1.5. My Background and Bias

I’m not a professor. I’m not an author. And I haven’t been in the industry for decades.

I’m just a student who has been through the same struggles you’re facing right now and I know first hand how overwhelming it can be to navigate the tech job market as a student.

I have spent the last several years talking to students—thousands of them—about their fears, frustrations, and hopes for their future in tech. I've been more involved in the student community than most, spending the past 8 years working with students at Carleton University, giving talks, running workshops, and mentoring students one-on-one.

I’ve worked in industry now for 6-ish years now at every kind of organization, from startups with four people in a room, government roles, mid-size SaaS companies, to large-scale companies like Shopify and GitLab.

I've done countless internship and full-time developer interviews, have now successfully landed two full-time job searches post pandemic, and I’ve watched countless talented friends go through the same struggles I did.

I'm also Canadian, and the hiring landscape in Canada is different than it is in the U.S., so some of the perspectives in this guide may reflect that.

And finally: I’m not claiming this is the perfect resource. I’m not a professional educator, and I’m sure there are ways this could be better written, better researched, or more comprehensive.

But my goal here isn’t to be polished—it’s to be helpful. This guide is my attempt to take everything I’ve learned and everything I’ve seen, and make it easier for the next wave of students to get through it all.