Tips For Students Applying As a Software Engineer


Over the last couple of weeks, I've had the privilege of undergoing technical recruiting and conducting interviews for potential software engineers for [Launch Tech LLC](https://www.launchtechllc.com/), which was a very rewarding and fulfilling process, though a bit tedious at times.

Throughout this process, I've been able to notice a lot of patterns that students, high school students specifically, have when going through the recruiting process, whether it be because of lack of skills, experience, or general knowledge of how to properly act in certain professional situations. Either way, I wanted to share it so that whoever is reading this right now can avoid making the same mistakes!

## Not having projects
Projects are the backbone of any engineer, it shows us what you know what you're talking about. Not just random projects or complex projects, but projects that are actually useful and are tethered to your personal passions. There will always be projects that can be improved in terms of design, complexity, implementation, or anything else. But at the end of the day, projects are a good way to recruiters to measure the quality and skill-level of engineers, and those without any projects aren't helping their chances of being recruited, or even being interviewed.

## Writing short essay questions
We received well over 150+ applications for our first recruiting rounds, so we obviously didn't have enough time to read all essay prompts. Though we didn't read through everything, we could quickly see who did and didn't write long essay prompts, and we subconsciously took note of those who didn't take the time to write at least a semi-long essay answer, and it left an impression on us.

## Being overly enthusiastic
Everyone wants an enthusiastic candidate, but those who are over the top are offsetting. I've had people constantly call me "sir" when they're older than me, and sometimes even more skilled or experienced than me. It personally made me feel a bit uncomfortable and weird, to say the least, and that's the absolute last thing you want to make any recruiter, or anyone in general you're going to work with to feel.

Though this was a bit of a short article and there's definitely a lot of things I could've touched on as well, I think that these are 3 huge reasons why I decided to reject so many applicants, and it can definitely be the deciding factor of you getting an interview opportunity, and possibly a future position at the nonprofit/company you're applying to!

If you have any questions, feel free to message me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/calix-huang/)!


How To Escape Tutorial Hell


Ever been trapped in tutorial hell? It is the absolute worst place for beginners starting out in software engineering to be, and yet so many people get sucked into it.

This problem only arose to me when a friend of mine, Anthony Kuang, reached out to me for help. He was struggling with being stuck in tutorial hell, and I gave him some advice. A question arose in my head, “How many other people are struggling with tutorial hell as well?”

# What is tutorial hell?
If you’re unfamiliar with what tutorial hell is, it is a phase of learning where the victim is dependent on tutorials and direct teaching and stays that way. Those in tutorial hell are incapable of learning new topics and technologies without help from others or a guided tutorial. Tutorial hell is like quicksand — if you don’t escape fast, you will just be sinking deeper and deeper into it.

I have nothing against tutorials, I love tutorials! Many software engineers, including myself, have jumpstarted their career learning from tutorials and online resources. Though tutorials are great, one flaw is that it never challenges you to think for yourself. Tutorials are amazing tools to learn from and get started, but remember, it is only a tool. Tutorials help you learn concepts you wouldn’t be able to learn on your own, but it will not teach you everything you need to know. You could take a tutorial on everything you could possibly need to know to land a job as a software engineer, but somewhere along the line, you’re going to have to think for yourself. If you can’t think for yourself, be creative, and solve problems on your own, you won’t get anywhere in software engineering.

# Why do people get stuck in tutorial hell?
Tutorial hell is notorious for sucking in beginners in software engineering because tutorials are a fundamental way of learning. But there are two big reasons why people get caught and stuck in tutorial hell:

## People think tutorial hell is how you learn
Though they may not know it, some people truly think that tutorial hell is how you learn, so they willingly go from tutorial to tutorial, building boilerplate projects. This isn’t their fault, they just were never taught better. But, mimicking an instructor’s code and thoughts is not productive or smart. It limits creativity and doesn’t really teach you anything if you never think for yourself.

## People don’t care enough to escape
Some people just don’t like programming, and that’s fine. But, this doesn’t just apply to the people who don’t want to continue down the path of software engineering. This also applies to the people who want a career in technology, but don’t want to put in the work to really master their craft. Learning is never easy, it’s really hard to start to understand something you’ve never encountered before. But, if you’re not willing to put in the work to truly understand what you’re learning, either quit or get off your ass.

# How can you escape tutorial hell?
The part we’ve all been waiting for. There are many things you can do to escape tutorial hell, but these are three things I did to avoid tutorial hell altogether, as well as escape it for anyone trapped in it.

## Play around with the code
In the middle of the tutorial and you learn a new function, method, or framework, pause the tutorial. Look at the code you just wrote and tinker with it. Change numeric values, write quick scripts on the side, and modify the code as a whole to see how it changes. This will help you understand the code on a deeper level and the active thinking will help the concept drill deeper into your brain. This is one of the easiest ways you can avoid tutorial hell altogether. This forces you to think on your own and observe the changes that occur when the code is changed.

## Build milestone projects
At the end of each tutorial or at certain milestones within the course, I strongly encourage everyone to build a project or a mini-project using the technology they just learned. It forces you to truly think on your own, think creatively, and solve the problems on your own. Don’t follow a tutorial for this project (that defeats the whole purpose), but instead use what you learned to build something that you can call your own. I can say that some of my best projects were built right after I learned how to use a new framework or tool. It not only helps you learn the concept deeper, but it adds to your portfolio!
Sometimes, it’s a bit hard to come up with project ideas. If you ever need help coming up with project ideas, please feel free to connect and message me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/calix-huang/).

## Teach someone else
When you teach someone a certain concept, you need to know it well enough to be able to explain it in your own words. This really gets your brain going, and helps you learn better and faster. I know personally that when I’ve taught others certain concepts and topics, I come out of it understanding it better than if I hadn’t. It’s a really great way to solidify and validate your knowledge of the subject, and will, in turn, help you escape, tutorial hell.

Tutorial hell is not fun. You feel like you don’t know what you’re doing, and you feel powerless to stop it. I hope I provided some insight and helpful advice to those struggling with tutorial hell, and how to escape it. The most important thing to keep in mind when thinking about tutorial hell is to never give up and to really be passionate about what you’re learning. If you don’t care enough about what you’re learning, you’re never going to take the extra effort to understand it.

If you have any questions, feel free to message me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/calix-huang/)!


Why Syntax Errors Will Make You a Better Software Engineer


We’ve all been there. You’re coding, and when you run the code, it crashes. You see the error, and it’s a syntax error. Now, most developers groan, and look at the traceback and try to fix the error with no enthusiasm. But, I’ve grown to enjoy syntax errors. I don’t necessarily seek them out and dance with joy when I see them, but I’ve grown to accept them and have understood how helpful they are.

You may be wondering, how in the world can syntax errors be helpful? Sure, in context, syntax errors are not helpful. But what they make you do subconsciously is very beneficial, and I plan to point those things out.
Whatever your stance is on syntax errors, I believe that syntax errors help you become a better software engineer.

# Syntax errors make you more observant

You have to be observant, meticulous, and detail-oriented to efficiently seek out and solve syntax errors. This becomes human nature — if you’re observant, you can solve these errors quickly and easily. But, if you’re not so observant, you really have to look closely and slow down at what you’re reviewing. You must read code line by line, looking at each and every single character just to see what you did wrong. Now, I’m no neurologist, but going through this process over and over again helps your neurons fire, essentially building certain skills. This skill is not something specific towards programming, but skill in general of being more observant and detail-oriented.

Personally, I’ve found that over time, I’ve gotten better at reading my code and other people’s code and finding flaws in it syntactically. I’ve also gotten more observant in general. I’ve started noticing little details that I’ve never noticed before and on a frequent basis. Though being observant may not sound like the most amazing skill in the box, it’s one that’s required to becoming a great software engineer, and it’s a skill that’s used in everyday life.

# Syntax errors make you more persistent

Being observant is not all there is to fixing syntax errors. You need to be persistent. Some syntax errors are easy to find and fix: maybe you forgot a parenthesis or an ending quotation mark, but some are harder to find: maybe you misspelled something or forgot to capitalize a letter. Either way, you probably won’t find the error right away. I’ve spent 2–3 seconds on syntax errors, but also several days just finding that one variable I misspelled. It’s helped me become more persistent in finding errors, debugging them, and fixing them.

A lot of students that I mentor give up way too easily. They call me over the moment they have a syntax error, which is usually a 2-second fix. Though you need to be persistent to fix syntax errors, a lot of the time it’s not that hard to solve.

# Syntax errors will make you more resourceful tool-wise

This may sound a little bit far-fetched, but in the software engineering industry, using the tools around you can improve your efficiency immensely. Things like debuggers, word-searchers, and syntax validators are extremely helpful.

## Debuggers
If you don’t know what debuggers are, they are pieces of software that run inside IDEs (Integrated Development Environment) and some text-editors. They help you freeze time at certain breakpoints in your code, and check the values of certain variables and function outputs. Debuggers are used a lot for logic and operational errors but can help a lot in checking where your syntax error lies and will point it out for you.

## Word Searchers
Something as simple as a word searcher can go miles. Especially for something like a misspelling of a word, you can simply look up the name of the variable you think you misspelled, as see if it exists in the place where you hypothetically misspelled it. I’ve used this to help me fix syntax errors dozens of times, and I feel like it is highly underrated by developers. Sometimes the simplest tools can make the biggest differences.

## Syntax Validators
You may or may not have heard of syntax validators, but they are external resources that can syntactically validate your code and point out errors in indentation or missteps. For example, JSONLint is really helpful for validating JSON code. I’ve used it numerous times when I run into merge conflicts with my JSON files, and it always saves the day.

Syntax validators are not the first tools that I use, but it is a very good last line of defense.

# Conclusion

I hope that I did syntax errors justice. Many developers dread them, but we should grow to appreciate them, and truly understand why they are helpful to solve. It can help improve our skills related to programming, but also skills outside of the field. It has definitely improved my skill and efficiency as a software engineer, and it can definitely do the same for yourself.

For beginners who are taking an online tutorial or in-person classes, try to fix the error yourself. Try to fix syntax errors on your own before calling a mentor or posting a question on an online forum. It will help you understand your code much better, and will, in turn, help you learn a lot more about programming in general.

If you have any questions, feel free to message me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/calix-huang/)!


Freelancing in High School — Should You Do It?


We all want to make money. In high school, your amount of freedom varies from family to family. But, most high school students have the freedom to make money on their own and spend it on whatever they want. Now, there are many ways to make money in high school. Some ways are glamorous, others, not so much. And one way to make awesome money is freelancing!

Freelancing is a great way to make money. You get control of your own schedule, you get to pick and choose the clients you want to serve, and it can make you a six-figure salary easily! There’s a special aura around freelancing, and I have personally felt the pressure of getting into freelancing as a side hustle. But is it really a side hustle that you should take on in high school?

** Here are some of the pros and cons of freelancing for those in high school. **

# Pro: No degree required

No one that outsources tasks to freelancing cares about a college degree. Some may, but it matters a lot more about your skills and if you can get the job done.

When applying for full-time jobs, degrees are a metric of general knowledge, commitment, and endurance. It shows that you have a certain level of proficiency in a field of study, and stuck with it throughout several years. Freelancing gigs don’t work that way. You don’t have any papers to sign or contracts to fulfill. You just need the skills to build and deploy whatever the client needs, and have the patience to revise and improve the final product.
In certain fields such as STEM and software engineering, many of the freelancing jobs that you will land will not apply to what you learn in college. Specifically, computer science degrees are mostly theoretical and focus on topics that aren’t applicable to modern-day technology. Those who graduate from coding bootcamps or are self-taught are much more appealing to clients.
Degrees become obsolete in the world of freelancing, and it has helped many college students and dropouts kickstart their careers.

# Con: It’s hard to land jobs

Freelancing is a great side hustle and a great career choice, but no one ever said it was going to be easy. The freelancing community is a highly competitive space, and those who don’t prove themselves and stand out from the competition will be eclipsed by those who do. This especially holds true for those just getting started in freelancing, and that applies to almost all high schoolers.

Here are some reasons why standing out as a freelancer in high school is hard:

## You don’t have enough experience
Remember, you’re competing with professional freelancers with years of experience in the field. They have more past experience than you, which naturally helps them strategize and land more jobs than you can. Don’t take it personally, they’ve built up their status from their hard work and dedication, so expect that to be a roadblock.
You may not have more experience than your competitors, but you can get that over time.

## You don’t have enough credibility
Your competitors have a lot of experience, and with that comes a lot of ratings and testimonials. More than likely, they probably have really high ratings and amazing testimonials. This is something that makes them stand out the most, and it’s what is most comforting and appealing to clients. They want freelancers who have experience in freelancing and proof that others were satisfied with their service.

And can you blame them? If you were in their shoes, would you take the freelancer with tons of great testimonials, an amazing portfolio of projects, and a 5-star rating? Or would you choose the freelancer with no experiences, no testimonials, no ratings, and no portfolio?

Credibility is one of the most important pieces of freelancing, and it definitely shows throughout the community.

# You don’t have the knowledge to land jobs

This is a simple issue, and it has nothing to do with your competition. Sometimes, you simply don’t have the knowledge or skills to apply for the job, making it impossible to stand out. If you don’t have the skills to apply for the job, you’ll either have to find a different job or learn what you need to complete it.

## Your hourly rates are too high
Hourly rates are very important to pay attention to because those outsourcing jobs to freelancers don’t want to pay a whole lot of money. Though credibility and the skills of the freelancer matter, so does how much the clients will be paying them. It’s simple: clients are more inclined to pay the freelancer who has a cheaper hourly rate.

So, with this in mind, you have to be conscious of how much you’re charging per hour. Especially if you have no credibility or experience, you want to charm clients with your hourly rate. You want to show how cheap your service is, enticing clients with smaller budgets to take a chance on you. This is how you can slip through the cracks and land clients where bigger freelancers can’t.

Professional freelancers have adapted to this situation and placed their hourly rates low as well. Just when you think your hourly rate is low, chances are there will be a big freelancer with tons of credibility at the same rate, or even lower. Many big freelancers live outside the United States, so they can afford to put their hourly rates extremely low.
My tip on hourly rates is to look at your competitors and find their hourly rates. Then, put your hourly rate below them by a decent amount. Sure, you may not make as much money, but then at least you’ll have a chance at landing clients.

# Pro: It’s great for work experience

Work experience is highly coveted when applying for any job, and if you don’t plan on freelancing for a career, you’ll definitely need it when applying for jobs in the future. And what better experience to put on your resume than freelancing?

Freelancing shows employers that:
* You have the skills to build real-world products and solve real-world problems
* You have good digital communication
* You are capable of working with clients and making product revisions
* You are not a beginner!

This holds especially true for high school students. Many employers have a mindset that high school students are beginners, and don’t have the skills, knowledge, or ability to work in their preferred industry. Not to mention that many high school students are constantly searching for jobs to fill up their resume, and freelancing can finally help students put something impressive to add.

Another thing that freelancing can do is add to your portfolio. Portfolio projects confirm to future employers that you know what you’re doing and measures your skill level in action. They are very important, and freelancing jobs automatically add new projects to your portfolio that you can show with pride.

# Con: It’s an unstable business

Freelancing is very unstable. Freelancers can make a lot of money, but they can also make absolutely nothing.
Freelancing goes based on supply and demand. There is a demand for outsourcing for some businesses, and freelancers supply that need for cheap work being finished. But, there can be external factors that can crash the entire freelancing business. Some of these may be:
* The global trends have shifted
* There’s a market crash
* There’s too much competition in freelancing

Focusing more on the competition in freelancing, there is a lot of competition. For those who live in the United States, there are jobs everywhere. Thousands of job listings are posted online every day, and many of those positions can be filled by high school students. But, for those who don’t live in the United States, jobs may be hard to find. People in other countries don’t have the same opportunities as those in America. But, with modern-day technology and the Internet, freelancing has been made accessible for almost anyone with a computer. So, if you look at freelancing platforms like Upwork or Fiverr, much of the competition live in countries outside America. And because of the currency differences, USD is worth a lot more to those outside America, allowing them to place their hourly rates even lower than those who live in the US.

Freelancing is an incredibly risky business to sink your teeth into, but it can reap a great reward.

# Pro: No time commitments

High school students don’t have the option of working a full-time job, because they are already fully-invested into school. This is another reason why freelancing is so amazing is because it doesn’t require any time commitments.
Freelancing is incredibly flexible. You can only gain as much as you work, making it perfect for high school students who don’t have too much time each day.

Here are some of the differences between freelancing and working a job:
* Freelancing
  * You choose what projects to work on
  * You choose how much you get paid
  * You choose when you work
  * You choose how long you work for
  * Quit and join the freelancing community as you please
  * Work from anywhere
* Job
  * You must work the number of hours required
  * You must work within a certain time range
  * Superiors assign you tasks
  * Some jobs may require you to come into their office for work

As a high school student and freelancer, you have the flexibility to place your freelancing duties around your school schedule, while still making time to spend with your family and friends.

# Con: It’s very limiting

Freelancing is very flexible, but at the same time, it’s very limiting. It is flexible in the sense that you can work on whenever you want, wherever you want. But, in terms of the work you will be completing, it’s very limit, and here’s why:

## There’s nothing new to learn

Clients who hire you as a freelancer expect you to be an expert at whatever you’re doing. They don’t have a designated amount of time where you can learn how to use a certain technology or learn a new concept. In this context, freelancing doesn’t allow you to learn new things because you will be working on projects that exploit your strengths and not your weaknesses.

## It’s not an outlet for creativity

You are not an employee of your client’s business. You have no control or influence over anyone within your client’s business, so you have no right to object to certain decisions, request new features, or add your own personal twist on the project. You are simply a freelancer that has no affiliation with the company besides your temporary outsourcing service.

## No real career growth

Besides work experience and monetary benefits, freelancing is not a platform to help you grow your career. It may be a stepping stone to something bigger, but it is certainly not a career that will make you rich, famous, or extremely successful. There’s no doubt that freelancing will stick around, as it poses as a major benefit to businesses and individuals around the world, but it will never be more than that.

# Conclusion

Though freelancing may seem like a risky business, there’s no harm in trying. High school is the time where we can explore our interests and jumpstart our careers, so what better time to try freelancing than in high school? There are many roadblocks in freelancing, and chances are you won’t be successful in the first few weeks or months. But, if you stick with it, some success is bound to come, and that will automatically put you ahead of almost all of your peers.

This was not meant to encourage or discourage anyone from freelancing, but simply to show the reasons why it could be beneficial or detrimental. I simply gathered every reason why freelancing is a good and bad idea and presented it for you to decide.

If you have any questions, feel free to message me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/calix-huang/)!


Why Teaching Kids Has Made Me a Better Software Engineer


I work with kids a lot. I work a part-time job teaching and mentoring kids learning how to code, and I also volunteer at a nonprofit organization to help mentor kids to learn how to code as well.

Anyone who knows me well enough can say without hesitation that I don’t work well with kids. I’m awkward and a little bit shy when working with kids, but I’ve gotten better over the last few months. Over that time, I’ve noticed that I’ve gotten better at explaining certain topics, breaking down hard concepts, and even learned a few new things!
I’ve learned that teaching kids forces you to truly understand what you’re doing, and here are some reasons why I believe this is the case.

# Kids will question you

It is known that a child’s favorite question is, “Why?”. From my experiences, this statement could not be more true. Whenever I try to explain a topic to a student, concept, or piece of terminology, I can never say another word without that student asking me, “Why?”. Sometimes, it’s a simple explanation. But, sometimes it’s a question that leaves me speechless, and you can’t help but question your own knowledge as well.

Students have asked me that question numerous times, and it’s pushed me to research deeper into the concept at hand and fully understand what I was explaining. It has not only validated that I don’t always truly understand what I’m teaching but also pushed me to understand it better.

# Kids don’t understand the topic as you do

You know more than the student. Chances are, if you’re teaching someone, you probably know more about the topic at hand. It’s important to understand that kids aren’t on the same level of knowledge as you and that they won’t always understand what you’re talking about. It’s led me to realize that when explaining certain topics, it doesn’t make sense to the student when I use fancy terminology or vocabulary. Even words as common as “processing”, “network”, or “storage” sound like a different language to some students. The worst part is that kids usually won’t tell you when they don’t understand something. They will continue to listen to you without understanding what you’re saying, making your whole explanation completely useless.
This has taught me to explain terminology when I use it, or to find alternatives to using it. It goes back to truly understand the topic at hand. If you don’t truly understand what you’re teaching, it won’t make it any easier for the student to learn.

# Kids will remind you of what you don’t know

Part of the reason why I was able to land a part-time job and a volunteering position was because I understood software engineering, and was completely capable of teaching kids how to code. But, everyone has holes in their knowledge, and teaching kids has definitely exploited defects in my knowledge. I was once teaching a student basic Javascript principles, and he asked me a question that had to do with how the event loop worked. Up until that point, I only had a vague idea of how the event loop worked, and I wasn’t able to give him a good answer to that question.

It made me realize that I didn’t understand a very crucial concept in JavaScript, and it pushed me to understand it better.
Whether you were teaching a concept you thought you knew but really didn’t, or a concept you had no idea you didn’t understand, teaching kids can show you that you don’t truly understand what you’re doing, and you still have a lot to learn. This is not just specific to software engineering or computer science, but any field. We are all students, and teaching kids is something that’s helped me develop in my knowledge in ways I could’ve never imagined.

If you have any questions, feel free to message me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/calix-huang/)!


Tips For Students Applying As a Software Engineer

Jun 29 2020

How To Escape Tutorial Hell

Mar 28 2020

Why Syntax Errors Will Make You a Better Software Engineer

Mar 25 2020

Freelancing in High School — Should You Do It?

Mar 16 2020

Why Teaching Kids Has Made Me a Better Software Engineer

Mar 11 2020