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Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

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Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#71

Post by pizlonator »

1. Make sure you know the right languages. A lot of great jobs involve languages that aren’t “hip”. C++, C, etc jobs are usually pretty great in terms of content.

2. Pick a sub field of CS that you like and do a personal project in that field. Become familiar with the terms of art and the major algorithms that folks in that field care about. Then sell yourself as someone who is passionate about that field and make a point of letting recruiters know that this is the field you’re passionate about. Passion matters! Hiring managers want to see that shit.

3. Master one of the technologies you know. Pick the one you like the most.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#72

Post by Decabytes »

jjav wrote: post #64
ansy wrote: post #25

Bigger, 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…

> They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. This would indicate that there is a severe oversupply of candidates eager to work in this industry. Which may well be true, but conflicts with the narrative that there is a severe shortage of people.

There is definitely a shortage overall, but not at the top companies

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#73

Post by pathseeker »

jjav wrote: post #64
ansy wrote: post #25

Bigger, 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…

> They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. This would indicate that there is a severe oversupply of candidates eager to work in this industry. Which may well be true, but conflicts with the narrative that there is a severe shortage of people.

candidates != qualified candidates

A shit ton of people apply to FAANG companies because of the money on the table despite having no professional experience as a software engineer nor writing any code.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#74

Post by ansy »

throwawayjobs wrote: post #52
ansy wrote: post #25

Bigger, 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 sta…

> I have noticed there are not many small companies on my school's job board.

The few small to medium sized companies on your school's job board are actually great opportunities. Those companies don't have the resources to recruit many places so they might not even be looking at any other schools or programs. There is probably a very strong alumni connection to your school or program. They likely know exactly what they're getting with those new grads and wouldn't be recruiting there if they weren't comfortable with that.

> Would you know of a place where I could find these?

One problem with small companies is that they tend to not advertise their job openings everywhere. You can usually find different ones everywhere you look. The worse they are at advertising the job, the less competition you have and the more likely you resume will be considered. So it does pay to look beyond any one job board.

> One thing I have worried about though is they might require someone who is more experienced.

This varies company by company. Some companies founded by new grads or college drop outs exclusively hire new grads. Some big companies exclusively hire experienced engineers. And there's everything in between. If they have a job posting for entry level or new grads, go for it.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#75

Post by cbanek »

I'd suggest reading this: https://techinterviewhandbook.org/

This is a good general website that I think covers the various stages, including what happens once people actually want to interview you. Don't worry about mastering anything, as a CS grad even if you think you've mastered something, you really haven't. I've been in the industry for 20 years and I still don't think I've mastered anything. Don't worry about that. You always have to learn their stack, their libraries, CI system, that's just par for the course.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#76

Post by zerr »

jjav wrote: post #64
ansy wrote: post #25

Bigger, 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…

> They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. This would indicate that there is a severe oversupply of candidates eager to work in this industry. Which may well be true, but conflicts with the narrative that there is a severe shortage of people.

It's about the price - there is a shortage of people willing to work for 5-figure.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#79

Post by usr1106 »

MattGaiser wrote: post #56
R0b0t1 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't agree. Not me personally, but company policy strongly prefers local candidates that can come to the office every day. Well, some day at least, for the last 1.5 years nobody has been required to do so. So when I read an application with no mentioning of location or somewhat convincing willingness to relocate that's automatically a no go. Well, in case of an exceptional applicant we would ask. But exceptional candidates are ahem... exceptional. The question was about normal mortals just having graduated.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#80

Post by collaborative »

I just helped a completely random recent grad who reached to me in also a completely random way (he is working a customer facing role at my company and pinged me).

Many software devs are altruistic and happy to help. And they usually know someone who is looking for fresh meat. Don't be afraid to ask

But my advice would be to apply for an entry role at a consultancy. They are the most stressfull and colleagues often aren't as nice because of the competition and shitty management. But the variety of projects will get you trained fast. After 3 or 4 years you can then apply for a good $ role somewhere else

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