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I automated my job application process

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Re: I automated my job application process

#361

Post by zwnow »

narnarpapadaddy wrote: post #63
imnotjames wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you suggest?

If one is not currently employed as an engineer? Frankly, seriously consider a career change. The ladder has been pulled up for entry-level positions due to AI, interest-rates, etc. This will come back and bite us as an industry, but it’ll be 10 years from now and most people can’t wait that long. I can’t speak for everyone, but 3000+ applicants for a single opening is typical at my org. The odds of any given individ…

Oooooor work in Europe. Plenty of work here. I still get 1 job offer per 1 application.

Re: I automated my job application process

#362

Post by wryoak »

jakewins wrote: post #328
swang wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i saw a tiktok where the guy had his phone propped up but not in view of his webcam, and basically the interviewer's mic was going through his phone on some llm and the llm was spitting out responses for him to reply to the soft questions his interviewer was asking. the interviewer also made him "quickly" turn on his screen sharing so he could see that his computer didn't have anything assisting him. i haven't done a…

But like.. what happens after this supposed trick? I don’t understand how they wouldn’t just be fired after the first week if they can’t actually do the job? Is it that they are applying to places where you don’t pair program?

In my ten years I’ve never worked at a place where pairing was the norm. I would love to experience that kind of culture

Re: I automated my job application process

#363

Post by a13n »

MrMember wrote: post #314

I'm seeing a lot of back in forth in the comments between hiring managers and employees discussing who is more responsible for the current situation, but from the perspective of someone looking for a job what should I be doing? I've been pretty aggressively looking for a job for the past six months or so. I have 10+ years of professional software dev experience so I've mostly been looking at senior dev positions. I h…

Run LeetCode problems until you can crush the technicals

Re: I automated my job application process

#364

Post by pizzafeelsright »

lysium wrote: post #287
teeray wrote: post #57

It’s astounding that we, as an industry, are so averse to licensing developers. It solves the resume spam problem and the repetitive LeetCode round(s) that every company now wants. We also don’t have to settle for the licensing process other industries have—ours can be more inclusive of alternative development backgrounds, while still providing a meaningful quality filter.

What do you mean with licensing? What’s the difference to a university degree?

The paper ceiling is a silly gatekeeping done by those who have made it.

I would be in favor of licensing knowing it would probably exclude me unless of course it does not require a university degree. I was not born into a family of means and being autodidactic allowed me to excel beyond my upbringing.

The best path would be to have journeyman type of pathway.

Re: I automated my job application process

#365

Post by cj »

bovermyer wrote: post #269
cj wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also switched to only on-site interviews. My initial technical screenings are still done remotely. Pro tip for anyone hiring engineers for remote positions: Tell the applicant that there “might be” an in person technical assessment, even if you know the process will be 100% remote. The amount of fake candidates at the moment is insane. The only thing that makes fake candidates self-select out is knowing there’s t…

I agree with this approach. In this field, unless you're hiring a junior engineer, you can have a reasonable expectation that a potential candidate will fly out for an interview even if it's a 100% remote job. If they refuse, well, there's a chance it's just because they can't afford to. The chance is far greater, though, that you dodged a bullet.

Can’t edit the comment anymore.

But it’s implied that the company would pay for all travel.

The “gotcha” is that the company would also see the departing airport, which exposes foreign candidates posing as US citizens.

Re: I automated my job application process

#366

Post by bryanrasmussen »

programjames wrote: post #104
ghaff wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It all ends up being a nasty feedback loop. (Especially) junior people in a somewhat tough market for tech end up spamming resumes so companies respond with pretty crappy algorithmic filters which basically somewhat randomly toss most of the resumes into the bit bucket. Rinse and repeat. But per downthread comment, applicants don't care if their actions make things worse for the market as a whole. And it's not clear…

There's actually a solution around this: name and shame! Just like bad companies get called out on GlassDoor, companies should create a reputation system for prospective employees (e.g. a professional credit score). This already exists for potential tenants, so I don't really understand why it doesn't exist for potential employees given they occur at about the same frequency and have a similar amount of money trading…

>companies should create a reputation system for prospective employees

I guess that would work in societies where this was legal - not sure if I know of any though.

Re: I automated my job application process

#367

Post by cj »

dallasg3 wrote: post #327
throwawayq3423 wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more about the reaction by obvious scammers.

What’s the scam? Get a job they can’t do…continue to get paid?

1 paycheck of just a few thousand dollars USD is a lot of money in other countries.

The scam is hold on to the job for at least 1 paycheck. It’s a expensive for companies to (legally) fire people, so if you get hired you typically can get at least a few grand even if you do zero work.

Re: I automated my job application process

#368

Post by bb88 »

margalabargala wrote: post #334
randomNumber7 wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't stand out from an LLM then why can't it do your job? Also, not using LLMs might be a red flag. I wouldn't want a dev that is not open to this technology...

> Also, not using LLMs might be a red flag. I wouldn't want a dev that is not open to this technology... The person you're replying to is a senior, not junior candidate. For junior devs who are still learning, LLMs are a great force multiplier that help them understand code faster and integrate new things. For senior devs, LLMs are a maybe-optional tool that might save a couple hours per week, on a good week. I would…

Github copilot still sucks for writing complex code (algorithms or database queries, e.g.). Or trying to do unpopular things (like custom electronics using particular micros and driver chips).

For unit tests, it's a godsend. Particularly if you write one unit test, and then it can write another in the style you wrote.

Re: I automated my job application process

#369

Post by bryanrasmussen »

imnotjames wrote: post #28
codegeek wrote: post #12

Nice. But as a hiring manager, this is the last thing we want. Flooded with auto submitted Resumes. I posted a job recently and got 100+ resumes in 2 days and 99% were not even remotely close to being a good fit. I struggled to sort through so many Resumes to find someone worth interviewing. The problem is that with so much noise, good candidates may get ignored or rejected by mistake. And the cycle continues. I get…

I've run into the same thing. We don't even have the job posted publicly anywhere and we get >100 submissions per day. Many are duplicates. I've found some that with some minor research turn out to be foreign organized crime. A large number of them had the exact same cover letter with changes in the names and past jobs. Not only is it difficult to find candidates that actually fit the job role, it's hard to go throug…

>A large number of them had the exact same cover letter with changes in the names and past jobs.

I mean when I write a cover letter I take the cover letter I took the last time and change a couple of names and that's it.

Why do I want the job? I want the job because I do work for money, I don't have some idea that your SaaS is really giving me anything that any of the others I've worked at in the past didn't give me - no company means anything to me aside from having reasonably interesting problems to work on and hopefully not onerous working environment.

Re: I automated my job application process

#370

Post by michaelt »

dallasg3 wrote: post #327
throwawayq3423 wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more about the reaction by obvious scammers.

What’s the scam? Get a job they can’t do…continue to get paid?

Due to the wealth disparities involved, a month’s Silicon Valley money is a years income for a scammer in a poor country.

So just produce LLM-level code, make excuses, say you’re learning the code base, get lots of help from colleagues, turn in mediocre work, and if you can hang on for three months before they fire you - that’s decent money!

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