Learnings, insights and community

You'd be amazed at how few people submit their resumes without a cover letter. Or if a cover letter is provided, it is badly written with no consideration for the recipient, the role being applied for or the company advertising that role. Cover letters give you the chance to explain why you are right for the job. So why waste this opportunity?

A recruiter attempts to build a website. You won't believe what happens next.

As a junior dev, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd of other junior devs in the first few years of your career, let alone show off your skills and talents in their own right. You probably don't have much commercial code to point to, your GitHub account is a little emptier than you'd want, and even your resume is pretty brief. But there is one simple project you can do that can highlight your talents in a number of ways: build your own blog.

It's probably a fact well known to those willing to put in the hard research, but the world wide phenomenon that is Rails Camp actually originated here in Australia. Since then it's spread not just to our local neighbours in New Zealand, but further afield to Scotland, Germany, England and the USA to name a random few.

For many people, public speaking is one of the most nerve-racking things you can do. As Mark Twain once said, "There are only two types of speakers in the world: those who are nervous and those who are liars". However, it is one of the best things you can do for your career and personal growth.

This past Monday and Tuesday was the YOW! Data Conference in Sydney. Thanks to Dave Thomas, Kris Howard and the rest of the organising team for putting on a cracking good event. Some awesome speakers and great topics. Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones is always a fun and rewarding use of time.

Attending tech meetups is such a great way to learn new things and meet people in the industry. It's also a chance to network with people who might one day be your future employer or colleague!

Wednesday night was the inaugural launch of the Female CTOs & CIOs Meetup. The event was organised by Roisin Parkes, CTO of Gumtree Australia, and had a fantastic turnout of tech leaders from companies across Sydney.

Last month saw the 457 Temporary Work Skilled Visa replaced by the new Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) subclass 482 Visa. The requirements for the new visa have changed significantly and it would be advisable to speak to a professional if you are currently on a 457 visa or looking to apply for the new 482 visa. The TSS visa has been separated into three pathways including:

Last Friday we celebrated our 6th birthday with a party on the Glenmore Rooftop. Huge thanks to everybody who came and to everybody who has been supporting us along the way.