Ask HN: What Technologies Should I Learn to Quickly Secure a Remote Position
Say you have three months to learn something so good that you get the job right away after applying. Which technologies would it be?
PS: You already have a solid foundation in computer science and software engineering
17 comments
[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 60.7 ms ] threadAny technology you can pick up in three months that would secure a job "right away" would already have hundreds of thousands of people doing the same thing, competing for the same jobs. You won't find any shortcut or one weird trick no one else knows about to get a job.
You may have noticed the short supply of tech jobs right now, and lots of people looking for jobs because of waves of layoffs. And you may have read about many major employers, especially in the tech sector, reining in remote workers and enforcing return to office policies. Finding any job right now presents big challenges, and finding a remote job now will prove even more challenging.
Suppose you already have a solid foundation so it shouldn't take you a long time to learn these technologies. You already know some programming languages, algorithms and DSs, SOLID, OOP, databases, Web dev, etc.
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I'm less looking for a trick and more about I just want to make money asap with the least overhead possible
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So wouldn't learning something like AI be a viable option since most layoffs have something to do with AI?
AI has almost nothing to do with the recent layoffs. Interest rates, past over-hiring, and propping up stock prices drive the layoffs.
You can try to jump on the AI bandwagon and ride that bubble out but without experience in the field I think you have a better chance of winning the lottery than getting a job in AI.
Filters: Worldwide
Remote
Experience Level: <Entry Job> / Associate
Date: Last Week
Go through the results and look for jobs that you like. Read the requirements and try to target those skills. Also search for "certification" or "skill you have".
Someone else had the right idea at looking at Linkedin and seeing what people are hiring for, but it would be difficult to become an FTE at a large company. You want somewhere willing to hire you from three months of study. One good bet is a startup that has not gotten angel/seed, but not VC funding yet, as they can't afford to pay market rates even for an SWE of average skill. Another is to work for a company that does consulting, as it is low commitment all around - they already have a place they can bill you for three months, and the billed company is getting you and a few others for three months, and at the end of that will keep whoever worked out and bounce whoever didn't. The bigger the "consulting" company you get into the better, it might be surprising how easy it can sometimes be to get in them after three months of study (although maybe not in 2022).
As others said, you have better options than these if your timeline is longer than three months.
Instead seek entry level certifications. I recommend Security+ and what ever the entry level AWS cert is.
If you want to ignore all this advise and absolutely have to focus on a technology skill then master everything there is to know about data transmission. Learn the OSI model, HTTP, WebSockets, gRPC, certificates, and so on. Read the RFCs several times. In order to really attain mastery you should plan on studying 45-50 hours per week minimum with that time being intense dedicated focus.
Transmission mastery is what got me my current job, but in all fairness I was at it for more than 3 months. I had written an original WebSocket library a few years earlier and improved upon it over time. Despite the current industries most esteemed experts telling me one thing regarding the relationship between HTTP and WS I was able to prove them wrong, with working code, by demonstrating that HTTP could be served over WS and that WS does not have to be served over HTTP as many claim. Insights like that takes longer than 3 months to realize.