I found my first job by going to my highschool job fair and begging a guy from Boeing to let me work as a programmer. He told me I was too young (just turned 17 at the time) but since I was "highly motivated" he would call some friends on my behalf. He referred me to a local business that develops frimware. After I explained that I had been developing game development skills for years using C++, they said I'd probabl…
"So my advice is, demos are key"
Exactly correct. If you don't have any, you're likely not as skilled as you think.
Have you tried oDesk or Elance type of venues? There are also Rent-a-coder type sites as well. Good Luck! Send me your resume in case I hear of anything.
If it's an option for you relocate. I'm desperate for PHP/Ruby developers in Sydney and I know when I was last in Toronto it was the same way. We just can't find decent developers that aren't already in a great job. Even if moving isn't an option try finding cities with real shortages and looking if you can telecommute?
What exactly is involved in relocating across international borders? Perhaps I should post this as a Q. I would love to relocate to another country for a while, but I find the paperwork to be intimidating.
Network like your life depended on it (maybe it does?). A few good contacts are worth more than any job board or anything else.
You need to find other good networkers. Once you find them, help them before they help you. Prove to them that recommending you will make them look good, too.
I found my first job by going to my highschool job fair and begging a guy from Boeing to let me work as a programmer. He told me I was too young (just turned 17 at the time) but since I was "highly motivated" he would call some friends on my behalf. He referred me to a local business that develops frimware. After I explained that I had been developing game development skills for years using C++, they said I'd probabl…
Interesting story Palish...how is your startup coming along btw?
Thanks for asking! It's coming. We had a recent setback due to the current economic problems. My partner lives in an apartment with his girlfriend. She had a full-time job at a large company doing quality assurance testing (finding bugs), so she offered him the opportunity of leaving his full-time job while she paid the bills. Just a couple months after he did that, the recession hit, and she was laid off. So our startup is somewhat inactive for a couple months while my partner saves up money doing contract work.
I found my first job by going to my highschool job fair and begging a guy from Boeing to let me work as a programmer. He told me I was too young (just turned 17 at the time) but since I was "highly motivated" he would call some friends on my behalf. He referred me to a local business that develops frimware. After I explained that I had been developing game development skills for years using C++, they said I'd probabl…
"So my advice is, demos are key" Exactly correct. If you don't have any, you're likely not as skilled as you think.
Ok, so demos are great to have. As a person in charge of hiring, what kind of demos would you like to see in a candidate? What kind of portfolio should a person without demos try to develop for the purpose of trying to get a job?
If it's an option for you relocate. I'm desperate for PHP/Ruby developers in Sydney and I know when I was last in Toronto it was the same way. We just can't find decent developers that aren't already in a great job. Even if moving isn't an option try finding cities with real shortages and looking if you can telecommute?
What exactly is involved in relocating across international borders? Perhaps I should post this as a Q. I would love to relocate to another country for a while, but I find the paperwork to be intimidating.
I posted this in your submission as well but just posting it here for anyone that didn't see that.
It honestly depends where you are and where you are going. I'm from Canada originally. When I moved to England I had to go to the embassy and fill out a form and show some birth certificates(I was claiming ancestry). I'm now in Australia on a working holiday visa. To get that I filled out a form on a web page and got an email a few hours later with my visa number.
"So my advice is, demos are key" Exactly correct. If you don't have any, you're likely not as skilled as you think.
Ok, so demos are great to have. As a person in charge of hiring, what kind of demos would you like to see in a candidate? What kind of portfolio should a person without demos try to develop for the purpose of trying to get a job?
It depends on the job. I'm hiring web devs at the moment so cool functioning sites are great(but rare). I'm certain a few little games I wrote in javascript(blackjack, and copies of a few of the games from kde games) got me my first job in web development. The CTO loved the blackjack game in particular.
I guess the best advice would just be anything interesting that shows off your skills.
Be careful about what you do when you 'network'. If you contact people without a having a good reason for it, they'll learn to think of you as someone who doesn't value their time. Instead, it's just good to get in the habit of thinking, every time you learn something, "I wonder who among my business contacts would find this most useful."
Yes, that's an excellent point, I make sure I really do have a reason. Part of that is to keep an eye out for stuff that is useful to my 'network' and alerting people to that. The funny thing is that they repay in kind and you'd be amazed at some of the stuff that comes 'back' to me in this way. It really does seem to work like the karma counter on this site.
Write tutorials on your blog. Don't hesitate to share your knowledge. Even if you don't have great writing skills, people are attracted to quality content and tips & tricks. Put a link on your blog that you are available for hire. Publicize your blog through the right medium (reddit, digg, dzone). There are plenty of wall in the hole restaurants that don't have a good website. Offer to build them one for just $100, i…
I agree, companies wants a website that could potentially generate to them more moneys, so show them the numbers.