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Ask HN: Advice for applying to Junior Software Engineering roles?

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Re: Ask HN: Advice for applying to Junior Software Engineering roles?

#41

Post by staunch »

Landing interviews usually just consists of submitting resumes and using LinkedIn, etc.

As for interviewing, beyond the basics of showing that you have some relevant skill/experience, there are two key things to convey:

1. Your enthusiasm for the company itself (its product/service/industry, etc).

2. Your enthusiasm for the role itself (specific application/service/technologies, teammates, etc).

You want to convey that you are excited, motivated, and "coachable" in areas where you're lacking. The best "hack" here is to look for companies and roles that you are genuinely excited about.

Be as blunt as you have to in conveying these points. Don't expect interviewers to be good at reading your signals. If you have to, just flatly state that you are excited, motivated, eager to learn, etc. to every person you talk to.

Don't overdo it but make sure this is successfully conveyed.

People are much more likely to hire someone if they seem like they'll add energy to the team. Even in cases where their skills/experience alone don't necessarily justify the hire.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for applying to Junior Software Engineering roles?

#42

Post by ravenstine »

pella wrote: post #13

> does having projects on GitHub help? yes. My advice ( valid in the pre-covid era ) - Check the local tech meetups ( https://www.meetup.com ) - Give a presentation. - In the last side .. add some indirect info about your job search. - go with an after party - and make a personal connections.. ( and ask advice )

This is such an underrated way of getting jobs, but it's understandable given that this field is appealing to introverts and shy individuals.

If you can network the old fashioned way, then you have a really powerful tool in your arsenal that can potentially blow away all the hours you'd spend finding jobs the online/millennial way.

What it's all about is social proof. Merely showing up to some sort of technical meetup gives you more social proof than otherwise because it means you are at least interested in the work beyond the money making level. Give a presentation, no matter how shitty, and you are even more passionate than average. Talk to people and bring up "war stories", and you are relatable and you may even come off as smarter than you really are. If you can hang out with attendees afterwards at an after party or at a bar, people can know you're cool to be around at a personal level.

Right now this will still hard to pull off properly because of the disease and all the mask wearing, but I foresee this strategy making a big comeback in the near future. It's not that you can't do it now, but I think there will be a hunger for this kind of interaction, and that's going to lead to the judgment of people in charge of hiring being compromised (in a good way). The "metaverse" and Zoom calls don't cut it in the face of the sort of one-on-one interactions you get with real networking.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for applying to Junior Software Engineering roles?

#43

Post by zebraflask »

fidrelity wrote: post #37

Your first job is definitely the hardest to get in your entire career. I wrote a few words of advice about this [0]. The summary of my advice is: * Don't "spray and pray" your application, but look for companies that fit your tech preferences and specifically hire for junior devs. * Prepare for the interview process. That can be as easy as asking the recruiter what questions you can expect in the interview (often the…

Agree. It can be a tiny project, too, just make sure there's something new or unique or conversation-worthy about it. The point is to have something you can talk about that shows you can walk through the basics of a dev project.

When I've reviewed applicants for junior roles, some demonstration that they can code in a relevant domain made a big difference.

Too many people can talk themselves up and/or repeat nice-sounding things from their classes better than they can do basic coding.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for applying to Junior Software Engineering roles?

#44

Post by ForgotMyPwOops »

Being likeable is more desirable than being an amazing programmer

People would much rather work with someone mediocre who is pleasant than someone very talented but who brings everyone down, this is especially true for junior positions where you're expected to not be very good... so as unfair as it is make sure you come off as charismatic in your interview

Re: Ask HN: Advice for applying to Junior Software Engineering roles?

#46

Post by yakshaving_jgt »

_odey wrote: post #32
yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #22

As someone who does hiring, I want to see a brief, personal, informal email. If it feels like you’ve copied and pasted some mess of tech buzzwords and addressed it to “dear hiring manager” (I get this a lot), then it’s going straight in the bin. Ideally, I’d like to see: Hi , I’m a junior developer trying to break into the industry. I studied x at y , and I’m super interested in . I’m hard-working and I love to learn…

So how does one find your email? I'm asking this to showcase a problem I'm having right now while job searching (not at the junior level). Basically I'm trying to get in touch with companies directly, in the UK, and not through external recruiters, but I just can't seem to find an email of someone that does hiring. I go to LikedIn and search for the company, there is no contact email there, I browse through the peopl…

I include my email address along with the job postings I write[0].

Given that my name is in the email address, it's that much more egregious when I'm not addressed by name in an introductory email.

I recognise that hiring works differently for everyone, and unfortunately the process is painful in many (probably most) instances. That's not something I can change, but I can at least try to make it work sensibly for my own company.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28722397

Re: Ask HN: Advice for applying to Junior Software Engineering roles?

#47

Post by yakshaving_jgt »

notreallyserio wrote: post #28
yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #22

As someone who does hiring, I want to see a brief, personal, informal email. If it feels like you’ve copied and pasted some mess of tech buzzwords and addressed it to “dear hiring manager” (I get this a lot), then it’s going straight in the bin. Ideally, I’d like to see: Hi , I’m a junior developer trying to break into the industry. I studied x at y , and I’m super interested in . I’m hard-working and I love to learn…

As long as you promise to send out brief, personal emails to all candidates that introduce themselves this way but are not selected for an interview, I fully support this.

I'm not sure who I could make this promise to, but I do indeed personally respond to every person who writes me a personal email.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for applying to Junior Software Engineering roles?

#49

Post by troyvit »

Only apply for jobs you're actually qualified for. I'm currently screening resumes for a junior-ish position at a small companny. What I'm noticing is that even though we specify knowledge in certain areas, and people check the little box that says they have that knowledge, almost all of them actually don't list that knowledge on their resume. I pass on those.
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