Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you considered a drastic move to SF, NYC, Boston, or another startup hotspot? Ah yes, it's so easy to move when you can't even afford $100 to start a company. Great advice. Finding a job as a developer is actually not that hard, in this economy. Looks like you're wrong, in this instance at least.
I find it interesting that your hostility came through so easily and without consideration for how your words could effect someone seeking to employ you. (which is the actual reason I had read this post) You seem to focus all of your attention on what "skills" you have without regard for the personality traits that make a desirable team member. I can guarantee you that you will meet many developers with greater skill…
Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions
71–80 of 194 posts
Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions
#72It would be pretty easy to find a tech company willing to do phone/internet screen for a day or two remotely, and then fly you out for interview. If it goes well, you'd probably be pressured to just stay and work and then have someone else pack up/ship your stuff :)
You should have done this instead of wasting your time trying to find jobs locally, really.
Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions
#73plus, many of their positions assume you work remotely.
Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Ah yes, it's so easy to move when you can't afford $100 to start a company. Great advice. My biggest pet peeve about HN? The automatic assumption that if you're not looking to start your own company, you're a worthless idiot. As bretthoerner pointed out, many companies will pay for you to move. And even if they don't, putting $5k on a credit card to move to someplace where you would actually be employed is still a…
My biggest pet peeve about HN? The automatic assumption that if you're not looking to start your own company, you're a worthless idiot. Woah, didn't mean to imply that at all. I just used the "to start a company" bit because he had said that in his post. I notice that attitude around HN and i hate it too. As bretthoerner pointed out, many companies will pay for you to move. And even if they don't, putting $5k on a cr…
Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions
#75But, based on what you said, I can tell you:
Using Python in school and at a job doesn't make you a Python Hacker. From your description of yourself it sounds like you mostly play with programming. It may just be the way you worded it, but what was the last 'major' software project you have worked on, either for work or open source? Have you been a developer professionally, or have you skirted on the edges of the industry? I interview candidates and review resumes all the time, and nothing sets off my spidey senses more than someone who overestimates their skills. If you don't know a topic well and know you don't, that is totally fine, but when a candidate says they are an '8/10' in a language, but I gauge them to be a near beginner, it tells me they are blissfully unaware how much they don't know. That means that they probably have never learned any language or topic with a high degree of mastery, and that they aren't aware of how much more is out there in the language in question. That means they aren't very curious, and they aren't passionate (or worse, they aren't smart).
It also sounds like you have a graduate degree in some non-technical field. Did you graduate recently? The courses you list are not very advanced, and coursework doesn't really matter for employment anyway.
We are hiring aggressively (like most big tech companies in the valley) have an engineering challenge up at: http://codeeval.com/public_sc/48/ . If you do it competently we will call you back. We pay well, have great benefits, offer relocation, etc. However, it is fairly challenging and the majority of people who attempt it are not able to complete it.
Honestly, FizzBuzz is meant as a test of basic programming competency. It's disqualifying when an engineer can't do it, but it's not anything to brag about. A competent engineer should be able to implement FizzBuzz in any computer language in a few minutes, even if they've never seen the language before, so long as they can get documentation.
No matter what happens, you aren't going to find work in Michigan. You aren't connected and from the sound of it your resume is very light, and you don't have a network, so contracting and freelancing just isn't realistic for you. Based on your description of yourself, you would be a fairly junior level engineer wherever you go. You have to start somewhere, though. Good luck!
Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't bother, I submitted a resume months ago that would be a perfect fit for one of the positions and I haven't even heard back for a rejection.
I don't understand in what kind of world you live in, where it's better not to try because you might be disappointed.
Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions
#77Also if you are that desperate, you should consider moving to one of these places and leaving your family behind until you've made enough money to bring them to you. That may sound horrible, but it's the way people have pulled themselves up and made a better life for their family for centuries.
Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions
#78As someone born and raised in Michigan and whose partner was also born and raised in Michigan, my advice is that other than visiting grandparents and hiking and touring breweries, you will find your opportunities tremendously expanded by as quickly as possible getting the fuck out of Michigan.
The only thing I really miss is Michigan's summer heat (it's mid 60's and windy here - in July).
Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions
#79I wrote this for Utah. But I'm sure this can be applied to other states.