Dare I ask: what did people do before the internet existed?
The internet but not the www existed when I started out. Cover letters were handwritten, the CV was typed and the lot was posted or delivered by hand.
I automated my job application process
731–740 of 884 posts
Re: I automated my job application process
#732I'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…
I think that getting a good job nowadays requires having a strong referral.
The referral is not sufficient, but unless you have an MIT PhD in Machine Learning, or similarly rare and in-demand credential, it is necessary.
Re: I automated my job application process
#733Someone should build an engineer-matchmaking service with a fresh revenue model that can challenge LinkedIn, whose platform is now so heavily optimized for profit-taking that it leaves both employer and job searcher unsatisfied.
Using LLMs to write your applications is a sound idea. But why not have a platform do this for everyone in the equation? I would much rather - as a hiring manager - put my qualifications into a service and have it automatically and intelligently find great candidates, than dig through 1,000 ChatGPT-customized cover letters with yet another LLM cover letter bot…
Seems stupid to not put something in the middle that the employers pay for that automates both sides of the market to everyone’s benefit.
Re: I automated my job application process
#734Earlier 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…
What is consensus at the end, I have heard people say that is good for seniors but for juniors is detrimental.
Re: I automated my job application process
#735Earlier quoted context omitted.
My 5 year plan is to move to the EU, but it's a process. You're not going to be doing it as your next job hop from the US if you haven't been planning for it.
The trick is to get a masters or MBA in the country where you want to live. Germany and Netherlands are excellent for this. You can find lots of jobs with no local language requirements.
The fun part is that I went the security engineer route instead of SDE/SWE. It has some pros and cons, but seems like it's one of the "high demand" roles that gets more traction looking at others who have moved abroad.
I also have friends and family in Netherlands, France, and UK who help me keep tabs on how things are going in various places and where might be better locations to target for an American with a technical background looking to just up and leave the US.
Re: I automated my job application process
#736Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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…
You've got this completely backwards. A Jr with an LLM is a recipe for disaster. They don't know the tech, and have no clue what the LLM is spitting back. They copy code into the abyss. Meanwhile, a sr with an LLM is a straight up superpower!
Here's a recent study showing junior devs seeing far higher gains from LLMs than seniors: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4945566
Re: I automated my job application process
#737Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If your code is already correct, you don’t need the unit test. I don't know where you work where code is written once and is never changed again, but enjoy it while it lasts...
Worse is when a protocol or shared state condition is modified. E.g. suddenly some fresh out of college know-it-all sent crap into your function that you weren't expecting. Then he went to management to blame you for writing such shitty code. Thing is you wrote unit tests around that code and the shitty know-it-all deleted them rather than changing them when he modified the code This is why management needs to unders…
Recently on HN there was a thread debating the utility of having required code reviews for PRs.
I'm firmly on team "require a coworker to say okay before merging", and this is exactly why.
Re: I automated my job application process
#738Someone should build an engineer-matchmaking service with a fresh revenue model that can challenge LinkedIn, whose platform is now so heavily optimized for profit-taking that it leaves both employer and job searcher unsatisfied. Using LLMs to write your applications is a sound idea. But why not have a platform do this for everyone in the equation? I would much rather - as a hiring manager - put my qualifications into…
All platforms like that have failed because fundamentally companies don't trust others with hiring, unless you can very quickly get rid of someone (body leasing).
Re: I automated my job application process
#739It’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 about honoring our multi-year college degrees. Isn't that licensing enough?
Have you been recruiting people, like at all? It's clearly not a strong signal.
Re: I automated my job application process
#740In the middle of fruitless multi-month job search, I manually view LinkedIn/indeed job sites daily and look for new positions, going through requirements, making sure I have the skills and experience (also helps with understanding if I need to upskill in certain areas), then look up the company, the industry it's in, etc. By the time I'm ready to apply to the position I know I'm interested in and a good fit for, ther…
I've been told the LinkedIn count is absolutely not what you think it is.
I can't remember the details, but I stopped taking it seriously.