Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#61

Post by Hermitian909 » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 6:56 AM UTC

ergocoder wrote: post #19

Hermitian909 wrote: post #16

It's difficult to stand out without internship experience. Are any of your projects visible on the web? The best projects are ones where I as a reviewer can click a link and start instantly interacting with your software. Projects like this are directly responsible for at least 3 people I know who graduated last year getting their jobs (based on feedback from interviewers who reviewed their resumes, they did not have…

I would say that another aspect of best project is one with traction. Even 100-1000 monthly active users is impressive. If your site/app is free, this is highly achievable.

Agreed, but for most students "working and available software I wrote" is a less stressful and more achievable goal to set themselves :)

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#62

Post by EthOptimist » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 6:56 AM UTC

MattGaiser wrote: post #21

Get a LinkedIn premium subscription and ask alumni of your school for referrals. Just random alumni. I was given this advice and thought it was brazen and aggressive and that nobody would do it. I didn't after graduation. I was wrong and when I tried it later, it worked. And I ended up doing it for others who messaged me. Apply though the back door for VIPs. Plenty of people are happy to put you in. Random people on…

One reason why this works so well is that there is often a monetary incentive on the referrer's side, in that they get paid some referral bonus if you get hired

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#63

Post by Hermitian909 » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 6:58 AM UTC

NetToolKit wrote: post #45

ansy wrote: post #25

Bigger, name brand tech companies have way more applicants than they can accept so they have a crude recruiter funnel that is tossing out resumes for any reason they can find. They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. But recruiters don't know a thing about software engineering. At best they can keyword match a few buzzwords they got f…

> Try applying to smaller companies. Smaller companies aren't going to land the candidate from a top 10 school who already interned at multiple Fortune 500 companies. But small shops need to hire talent too. They're digging deeper and they have to read the resumes more closely. There isn't much of an HR department, and the hiring manager might be sifting through the raw resumes themselves. This describes my situation…

As a note: With recent spike in salaries, many venture backed companies don't have the cash to pay the salaries of good seniors. Spoken with a dozen founders in SF facing this problem over the past two months.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#64

Post by jjav » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 6:59 AM UTC

ansy wrote: post #25

Bigger, name brand tech companies have way more applicants than they can accept so they have a crude recruiter funnel that is tossing out resumes for any reason they can find. They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. But recruiters don't know a thing about software engineering. At best they can keyword match a few buzzwords they got f…

> They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates.

This would indicate that there is a severe oversupply of candidates eager to work in this industry.

Which may well be true, but conflicts with the narrative that there is a severe shortage of people.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#65

Post by jjav » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 7:05 AM UTC

Are you customizing your resume to each job or sending out the same one?

While it's a pain, it can be worth to customize your resume for each job description to highlight any relevant experience (even if just schoolwork) and keywords.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#66

Post by ARandomerDude » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 7:08 AM UTC

jjav wrote: post #64

ansy wrote: post #25

Bigger, name brand tech companies have way more applicants than they can accept so they have a crude recruiter funnel that is tossing out resumes for any reason they can find. They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. But recruiters don't know a thing about software engineering. At best they can keyword match a few buzzwords they got f…

> They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. This would indicate that there is a severe oversupply of candidates eager to work in this industry. Which may well be true, but conflicts with the narrative that there is a severe shortage of people.

> This would indicate that there is a severe oversupply of candidates eager to work in this industry.

Not the industry as a whole, but certainly there is an overabundance of people trying to land a job at very specific companies (FAANG, and a handful of others).

There would be an industry oversupply if this situation were widespread, but it isn't. The industry has a shortage, certain famous companies are the exception rather than the rule.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#67

Post by s17n » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 7:12 AM UTC

Get a referral. Employees at a big co have no downside if they refer you and they get a bonus if you're hired so if you can find any connection between you and an employee, no matter how tenuous, they'll probably say "sure why not" and refer you. This will guarantee that your resume actually gets read.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#68

Post by epicureanideal » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 7:13 AM UTC

jjav wrote: post #64

ansy wrote: post #25

Bigger, name brand tech companies have way more applicants than they can accept so they have a crude recruiter funnel that is tossing out resumes for any reason they can find. They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. But recruiters don't know a thing about software engineering. At best they can keyword match a few buzzwords they got f…

> They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. This would indicate that there is a severe oversupply of candidates eager to work in this industry. Which may well be true, but conflicts with the narrative that there is a severe shortage of people.

There is an oversupply of candidates, as evidenced by the fact that engineers have very little bargaining power about the terms of employment with any particular company. The negotiation for 90% of engineers is very one sided.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#69

Post by filoleg » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 7:19 AM UTC

jjav wrote: post #64

ansy wrote: post #25

Bigger, name brand tech companies have way more applicants than they can accept so they have a crude recruiter funnel that is tossing out resumes for any reason they can find. They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. But recruiters don't know a thing about software engineering. At best they can keyword match a few buzzwords they got f…

> They're literally trying to turn thousands of resumes from hundreds of schools into curated packets of dozens of candidates. This would indicate that there is a severe oversupply of candidates eager to work in this industry. Which may well be true, but conflicts with the narrative that there is a severe shortage of people.

> Which may well be true, but conflicts with the narrative that there is a severe shortage of people.

It might seem this way, because the narrative is almost intentionally simplified to the point of being vague enough to support almost any narrative.

Shortage is real, but what often is omitted is the fact that it is the shortage at the senior level. At the entry level, shortage isn't really a thing. It isn't an insane oversupply either, unless we are talking the few popular FAANGs, but it isn't a shortage at the entry level.

Re: Ask HN: Graduating CS soon, how do I find a job?

#70

Post by indigodaddy » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 7:24 AM UTC

You might look up this HN thread for ideas or inspiration.. lots of good stuff on that thread!

My recommendation? Get a NOC Technician job at a datacenter/hosting outfit or ISP. It’s pretty easy to get your foot in (at least somewhere). You won’t get paid much, but you WILL learn a helluva lot of actual real-world tech fundamentals, and most importantly, you’ll learn how to troubleshoot and move and act quickly.. just my 2 cents. It’s up to you how hard you want to work and where you go from there.

Even if you are already a skilled programmer say, and consider this path too entry level or whatever, believe me you’ll be glad you did it. You don’t want to be one of those programmers that know little about systems/networking/DNS/troubleshooting. You’ll be thankful for the sysadmin knowledge that you will gain and always have at your disposal down the line..

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24670746