Ask HN: What does one need to do to get a software job out of University
Options: hire someone to go over my resume and cover letter to help improve it, hire a company to match me with an employer, increase my applications to jobs in a city with more jobs, obtain online certificates to bolster my resume.
I'm intentionally leaving this question broad as to help future readers but I will include some vague description of my current situation.
- I have internships at 3 decent companies and 1 pseudo internship at a very notable company.
- I've been applying for 3.5 months. ~50 CL, ~50 without CL. Anythin from startups to big companies intentionally targetting jobs requiring ~1 year experience.
- I've had my resume reviewed by a couple professional friends.
- I've had 3 interviews and ~7 coding challenges. All interviews were at great companies.
12 comments
[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 48.0 ms ] threadUsually intern conversion is the best way to hire new grads
is their any other options beside previous internships?
Have you tried AngelList? It's where startups post their jobs.
As rubbish as it is, send more letters!
Where in the world are you btw?
Most people make mistakes in the interviewing process that cause them to interview below their level. Don't be that guy.
One class of mistakes is actions that offend some people: the range of these are large and if you want the job you won't be leaving posts on social media complaining that other people are too sensitive. For instance I interviewed for a job at a company that was making small satellites in Southern NH and got turned down because I touched the knob of an oscilloscope without permission and the guy who ran that particular lab thought that meant I couldn't be trusted and I was passed over, even though everybody else thought I was great.
When you become aware of this you can certainly stress it because any person you see could blackball you but you have to eliminate any sign of negativity, hostility, etc. If you radiate "I've been hurt" it is all over.
One way or another you have to face it and you will.
You can certainly try a temp agency like Kelly if the wolf is at your door, but you can get paid better anyplace else.
Don't think about remote if you don't have experience. If you want to move somewhere I say anywhere but the bay area. New York City is great in 2018, but there are tech scenes in cities like Boulder, CO; Henderson, NV; Boston , MA as well as general areas such as Southern California, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Salt Lake City, and Research Triangle Park.
If you can get a security clearance (clean rap sheet) you will find work that is often interesting and innovative for defense contractors who are geographically distributed and might even move you around from one site to another in the flyover states.
I'd suggest figuring out a way to live light and move to a low-cost tech hub and get into that scene and be ready to move again in 6 mo to 1 yr.
I like the SkillIQ tests at Pluralsite for a quick assessment of "how well you know a technology". I have taken many of them and they reflect my own assessment of things I am good at and not good at.
I would love to live in Boston but I'm Canadian. Do you think I would have a chance of getting a visa and job in Boston? I've definity heard that if you want to progress in the software business you need to move companies often, unfortunately.
I'm intrigued by the tests you mentioned. Would definitely be helpful for finding weak points.
For instance Pac Northwest firms such as Amazon and Microsoft hire in B.C., Calgary has a scene in systems programming, embedded systems that I know of and probably lots that I don't. Toronto has everything from Geoff Hinton to internet porn. Montreal has game super-studio Ubisoft as well as ASP.NET and mainframe programmers, great nightlife, a goth loli clothing store, ...
So far as personality I would be worried more about a person who was too reckless than I would somebody careful.
If you want to appear interested in people it helps to ask questions. Sitting on either side of the interview table I would see it as an opportunity to get information I couldn't get any other way about the state of the industry so I am always interested. People mostly like talking about themselves and if they are talking you don't need to think of something to say or open your mouth and risk scoring an own goal.
To get in the mood you can pretend that you already have the job and you are coiled like a spring to start and you are going to ask all the questions you need to start such as "what kind of computer do i get?", "what is the schedule?", "where will I be working?", as well as getting an understanding of the job enough to get ready to do it.
If you find that hard to do consider acting lessons at a Meisner school and they will teach you to be coiled like a spring in the second term!