How to look for a job as a Python developer with a year of experience?

Question

Python

Good evening,
dear forum users!

A couple of years ago, I went to the forum with a question about how I can become a developer and received solid feedback and good advice, for which I am very grateful. I am currently a Python developer. The path to the profession was not easy, at first there was a year of active independent study, now I have been working for a large financial company for almost a year.

The question is the following. Unfortunately, my first work experience cannot be called exceptionally successful due to the fact that at the current place of work, from a technical point of view, the project is not so complicated and, in general, the active phase of its development has now ended. Accordingly, I no longer learn anything new at work, in connection with which the search for a new job has become relevant.

The first "touchstones" were last autumn - I wanted to understand what the level of requirements for me was now, and then I realized that I needed to put on the materiel. Therefore, since autumn I have been more actively involved in my studies (although I have not abandoned it before), deepened my knowledge of Python, read a lot of materials, a book on asyncio, now I am reading a book on SQL / PostgreSQL and gradually mastering the Python Cookbook (terribly interesting), I wrote several English-language articles - partly for myself, in order to better assimilate the material, partly for the portfolio - so that it can be seen that the developer is striving to grow as a professional, learning something new, and not just saying that he is ready to learn, etc.

The problem is that Python development has a fairly high threshold in terms of stack space. For example, my good friend just graduated as a front-end developer (React) at HTML Academy and got a job with a salary of 120 thousand rubles in just a month, by the way, without knowing English. My job search a year ago was hell, because. without work experience, I could hardly even get through to interviews :) And I get 80 thousand rubles. in my hands despite the fact that I am fluent in English, I read books, I study in my free time, etc. By the way, I don’t complain about money, at the moment when they made me an offer, I was terribly pleased with the amount. I thought it would be much less. But now growth is desirable.

Moments about which I would like to ask advice.
1) The deeper I study the theory, the deeper they start asking me at interviews and as a result they often refuse :) Now I just resumed the search, but there are already several refusals. Is this normal or do I need to do something differently? I would not like to stop the search either, because in my current job, I risk starting to stagnate in terms of practice.

2) HR keeps sending me vacancies for Senior Developers. Apparently, sometimes it’s stupid copy-paste, and sometimes HR doesn’t delve into work experience too much. How to respond to such letters? Just agree to interviews or outline the moment "do I fit?".

3) Everyone offers very different salary brackets and I don’t understand what to start from. The situation is further complicated by the fact that, as he said, HR often send senior vacancies. And in some cases, HR, apparently, does not understand much, but in others it is simply too lazy to correct / clarify something - you are interested, they threw off some description for you and are ready to talk. And very often wages are not indicated at all, and they ask me what I expect. I'm trying to understand what you can count on money at the current stage?

4) What is more promising - to focus on further deepening your knowledge of Python or expanding the technology stack? Although I try to study the material thoroughly - I take notes in Notion, work through them, practice the code I study, sometimes write articles - there is a problem associated with forgetting. Very often I learn something, but after a month I can’t formulate it at the interview, although give me a task - I’ll do it, find it in notes, google it, read it in the documentation ... How do you work with a similar problem for yourself?

I would be grateful for the advice of my colleagues. Thank you!

Answer 1

Sounds like you've got the impostor syndrome. Read the author Philipp Ranzhin on Habré - he tells everything in detail just about your case in the article "Do not jump above your head - you will remain a dumbass in captivity of big money" (the toaster blocks the link to it).
You can also add that the decisions you make must be meaningful, i.e. follow any goal. For example, you decide to learn python to become a programmer, to get a lot of money, to buy yourself a house, to feel happy. This is called the "five why" rule : if you can't answer the question "why" 5 times in a row, then you've been brainwashed into the problem being solved.

Answer 2

Good evening.

1) The deeper I study the theory, the deeper they start asking me at interviews and as a result they often refuse :) Now I just resumed the search, but there are already several refusals. Is this normal or do I need to do something differently? I would not like to stop the search either, because in my current job, I risk starting to stagnate in terms of practice.

If you answer correctly and you are refused - these are questions for the adequacy of the interviewer.
If you do not answer correctly - analyze the experience and pump over weaknesses.
But a few failures is not a statistic.

2) HR keeps sending me vacancies for Senior Developers. Apparently, sometimes it’s stupid copy-paste, and sometimes HR doesn’t delve into work experience too much. How to respond to such letters? Just agree to interviews or outline the moment "do I fit?".

Some of HR are optimists and hope to sell you as a senior. But it's like cold calling. They make contact. And if you outline that you are not yet a signor, they will come to you later or with a middle vacancy. If you make friends with a couple of hundred HR in the link and say what you are interested in, relevant vacancies will go.

3) Everyone offers very different salary brackets and I don’t understand what to start from. The situation is further complicated by the fact that, as he said, HR often send senior vacancies. And in some cases, HR, apparently, does not understand much, but in others it is simply too lazy to correct / clarify something - you are interested, they threw off some description for you and are ready to talk. And very often wages are not indicated at all, and they ask me what I expect. I'm trying to understand what you can count on money at the current stage?

See salary statistics at https://career.habr.com/salaries
Open vacancies (where there is a salary)
Open resumes look
If you are not sure about the amount or your abilities, take the average and say that you want to come to it.

4) What is more promising - to focus on further deepening your knowledge of Python or expanding the technology stack?

In terms of money, in the end, they will give a signora with deep knowledge more than a full stack. But how do you sell yourself? Maybe you can cut food alone.
ps with good English and Python You need to look towards large companies and remote work to the west, since many are now remote. And communicate with HR what they write to you. The more of them you have as friends in Linkeda, the more will be added.

Answer 3

I am not a developer. Something between a product owner and a business analyst.
But I think my experience will be valuable.
1) you need to decide on the task.
There are two most obvious streams:
A) salary growth
B) skill/experience growth
Not always one will correspond to another.
2) decide on the industry. Do you want more money? Go to banks.
————-
Do not try to go to interviews, they will show your level. Show GAP and market trends. This is a good experience before growth.
ZP speak honestly, take into account the market.
Are you getting 80? Say - I get 80. I want growth. For example in 20%/30%. Yes, you can sell cheap, but for you it will be growth.
Remember, you can always change companies - there's nothing wrong with that. He himself left the company after 1 month of work, because he did not like it. (I didn’t go anywhere, I found another place in advance). It didn't cause any problems.
Received a 120% increase in salary over the past year

Answer 4

right when a job is looking for you

Answer 5

work should look for you, not you work