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Finding a new software developer job

henrikwarne.com

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Re: Finding a new software developer job

#201

Post by horns4lyfe »

kypro wrote: post #197
thehias wrote: post #79

I am a bit surprised, after reading the article I thought the author would be a junior with 5 years or less experience. With 30+ years of experience the job hunting should be easier, just call some people you know...

This is what I thought early last year when people were saying they couldn't find jobs, but after having some experience with the job market earlier this year it was absolutely brutal. I have 15 years professional experience, which for this field is quite a lot. I don't think people here with jobs even understand how bad it is. My whole career I've always been in high demand. I've always got multiple offers when look…

Yet somehow companies still “need” to bring in thousands of H1B workers. Weird…

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#202

Post by singron »

neilv wrote: post #139
oortoo wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously, learning all popular tech stacks is not entirely realistic, but IMO when a SE or any engineer is looking for work, at least 1-2 months of researching and getting proficient with the full breadth of what's out there for your interest is going to pay off. Unless you are moving jobs to just do the exact same thing somewhere else (who wants that) you kind of have to take it on yourself to show up the the inter…

> You may even need to exaggerate your experience. [...] meaning you need to just get really good at faking it and not be afraid to back it up later after some late-night study sessions. Please don't do this, and don't normalize other people doing it. Dishonesty isn't something I want to have to be understanding about in colleagues. Like, maybe they just see it as a little while lie, and some job-hunting Web pages to…

I was really amazed about how many people lie on the resumes. E.g. a recent study [0] said 70%, but there are many of these with similar numbers. There is a difference between putting your best foot forward and just straight lying for financial gain, which is fraud, and can (very rarely) send you to jail.

Personally, if I suspect dishonesty, it's a strong no-hire. If I even get a whiff of dishonesty, I'll at least flag to recruiters, hiring managers, and interviewers, and we've actually compared notes and realized a pattern of behavior before.

It is hard though since a lot of the stuff they would lie about are things you can't verify.

0: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2023/11/05/70-of-...

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#203

Post by angarg12 »

PheonixPharts wrote: post #188
angarg12 wrote: post #103

I'm a ML Engineer at FAANG and I have been passively looking for the last half year. Common wisdom might make you think that I should be having companies throwing wads of cash at me, but my experience has been very different. * It's true that my profile attracts many messages from recruiters. However ghosting is the name of the game. More than half of recruiters have ghosted me at different stages of the process. Ove…

FAANG reputations are no longer evenly distributed. Even though most people's opinions of the company have changed, Google engineers are still widely considered to be high quality. Apple engineers also have a great reputation but it's very rare to see them on the market. Facebook/meta engineers tend to be above average but have a reputation for being aggressive corporate ladder climbers. But if I hazard a guess, if y…

I'm not sure what part of my comment made you think that my current employer is an obstacle in job hunting. Actually it's quite the opposite, as I mention I get a lot of attention from recruiters even though I'm not actively looking. The issue I'm observing is that this attention doesn't clearly translate to more job opportunities.

If my current employer was the problem, wouldn't recruiters and hiring managers not bother reaching out, or reject my applications (I haven't applied to any job directly recently so I can't say).

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#204

Post by ef3w3wfdw »

Aurornis wrote: post #130
neilv wrote: post #74

> Key Elements for Job Search Microsite > * Have a professional profile picture I don't do this, for two reasons: 1. Being a photographer taught me that I'm much better on the buttons side of the camera, not the lens side. 2. Photos really don't belong in hiring in the US. Due to the long history of unfair prejudices, which are still ongoing in some ways. Even better would be if we could remove names, for being cues…

> 2. Photos really don't belong in hiring in the US. The author of the post is in Sweden, not the US. As weird as it sounds, profile photos are prominent features of resumes in many European countries. It shocked me when I first started hiring in our EU offices, but that's just the way it is. I was surprised because we've often been told so many different ways that Europe is ahead of the US in matters of discriminati…

> I was surprised because we've often been told so many different ways that Europe is ahead of the US in matters of discrimination

Maybe it's possible to have profile photos in resumes and to be "ahead of the US in matters of discrimination"

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#205

Post by BadCookie »

hnrodey wrote: post #200

I believe the current hiring woes in the US are more nefarious than just being picky. First, I believe US companies are figuring out how to hire foreign teams at lower cost. I get multiple emails per week from companies offering us their team at low rates. South America and India are common places. I personally witnessed this at my last company where they drastically cut US/North America staff in favor of Indian team…

I agree. My employer disproportionately lays off US citizens and preferentially hires in Latin America. I spent part of today looking at my employer’s main competitors. One has a bunch of programming jobs available in Mexico. Another is hiring primarily in India.

It isn’t ChatGPT that will take US engineering jobs. It is cheaper devs in other countries. And plenty of them have reasonable English and programming skills, as much as I wish it were otherwise. I know because I have worked with them.

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#206

Post by PheonixPharts »

angarg12 wrote: post #203
PheonixPharts wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FAANG reputations are no longer evenly distributed. Even though most people's opinions of the company have changed, Google engineers are still widely considered to be high quality. Apple engineers also have a great reputation but it's very rare to see them on the market. Facebook/meta engineers tend to be above average but have a reputation for being aggressive corporate ladder climbers. But if I hazard a guess, if y…

I'm not sure what part of my comment made you think that my current employer is an obstacle in job hunting. Actually it's quite the opposite, as I mention I get a lot of attention from recruiters even though I'm not actively looking. The issue I'm observing is that this attention doesn't clearly translate to more job opportunities. If my current employer was the problem, wouldn't recruiters and hiring managers not bo…

I'm speaking to your point about:

> Common wisdom might make you think that I should be having companies throwing wads of cash at me

My point is just that you're misunderstanding "common wisdom". In 2016, yes a job at any FAANG would mean that you have no trouble getting a new gig. In 2024 Amazon employees do not have a great reputation, so there's no reason to think of yourself as part of a group that "common wisdom" would show preference towards. Nobody with "wads of cash" sees Amazon on a resume and thinks it's something special and worth reaching out for. FAANG in general is not as appealing as it once was, and Amazon in particular is not a strong signal at all. Someone working at OpenAI today would likely have the response you're imagining is reserved for FAANG.

Recruiters are also playing a numbers game, especially in this tech job market. My inbox has ample recruiter message for roles that are not even relevant to my skills, I wouldn't mistake that for signal.

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#207

Post by fs0c13ty00 »

BadCookie wrote: post #205
hnrodey wrote: post #200

I believe the current hiring woes in the US are more nefarious than just being picky. First, I believe US companies are figuring out how to hire foreign teams at lower cost. I get multiple emails per week from companies offering us their team at low rates. South America and India are common places. I personally witnessed this at my last company where they drastically cut US/North America staff in favor of Indian team…

I agree. My employer disproportionately lays off US citizens and preferentially hires in Latin America. I spent part of today looking at my employer’s main competitors. One has a bunch of programming jobs available in Mexico. Another is hiring primarily in India. It isn’t ChatGPT that will take US engineering jobs. It is cheaper devs in other countries. And plenty of them have reasonable English and programming skill…

As a Vietnamese developer currently interested in remote opportunities, I am a little concerned. I hope people like us won't face any discrimination at work due to being thought of as "stealing an American's job".

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#208

Post by riku_iki »

cabalamat wrote: post #118

> In the first one I failed, I had to write a limited chess program, that only supported two kinds of pieces. It needed a project structure, a data model, valid movements for the pieces, and tests. I started from nothing, and had to be send the solution in within two hours. I've written programs to play chess and I doubt I could do this in 2 hours. If I did do it, it would be horrible buggy code.

If strategy requirements are low, I think this task is very solvable under 2h, it sounds like very mechanical and straightforward implementation.

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#209

Post by vundercind »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #43
qwertygnu wrote: post #25

I don't question that is takes hard work, even for more senior devs like the author, but 30 apps leading to 3 offers is a dream. Most early-career people are probably at >100 app with maybe a few interviews and hopefully one offer.

I guess I got lucky in when I started out as a career switcher in 2017. Iirc I applied 6 places, had 4 interviews, got 2 offers. Mind you this was as an effectively junior person applying to mid-level positions. I like to think that having so few interviews allowed me to concentrate my enthusiasm and highest mental energy into the interviews I had, but maybe it's just survivors bias. Since then I've taken 3 interview…

I’m not sure I’ve applied 30 total times across… like eight employers.

I also make middle-of-the-trimodal-graph comp, though, not FAANG/finance tier.

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#210

Post by geodel »

doubloon wrote: post #187
leosanchez wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point he might as well have an interview with the Janitor the too

i could learn more about a person by how they interact with the janitor than in hours of interviews and tests.

Indeed. This nauseating arrogance of software devs being not getting their due for value they deliver despite high 6 figure salaries is infuriating. As per them MBAs are chump, finance are bean counters, CEO moron, managers useless and janitor's job is to be done by robots anyway.
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