The Next-Generation Developer Path: From First Line of Code to First Job

TL;DR — Five stages turn a software creator into a job-ready developer: experimenting with AI, attending a beginner-friendly MLH hackathon for structured immersion, building solo projects, curating a portfolio (pinned GitHub repos, READMEs as case studies, DEV writeups, and open source contributions through programs like the MLH Fellowship ), and entering the job market with a public body of work. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects software developer employment to grow 17% from 2023 to