Ask HN: How do you get recruited?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3045990

by JoeCortopassi • 15 years ago

8 21 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

It seems like a common theme when I read threads about jobs/pay:

1) Most people agree that $40,000 a year is barely 'minimum wage' when it comes to programming of any sort.

2) Recruiters are always bugging them.

3) Right now is the 'hot market' for developers.

So what's a developer to do if they are making 'minimum wage' in the programmer's Bull Market? How does one get so lucky to have the problem of people calling them up for better jobs?

MrMike3• 15 years ago

Just happened to a few friends of mine. They were pretty "anti-social-media sites", but I convinced them to set up a LinkedIn profile (as public as I could get them to set the privacy settings) and an about.me page... and set up reciprocal links between the two. They fully fleshed out their profile on LI including the technologies in which they are well versed. They happened to live outside of a hot market, but were looking to move to one, and they set their location as the hot market. Within a few days, they had a few recruiters that had reached out and several job interviews lined up or in progress. All this happened within the span on a couple of weeks. I'm not saying it's a recipe for success for everyone; the people I'm talking about are seriously amazing developers, with skill sets that reach far beyond just writing code.

Edit: I'm not a recruiter, but I'd be happy to take a look at your LI/A.me pages if you decide to set them up and give you feedback.

JoeCortopassi7• 15 years ago

Don't have an About.me, but here's my LinkedIn. Definitely appreciate any tips: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joe-cortopassi/24/76b/5b9

MrMike3• 15 years ago

So, at first glance (sorry pressed for time right now), there are a couple of spelling/grammar issues you should tackle. More importantly, there is no description for what you currently do at Trinnovations. You list some of your specialties, which is great, but there's no context on how you use/used them in your previous/current jobs.

I would set up an about.me page and link to your LI. Link out from LI to your about.me. Start blogging if you think you can fit it in. Even if it's filled with entries about what you learned/did/achieved/figured out that day or week. The more technical the better.

And, as was mentioned in another comment: You're close to a hot spot already. Close is stretching it considering the drive from IE to Santa Monica, but, do it anyway. Do it on a Saturday. Go to Coloft in the morning, get a day pass, and work on something. Take breaks and meet others. Not sure what to break the ice with? Try something like "Hey, so is coloft always this energetic (/vibrant/quiet/boring/lively/productive/whatever)". Ask what they're working on. Listen. They'll ask you the same.

Don't let yourself make up excuses. You're close enough to a really hot market where companies are climbing over each other for talent. If you want it, make it happen.

codeslush3• 15 years ago

How good are you man? Your profile says Objective-C. Get out there and show some stuff! Startup Weekend, Hackathons, local meet-ups, pick an open source project for something and contribute, etc... BE SEEN in the REAL world.

Aside from the above: Do you have friends in the biz? Referrals are the best way to real jobs, IMHO. Do you respond to the monthly posts here on HN where people are seeking expertise? Where are you located?

EDIT: To answer your question: You get recruited by being good. You also need to be visible. Create value and you will be found!

JoeCortopassi7• 15 years ago

Zero friends in the business (besides the people I work with). Getting into programming came out of the blue for me.

Edit: For reference, here is a little weekend iPhone project I just started - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF1KcbNjZ7Y

codeslush3• 15 years ago

Seriously? You're in freakin' LA (or near enough to count - from your LinkedIn) - get your ass out of your house and in the streets. Go to Santa Monica. Go to CoLoft. Go to LASW (la.startupweekend.org). Go to any number of the numerous meetups out here. Get GOOD and get FOCUSED. You, my man, have no excuses! Not trying to be hard, but am being real. I would have thought you were from some remote area or something, but rather, you're right in the middle of the hot spot. Be seen.

MonkeyAttack• 15 years ago

$40k doesn't mean anything. What does your market look like, and how much experience do you have? Depending on what part of the world/country you live in, how much experience you personally have in your specialty, and how hot your specialty is, that might be normal.

As for actually getting better offers, online social media is great, but also try going to local user groups, conventions, and the like. A person can better judge you than a keyword search engine can.

JoeCortopassi7• 15 years ago

Apparently, from reading the other comments, I'm within a couple hours drive from a hot market (LA). But I like what you mention about local user groups and such. Do you know of any tools for finding those kind of groups/meetings?

makecheck2• 15 years ago

For me (many years ago) it really helped to have my résumé posted online and linked from the site of the free software that I was working on. Sometimes these things are noticed.

JoeCortopassi7• 15 years ago

Have my LinkedIn profile setup, but I guess I could put my resume up as well. Do you mind me asking what software you were working on? Was it an open source project?

makecheck2• 15 years ago

Open source, yes. It was a terminal (MacTerm), it happened to be used by a hiring manager at a company.

I don't know that any employers ever looked at the source code. But publishing the source probably helps because they can see what your programming is like right from the start.

kennyma• 15 years ago

Being in Temecula doesn't help much since there's hardly any tech companies out there. You are closed enough to LA that it's worth making a drive once a week to go to a tech meetup or work out of CoLoft to expand your network. Surround yourself with other smart people in the industry. The worse thing that can happen is that you learn something.

tdfx• 15 years ago

I submitted a 3 line patch to Tornado and got an email a few months later from a Facebook recruiter. I'm fairly certain they would never actually hire me but if you're not getting any emails from clueless recruiters you must really be hiding yourself from the internet. Get out on GitHub and get involved in stuff.

Edit: If you're even mildly competent in the things you listed on your HN profile then you'd be one of the top 10 candidates I've interviewed in the past couple years for "PHP developer" positions.

malyk• 15 years ago

Last november I was sitting around with time on my hands and decided to update my LinkedIn profile. I wrote a long-form, pseudo-essay resume. A week later I got a call from a recruiter who hooked me up with one interview. Another week after that I got called by another recruiter who put me in touch with 12 other companies. I got offers from three of them and I think I would have gotten a fourth if I hadn't accepted one of the first three before getting through the second interview.

I didn't think that my resume was all that special having worked for DC area government contractors my whole career, but everyone was super excited to talk to me and I went to second or third interviews for 11 of the 13 places I spoke with.

So...update your LinkedIn profile and give a lot of data. Get a github account (honestly, I had basically nothing there and still don't, but it's a good thing to be able to point too), and try and get active in some local development groups/message boards/newsgroups.

Good luck!

glimcat• 15 years ago

Network.

Be awesome.

Ask HN: How do you get recruited?

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