Let’s talk networking.
Being a web dev is a very social affair. It was previously viewed that a web developer/coder was a person who was a hermit and only interacted with his/her computer monitor; the days of being an introverted coder are over. To flourish in the tech community you need to network, and you need to network hard. When starting out in the industry you will be going for entry/junior level positions and they are rarely posted. There is a way to find out about them, and that’s by talking to people.
So where are these people and how do you find them? At events. There are a multitude of events taking place every day, some even right on your doorstep with the exact people you want to be in contact with. Sites you can use to find events are:--
Meetup.co.uk - Find groups that host online or in person events and meet people in your local community who share your interests.
Eventbrite.co.uk - Eventbrite brings people together through live experiences. Discover events that match your passions, or create your own with online ticketing tools.
There are also seminars and conferences you can go to. They are in a larger format with seminars from people in the field and stalls with people promoting their products or services, so they tend to have their own websites. Doing a google search of a specific niche in the development field you are interested should yield results (i.e typing ‘javascript conferences’ came back with 204 million results in 0.51 secs). There's a nice article in Dev.to with tips from an introvert who attended their first Web Dev conference. In the article Jenn wrote for tip number 7 “Vendor tables are a great place to practise conversation skills. They WANT to talk.”*. This is a great place to start striking up conversation with people done enough times it will become second nature thereby reducing inhibitions you may have. Sometimes jumping in at the deep end is the best way to learn how to swim.
This may seem daunting for an introvert but this isn’t to get introverted people scared (hands up I’m one of them, and I kind of felt daunted too) it’s just to say that this is an area you need to work on. In the same way you’re working on developing your hard skills by learning a programming language, you also need to work on your soft skills by developing your communication and social skills, just as much, if not more.
Don’t worry, on your own time you can still practice coding secluded in a dark room, but remember to go out into the light every once in a while, for a meetup or two.