Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

Post by bitcharmer » Tue, Feb 01, 2022, 10:05 PM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #318

mikece wrote: post #109

I like the template but I bristle at the notion that being a software engineer is a "privilege." I have spent countless hours training and re-training myself on technologies that change every few years: don't confuse my work ethic and interest in software engineering with some sort of passive privilege that fell into my lap. There are people far smarter than me who either cannot or don't have the perseverance to stay…

It probably depends on how you got into the line of work. I always say I am lucky and privileged because through random chance, I developed an interest in programming as a kid and it became my favorite hobby, long before I chose it as a career. I spent hour and hours at it because it was how I played, and I became good at it because it matched my way of thinking about the world and I spent all my free time doing it.…

Post by nsv » Tue, Feb 01, 2022, 10:06 PM UTC

fecak wrote: post #232

jrochkind1 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reasons that there are so many incompetent recruiters are many, but a few are… companies hire entry level recruiters and pay them next to nothing in guaranteed compensation (mostly commission-based). The good ones will make the company a lot of money, and the bad ones can't afford to stay in the industry because they aren't making enough in commission - so they 'go away' Wouldn't that be an explanation for why…

Good question. The bad ones don't go away immediately. They go away eventually, and are quickly replaced with another round of new hires. So you have maybe 10% of the industry that stays for the long haul, and 90% is a revolving door of college grads. There are probably other industries that have similar models where most of the workforce is newbies at all times, but I don't have an example that won't be dissected.

Post by nsv » Tue, Feb 01, 2022, 10:12 PM UTC

bitcharmer wrote: post #401

cortesoft wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It probably depends on how you got into the line of work. I always say I am lucky and privileged because through random chance, I developed an interest in programming as a kid and it became my favorite hobby, long before I chose it as a career. I spent hour and hours at it because it was how I played, and I became good at it because it matched my way of thinking about the world and I spent all my free time doing it.…

There is nothing privileged about being passionate in things that may earn you good money. Luck? Sure Privilege? Definitely not

Post by anothernewdude » Tue, Feb 01, 2022, 10:16 PM UTC

dvtrn wrote: post #29

anonygler wrote: post #26

Strong disagree. I've made it my policy to never work with a recruiter that isn't affiliated with the company they're hiring for. Recruiting farms like Cyber Recruiters (yuck) will do everything in their power to waste your time out of sheer incompetence and disinterest. I've "doubled" my salary plenty of times through this policy. But the real secret sauce is referrals. Companies always prioritize a strong referral,…

Recruiting farms like Cyber Recruiters (yuck) will do everything in their power to waste your time Or share your data. I made a throwaway, but not obnoxious email on my domain just for recruiters a few years ago, so I could try tracking who I was talking to. Via three consecutive third-party recruiters I started getting cold calls and e-mails from recruiters I’d never contacted, never met, or never before engaged wit…

Post by TedDoesntTalk » Tue, Feb 01, 2022, 10:17 PM UTC

TameAntelope wrote: post #328

datavirtue wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make it seem like straight white men conspired to take over the industry and box everyone else out. Last few teams I have been on were very skin diverse. They all had privileged cushy backgrounds though...except for one of the white men who was self-made. The power base in the US is white middle class. It's not just software that is dominated by white men. Law, medicine, construction, management at corporations.…

Thanks, I appreciate it. It's not very important, when you focus on outcome, whether or not a group of people conspired to create that outcome, or if that outcome was simply a consequence of other factors. The impact here is that straight white men over-represent the software industry as a whole, and there are things we can do to fix or improve that. It's a super bad idea to hire anyone who is not qualified for a pos…