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Ask HN: How to very quickly land a job/gig with your current skills?

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Re: Ask HN: How to very quickly land a job/gig with your current skills?

#11
post #2

Getting a job is pretty straightforward. 1 - You need to be able to actually do the job 2 - You need to communicate well that you're able to do the job I'd print out your CV and read it carefully 5 or 10 times, then I'd rewrite it eliminating unnecessary words paying attention to easy mistakes like. > my career lifetime as a software engineer, I worked for five different companies in my career lifetime I'd then move…

Saying it's straightforward is not the same as easy. Step 2 is definitely not second nature to me since communicating well on the job is different from communicating your skills well on an interview. I can do the former just fine, but not the latter.

Personal website:

This is something I don't have at the moment, though I don't quite agree it's truly necessary because the majority of programmers don't have/need one. So I could just aim to be like them. Since they "clock out" their mind after 5 every day not thinking about code and still be able to hold a career, then having a website seems irrelevant. They're able to hold a career by doing less than the recommended.

Projects:

I already have several on Github, some that have impressed bigger companies like Cloudflare and Coinbase and prompted them to give me an interview.

When I prepare for an interview I don't really do grinding for technical questions, or review things on a sheet of paper. I like to wing it and give it my honest try, because my mind is clearest when I don't have to consciously think of any body language or verbal cues over the phone.

Grabbing a coffee with people:

A lot of my colleagues live out of state right now so it'd be impossible for them. For others I'll see if I can actually balance my budget around it as silly as that sounds but like I said I have $48 and my next month's phone bill is going to use some of that.

I also regularly message/email my group of contacts asking about job openings, but they always say some form of "sorry, I don't know of anything right now." Every time. Maybe I have really bad luck and bad timing with talking to them.

I'm gonna try another side project but it's starting to get less motivating to do so when you want more instant gratification the more time passes by.

But it seems like nothing else matters to living on the grid if you can't grok one thing: job interviews. It's crazy to think one's entire livelihood revolves around that.

Re: Ask HN: How to very quickly land a job/gig with your current skills?

#12
post #7

>In my career lifetime as a software engineer, I worked for five different companies in my career lifetime. These jobs lasted from 3 months to 2 years, with a few periods of no work in between, also lasting anywhere from a few months to a few years. It sounds like your employment history might be a little bit streaky. Nothing that is insurmountable, but it might be worth having someone look at your resume you are por…

I regularly message/email my group of contacts asking about job openings, but they always say some form of "sorry, I don't know of anything right now" every time. Could be just a lot of bad luck and timing, I guess?

Buying someone a drink becomes surprisingly hard to do with only $48 in the bank. Some of them I can't meet locally, also, because they have moved out of state.

Re: Ask HN: How to very quickly land a job/gig with your current skills?

#13
Are you working with any recruiters? They can both help you polish your resume and get the attention of hiring managers. They may even be able to coach you on interviewing, if that's where you're having trouble. If you're job hunting full-time, work with around 3-5 recruiters at a time. (If you're just looking on the side, stick to 1-2.)

I know recruiters have a bad rep, but they're not all spammers. The good ones, who develop real relationships with both candidates and hiring managers, can be very effective.

In the meantime, maybe you could get some contract work through something like Toptal? (They set a decent rate floor; whereas I'd suggest avoiding Upwork and the like.)

Since it sounds like you're in a cash crunch, another option to consider for quick cash might be TaskRabbit or even, yes, fast food.

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