Struggling to land a junior role. Advice?

Jobs / Freelance
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Hey Bubble community,

I could really use some advice and guidance.
I’ve been learning and building with Bubble for a while now, and I feel I’ve reached the point where I have solid enough experience to take on a junior Bubble developer role. I’ve built a portfolio of projects (link below), and I recently took the Bubble certification exam, scoring 71% on my first attempt , just shy of the 80% cut-off. I know that’s not an official pass, but I believe it shows I’ve built up strong skills that are more than suitable for a junior-level role.
I’ve also been applying everywhere I can, I’ve sent 50+ cold emails to different Bubble agencies, but I haven’t gotten a single response back yet. It’s been discouraging, and I’m not sure what I might be doing wrong, or if there’s a better approach I should be taking to finally break into this stage.
Recently, I’ve been diving deep into Bubble’s documentation, with most of my focus focus on app optimization and security; areas I know are important for client projects and can now consider to be my strengths
:backhand_index_pointing_right: Here’s my portfolio: Bubble | No-code apps

I’d love to hear from those who:

Have been through this stage and figured out how to land that first Bubble role.

Run agencies and can share what you look for in junior developers.

Or anyone who has tips on improving my outreach and applications.

I’m really eager to grow in this space, contribute to a team, and turn my Bubble skills into real client work. Any advice, connections, or even opportunities you could point me towards would mean the world right now.

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First step is to pass that exam. I imagine it might just be the one thing that any agency can look at quickly and disregard any and all applicants who have not yet acquired the certification. And remember, the whole ‘fake it till you make it’ concept. Lots of developers did this. In terms of certification, I think it is still taken at home, under a 4 hour time limit, so likely plenty of opportunity to search online, the forum, the manual and even use AI to help you pass. And keep in mind too, it is a pass fail, so no way for anybody to know how experienced you are in reality since every pass mark, I believe still does not, print onto the certificate the pass percentage.

Freelance. Lots of people have been doing it and make a decent living out of it. It also allows you to be your own boss, something appealing to some. But drawbacks are you are in charge of your ‘growth’ as in, you need to be self motivated to continue to learn and build your skill set since without an agency to help guide you (I doubt many actually are hands on with their devs in the form of training and upskilling - but some may) toward growth as a developer. You also need to be self motivated and confident in your ability to ‘run the show’ and be capable of marketing yourself well.

So, if you are not able to be a freelancer, then getting into an agency may be the only way to make a career out of it.

I would suggest focusing on other areas potentially. Optimization is very broad and without a real understanding of bubble, you will not be able to stand out with knowledge of optimization. In terms of security, it is pretty simple for the most part and just boils down to privacy rules, other than that there is not much to it. You may find it better to focus on understanding on to ‘expand’ bubble with APIs, integrations (AI is hot right now) and perhaps even a very focused niche type of feature or application types that your previous educational/career experience has provided you insight to that other developers might not have.

No agencies hired me. I think I was asking for too much compensation, or might have been that I was not yet qualified as I had not come to understand APIs. On one interview task, I had never seen an API before, I was able to use what was already initialized but had no idea about it other than using the data sources in the UI elements.

I then began building a client funnel of my own and have been on a daily basis expanding my understanding of bubble.

But, honestly, I started raising awareness to this issue cropping up some 18-24 months ago, that AI will be doing this to junior devs and new entrants. It is a different landscape today than it was just 36 months ago.

4 Likes
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Hi @boston85719 ,
Wow, thank you so much, I really appreciate you taking the time to break it all down for me, it gave me a lot of clarity and understanding. You’re right, I’ve been too focused on trying to get into an agency, but I can see now that I need to start marketing myself more and not rely on that path alone.

I’m already putting in effort to improving my fundamentals and I will be carving out a niche around API integrations.
Thanks again for the honest perspective, it’s the kind of feedback I needed to hear.

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It does look like your portfolio is lacking some of the basic things.

I was looking at the S&B Stores. I couldn’t find that store online?

You should give an actual link.

Also, there was nobody from the store who recommended you.

Testimonials are needed for your work.

Oftentimes, when someone looks at your portfolio, or anyone else’s, there’s a question of whether this is just a template that was filled in?

You need to have more hardcore proof of what you did.

If you have no real-world actual experience, you may want to offer to be an intern.

When I was in college, I interned at some large companies. It’s a great learning experience, plus, it’s a great way to get recommendations.

Added: I did see you have a link to the website. I checked it out, and it appears to just be a template hosted on Bubble?

1 Like
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Hi @senecadatabase ,
Thank you so much for the feedback and checking out my portfolio.
Ahough I built those apps from the scratch on bubble, you’re right, I do not have any real-world client experience yet. Most of the apps in my portfolio are things I built as part of my learning process, so I can see why the might not hold same weight as a project that’s tied to an actual business with testimonials. I agree with you that internships would be a solid path for me at this stage but the challenge i am running into is that i dont really see companies specifically looking to hire bubble developer interns, and the cold emails i have been sending have led to nothing. It makes me wonder what approach actually works.
I recently spoke with Timothy Tu from Airdev, and he gave me some great pointers as well. Based on that, I’ve started rebuilding my portfolio with a stronger focus on polished, professional and well organised apps that build trust with potential clients, instead of the more “flashy” direction I was leaning toward before.

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Well, a good option is to build an app and monetize it.

You can say: Hey, I have this app with 1000 users and it does this and this and this.

You don’t always need to make someone else’s app a success. Make your own app and make it a success.

A million ideas out there. Be creative and do something yourself.

If you’re a good app builder on Bubble, which I believe you when you say you are…create an app and get wealthy. Knowing how to create an app is the first step; you’ve got that down…now do your thing.

I wish you the best of luck in whatever you do

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Your portfolio is just like every other designer portfolio.

Fancy animations and confusing af.

Hover animations are “VeRy gOOd” on Desktop and suck on mobile cuz they don’t exist.

Just find 1-2 local businesses that do something in a stupid way and build a free bubble app for them to ease their life (they will just cover the subscription for bubble). The rest is referrals

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Thanks a lot for the encouragement, I really appreciate it. I definitely agree that building something of my own and getting users would be one of the strongest ways to prove myself long term. It’s not a small task, but it’s something I’ll keep in mind as I grow. Right now though, I’m focusing on improving myself by tightening the basics through building clean, professional apps, as well as working on projects for small businesses to gain real-world experience. Once I’ve solidified that foundation, I’ll be in a much better position to take on a monetized project and really push it out.

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Hi @akamarski ,
I really appreciate your feedback. This whole thread has given me some solid perspective, and your point reinforces it. I’ve decided to focus on building professional apps that are actually functional for real-world use while carving out a niche for myself in API integrations, and you’re right, one of the best ways to do that is by working with small businesses.