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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

#201

Post by mrweasel »

bluedino wrote: post #75
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)

That might be a little different from person to person and market to market, but I've been getting more and more qualified recruiters contact me. Overall there are fewer, but the messages are now clearly from recruiters that have read my resume and aren't reaching out in bulk.

That being said, I think operations people and SREs are currently doing better than developers.

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

#203

Post by Eisenstein »

Macha wrote: post #128
jason-phillips wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I applied to 500 openings to get my first job. I think persistence is what matters.

My first development job as a graduate I applied to 5 positions, got 3 interviews and offers from all 3 interviews. Degree from somewhere middle of the road in my country, some side projects, applying to large but not FAANG tech cos. I think I had a good CV for a graduate nothing _that_ spectactular. There's definitely some diverging experiences going on here.

Maybe people should have their resume looked over? I have seen some very talented people make some pretty glaring errors and/or just be pretty bad at making things presentable. I think they may be getting tossed out of the pile due to something they just aren't realizing.

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

#204

Post by rahimnathwani »

i_am_toaster wrote: post #100
ian_dot_so wrote: post #46

I think this is over-generalizing I've been both on the hiring side and candidate side this year and demand is still very strong (granted moreso for more senior applicants than junior). Couple of tips that have worked for me: * Make sure your Linkedin is up-to-date, you have "open to work" turned on and that your experience is filled with direct results and accomplishments. Example of a bad bullet point (Used javascr…

I don’t agree on a few of these. I wouldn’t personalize your resume for any company, nor do I recommend writing a personalized cover letter for any of them — you have no idea the skill set that will be valued by the person reading the resume, as they are an unknown random variable. I feel it’s just a time waste and there is no proof that this sort of thing is fruitful. Also fuck leetcode. I’ve refused to do the leetc…

> I wouldn’t personalize your resume for any company

No one wants to read a multi-page resume, so you have to leave things out. Some of the things you normally leave out might be super-relevant for a particular role, due to the industry or business domain.

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

#205

Post by anon50118810 »

JohnBooty wrote: post #18
nickphx wrote: post #4

If you're not passing tech screens, why are you assuming this means lack of demand on employer side?

Any developer with a "mediocre but solid portfolio" would know if they bombed a tech screen. Frankly I think even somebody with zero experience knows if they've bombed an interview. So I've no reason to doubt OP there. I'm choosing to trust OP here - after all this is HN and we assume best intentions. If you're not passing tech screens, why are you assuming this means lack of demand on employer side? Well, perhaps no…

OP here, thank you. I've given many tech interviews from the hiring side and know what bombing looks like. In my case as a candidate it's less bombing and more a bad feeling after struggling with trivia questions or a time crunch. Of course I don't know exactly how it's perceived on their side, only that they get back to me later saying they don't want to proceed. However between the various parts of my portfolio it should be obvious I can deliver high-quality code and complete reasonably complex projects, so all this extra stuff shouldn't be necessary if just need someone who can do that.

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

#206

Post by yamtaddle »

layer8 wrote: post #200
yamtaddle wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have a relative who's quite accomplished in HR and recruiting and, can confirm, they don't encourage outright lying but they do insist you have to stretch everything to the max and freely imply a lot more than a very honest person might be inclined to. Judging from the results for people I know who've had this person re-work their résumés, it's extremely good advice. Non-braggy résumés seem to just get round-filed fo…

> Non-braggy résumés seem to just get round-filed for not knowing how to play the game That doesn’t make sense, there must be a different causality.

I guess it's also possible that HR people actually believe all the stuff on résumés is accurate and think those candidates are worse than someone presenting the exaggerated version of the exact same work history and abilities. I was trying to be generous and assume they simply think those are amateurish or are some kind of non-conformist or lack-of-social-awareness red flag.

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

#207

Post by ghaff »

layer8 wrote: post #200
yamtaddle wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have a relative who's quite accomplished in HR and recruiting and, can confirm, they don't encourage outright lying but they do insist you have to stretch everything to the max and freely imply a lot more than a very honest person might be inclined to. Judging from the results for people I know who've had this person re-work their résumés, it's extremely good advice. Non-braggy résumés seem to just get round-filed fo…

> Non-braggy résumés seem to just get round-filed for not knowing how to play the game That doesn’t make sense, there must be a different causality.

Why? People expect it to effectively be a sales document. So if you have a bullet item like "One of 100 people peripherally involved with only modestly successful $PRODUCT," readers would be forgiven for discounting that experience.

To be clear, per parent, I'm not saying to lie but things can generally be presented in a positive way.

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

#208

Post by anon50118810 »

throwawaysleep wrote: post #3

I am curious about this as I am not a FAANG person either, have just 3 years of experience, and am having no trouble getting to the verbal offer stage. I am just playing around, so I don't go beyond that, but it is getting there. LinkedIn remains clogged. Are you sure the tech screens are going well?

They're going well enough for anyone serious about hiring. See my other comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33600444.

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

#210

Post by chrisseaton »

ownagefool wrote: post #194
heywherelogingo wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not in the US; if I had to send out 200 or even 100 applications I would change career. If I had to send 50 I would be starting to investigate other careers.

I'm in the UK and have: - previously passed a loop with FAANG ( didn't join tho ) - have a strong portfolio in a hard to resource niche Easily send out 200 apps and get ignored. The market is dumb, not sure I should quit over it tho

If you’re a FAANG level developer (very top of your field) then surely you’ve got a network of people you can ask for a job anytime rather than having to apply as normal?

I’m not even remotely FAANG level but if I wanted a job I’d email some people I know or Tweet that I’m looking - not fill in a form.

Have you tried working your network? Emailing some friends?

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