Programmers: How do you find jobs without the help of recruiters?

No, I don't think "most" lie. I think some do, but "most" is probably rationalizing.

There's nothing wrong with recruiters. They are there to help you find a job. Companies have in-house recruiters, and recruiting agencies get paid by the company that hires you (at least in the US). They're basically a free service for you -- you should take advantage! Most of my best jobs I've gotten have come because I have a great relationship with a few recruiting firms that specialize in the area that I work in.

I don't want to put words in your mouth, but what I think you might be experiencing internally is the recognition that recruiters aren't necessarily your BEST advocates. They advocate for you, but there are plenty of fish in the sea, after all, so if you won't get the job, they'll move on to someone else.

As a hiring manager, the best signal is a referral from someone else in the company. Depending on the strength of the referral, it could be practically a guaranteed outcome. My best hires have come through referrals.

So how do you get referrals? Build relationships with your peers! Talk to friends that work at other companies, go to tech conferences, join a local meetup in your area of interest. Build genuine relationships -- not just superficial "help me find a job" relationships -- and you'll be rewarded on a personal level, if not a professional one. I got my start in the industry because a friend of mine vouched for me.

The advice to "avoid recruiters" is misguided at best, but I understand why folks don't like them. But I'd find a recruiting firm that specializes in your area, whether that's backend or frontend or contracting or leadership or AI or database systems, and be really open to having them help you find the best positions. They are far, far more connected than you are -- and a recruiting agency wants to get you the most money possible!

How do you find these recruiting agencies? Well, ask around to people you know. Ask hiring managers in the field that you're interested in. Check LinkedIn often. Search for recruiting agencies on Google or Bing.

Good luck!

> Blaming recruiters for jobs you regret is like blaming the waiter when you ordered the wrong food.

It's definitely on you as the job-seeker to ensure that the role is an actual fit on multiple levels, but there's certainly recruiters out there that can be unscrupulous and will deliberately steer you towards roles that may not be in your best interests. Over my ~13 year career in the industry I've encountered some great recruiters but for every one good one, I'd say about 3-4 were just in it to collect their commission/fee/etc and move on to the next. Issues I've had to deal with:

1) People using recruiting simply as a stepping stone to something else - these types had no incentive to ensure long term job-seeker satisfaction and would often try really hard to get me to accept a role even if it was far below my acceptable comp range or in an area I didn't have much interest in, because they were desperate to meet their billing quota or whatever for the quarter

2) Some would neglect to mention things such as high churn (due to poor management or overworked staff), boring work (maintaining legacy systems with little to no greenfield dev involved) etc and instead only focus on the positives

Essentially, their loyalty lies with those paying them, and it's worth keeping this in mind anytime you find yourself working with a 3rd party recruiter. Those that've been in the industry for a while probably already know this, but for newcomers or those that just haven't worked much with them, these are important things to be aware of.

I should highlight however that there's some upsides too, the biggest one being the ability to bypass the usual hiring pipeline since the recruiter has a working relationship with the hiring manager.

Right. Recruiters get paid by the employer, so they have a clear motivation to make quick placements. Nothing dishonest about that, just understand the business model.

Recruiting has a low bar to entry so you deal with recruiters who don’t have good contacts or don’t know much about the field and required skills. Eventually you find a good recruiter, someone who can match you with good jobs.