What is it?
The job hunt is its own skill, separate from coding. It has four parts: a portfolio that proves you can ship, a resume that survives the six-second scan, take-home projects that show your judgment, and interviews that test how you think. Strong code with a weak job hunt still doesn't get hired.
Why it matters
This is the node the whole track points at. Every skill before it is input; this is output. The 2026 junior market is hard — teams want production proof, not tutorials. Knowing how to package what you've learned is the difference between "I can code" and "I got the offer."
What to learn
- Portfolio: 2–3 real, deployed projects beat 10 half-finished ones
- What hiring teams actually check: does it ship, is it fast, is it accessible
- Resume: stack keywords (React, Next.js, TS), quantified impact, ATS-friendly
- The six-second scan — what a recruiter sees first
- Take-homes: scope small, ship polished, write a README, deploy it
- Interviews: explain trade-offs out loud, think aloud, ask clarifying questions
- The "production proof" bar — vitals, tests, a real deploy, not a localhost demo
Common pitfall
Building 10 tutorial-clone projects and calling it a portfolio. Hiring teams have seen the same to-do app 500 times. Two or three projects that solve a real problem, deploy cleanly, pass Lighthouse, and have a thoughtful README beat a pile of clones every time. Depth over count.
Resources
Primary (free):
- roadmap.sh — Frontend job description · docs
- Tech Interview Handbook · docs
- The Pragmatic Engineer — Resume guide · article
Practice
Ship one portfolio project end to end: pick a real problem, build it with the stack from this track, deploy it with preview URLs, hit green Core Web Vitals, write a README that explains the decisions, and add two tests. Then write the resume bullet for it — quantified, stack-named, one line. Done when a stranger can understand the project in 30 seconds.
Outcomes
- Build a portfolio of 2–3 deployed, production-quality projects.
- Write a resume that passes the six-second scan and ATS filters.
- Scope and ship a take-home that shows judgment, not just code.
- Explain technical trade-offs out loud in an interview.