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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

#251

Post by akulbe »

My apologies if this has been covered already. I know the job search is important, and I don't want to minimize that. I just want you to consider some things you may have stopped thinking about, in your discouragement.

Try to get good sleep. This will help you think more clearly.

Try to get regular exercise. This will also help you feel better, and think more clearly.

Read also. You cannot be looking for work constantly and not give yourself some kind of mental/emotional break.

As far as the job search is concerned, I'd recommend you talk to you people you know, where you are. Ask them if their companies are hiring. Generally, the likelihood of getting a job is better when you have a contact that already works there.

Go to meetups. Make contacts with others in your profession.

Freelance until you can get a regular job.

These are just some ideas. I know there are factors in your situation that none of us understand. I wish you luck. If you ever want to talk, my info is in my profile.

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

#252

Post by gspetr »

verelo wrote: post #243
gspetr wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * While I'm in Toronto, it's the same timezone as NY. You'd have to be something super special for me to want to hire you remote in Paris. If he was in Lima, Peru (It's also -5 TZ) would you have the same reservation? Would you care if he was not american/canadian but say, a Russian living in Peru?

On the assumption you're not insinuating something there... If the time zone was the same I'd be much more comfortable with it, but I'd still prefer someone who could spend at least some time in the office (some problems are just easier too work out face to face). We have not optimized things for remote work, yet. Edit: I'd also argue it's probably not in his best interests to work remote. Remote is great if you have…

No tricks, it was an honest question.

Thank you for a thoughtful answer.

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

#253

Post by fecak »

KanyeBest wrote: post #249
kafkaesq wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying things like "I learn fast" and "I'm a good communicator" don't get a recruiter's attention. Right. You don't impress people by saying "I'm a good communicator." You impress them by... communicating well.

Contrarian opinion: Saying "I'm a good communicator" is the most succinct and clear way of communicating that one is a good communicator. The recipient needs only read 4 words to get the message.

The problem is that perhaps 75% of the people who say it are incorrect. There are a handful of trite items on a high percentage of resumes (team player, communicator, able to work in high pressure, etc.) that are virtually ignored - nobody has ever brought someone in for interview because they wrote "I'm a good communicator".

Generally I'll assume you're a good communicator until you show otherwise.

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

#254

Post by hollaur »

Your work is pretty great. I especially love your job board. I'd remove your age from your website to avoid ageism. And I'd start emailing people a lot. Send like 50 emails a week to people you don't know but ADD VALUE to them first. Here's a good post by Paul Jarvis: http://lifehacker.com/an-experienced-freelancers-guide-to-fi...

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

#255

Post by oliv__ »

nnq wrote: post #69
oliv__ wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

One more thing: you also have the odd combination of "product design" + "sounding-mostly-like-BACKEND tech experience", but people would expect "product design" + "frontend" with nicely sounding keywords Angular 2 or React or Polymer etc. I guess... I don't have a solution for this because I have a similar problematic set of skills (product design + backend + entrepreneur-ish + desire to jump more towards machine lea…

That's the thing. I much prefer backend development to frontend. Imo, the frontend world is kind of all over the place right now and most of the time those frameworks are overkill for simple projects.

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

#256

Post by rex-mundi »

chrishacken wrote: post #157
fecak wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Measuring accomplishments for OP isn't likely to be easy, but for more senior candidates that's the ideal situation. You're correct about generalizing duties and skills. Bullet points on resumes that talk about non-specific day-to-day responsibilities are mostly filler.

> Bullet points on resumes that talk about non-specific day-to-day responsibilities are mostly filler. This. A co-worker interviewed a guy last week who had 3 pages full of bullet points and when he asked him about his experience with any of them, he gave us some generic response like, "We used Java on project X that did Y". List 6-7 core skills; or better yet, list projects you worked on, the stack you built it on,…

could you give an example of an app you've shown (no need for links if you don't want, just a short desc would be very helpful)

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

#257

Post by Bladtman »

magic_beans wrote: post #225
sdflkd wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ego on HN gets me every time. I quite like his designs.

His design is excellent for a developer. But maybe a little TOO minimal for a product designer.

I disagree. Maybe you are right, maybe this isn't the reason he doesn't get interviews, but if someone sent me that portfolio, I would not give the application a second look.

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

#258

Post by Bladtman »

sdflkd wrote: post #185
sokoloff wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, I can only imagine what it was like before the edit then...

The ego on HN gets me every time. I quite like his designs.

Good for you, and good for OP. I'm really not trying to denigrate anyone, but OP is complaining that he doesn't get interviews. If his reviewers think like I do, using spans correctly in his html, and "playing the game" (which is what others are suggesting) won't do him any good.

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

#259

Post by Jarwain »

gkya wrote: post #91
nnq wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One more thing: you also have the odd combination of "product design" + "sounding-mostly-like-BACKEND tech experience", but people would expect "product design" + "frontend" with nicely sounding keywords Angular 2 or React or Polymer etc. I guess... I don't have a solution for this because I have a similar problematic set of skills (product design + backend + entrepreneur-ish + desire to jump more towards machine lea…

Recently there was an interesting article here with a title like 'The Bipolar Programmer' where a stereotype about 'smart but lazy' STEM students; in that article I fiund nearly a definition of myself, and I think you and the OP may find that this is true for you two too. I, too, am curious for many areas of computing and art, and as a result sparsely knowledgeable about most of them, but lack profound proficiency in…

Are you referring to http://www.shenlanguage.org/lambdassociates/htdocs/blog/bipo... or http://mhprompt.org/2016/09/29/on-being-bipolar-programmer.h... ?
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