I read the article. I don't have direct experience with anything like the author describes -- I haven't gone through an interview process like that in 40+ years programming. I haven't even interviewed for over 15 years because I switched to freelancing. I have read many accounts of similar job hunting grief, and heard about it from friends and acquaintances in the business, so I know it happens a lot. Some thoughts.
- A lot of people in tech have limited and narrow experience. They've worked with one or two tools or languages for a few years and struggle to adapt to something else. That leads to thousands of developers chasing the same handful of jobs that look just like what they used to do. Constantly work on new skills. Fads and trends come and go, pay attention to what companies actually use rather than industry fashion. The best place to learn new skills is in the job you have -- offer and volunteer to branch out.
- Ideally, companies look for and hire people who can add value and solve business problems. That requires domain expertise along with programming skill. Don't ignore the business around you when you have a job. Learn the jargon and how things actually work. Look for novel problems you can help solve. Get to know people outside of your team or tech group. That can also increase your real network (as opposed to fake LinkedIn network) so when you do need to find a job you know people who aren't fellow nerds from the last cubicle farm.
- The best way to get a job offer is to have a manager or respected person inside a company put your resume on the hiring manager's desk with a personal recommendation. "I worked with Jane a few years ago, she was one of the best people in her group." That kind of referral is worth 100 times more than getting through resume screening or showing how to balance a tree on a whiteboard. Think about that at the job you have. And don't just focus on other tech people in your immediate group -- people in other parts of the organization can turn out just as, or more, valuable as referrals in the future. A CFO or (from my own experience) warehouse manager who says good things about you counts for more than what another programmer says. Cultivate real relationships, don't rely on fake networking and contacts on social media, everyone has those.
- Too many employers really don't know how to attract and identify good candidates, much less how to interview. They write bad or generic job descriptions best interpreted as a wish list rather than anything to do with the actual job expectations. They pose dumb questions and programming tasks they think tell them something, but they don't have any data correlating the results of those exercises to job performance. Like the US citizenship test, most people holding jobs in the company would fail the tests they use to interview candidates. In all the years I did tech interviews I never got any guidance or training in that process, just legal guardrails to protect the employer from discrimination lawsuits. The whole interview process seems made up and badly copied from what tech managers think Google or Facebook do. It doesn't help that every single company thinks they need to hire from the top 5% of people.
- A lot of job postings get hundreds or thousands of unqualified applicants spamming their resumes out, foreigners hoping for a visa, people fresh out of school or bootcamp aiming for senior positions, etc. If you've been on the receiving end of that you know it takes time just to go through the applications and resumes, which leads companies to use software to look for keywords, unqualified HR people to do the same, recruiters who may or may not know what they're doing. Your letter and resume may get just a few seconds of attention. Professional contacts can help you bypass that step, with the goal of getting your resume in front of a hiring manager.
- I've wasted time with too many unprepared candidates called in to interview. They don...
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 17.0 ms ] thread- A lot of people in tech have limited and narrow experience. They've worked with one or two tools or languages for a few years and struggle to adapt to something else. That leads to thousands of developers chasing the same handful of jobs that look just like what they used to do. Constantly work on new skills. Fads and trends come and go, pay attention to what companies actually use rather than industry fashion. The best place to learn new skills is in the job you have -- offer and volunteer to branch out.
- Ideally, companies look for and hire people who can add value and solve business problems. That requires domain expertise along with programming skill. Don't ignore the business around you when you have a job. Learn the jargon and how things actually work. Look for novel problems you can help solve. Get to know people outside of your team or tech group. That can also increase your real network (as opposed to fake LinkedIn network) so when you do need to find a job you know people who aren't fellow nerds from the last cubicle farm.
- The best way to get a job offer is to have a manager or respected person inside a company put your resume on the hiring manager's desk with a personal recommendation. "I worked with Jane a few years ago, she was one of the best people in her group." That kind of referral is worth 100 times more than getting through resume screening or showing how to balance a tree on a whiteboard. Think about that at the job you have. And don't just focus on other tech people in your immediate group -- people in other parts of the organization can turn out just as, or more, valuable as referrals in the future. A CFO or (from my own experience) warehouse manager who says good things about you counts for more than what another programmer says. Cultivate real relationships, don't rely on fake networking and contacts on social media, everyone has those.
- Too many employers really don't know how to attract and identify good candidates, much less how to interview. They write bad or generic job descriptions best interpreted as a wish list rather than anything to do with the actual job expectations. They pose dumb questions and programming tasks they think tell them something, but they don't have any data correlating the results of those exercises to job performance. Like the US citizenship test, most people holding jobs in the company would fail the tests they use to interview candidates. In all the years I did tech interviews I never got any guidance or training in that process, just legal guardrails to protect the employer from discrimination lawsuits. The whole interview process seems made up and badly copied from what tech managers think Google or Facebook do. It doesn't help that every single company thinks they need to hire from the top 5% of people.
- A lot of job postings get hundreds or thousands of unqualified applicants spamming their resumes out, foreigners hoping for a visa, people fresh out of school or bootcamp aiming for senior positions, etc. If you've been on the receiving end of that you know it takes time just to go through the applications and resumes, which leads companies to use software to look for keywords, unqualified HR people to do the same, recruiters who may or may not know what they're doing. Your letter and resume may get just a few seconds of attention. Professional contacts can help you bypass that step, with the goal of getting your resume in front of a hiring manager.
- I've wasted time with too many unprepared candidates called in to interview. They don...