Ask HN: How long did it take you to get your first dev job?

#1

Post by nerd » Sat, May 14, 2016, 11:55 PM UTC

Been hunting for a month, probably 10-20 applications. 1 interview, haven't heard back yet.

Am I being too impatient? How long did it take you to get an offer for your first full-time position in dev? What should I expect?

Edit:

Thanks for the feedback so far!

- I'm applying for work in Vancouver, BC

- I have friends in tech; one works at a company that's aggressively hiring and he gave me a reference. Unfortunately not even an interview from them

- I have some internships/student work experience in dev, but they're lower tier (unheard of companies)

-Been going to meetups/hiring fairs. I've had good discussions with engineers there, hand them my resume, but probably gets lost in a pile/black hole of HR

Re: Ask HN: How long did it take you to get your first dev job?

#2

Post by robin_reala » Sun, May 15, 2016, 12:12 AM UTC

50 odd applications over 6 months. Eventually I applied for a QA position as I at least could do everything the ad asked for. Got told there was a dev job going too at that they’d interview me for that first based on my CC. Landed it and never looked back. Just took perseverance in the end.

Re: Ask HN: How long did it take you to get your first dev job?

#3

Post by murtnowski » Sun, May 15, 2016, 12:20 AM UTC

About a week. Which cities are you applying to?

Re: Ask HN: How long did it take you to get your first dev job?

#4

Post by dustingetz » Sun, May 15, 2016, 12:34 AM UTC

Post some cover letters here for feedback

Re: Ask HN: How long did it take you to get your first dev job?

#5

Post by mydpy » Sun, May 15, 2016, 12:38 AM UTC

Post your resume for feedback. You need to "sell" yourself. It didn't take me long, but I applied to a lot of positions that I didn't really qualify for. And I got offers at places I didn't think I would qualify for, but I have some name recognition on my resume that helped.

Re: Ask HN: How long did it take you to get your first dev job?

#6

Post by kevinsimper » Sun, May 15, 2016, 12:41 AM UTC

I have had great success with meeting new people with meetup.com and getting development jobs through that! This way you also know what kind of people you will be working with :)

Re: Ask HN: How long did it take you to get your first dev job?

#7

Post by imaginenore » Sun, May 15, 2016, 12:46 AM UTC

It usually takes a couple of weeks to find a job.

Even when I got to the senior level, I did up to 3 interviews per day (NYC).

The fact that you only got 1 interview means your resume is very weak, and you never did any extra curricular projects.

Re: Ask HN: How long did it take you to get your first dev job?

#8

Post by jzwinck » Sun, May 15, 2016, 12:47 AM UTC

I went to a major US university which was a recruitment center for a number of companies. I got a job at one rather by chance, as a good friend was applying there and told me I should too. But this happened several months before graduation.

In cases like that, at major US universities, some big companies (each of whom can hire dozens of students every year) are in a race: they know that they will overlap in which students they want most. So they offer early, and they play games like the "exploding offer" we have discussed here before.

With those companies, recruitment of a spring graduating class will be complete before the start of winter.

After graduation, things should get easier once you have 2-3 years of work experience (i.e. one industry standard job lifetime).

Small companies may be more flexible and/or random, because they are less systematic and probably only hire one person (or no one) each year from most schools.

Re: Ask HN: How long did it take you to get your first dev job?

#9

Post by probinso » Sun, May 15, 2016, 12:55 AM UTC

It will likely take you more than a month.

I believe that my first job out of school took about three months.

It's important to remember you are likely not qualified for any job that you applied to. Of the companies that are most likely excited about new college graduates, many list job openings specifically for new graduates.

This should not discourage you though, it is probably in your best interest to only apply to jobs that you are not qualified for.

Also the way that you find companies can dramatically impact your hit rate. If you look at primarily sources like job posting boards, then you will have a very high signal-to-noise ratio to defeat.

try to come up with new strategies for finding companies that interest you.

Also, as other people have said, I believe that it is a good idea for you to get professional feedback on your cover letters and resumes. Both of these must be completely understandable by both a technical lead and an HR representative. This is a non-trivial goal to meet.

Re: Ask HN: How long did it take you to get your first dev job?

#10

Post by RandomSeeded » Sun, May 15, 2016, 12:56 AM UTC

3 weeks from (cold) apps to offers, with somewhere around 140 apps. My approach may be mildly unusual, but I think there's a bunch of very good reasons to play it like a numbers game. Off the top of my head:

- The more interviews, phone screens, etc. you have, the better you get at them. Better studying than studying.

- Having a competing offer, even if you don't plan on taking it, is going to make companies you DO want to work for process your application far more quickly...and maybe even be more likely to hire you.

- It takes longer to figure out you probably won't want to work for a company than it does to do the minimal amount of research necessary to whip up a cover letter and send it in. Worst case, they want to interview you, and you get additional interview practice. No point doing the rest of the research on a company until you're at least to a phone screen.

- You'll be surprised at companies you thought you wanted to work for that you don't, and companies you'd never heard of that you fall in love with.

Good luck