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Ask HN: How did you find your current job?

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Re: Ask HN: How did you find your current job?

#121

Post by rootusrootus »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #42
rootusrootus wrote: post #23

Friend of mine moved on to the company I'm at now (he has since left) and when they were looking for a senior developer he gave them my contact info. I'm in the market right now and the most likely opportunity thus far is through another buddy of mine. I've never gone through the front door at any company, for that matter, in the 25 years I've been working. The first job I ever got was because the teacher of a colleg…

I am almost the exact opposite to you - so my question is how much time do you spend keeping in touch with people you used to work with or met - either in deliberate "networking" or simply because you are a sociable person who you know, has friends :-)

About once every second or third week I go out to 'beer:30' with a small (5-10) group of people that I've worked with in the past, so I don't spend too much time networking. Aside from that I'm too busy with my family.

Probably the most successful strategy I've employed in my career is to remember that even though I'm reasonably good at what I do, how I get along with coworkers and management is more important. A lot more important, in fact. Turns out there are plenty of people that are competent enough, so when someone is looking for a new team member, they gravitate towards people that can play nice with others.

Re: Ask HN: How did you find your current job?

#123

Post by bsvalley »

xaranke wrote: post #25

My current job at Amazon: Took two online coding tests, didn't talk to a single person and got an offer a couple days after the second test. Efficient.

How did they know you were behind the keyboard during the test? Just curious... seems like a huge risk for a company to hire people like that.

Re: Ask HN: How did you find your current job?

#124

Post by jon-wood »

I was working for a company where I felt I had stagnated somewhat, about the same time my current employer posted to a local Ruby mailing list saying they were doing things with home automation technology and needed a developer to join them. It just so happens I love home automation, so I applied, got on well with the team, and ended up joining them.

The job wasn't quite what I'd expected when I accepted it - they merged with an insurance startup between me accepting and starting - but I've been having great fun since. These days I get paid to play with new bits of connected hardware, and mentor the other developers on my team. When I first started I got to write the first iteration of the firmware for our hub, and do a ton of work on our core infrastructure.

Re: Ask HN: How did you find your current job?

#125

Post by dejv »

I had a product management job and was thinking about getting back to programming fulltime. One day I went on job site and there was ad that reads "Looking for programmer" no body, nothing. I replied just for fun, went for interview and took it as a freelance gig which let me quit my previous job, work on my own various projects and travel the world for couple of years.

It was ERP programming for construction company that bought assets of software company which went out of business. 11 years later, I am still working with this customer for couple of hours each month and I can still lean on it and make it pays all of the bills for my 4 person familly. It basically works as a basic income for me.

Re: Ask HN: How did you find your current job?

#126

Post by systematical »

anoncoward111 wrote: post #120
systematical wrote: post #117

A job site, I applied. It was posted by a third-party recruiter. Pretty much how I've found all my jobs. I'm not very good at networking or the good-ol boy network. I find them through job boards.

This has been my experience too, though I apply for lower tier jobs so I don't interact with 3rd parties, rather just in house. It takes maybe 20 bad interviews to get one good offer in my experience.

I'm pretty selectively with the interviews I go on. My success rate for interviews is like 50% cause of all the vetting I do before hand. I've been on 3 interviews in the last 7 years and have had 2 jobs over the period.

Re: Ask HN: How did you find your current job?

#127

Post by eaandkw »

throwaway3314 wrote: post #115

Throwaway for obvious reasons. I was set to go into academia. I spent my entire grad school without any tech internships, and did research every summer. Months before my graduation, my ex-wife wanted a divorce, and one reason (out of many) was not seeing a future together as I will be in remote places(where most universities are), and she want to be in a big city. Trying to save my marriage, I declined my postdoc off…

Being in the military I have moved a lot. Like thirteen times in twenty years. Some of the best places I have been were places that I originally did not want to go to. I'm happy everything worked out but it seems like a missed opportunity for the both of you to learn and grow.

Re: Ask HN: How did you find your current job?

#129

Post by sadamznintern »

ex_amazon_sde wrote: post #90
sadamznintern wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I failed a FB loop a few weeks ago despite studying really fucking hard and doing pretty damn well on the questions I got. I’m afraid I’ll be stuck at Amazon, which nobody is actually impressed by, if I’m lucky and not PIPed out.

> Amazon, which nobody is actually impressed by What?

People know the hiring bar is low and the perks don’t exist and the TC is low etc.

Re: Ask HN: How did you find your current job?

#130

Post by lukker »

cbanek wrote: post #12

Who's hiring right here on HN (on the first of the month).

Same for me! I also got the feeling that I was viewed differently (in a positive way) from the candidates who came through recruiters. Most probably because they've had previous successes with hires through HN.
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