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As we've discussed it can be hard to communicate with a project manager boss or teammates if you don't

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have a job.

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And if you've recently learned some skills through an online course and acquired some certificates it

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can be tempting to jump straight to the next one and then get the next defecate and the next.

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But what are you really chasing.

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Are you after more certificates or more skills.

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Now a thing you should remember is that no matter how good the course you can assume the skills you

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learned there will be commoditization.

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That means many other people will have gone through the same course acquire the certificates same skills

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as you and then we'll be looking for similar jobs to what you are.

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Now let's say Janet posts a job vacancy and receives six hundred seventy three applicants through an

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online form.

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You can imagine how hard it is for your resumé to stand out.

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Now this isn't to say you shouldn't apply through an online form but if you are really serious about

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getting a role somewhere start the job before you have it how by working on and sharing your own projects

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which relate to the role you're applying for.

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I call this the weekend project principal during the week you're building foundational skills through

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various courses like the one you're going through now but on the weekend you design your own projects.

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Projects in line with the role you're after and work on them working on your own projects helps you

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build specific knowledge there what compound this type of knowledge that you're learning courses into

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skill skill which can't be taught in courses.

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Let's see it in practice Joe I'm Melissa apply for a data scientist role to Janet.

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They both make it through the interviews and are now sitting in the interview room with Janet.

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She looks at both their resumes and notice that they've both done similar courses.

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This is great.

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And she asked Joe if he's worked on any of his own projects and he tells a no.

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He's only had a chance to work on coursework but has plenty of ideas.

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Now she asked Melissa the same question and she pulls out her phone and tells Jana that she's built

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a small app to help read food labels.

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Now you see Melissa's daughter can't have gluten and got confused every time she tried to figure out

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what was in the food she was eating.

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Now the app Melissa has built isn't perfect but it helps her daughter figure out what foods she should

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eat.

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Now I want you to ask yourself if you were Janet.

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Which candidate would you lean towards you see working on your own projects helps you build specific

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knowledge I can't stress this enough.

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Your own projects are what compound knowledge into skill.

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Now what should you work on.

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See the hard part is you've got a limited options but the best part is you've got unlimited options.

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One method is to find out the ideal company.

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As we said before you want to work for and then figure out do your research.

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What does a person in our position do day to day.

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Find out and then design your own six week project.

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You might be wondering why six weeks.

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Well the worst case is if it doesn't work out.

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It's only six weeks and the best case is you're going to surprise yourself at what you can accomplish

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in 42 days.

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Now if you're still stuck you can follow your interests.

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Use this same sort of timeline if you don't have an ideal company you'd like to work for.

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Think of an ideal role you'd like to work for.

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Design it yourself again.

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The worst case is after six weeks you'll know whether to pursue something you're working on.

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Okay set up another six week project or move on to the next thing now instead of only having a collection

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of certificates you've got a story to tell.

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You've got evidence of you trying to put in what you've learned into practice exactly what you'll be

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doing on a job.

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And if you're wondering where the evidence comes from it comes from you documenting your work writing

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it down.

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Where on your own blog you might be wondering why a blog.

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I'm not even a writer.

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We've discussed this before but it's worth repeating because writing down what you're working on helps

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solidify your thinking at the same time as helping others on a similar journey to learn from you what

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you've done.

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What would you like to have known when you were at Week 1.

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That's the things you can write about.

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You could start with the post per week detailing how your six week project is going what you figured

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out in week 1 what you figured out in the next week.

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What you're doing in Week 3.

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Remember what something you'd like to know sooner.

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Probably the best type of post you can write is helping your past self because if you had a question

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on something likelihood someone else will have a similar question.

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Now again remember your project doesn't have to be perfect.

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None are.

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And your writing doesn't have to be perfect either.

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But by the end of the six weeks a beautiful thing is you're going to have a series of articles detailing

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your work as well as something that you can point at and say this is what I've done.

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Now if you're looking for resources to start a blog I'll leave some in the resources section but at

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the moment Dev Blog by hash node and fast template by the fast II team are both free and require almost

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zero set up to get started otherwise.

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Medium is the next place to get writing and to get sharing your own projects.

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You can share your articles on Twitter LinkedIn or even if you're tactical enough send them directly

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to the person in charge of hiring for the role you're after.

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All right.

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So now we've looked at communicating with your team and starting a job before you have it designing

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your own six week projects to build specific knowledge and one of the best ways to communicate you and

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share your work is documenting it on your blog.

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Let's find out how you might communicate with people outside your team.

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The kind of people who might be reading your blog.