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Tell HN: Employers are not desperate to hire developers

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Re: Tell HN: Employers are not desperate to hire developers

#71

Post by capableweb »

> My personal goal is at least 100 applications before seriously considering pivoting to something else.

I don't think I have especially cool resume or anything, nor do I have extremely many years in the industry as well, but I'd never consider applying for 100 different companies. I don't even know deeply about 100 companies I think, which is something I learn about a company before even considering applying to it.

I think I've applied to about 5 different full-time positions over the years and I have been in about 10 full-time positions in the same time, 5 of those applied to and the others was companies "applying" to me instead. Then bunch of consulting and freelancing gigs in-between.

Re: Tell HN: Employers are not desperate to hire developers

#75

Post by bluedino »

nonethewiser wrote: post #63

I've had a flurry of recruiter's contact me lately. A lot more than I usually get. So there is another anecdote for you all.

I've been getting bombarded on LinkedIn recently, but it's all low pay, low quality jobs, or things I'm only remotely qualified for and not really looking to do (generic 'cyber-security' position or some software or system I have on my LinkedIn profile involving a job from 8 years ago, for example)

Re: Tell HN: Employers are not desperate to hire developers

#76

Post by mywittyname »

f0e4c2f7 wrote: post #48

LinkedIn's algorithm seems to be related to how active you are. One step you could try is reaching out to any recruiters you may have added over the years and ask them if they know of any open positions you might be a good fit for. If you haven't added any you might be able to look in your feed to see if there are any advertising jobs and reach out to them from there. I know LinkedIn and recruiters get kind of a bad…

> LinkedIn's algorithm seems to be related to how active you are.

I used to keep a spreadsheet of what dates I'd log in, and what actions I'd take, then I'd wait for the summary email from LI and put the results in it. Anecdotally, after logging into LI and making minor edits to my profile, the "number of times you've appeared in search results" emails I receive indicate a 2-3x increase over baseline.

By minor edits, I mean changing punctuation or other small changes to a sentence or two. Major edits would dramatically increase my search results, such as adding certifications, but that's to be expected.

Re: Tell HN: Employers are not desperate to hire developers

#77

Post by yrgulation »

mcv wrote: post #14
devsatish wrote: post #5

1) Tail end of the year - its hard to get full time roles , The hiring definitely picks up after Jan 2nd week or so. 2) Try consulting/contracting - That space is still brimming w hiring. Much faster on-boarding /hiring.

> Try consulting/contracting - That space is still brimming w hiring. Much faster on-boarding /hiring. Hiring is faster, yes, but onboarding is often still a dreadful mess. At least if it's at a company that expects you to use their equipment and their closed system.

Still getting paid for it. Had a client that made me stare at the walls because of their “security policies” messing things up now and then. Got paid for sitting around.

Re: Tell HN: Employers are not desperate to hire developers

#78

Post by rapind »

ryandrake wrote: post #49
guessmyname wrote: post #33

I work at Apple and my team has been “hiring” for the last 2 years with no offers so far. Why? Because even if you are a good candidate, hiring is not as easy as people think. Among the many challengues we have I can list the following: 1. The people interested in your profile have minimal influence in the process, 2. There are people who are always chasing for the shiny new object (or person, in this case), 3. There…

A lot of companies say "we're hiring" but are not hiring , defined as actually extending an offer and actually employing someone. They're fishing, but not catching, or they're catching and releasing. We need a more precise word than "hiring". Everyone can say they're hiring, but they're not actually hiring anyone--they're just fishing.

I don’t know if this has changed, but I remember most tech businesses were perpetually hiring, because part of the visa process to bring in workers was a requirement to prove that you tried to find local talent first.

(source: I once worked in the states on a TN visa, and this was the practice at the time.)

Re: Tell HN: Employers are not desperate to hire developers

#79

Post by anon50118810 »

_ed7m wrote: post #30

It took me 200 applications to land my job, and I think the rest of everyone I know who’s a decent programmer had similar situations. The bottom line is that everyone has employment and only had to move for it if they’re taking a high (120k+ TC for entry level) paying position. This is “falling of trees” compared to any other industry. Being able to land a middle class job directly in the field of your education with…

This is one of the reasons why I made this post, to put some numbers out there. A lot of people on HN have ideal backgrounds so that they really are going to get constant unsolicited offers, or at least an interview anywhere they apply. Other people are on the hiring side struggling for one reason or another and blaming it on a hot market. If you're in a group like that, it's easy to get the wrong impression, and worse to repeat it.

I definitely agree that developers have it better than most people. Anyone who's watched someone outside the field look for work should understand that. But there is a huge middle ground between the Stanford graduate working at Google for whom every application results in an offer, and people applying to bad jobs with a 90 minute commute just to find something. That middle ground is what you and I are talking about, where you do have to send out a lot of applications, 100 or 200 or more, but there are also a lot of companies, you can work remotely and they pay really well compared to other jobs in the U.S., let alone worldwide.

Re: Tell HN: Employers are not desperate to hire developers

#80

Post by more_corn »

physicsguy wrote: post #55
toast0 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they were desperate to hire somebody, they'd lower the bar on the tech screens.

I don’t agree - I’d rather wait than take on someone that can’t meet the standard, because they’re likely to be an active drag rather than a help. I can hire contractors if I need to fill a seat that quickly.

I’ve never met a tech screen that adequately measured candidate quality (actually I take that back Okta’s SRE interview was fantastic).

I tried to hire a known, trusted, high performing engineer at Google. He was rejected. After reading his packet I could not figure out why. I had to call the recruiter and ask her if he’d said something so unmentionable they couldn’t even write it down.

They decided to pass on him because he was so good his promotion path at the role would be inadequate. I could have told them that before they wasted his time flying him out and sitting him through 8 hours of tech screen.

I literally had to fly him back out and do it all again, because “that’s the process”

I hate to break it to you but the process is broken.

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