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Ask HN: I’ve been applying to a million jobs

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Re: Ask HN: I’ve been applying to a million jobs

#121

Post by wehere1 »

vmasto wrote: post #76
joshstrange wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this comment and was ready to jump to the OPs defense and chide you for being overly-negative but then I looked at the website... None of the products look like something I'd expect from a "Product Designer" and even less so from someone who is "passionate about all things visual". I am not a designer but I've worked with a number of highly talented designers and none of these designs really impress me, in fac…

I believe you guys are being overly harsh and strict, you probably don't realize it but to me you sound like you're criticizing for the next Jony Ive position. I find OP's work impressive and his design skills are great, he handles minimalism with grace, and that's not something a programmer could achieve without previous design principles. His website's concept is exactly what it should be (being a T shaped professi…

yea i read these comments and was ready for a terrible site, but it's totally fine. whenever HN has a 'show your personal website thread' the designs are all awful '65 year old combinatorics professor' designs. these old fucks would probably have a hernia if they looked at brutalistwebsites.com

Re: Ask HN: I’ve been applying to a million jobs

#122

Post by navd »

To be honest I like most of your work and you remind me a bit of myself. The only difference seems to be I have a large focus on development. (frontend or backend, whatever code is code just the process is different)

My first job ~7 years ago I kind of fell into with a bit of luck and networking. However that experience helped me really propel my career.

I'm about the same age as you (24) have the following advice:

Don't put your age anywhere. Ageism exists. It'll benefit you a lot more to have a stunning resume / track record that gets you in the door and have a face to face talk with people who will hire you.

Get your programming chops up and try to pursue an engineering position. There are more jobs in engineering vs a design position. Plus you obviously know a bit about design and this'll translate nicely into aspects of engineering.

Good luck! And like others have said take a day off, have a couple beers, and continue when you feel a bit more optimistic.

Re: Ask HN: I’ve been applying to a million jobs

#123

Post by bkanber »

billyt555 wrote: post #75
krmmalik wrote: post #21

You're like the dream person i'd love to have on my team. What im about to say is going to sound really odd and a little hocus pocus -- but i assure you -- it's meant as a re-assurance and not to demoralise you in any way. I went through something very similar to you about 4yrs ago. In the end i realised jobs are not for me. I was born to be an entrepreneur. A master of my own domain. I think the universe is trying t…

http://www.krmmalik.com - without the www you get a 404

Works without for me.

Re: Ask HN: I’ve been applying to a million jobs

#124

Post by shimon »

oliv__ wrote: post #56
nnq wrote: post #7

Maybe it's that you're experience says DESIGNER all over the place, but you seem to look for a " DEVELOPER with some extra product-design attributes" type job. This confuses the heck out of most recruiters , since they like to put people in "boxes with labels", like "product designer, "graphic designer", "frontend developer" etc. I mean, people can't even figure out "who should interview this guy?"... which leads to…

Thank you for your insight. The thing is, I've always been in between both and as a result truly fit in neither position, compared to people who've specialized in one side. I thought I would apply on the design side because it has always come more naturally to me, but maybe I should reevaluate.

The positions you should apply for are called Front-End Developer. Maybe even junior front-end dev.

In these positions you will do a mix of design and dev, but mostly dev, and mostly dev that the "serious engineer" devs don't want to do, like CSS. But that work has to get done and demonstrating an interest across the stack will help you work better with both the backend devs and designers.

Re: Ask HN: I’ve been applying to a million jobs

#125

Post by purple-again »

soneca wrote: post #106
fecak wrote: post #78

I write resumes and coach job seekers who have difficulty in finding work or navigating career issues (my HN profile has links). My background includes nearly 20 years in recruiting for east coast startups. You have a few things going 'against' you in most cases. I haven't seen a resume yet, but based on your site and post: 1 - You're relatively junior (at 23). 2 - You now live in France and want either remote work o…

What kinds of projects do you consider that look good on a resume? If you need more context, I just started learning web development and want to start building some interesting projects that could help me get a job.

When I'm looking at candidates repos I don't care what the project is. Music app, twitter clone, whatever. I just want to see a live project with a series of commits from 'ember new' all the way to deployment. I look at their migrations, model files, etc just to get a feel for how the person architects real world concepts.

Re: Ask HN: I’ve been applying to a million jobs

#126

Post by [deleted] »

soneca wrote: post #106
fecak wrote: post #78

I write resumes and coach job seekers who have difficulty in finding work or navigating career issues (my HN profile has links). My background includes nearly 20 years in recruiting for east coast startups. You have a few things going 'against' you in most cases. I haven't seen a resume yet, but based on your site and post: 1 - You're relatively junior (at 23). 2 - You now live in France and want either remote work o…

What kinds of projects do you consider that look good on a resume? If you need more context, I just started learning web development and want to start building some interesting projects that could help me get a job.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: I’ve been applying to a million jobs

#128

Post by fosco »

fecak wrote: post #78

I write resumes and coach job seekers who have difficulty in finding work or navigating career issues (my HN profile has links). My background includes nearly 20 years in recruiting for east coast startups. You have a few things going 'against' you in most cases. I haven't seen a resume yet, but based on your site and post: 1 - You're relatively junior (at 23). 2 - You now live in France and want either remote work o…

-->3 - You're applying to a million jobs, which likely means you are sending out rather anonymous letters instead of something even remotely targeted.

I think this is important, in a sense personalizing it for the company, and also the specific position you are aiming for. rather than aim for the entire goal net aim for a specific cross stitch within the net.

on a side note, all of the comments of others offering help I find absolutely beautiful and it makes me happy to have found this community of incredible people!

Re: Ask HN: I’ve been applying to a million jobs

#129

Post by shimon »

It doesn't seem like anyone has mentioned location and work authorization yet. This can be an immediate red flag on your resume. Many companies just won't consider a non-US-based person, or someone who isn't already authorized to work in the US.

If you can do this honestly, remove any mention of France from your resume, and put in New York, NY instead. Or indicate that you're planning to move at a specific future date:

Olivier Cestlavie New York, NY (relocating from Paris in March 2017; Authorized to work in US since January 2015)

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