Ask HN: Would you hire me?

You say that you're fairly versed in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, a little bit of Ruby - so you might have other domain knowledge (a lot of us do), but you certainly seem to have a programming background as well. Maybe you didn't notice ;)

I don't see why a company looking for the skills you have would not hire you.

When I was running my startup, most people didn't have CS degrees. Most of them did have, however, an extensive programming background in that they had been hacking since early adolescence. All in all, I would still hire like that today if I had to make those choices again: choose people who like to code and still do that a lot in their spare time.

Yes. Even though I'm in no position to hire, your works looks decent. You show interest in developing yourself when it comes to new languages. And 'judging' from your photo, you look like a kind well hearted person (some people might ask me how on earth I could say such a thing - I don't know, it's just a gut feeling).

You also seem to have the motivation which is very important.

Hey Andrew, sorry I can't help. having the same problem here, seems like CSS, html, JavaScript, PHP, a nice website, and a github account, just don't make the cut to earn a decent living. Every company asks for years and years of professional experience.

If I find the solution I'll share it with you anyway. hope you do the same. best of luck, keep working and leave you a nice motivational video http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=ujMP41Rphzc

Unlike in Capitalism, Globalization demands you to be an "Highly Skilled Wage Slave" to get/retain a job

Sure, you have what it takes to find a programming job.

I have no degree and have been programming professionally since 1997.

I'd hire you. I'd hire you so hard. (You know, if we were hiring...sorry.)

On a more serious note to get past my company's HR filter (which I can override, but the higher ups like it when I don't have to) how many years HTML/CSS/JS/PHP?

You write well, you're interested in a broad range of things, and you've learned quickly. You'd be an awesome hire for the right company (i.e. one that can invest in developing your technical skills for a year or two before you start getting majorly productive).

A note of caution to take or leave: don't apply through recruiters or HR. Your résumé is too thin, and they won't bother to envision your potential. Meet people (and develop real relationships), take side gigs, and get dug into your local tech community. Good luck!

Definitely. In fact, in most places I have worked there were hardly any CS graduates.

Easy ways to get more attention:

- blog once a week and put a "hire me!" box in your sidebar

- start a youtube channel with a video for each of your blog posts

- start a podcast where you interview startup founders or kickass developers

this is all stuff i should do too

This is a good post. I had similar credentials coming out of school last year (but I did graduate with a CIS degree). I have a strong (maybe stronger than CS) background in finance, but I love programming. I was hired in less than a month as a PHP Dev (I have ~ 3 years PHP experience), making a decent living. Most of my interviewers seemed to be looking for a strong grasp of the fundamentals (particular languages didn't really matter as much as understanding OOP concepts and SDLC stuff), as well as a desire to learn and get better. I completed a lot of programming logic tests - mainly a bunch of pseudocode - during my interviews, which I assume tell a lot more about the quality (or potential) of a programmer than writing an actual program.

I can't be sure that any of this is true... It's just what I took away from a recent, similar situation.

I think you have a good background for a junior developer job, and I think you'd be a good hire for the right kind of company, most likely a smaller one that's interested in helping develop your skills. If you're not getting good feedback, you're probably applying for the wrong types of companies, or through the wrong venues, such as a recruiter or HR. You might get further by networking, blogging, and continuing to release projects on Github.

Sure. I would hire myself ;)

I was in the same boat in 2006. Non-CS degree and was learning html/css and PHP.

Now I do mostly Ruby, JS and system admin at startups.

Be humble, work hard and try to learn as much as possible.

Without a CS degree, I know its easy to feel like an impostor sometimes but carry on, dont give up!

The absolute best devs I have ever worked with were non-CS dropouts. Learned a ton from those guys.

You will do fine!

I would definitely take it under consideration. What financial degree do you possess? I'd imagine with your previous education that you would be well suited in the financial industry (whether it be stock trading, banking or even healthcare).

The only bit of advice I would suggest is that you consider the technology stacks used by such (or other large) companies. I'd definitely look at acquiring experience with a VM framework (ex. .NET or Java) as you can benefit from that knowledge using multiple programming languages and many companies prefer such experience.

Alternatively you should also consider doing some certifications - especially for junior roles. The next best thing to employed experience is freelance/consultation experience. I personally prefer if candidates do have experience freelancing as it indicates a certain level of competence in multiple areas (project management, planning, delivery, communication etc.). If you are good enough as to bill for your time, then so should any company planning on hiring you :)

I'm in this same position: -Fairly well versed in html, css, javascript, and PHP -Just getting started with Ruby

I've been working in the industry for the last 8 years but only have an associates degree from ITT (yes I know how that sounds). I'm in more of a consultant role and don't do a ton of development daily. I've wanted to make the change away from consulting back into development. I have taken several interviews but so far not gotten an offer. I'm not an idiot but I know I'm not at a senior engineer level.

My advice from these interviews: It seems like everyone (especially smaller shops and startups) want to see what you do outside of your current job. For example they expect you to be able to show contribution to open source projects, etc. I suggest you start either contributing to OSS project or start some of your own projects so that you actually show what you can do. I know I can do these jobs, but I don't have the proof . Everything I do internal to my company is proprietary and contract states it cannot be shared. We are actually forbidden from contributing to OSS without approval for each project.

In the situation I'm in I don't have time after working for 8-10 hours and driving 4 hours to sit down and contribute to OSS projects. I'm married and have a house to take care of. I have other responsibilities. It seems like most of these places are looking for recent college grads who have a little bit more time on their hands.

You're definitely on the right track. Honestly if I was still hiring I would contact you.... passion and 'get up and go' go a long way.

I'm a newbie and also don't have a CS degree. I just recently exited my startup and just started job hunting for a front end engineering position.

Tips from my limited experience:

  * Make a great *casual* LinkedIn profile that states how you're passionate about web development and how you value creating maintainable scalable code (assuming you do of course). Having it stick out helps get past the recruiters.

  * Study some softball questions about php/ruby that you'll bound to run into, but don't spend too much time on it.

  * Google engineer interviewing questions... as stupid as some of them are it might help to at least get a feel for them.

  * Build lots of apps... even if they are never public. One of my weaknesses was not being able to quickly build X,Y,Z in the 2nd interviews.

  * Just write a *short* email to the CEO/CTO and/or head engineers where you want to work, you'd be surprised how many get back to you and at least give you a chance to prove yourself.

Yes, you're a strong candidate. No, I wouldn't hire you for a junior dev position. You're 28. You'd hate it. Trust me.

I'd quite possibly hire you for a mid-level developer position, perhaps with a little bit more pairing than for people with a more traditional trajectory. I wouldn't hire you unless I was confident that you'd be fully mid-level within 12 months. That said, the fact that you're active in open-source and have learned a lot on your own makes you a very strong candidate for that.

The above is, by the way, what you'll be facing. Based on what I've gleaned from your work, you're a strong candidate for mid-level front-end positions. No one is going to hire you for a truly junior position because of your age; but you're a strong candidate for mid-level work.

What else? First of all, I'm biased against business undergraduate programs. I don't hold it against the students (that's a decision made at 19-20, and you're a lot older than that) but I dislike the idea of undergraduate business majors. That said, you probably have stronger quantitative skills than most college graduates, and combining that with your front-end chops, I think you've overcome any bias there.

Also, you don't need a CS major to get a decent programming job. "Ivy League" (or the lack thereof) doesn't matter after 25.

You want to market yourself as a well-traveled "jack of all trades". You've taught. That's an extremely valuable experience. Most developers suck at teaching others, which is why they generate undocumented, poorly-structured code. You've learned a lot of skills on your own. That's a major plus. You write better than most engineers. Include that in your pitch. You've worked in the open source world. That's a bonus, too. You're probably overqualified (and too old, sorry) for truly junior/subordinate developer positions but you're a very strong candidate for the mid-level stuff that requires some leadership, aesthetic sense, and creativity.

You don't have the "rubber stamp" of a CS degree, but you have a lot of validations that matter more, in my opinion, so long as you can actually code (and it appears that you can). Learning a new skill at 28 is more indicative than having picked the right courses at 20, at least as far as I see it.

You sound a lot like me!

I posted something similar a year or so back and didn't get too many responses (probably posted it at the wrong time), so I'll take the replies here to apply to me as well :)

I am very much like you except all the experience you have had in the real world.

I just completed my third year of studying Mechanical Engineering at BITS Pilani, India. In my last three years in college, I have worked with some small clients. I also got the opportunity to work with two organizations during the summer of 2011 and 2012. Currently, I am learning Ruby and working on small projects of my own. If you end up with a job in the tech sector soon, do let me know how you got it. I am sure it will be a good experience for me to learn from someone who went on a path that I am about to take.

I hired someone a lot like you recently, but with an English degree. He started coding when he was a teenager and bounced around since then, but kept up with tech during that time.

It's hard to find eager, motivated, competent devs at a decent price, so I bet you'll do well.

the money spot for you would be to a finance programmer. C++ FTW. If you can code up a black sholes ( i know its antiquated, but its good practice) or any kind of financial model, you will get hired. Maybe you don't want to work in finance. Front office developer are rockstars though

Sorry, this turned out not to be a simple yes/no. I thought I would explain, as a hiring manager, what goes through my head:

> 28 years old with a Finance Degree from a non-Ivy league school

Don't care.

> Spent the last two years living overseas teaching English

Ok, no background in programming for a living, but this is a junior role, so keep reading...

> and learning to code

Ah, so is this learning to code because the economy sucks and I heard coding is lucrative, or learning to code because I discovered programming and realized it's what I was born to do..

> Fairly well versed in html, css, javascript, and PHP

This, and the word "junior" are the part that jumps out and all I really care about. I put very little value in resumes, they are dead documents and I'm trying to hire living people. If I'm hiring a coder, I need to see them in person, and I need to see them code. The resume is only useful so I can pick out a few things to set the initial direction of the conversation. If you came in for an interview, we'd grill you on the stuff you claim to know well. I don't expect you to be an expert in building large scale client-side applications, but if that's the job, I need to make sure you have the fundamentals down, and that you "think like a software engineer". Look at it from my point of view: I'm taking a chance on someone who might grow with the opportunity and contribute value to the business, or might bring the whole team down with sloppiness, laziness, or just mediocrity and a sense of indifference. So I'm trying to answer some questions:

* Do you care about the craft of software engineering, beyond just slapping stuff together?

* What is your approach to code quality? Maintainability? Testability? Documentation?

* Are you a fast learner? Can you hit the ground running with someone else's code base?

* Are you self-motivated? Can you finish a project and ship it? Can I trust you to work without being micromanaged?

* Do you know how and when to ask for help or more information?

* Can you work well as part of a team?

* Am I going to get more out of you than I put in? (Eventually)

Of course, I don't ask these questions directly, I'm looking for evidence, a little bit from your work history, but much more from the way you handle problem solving in the ridiculously inefficient, artificial, and constrained environment of a job interview. This is why it's so hard to hire the right people, and so hard for the right people to get hired. The best you can hope for is that everyone involved knows how the system sucks and has some techniques for dealing with it.

It heavily depends on the company.

You seem like a good candidate for front-end and web development. You should drop that "junior dev" stuff, that sounds as if you know that you are unskilled. Better show off some previous projects and simply state that you are looking for a regular job. How about start-ups? Contract work? You might want to clarify if you'd like that kind of job.

As for my company, no I wouldn't hire you, because everyone else here has 15+ years of experience with C++ and we only take the most challenging real-time projects. The only people we'd hire without extensive experience are very young developers who are willing to go through a sort of apprenticeship.

Still, "software is eating the world" they say, so your chances of finding a job should be great :)

OT:

Your hotfix project actually seems interesting. I tried it out but it couldn't find any of my repos since they're tied to an organization I own (via my personal github account) and not directly to my personal account. Am I doing anything wrong?

I'm not in position to hire someone so I won't hire you but, as already said by the others, I'm pretty sure you can be hired for a developer job. CS degree is not necessary. I don't have one, I'm a former biologist self-taught in programming, now in a software engineer position. Several of my coworkers are in similar situations. My lead architect is a self-taught too, and he's damn good. What you need is to be able to show problem-solving skills, understanding of programming concepts, ability to write some pragmatic working code in one language, ability to quickly search and find relevant solutions when required, ability to learn and understand fast. With this skillset, not only you don't need a degree, but you can even be hired more easily than somebody who owns one.

Personal qualities matter a lot more than what you say here, so I can't tell. IF you'd be hired, it'd be a junior position.