This article is so shit. I recently been on the lookout for a new job and my first CV was personal. Full of my own words and description of what I did in the last 10+ years as a software engineer. I'm a bit biased but it was a really good CV.
That got me 0 fucking offers. ZERO
I rewrote my CV based on some google suggestions and with ChatGPT. I got through for every single job I applied ( 10+ ) and even received offers, finally landing a new role.
Stop talking shit.
How (not) to apply for a software job
81–90 of 174 posts
Re: How (not) to apply for a software job
#82This article is so frustrating. Get yourself on the market before spewing this shit. I recently been on the lookout for a new job and my first CV was personal. Full of my own words and description of what I did in the last 10+ years as a software engineer. I'm a bit biased but it was a really good CV.
That got me 0 fucking offers. ZERO
I rewrote my CV based on some google suggestions and with ChatGPT. I got through
next stage on every single job I applied ( 10+ ) and even received offers, finally landing a new role.
Stop talking shit.
Re: How (not) to apply for a software job
#83> Don’t use flowery prose.
I find this advice kind of ironic. The most people I know don't use flowery prose in their cover letters because they consider themselves some kind of overachieving artists, but because it appears to be expected. Writing cover letters is bullshitting time, although this is probably country/culture dependent. Fortunately I didn't have to write an applciation for a long time, but reading my own old applications gives me the chills, even though I got invited to an interview almost every single time.
If you don't want flowery prose, you have to set the expectation when writing the job posting. If your job posting appears to be written by your PR department you get cover letters written by your applicants personal PR departments. Or in other words: bullshit me in the job description and I will bullshit you in my cover letter.
This behavior is reinforced if you don't make it clear who will gonna read my application first. If I get the impression that my application will land on a desk of a hiring manager who doesn't know much about the job I might turn the BS to 11. If you communicate clearly that the person reading the application first knows what you are really looking for, I'll dial down.
Re: How (not) to apply for a software job
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is one of those “it depends” areas. The author is talking about a fairly “classic” approach. I was a hiring manager for a long time, and had a similar (but more flexible) worldview. It may not age well. I personally think that being able to leverage AI tools will be an important skillset, in the future, and would not disqualify AI submissions, right off the bat (but maybe not consider them a “leg up,” either). T…
The problem is that there are two types of roles you need to fill. The first type is the role where you need the best you can get, it is worth passing on good candidates to try to get the great ones. The second type are the roles where you just need someone that passes the minimum bar, good enough will do. Problem is, everyone thinks that their role, their company, can only operate with the first type, where really m…
Well, in my case, it was definitely the first type. It was the nature of my team.
Like I said, I can't relate to the other type, but that doesn't make it any less valid. It's just my personal journey.
Re: How (not) to apply for a software job
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
To me, a good cover letter is about being actually motivated to apply to a specific job and then simply explaining why. AI doesn’t help because if you can articulate your genuine motivation as a prompt for an AI, you should just use the prompt as the cover letter which will be a lot more effective than using the AI-generated letter, as the AI will muddy your authentic motivation and diminish its impact.
> To me, a good cover letter is about being actually motivated to apply to a specific job and then simply explaining why. Money. I want money. That's the reason I am applying to your job offer. I found a job offer that meets my skillset and I applied to it because I want an income. But this isn't what you expect me to write, is it? You want something more, so I'm going to bullshit you so I can get the job that will a…
Ok, you want money. That's fine.
But what does the potential employer get out of the deal?
Re: How (not) to apply for a software job
#86Isn't Canonical famous for having one of the worst candidate selection processes? Also, there's a lot of superstition and nonsense about how to succeed at interviews and job applications.
Yes, I rejected them after they explained to me their interview process. I can only imagine how desperate one should be to proceed with them. Could be one of the reasons why Linux failed in the desktop market (the one that Ubuntu targets).
Re: How (not) to apply for a software job
#87> Don’t use flowery prose. I find this advice kind of ironic. The most people I know don't use flowery prose in their cover letters because they consider themselves some kind of overachieving artists, but because it appears to be expected. Writing cover letters is bullshitting time, although this is probably country/culture dependent. Fortunately I didn't have to write an applciation for a long time, but reading my o…
Maybe I'm in the minority but I enjoy writing flowery prose for industry, it's like wearing your LLM (bs generator) hat for a day and embelishing "pushed keyboard to generate outsized impact" into "devised novel lock-free distibuted supercompute fabric for 9485% YoY agile spaghetti reduction vs. k8s in multi cloud native value add"
I like to think HR starts sweating at how quickly they can get me in and the EM rolls their eyes a full 360.
Re: How (not) to apply for a software job
#88Something that I really need to emphasize is tailor your CV to every job . If you're apply to a job that's targeting C/C++/rust/low-level take any python (or similar) and either don't include them or, if what you were using them for was relevant to the job itself coalesce them. If you're applying to a job that involves creative work, make sure to include creative projects, but if you're not then just have a sentence…
[deleted]
Re: How (not) to apply for a software job
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
> To me, a good cover letter is about being actually motivated to apply to a specific job and then simply explaining why. Money. I want money. That's the reason I am applying to your job offer. I found a job offer that meets my skillset and I applied to it because I want an income. But this isn't what you expect me to write, is it? You want something more, so I'm going to bullshit you so I can get the job that will a…
Ok, you want money. That's fine. But what does the potential employer get out of the deal?
A diligent employee who gets the job done in an efficient way because they want to get home to enjoy the money they just earned?
Re: How (not) to apply for a software job
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
10 Steps are about 7 too many. Writing a Personal Essay after, what sounds like, an automated email is not something I would consider as a good interview process.
For most software companies no. For top software companies... I might do it. The problem is with NoName companies that think they are Google or in this case Canonical.
I personally wouldn't bother for basically anyone. Even Jane Street isn't this arduous.