Just keep applying. Look at a bunch of cities. It could be worth it to relocate.
Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?
51–60 of 141 posts
Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?
#52Bigger, name brand tech companies have way more applicants than they can accept so they have a crude recruiter funnel that is tossing out resumes for any reason they can find. They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. But recruiters don't know a thing about software engineering. At best they can keyword match a few buzzwords they got f…
> Smaller companies aren't going to land the candidate from a top 10 school who already interned at multiple Fortune 500 companies
One thing I have worried about though is they might require someone who is more experienced. I have noticed there are not many small companies on my school's job board. Would you know of a place where I could find these?
Another commenter mentioned checking the website of VC firms for start-ups. I think I will give that a shot.
I appreciate all the help from everyone in the thread, I am reading all the comments.
Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?
#53> How can I stand out to recruiters Make a resume filled with buzzwords. Do a job search, look for jobs you want. Then just jam in every single tech buzzword you find in the job postings you want. Specific technologies, industry jargon. Trendy new stuff is better, because there is always a shortage of people who have experience with new and popular technology. > and employers Try to find somebody who works for the co…
I agree with everything here with the exception of:
> A big part of landing a job is lying or embellishing to get to the interviews.
To the OP: I _strongly_ advise against this. I expect people to embellish. I distrust people who lie, and generally avoid working with people who I can't depend on doing what they say they can or will do.
If I interview an entry level candidate, I'm looking for the following:
1. Enthusiasm for the work and/or position.
2. Some indication of work ethic. If you have school or personal projects to show off, I care less about what they do and more about if they've been completed and if someone can discuss, in detail, the process.
3. A non-toxic personality. Most jobs in software require that you work with other software engineers and various employees with skills or expertise in things that aren't software or technology. Demonstrating strong soft skills (explaining complex thoughts in simple language, strong written communication skills, etc.) is critical especially in the post-COVID remote-heavy workplaces we find ourselves in.
Finding the first job is always the hardest. It's a numbers game. You haven't had time to build experience to differentiate yourself from other candidates.
Engaging with the community of people who work at the companies you want to join is a great way to find people to champion your application and gather intelligence about what a prospective employer needs.
Don't be afraid to admit your inexperience--it's expected. Demonstrate that you're trustworthy, enthusiastic, and won't cause problems and that'll get you through most interviews.
Good luck. Reach out via the email in your profile if you want to discuss more--hiring and training software engineers is a topic I'm passionate about.
Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Moving now probably doesn’t make that much sense. Everyone is still remote, and interviewing remotely. Just tell the recruiter you’d be willing to move anywhere they want you to.
There's a definite bias against people who are outside of a company's area. It might just be that they look at and hire from the local candidate pool first, or it might be something else. If you live in the middle of nowhere it is very hard to get a job. Per a (now very old) HN thread there also seems to be a bias against rural candidates.
True, but I think you can use this bias to your advantage in some ways in the remote world. On a resume what catches your eye first, the name/locations of the HQs of prior employers? Or home address of candidate? The former is much more striking to me personally. If I've seen someone has ever worked in my city, I mentally frame them local even if I later see their address is remote.
Point being, if you can break into the market and rack up a bit of experience, you get that some of that local bias for yourself.
Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?
#55People will tell you it's unethical or it doesn't work nowadays, but copy keywords from posts you qualify for and paste them into your resume as white text. Some systems still pick them up and you'll most likely get more interviews than if you didn't do it.
Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Moving now probably doesn’t make that much sense. Everyone is still remote, and interviewing remotely. Just tell the recruiter you’d be willing to move anywhere they want you to.
There's a definite bias against people who are outside of a company's area. It might just be that they look at and hire from the local candidate pool first, or it might be something else. If you live in the middle of nowhere it is very hard to get a job. Per a (now very old) HN thread there also seems to be a bias against rural candidates.
Just remove any location information from your resume. Mine has none. No address, no office locations. All sorts of recruiters have called, assuming that I live in SFO or Seattle.
Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?
#57As a recruiter and hiring manager, I am biased against people that have a CS degree and nothing so show any serious interest in the area. I am looking at this category as people that heard CS is paying well, but have no passion for it, otherwise there are so many opportunities to do projects or even work during college.
When I finished college I was already an IT manager for 3 years (college was 5 years at that time and I worked all this time), most of my colleagues worked during college and looking for an internship or even job (part time or full time) early in college is considered very positive in my company. If you wait to finish college and only then start working, it may be a sign you are either lazy or not interested, so we are not interested either.
Another positive sign from college applicants are side projects; it can be anything from open source project contributions to personal projects that require some significant time and/or novelty. In IT you need passion, not able bodies and diplomas don't matter so much. The best developer I ever had in my team had no diploma, he did a couple of years and college and dropped, he was more advanced than what they taught there. He worked for us about 8 years and now he runs his own software development company.
Maybe we are completely wrong, I am just telling how some recruiters think. Use this info as you like. From what you wrote, you don't have an interesting resume.
Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?
#58Get a LinkedIn premium subscription and ask alumni of your school for referrals. Just random alumni. I was given this advice and thought it was brazen and aggressive and that nobody would do it. I didn't after graduation. I was wrong and when I tried it later, it worked. And I ended up doing it for others who messaged me. Apply though the back door for VIPs. Plenty of people are happy to put you in. Random people on…
This is good advice. I had a first year CS student at my alma matter randomly reach out to me for general guidance on LinkedIn. Two years later we have a rich mentor/mentee relationship.
Related... Mayuko is a software engineer who has worked at Intuit, Patreon, and Netflix. She now makes YouTube videos full time, many of them focused on bootstrapping a career in tech. Her latest video is about increasing the likelihood of getting engagement when doing exactly the kind of thing the parent suggests. https://youtu.be/SJ3cXmRX7mM
Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?
#59I thought of this from Sam Altman recently who tweeted this, thought it might be handy.
The question isn't, "What will I be doing in 10 years?"
But, "What will I wish I'd started 10 years from now?"
For me: open source software and hardware seem like important pillars of the future 10 years form now. So does crypto. These things have been fairly nascent to date...but in 2031 Bitcoin will be 22 y/o and Linux will be 40 y/o.
Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Try applying to smaller companies. Smaller companies aren't going to land the candidate from a top 10 school who already interned at multiple Fortune 500 companies. But small shops need to hire talent too. They're digging deeper and they have to read the resumes more closely. There isn't much of an HR department, and the hiring manager might be sifting through the raw resumes themselves. This describes my situation…
The offer you handed out was not for me but is it okay if I send you my resumé as well? I am in the same boat as OP except it’s been a month since I graduated.
Sure, no problem. I actually would not be able to distinguish between you two, since the OP used a throwaway handle.