but I found that I had learned less than a third of my plan, and I started to panic a bit. During the Spring Festival at home, I learned some content, but not much. In late February, I returned to Shenzhen and continued to treat learning as a full-time job. Initially, I planned to start looking for a job in early March, but thinking that I hadn’t learned well, I didn’t dare to look for a job. So, in early March, I secluded myself for another two weeks of study. It wasn’t until mid-March that I started looking for jobs.
Looking back, there is never a perfectly prepared time. The best approach is: participate in interviews as early as possible, record and organize the questions encountered in each interview; the more setbacks you face, the faster you progress. I’m not sure about other fields, but in the field of Web frontend, the repetition rate of questions asked by interviewers is extremely high.
In the month of job hunting, based in Shenzhen.
In social recruitment, the phrase “no frontend experience” can basically lead to disdain from most companies. Companies prefer to hire fresh graduates with no experience.
In mid-March, I applied for internal referrals to BAT. After two working days, Tencent notified me that I was about to enter the interview arrangement stage, but I have not received any news since then. Perhaps this company must first become the most memorable company before it can become the most respected company.
When I applied to Alibaba and Baidu, my resume was quickly dismissed, which was expected.
When I applied to Toutiao, my resume passed. However, I found that I couldn’t answer most of the questions in the first round of written tests. But it was my first interview.
When I applied to Oppo, they said they would reply within three working days, but after waiting a week, I still received no news. When my classmate actively inquired, I learned that my resume had not been approved.
When I applied to WeBank, the person who received my resume should be a leader. He called a frontend engineer to arrange an interview for me. The interviewer asked ten JavaScript-related questions, and I probably only answered half correctly. The leader didn’t give up on me and asked me some basic questions, then said: “I will arrange a second interview for you next week; prepare well.” However, after waiting for more than ten days, I still received no news. But I couldn’t keep thinking about it (two weeks later, WeBank contacted me, but I had already found a job by then).
After so many internal referrals ended in failure, I decided to send my resume to Lagou, Boss Zhipin, and 51job in Shanghai. I sent countless applications, but was mostly rejected.
During the application period, I interviewed with two companies: Ping An Bank and China Merchants Bank, but I didn’t pass. Another company invited me for an interview, but when I arrived at the interview site, they asked me to do logical reasoning questions first. As soon as I saw the questions, I walked away without hesitation. Because doing such questions is simply a waste of youth. I’ll share one of the questions with you to give you a feel:
I even considered the worst-case scenario: if I really couldn’t find a job, I might try to do self-media, although this path is also tough.
Meanwhile, I attempted to refer myself to JD. In just one afternoon, I went through JD’s technical written test and three rounds of interviews (technical interview, boss interview, HR interview). During the third interview, the HR said they would notify me the following Monday. However, I didn’t receive a notification from HR the following Monday; instead, I received a call for another technical interview from JD. After a week of waiting, I finally received a formal offer from JD at the end of March.
Here are two small pieces of advice:
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1. Try to use internal referral channels for job hunting; it can be a better choice. The biggest benefit is that HR can take a second look at your resume among the crowd.
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2. The repetition rate of technical written tests and technical interviews is very high, so after each interview, be sure to record and organize the questions.
Every interviewer asks me: “Why did you transition from Android to frontend?” In the beginning, my answer was simply: “Because of interest.” But later I found that this answer didn’t seem to impress others. So I came up with an answer that I would use in every interview. The answer is as follows:
Firstly, it is due to my love for the frontend, which solidified my determination; secondly, both frontend development and Android development belong to the broader frontend domain, and there are many similarities between the two. I found it relatively smooth to get started with frontend development; lastly, with knowledge of other technologies, doing frontend development may allow me to think about problems from a more holistic perspective.
Since I already had a certain programming foundation and mindset from my time doing Android, learning frontend was relatively easy. After all, frontend development is also quite suitable for beginners. Before quitting, I mentioned in the article that I had tried to use my evenings and weekends to learn, but I felt that since I had already committed to this direction, I should strive for it. However, I still suggest that if you are not mentally prepared, you should not quit to start learning new technologies; the process is quite arduous. There are abundant learning resources available online now; as for time? If you really want to do it, you won’t have so many excuses!
Conclusion
Finally, it’s worth emphasizing that the ways to improve your skills boil down to mastering three key points: why (why learn), what (what to learn), and how (how to learn).
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