In mid-2025, I had worked as a professional web developer for over five years. During those first five years as a developer, I had interviewed and worked with other noobs trying to get into the profession. Some of these had college educations (bachelor's and master's degrees), some had vocational degrees, and some had no formal education at all, just like I started in 2019.

I started working as a web developer when I was 32 years old, after a successful career as a manager and engineer in the refrigeration industry. Software development was, and still is, the dream job that I could finally pursue.

In this article, I will describe what I think is expected from a Junior and senior web developer who builds and maintains websites containing content like this blog and web applications that try to solve other real-world challenges customers face in 2025. With this article, I hope to give some insight into how I think when evaluating candidates during hiring processes.

NO! I absolutely don't think a college degree is needed to succeed as a developer. Still, I can guarantee that having a solid insight into the basics of computer science will make your life a lot easier. Many, if not most, of the documentation written on frameworks, libraries, and other software packages expect you to know computer science fundamentals. and lingo. If you don't have that insight, you will often struggle to understand the documentation and, therefore, learn how to use the stuff you want to use on your projects.

I don't think there is a better way to get forced to learn about the sometimes boring but essential fundamentals of computer science than by taking a few introductions to computer science courses provided by college programs. 

I have experienced first-hand that a college degree is no guarantee that a developer has insight into computer science or is skilled. Still, I expect people with a college degree to have that insight. However, some of the worst developers I have interviewed and worked with had college degrees.

Working towards a certification exam or class exam in college is great simply because it provides a S.M.A.R.T. goal: it is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-limited. This makes collage valuable. 

A college degree provides classes and grades that future employers can examine to get a sense of what they can expect you to know. But most employers will not accept your grades as a proof of your knowledge. The old Russian proverb "доверяй, но проверяй," which can be roughly translated to English as "Trust, but verify," is applied by having technical interviews during the hiring process, and in Norway, through the six-month trial period for new hires. 

Be warned: No college diploma can compensate for real-world skills. If you surf your way through college using LLMs like ChatGPT as a life hack to get quick wins, you will have difficulties getting and keeping a job as a developer. If you plan on attending college, please spend time learning and understanding the basics of computer science and programming. I can promise that you will thank yourself for it later.

Certifications are strange. Some are incredibly valuable, and some are not. I love pursuing IT certifications simply because they provide me with a S.M.A.R.T. goal, just like a formal education. 

The best thing about certifications is that they usually aim to teach you something valuable that you will benefit from knowing at your job. Passing the certification exam proves that you have learned the certification topics to pass a test with questions based on those topics.

There are many certifications on the market, but unfortunately, most are unknown to hiring managers, developers, and clients. In addition, many certifications are outdated and irrelevant for the IT field you want to work in. Some certifications are so valuable that they have become a requirement to work in the field they target. 

In the field of cybersecurity and DevOps, certifications are especially valuable. I have even heard rumors that specific certifications are required to be considered for certain jobs.

My advice on certifications is to keep an eye open for good and relevant certifications that validate the knowledge of something specific you want to prove your insight and experience with. Avoid free certifications, and only pursue certifications that teach something you want to know.

When applying for jobs as a web developer, it's great to have something to show employers either before or during the interview process. There are many ways to do this, but having a list of cool projects on GitHub is probably the most common way to show off your capabilities. Similar but not the same is contributing to FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software) projects.

I have a few projects on GitHub, and I love showing off my creations to other developers on the platform. Unfortunately, I have mixed experiences using GitHub to eyeball the skill levels of interview candidates. Especially in the last year, I have seen an increasing difference between the perceived skill level, and actual skill level based on their GitHub. After talking to some candidates, I realized that they probably never wrote the projects on GitHub themselves or used LLM so extensively that they never really understood what or how they built their own projects. 

One particular candidate had what I would consider a "perfect" GitHub, with cool projects, great commit messages, good code structure, and fantastic repo readme files. After getting to know the individual, I suspect that the person probably never wrote a single line of code or commit to the GitHub profile repos. I have no idea whether the person hired someone to do the job or used some trickery using LLMs, but I ended up feeling conned. This made me both frustrated and angry.

During my career, I have also seen very experienced and skilled developers having absolutely horrible GitHub profiles with shitty projects that in no shape, or form represent their professional level. 

Since I have seen both extremes, I no longer trust GitHub profiles to measure skill levels.

Does this mean that I think you should not have a GitHub presence? No! But if you have public repos, please be willing and able to discuss the projects, the design process, the structure, and the decisions you made for the projects. Do not consider a GitHub to be proof of your skill level.

I think GitHub can be used as one of many places to document your learning journey. Compared to a Blog, a GitHub profile is a lot more technical, and should enable you to create a lot of talking points in a shorter amount of time compared to Blog.

Just like I think a formal education is not required, I don't believe a GitHub profile is required. But, just like with formal education, I think that a GitHub profile will check a few boxes during the resume reading process by potential employers and, at the very least, get the conversation going during the interviews. 

I have heard that FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software) contributions can be rewarding and provide a lot of experience that is comparable to professional experience. Unfortunately, I have only contributed to my own FOSS projects, where I am the only contributor. In addition, I don't think I have worked with anyone who has contributed to a FOSS project.

A few years ago, many influencers on YouTube and podcast platforms talked a lot about how great FOSS projects could be for students to get experience. However, I have not spoken to anyone in real life who has made any significant contribution to FOSS projects. By significant, I mean doing something more than fixing typos in the translations, or documentation.

If interview candidates state on their resume that they contributed to FOSS projects, I will ask them about their contribution to those projects during the interview. If the contributions are insignificant, I will no longer trust them, and therefore start to doubt other claims on their resume.

Contributing to FOSS projects can be impressive, and really make your resume shine - If you actually did something valuable. Because of this, I would say that FOSS contributions are probably the least important thing to focus on to make your resume look good. This is especially true for junior developers.

I think passion is the only thing great developers I have met and worked with have in common. I like to compare programming and software development to crafts like painting and music. 

I don't remember who first said it, but I love the quote: "Guitarists who practice to become rock stars never become rock stars. But those who practice playing the guitar simply because it's fun might become rock stars." Similarly, developers who get into programming to become rich will probably never become successful developers. Developers who love programming and building software have a greater chance of success.

Since the field of software development is so large and constantly changing, it takes effort to stay updated. Many tools and techniques are hard to learn and even harder to master. This will often require beginners to invest a lot of time to reach an acceptable level. If you are passionate about software development and love to spend time learning about new stuff, this is not an issue. But, if you hate learning about software development and only do it for the money, I expect you to get burned out quickly. This is why I think passion is essential for software developers. I would not recommend anyone to get into software development if they are not genuinely interested in programming and computers.

I realize that it's wrong to expect every developer to have a passion for programming and spend all their time doing and thinking about programming. But, if you want to stand out from the rest of the applicants, you should be able to communicate your passion for programming and software development. Potential employers will notice your passion if it seems genuine.

Even if passion is an important factor when hiring, it can be hard to spot a passionate developer from afar. It can even be hard to tell by talking with them. I think passion is hard to show authentically, especially in a short amount of time. So, how can you prove your passion?

The most basic level of passion is to listen to popular podcasts, watch YouTube videos, and read blog posts on programming and software development. By consuming content created by other developers, you get an overview of what's happening in the field. That way, you can spot trends you may or may not want to join. At the very least, you will know what's popular and what excites other developers. I think it's fun to talk to developers who are up to date, and can tell me about something new and exciting they have heard about.

I think that the easiest way to show passion, is to use social media. Join Facebook groups, Discord servers, old-school web forums, and other communities where developers show off their projects, discuss development issues, and get into the "bubble" with other developers. Join the discussion, ask questions, and answer questions.

The next level of passion is to actively contribute to those communities by creating content. Writing a blog and making YouTube videos can be great for the content creator. Nothing shows more passion than being so excited that you can't stop yourself from telling the world about it.

Every time I write a new blog post, I learn something new. Funny enough, I think I gain the most when I write about something I feel confident about. The reason is that I want my content to stand up to scrutiny by fact-checking and double-checking my arguments before posting an article. By doing this, I almost always gain new insight.

Another benefit of creating content is that my communication skills improve every time. By writing about something that excites me, I practice making sentences I want others to understand. This makes me better at communicating technical issues verbally and in writing with friends, colleagues, and clients.