 If I could learn how to code all over again, what would I do? What's up everyone? Jossi here, and in today's video, I'm gonna be talking about how I would learn how to code if I could do it all over again. Thank you to DICE for sponsoring this video. I'm excited to be partnering with DICE through their level up with DICE campaign to share resources that DICE has to offer that I wish I had as a guide when I was beginning to embark on my technology career. Be sure to stick around because I'll be sharing some of the resources that DICE is offering through their level up with DICE campaign. So this is actually the last video that I'll be filming in our apartment in Cleveland, Ohio. Can't believe it. This apartment has been amazing. It's honestly like one of the best apartments for a studio YouTube photography setup because of the large windows and the white walls and how much natural lighting we got in here. I'm really grateful for this apartment. It was such an important part of my journey as a software engineer and making content on YouTube. I figured I'd share that with you all because it is a really important part of my life, this apartment, and honestly, this last video here. For one, let's talk about the actual programming language I would want to learn first. If I could start all over, I would try to gain programming experience around the age of 14 or 15 years old. The reason being is because a lot of my peers in college who had programming experience, whether it was through AP Computer Science, that you take, I think, later on in your high school career. So probably around like 16, 17, 18 years old is when you take AP ComSight. They just seem so much smarter than me. And could really grasp those more difficult programming concepts. The programming language I would have learned first would have been JavaScript. For one, JavaScript helped me land two out of the three jobs I've had in my career. Also, a lot of software developer roles that you'll see on websites like DICE will require proficiency in JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. So one of the best first projects is to build your own website. Not only will that show employers you're passionate as a developer, but you can show off your skill sets through building a unique website. Before we continue, I wanna talk about DICE and the resources they are offering through their level up with DICE campaign. For those of you all who aren't familiar with DICE, DICE is the leading career marketplace for technologists with over four and a half million DICE members in the United States. DICE's online platform helps technology professionals manage their tech careers. Through searching for tech roles, attending virtual events, and connecting with recruiters. DICE is offering a multitude of resources to help you manage your tech career. These resources include the ultimate guide for your ultimate technology career. This article you'll gain insight on embarking and your tech career. The writer talks about how the unemployment rate is low as it's been in two years and how not only are tech companies looking for programmers, but companies and even the most analog industry need. Web designers, software engineers, data scientists, and other specialists to do everything from website setup to data analysis. If you go to DICE calendar, you'll see upcoming virtual events where you'll have the opportunity to connect with recruiters, along with a diversity in tech event, focus on diversity hiring and a virtual career fair. Last but not least, wanna win some tech courses for free at DICE.com is helping you level up. Click the link in the description to enter to win. All these resources that I mentioned will be linked down in the description box. Thank you again to DICE for sponsoring this video and I look forward to hearing how level up with DICE helps you land your next tech career. What is up everybody? We are here at the new apartment in Hoboken. So for those of you who watch the apartment tour, we did choose the Hoboken apartment and I am so happy we made this decision. The lighting is incredible. I can't wait to make content in here. One important thing I wish I would have done when I was learning how to code is I wish that I documented all those projects I worked on. I wish I would have kept my GitHub more active because if you look at my GitHub account, it does not reflect the amount of programming I've done since when I first started when I was 18 years old, seven years ago. I know that may seem a bit repetitive, especially when you're working on like a computer science lab or a really small project that you really just wanna keep for yourself. When you have a log or a history of all the work you've put in, it really does give you confidence when you're going into that interview, when you're applying for that job. Documenting is really important. For one, employers are gonna look at your GitHub account anyways. Nowadays, it's not just your resume and LinkedIn profile. They will, hiring managers at least, will look at your GitHub account. So even if you're working on small projects to get your feet wet, it is important to document it and put it out into the world. Also, writing articles on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Medium will help you learn more because you're gonna be teaching. And I know it may seem kind of counterintuitive to teach when you're learning, but usually those are the best teachers because after a while, some of these concepts may become so familiar and easy that it's hard for you to break them down into layman's terms to people who don't know anything about programming. A low-key wish I would have done iOS development as well because now I feel like I'm a front-end software engineer who is an expert in web technology and not really mobile technology. And I have done Android development, but I'm definitely way better at iOS development. I do understand Swift to an extent because I did a little bit of Swift programming my senior year of college for our senior design and I really love mobile. But as I continue to progress in my career and get more and more busy with a heavier workload, I find myself having less time to experiment with other programming languages like Swift. Moral the story is, don't limit yourself. As a black, as a brother, as a black person, it's traditionally known that we have to work two and three times harder than our white peers to land the same jobs. Even a minority like myself, who's earned an accredited computer science degree from an accredited engineering college, tech companies will still poke holes in my experience and technical skill sets. If you don't believe me, according to USA Today, on average, just 2% of technology workers at Seven Silicon Valley companies that have released staffing numbers are black and 3% are Hispanic. But last year, 4.5% of all new recipients of bachelor's degrees in computer science or computer engineering from prestigious research universities or African-American in 6.5% were Hispanic, according to data from Computing Research Association. So as you can see, there are significantly more black and Hispanic students graduating from prestigious universities with computer science and software engineering degrees opposed to the amount of black and Hispanic people working at these Silicon Valley companies. And that's not even including people like me, who didn't go to prestigious universities but graduated with a computer science degree. Universities have partnerships with major corporations. Some corporations even sponsor career fairs, like for example, JPMorgan Chase sponsored our career fair through the National Society of Black Engineering, through the National Society of Black Engineering Program that I was a part of. So there's a direct pipeline between the universities, specifically the engineering colleges who actually have their own career fairs and the actual companies. One thing that isn't directly correlated to if I would have learned how to code all over again, what would I do? But a very important part of what I actually learned that actually helped me land my first internship is the actual colleges that you apply to. If I would have known I wanted to be a software engineer, data scientist, some sort of technologist, I would have applied to universities that were actually located in larger cities because more times than not, most big companies are located in those major metropolitan areas. Companies are gonna be at those career fairs. Also, I would have looked at which universities have a lot of graduates getting entry-level jobs at major tech companies and Silicon Valley companies because that'll let me know. I would be gaining a curriculum that would help me ace those technical interviews. Now I'm headed into the city. I'm gonna take the light rail from Hoboken to the path train and then the path train into the city because I need to go to B&H Photo, need to get a camera backpack, an actual camera backpack because I don't own one anymore and I also need to run to the Apple store.