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Before you start.

Who this book is for, who is talking to you and how to get the most from what follows.

Nobody’s Hiring Juniors. Get Paid Anyway. · Start here

This book is for you if you know how to build things with code, but no one is paying you yet.

Maybe you finished a bootcamp, taught yourself, switched careers or have a computing qualification but no job offers. You have skills, but you don’t have a client, a job or any income from them.

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This book starts at rung zero.

If you have two years of professional experience and have lost your job, this book isn’t for you. I know your situation is tough, but your challenge is different. Most of what follows is for people starting with no professional experience.

Who is talking?

Hi, I’m Len.

I’ve been building and selling websites, apps and digital products since 2000.

For years, I did this without a degree, because no client ever asked for one. Not once in twenty-five years.

I have a degree now, but I only needed it to teach, not to do the job. This book keeps coming back to that distinction.

Developer

I have spent more than twenty-five years building and selling web work, applications and digital products.

Lecturer

I teach Level 5 Web Application Development and HND Computing in further and higher education.

Now, I grade the work of students about to face the same challenges as you, and I see what happens next.

This isn’t a hiring guide. It is about finding other ways in.

Hundreds of hiring guides already exist, and they all assume the usual path is still open. This book starts from a different position: you can stop waiting to be selected and find another route to doing useful work for money.

How to use this book

Understand the market. Choose one route. Then act.

01

Read the market honestly

Part One explains why the junior job market broke, what changed with AI and why earning money is the quickest way to become hireable again.

02

Compare five routes

Part Two gives you five honest ways to make money from your development skills, including the disadvantages and trade-offs of each one.

03

Learn the engine

Part Three covers the practical work surrounding the code: evidence, scoping, pricing, finding buyers and using AI responsibly.

04

Do it

Part Four gives you thirty days of specific instructions designed to help you secure and deliver one paid outcome.

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Do not try to pursue all five pathways.

Start by reading Part One carefully. Skim Part Two and choose one pathway. Then follow the instructions in Part Four. Picking two pathways is how people end up doing neither.

Continue reading

Next: The pathway you were sold

The traditional route into development stopped working for many people. The introduction explains what changed—and the reframe behind the rest of the book.