Ask HN: How Blog/side projects helped you land a job • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How Blog/side projects helped you land a job

#31

Post by webmobdev » Tue, Jul 07, 2020, 9:20 PM UTC

I created a few open source Opera (presto) extensions. Didn't even put it in my online profile as I considered it a work in progress and wanted to improve the code more. One got prominent because Opera featured it on their extension site (something like "Editors' Pick", don't remember). Another became popular with users. Somebody looked up the code, found my email ID, invited me to eLance and paid me well to create a few Firefox extensions. It was unexpected as I hated javascript, and was in love with Python. (Still do.)

Another one, I remember was a blog I started to experiment with Google Adsense. It didn't make much money, but once or twice a day made a few cents. There were some book reviews, and links to "read more" on a few article (for readers who wanted to research more on the subject). I added Amazon referral links to it. Was shocked a week later to see that I had made around $50 or so with one click because somebody who had clicked the link bought some expensive item on Amazon! While the blog was alive, Amazon ads / links made me more money than Google Adsense. That was some fun experiment, while it lasted.

Re: Ask HN: How Blog/side projects helped you land a job

#32

Post by mraza007 » Tue, Jul 07, 2020, 9:44 PM UTC

soulchild37 wrote: post #13

I write about iOS development stuff on my blog ( https://fluffy.es ), and I have gotten a few mentoring gig for junior iOS dev, and gotten job offers as well. Didn't do any leetcoding, just keep on writing helpful tutorial

Oh wow definitely looking up to you as my motivation

Re: Ask HN: How Blog/side projects helped you land a job

#33

Post by nocubicles » Wed, Jul 08, 2020, 3:47 AM UTC

Sure. I've run in the past popular blog in the past about ERP software which for some keywords came up as third or so in Google and I got lots of offers from that.

Since I'm not working in that exact field anymore this blog has lost its rankings. I do have another blog that I'm building (https://integrated.ee) which I kind of hope achieving something similar in the future. So far from the new blog there has been one contact which didn't lead to any significant co-operation.

Re: Ask HN: How Blog/side projects helped you land a job

#34

Post by adrianmsmith » Wed, Jul 08, 2020, 11:18 AM UTC

So, here in Austria, I applied for a few software development and architecture jobs in 2015. Went for interviews at 3 different companies. Was sad not a single one had asked me about my blog as I'd written quite a few posts over the years.

On the 3rd interview I asked to look at the CV that they'd been given by the recruiter. It turns out the recruiter had deleted both my blog and my GitHub link.

Presumably the recruiter feared the company might be able to contact me directly via those links. Or maybe just didn't understand what they were.

A classic case of the recruiter looking after their own interests instead of those of their customers.

So - in conclusion - the last time I searched for a job - my blog with > 250 posts [1] had zero influence on the outcome of my job search :-)

It's a good thing I wrote the posts for the fun of it, and not with the intention of improving my job chances.

[1] https://www.databasesandlife.com/newest/

Re: Ask HN: How Blog/side projects helped you land a job

#35

Post by sboisen » Wed, Jul 08, 2020, 9:19 PM UTC

I was working at a larger R&D firm (BBN Technologies, since acquired by Raytheon), and had some intriguing projects involving Semantic Web technologies (DAML: http://www.daml.org/). I got interested in how that technology might support my separate interests in the completely unrelated field of digital technologies for Bible study. So i started:

* blogging (http://semanticbible.com/blogos/, now rather moribund)

* creating hobby projects (like The Composite Gospel Index: http://semanticbible.com/cgi/cgi-overview.html and New Testament Names: http://semanticbible.com/ntn/ntn-overview.html)

* submitting talk proposals to biblical studies conferences, though I had virtually no formal education in that field.

It was a classic "FieldA + FieldB = Innovation" strategy: but at the time it wasn't a deliberate strategy, just what interested me. I met some folks at the conferences who made a software package I'd never heard of (Logos Bible Software), which led to discussions and a job offer. 13 years later, i'm the Director of Content Innovation there. My side projects were responsible for the original connection, as well as demonstrating my interests and competence, and the novel contributions I could make to the company.

Re: Ask HN: How Blog/side projects helped you land a job

#36

Post by prithsr » Mon, Jul 20, 2020, 2:23 AM UTC

This was a very small thing but in 2017 I had a tech blog on WordPress (very simple stuff). I didn't code anything. Just used a theme I bought online, and now and then fidgeted with whatever (little) I knew of CSS. I found a job description on LinkedIn for an opportunity pertaining to WordPress. What helped me was the interview where they asked me about my experience with the platform. This wasn't in the US, and my guess is WordPress wasn't big back home in 2017, so however little my experience was, it helped me get the job.