Ask HN: Where is it OK on the Net to say “I'm a developer looking for work?”

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9724031

by hoodoof • 11 years ago

218 69 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

adamnemecek• 11 years ago

there's a monthly thread here 'who wants to be hired'. idk if that's ideal for your situation.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9639011

hoodoof• 11 years ago

It's a pity that isn't a permanent link at the top of HN, with posts expiring after 1 week.

rmchugh• 11 years ago

any idea what the success rate on that thread is?

nathan_f772• 11 years ago

I had one response from the most recent thread, but my rate was too high. Hard to stand out from the crowd with 289 comments, though.

meigwilym• 11 years ago

I've gotten a few replies from startups in the recruiting space.

MattBearman• 11 years ago

My biggest client came through one of those posts, and I've had some other work through them as well.

Edit: My bad, thought you were talking about the Freelancer / Seeking Freelancer threads

MehdiEG3• 11 years ago

My anecdotal evidence: tried it when I was looking for my first contracting gig in Jan 2014. Got one serious lead (short-term contract for native iOS app development with immediate start required and a very tight deadline).

Initial discussion by email went well. Moved onto a telephone conversation, which also went well. Although the deadline was tight, the project appeared to be well-managed and they seemed to know what they were doing. Unfortunately, the person on the phone appeared to be absolutely horrified upon hearing my daily rate (which was the standard daily rate for iOS development in London at the time – I wasn’t trying to take the piss). I followed up by email highlighting my experience and track record in the specific field they were targeting as well as the value I would bring to the project but never heard anything back.

I got an excellent offer from a person in my own network a few days later so I didn’t give the HN thread another try.

Incidentally, I’m now looking for my next gig. Anyone looking for a talented Lead .NET developer / Architect in London (UK), with both startup and Fortune 100 experience, feel free to contact me: http://mehdi.me

harkyns_castle4• 11 years ago

I don't know, but the one thing I will say is that they're often interesting, or at least some of them.

I tried one, and I've seen it since, which is a challenge i.e. they'll present you with a basic page saying "Try JSON", or something of a similar ilk. Then you have to follow the rabbit hole (automating a solution in a scripting language generally) until eventually you're met with a page with actually how to apply to the real job.

I like companies that do that.

The one I saw the other day was a grid of dots (say 300 or so), with some filled in. They gave you one second to count the dots and submit the form, so the trick is parsing the HTML in < 1 second and responding within the session.

Edit: You'll have to switch up the game now hehe.

s_kilk• 11 years ago

It's only one data point, but my latest gig was found through that thread.

thirdtruck2• 11 years ago

Found one job through it so far.

J_Darnley• 11 years ago

Since others have reported anecdotal evidence of 100% success, I will state that it has been 0% success based on the anecdotes I have.

strathmeyer2• 11 years ago

What do you need to do to be able to comment on those threads?

duckspeaker• 11 years ago

Whether you're looking for freelance or full-time, there's a site that combines the two monthly HN threads in a convenient format: http://hnhiring.me/

In general I find the whole handwaving "I'm looking for work" approach not very effective. You really need to actively contact companies/potential clients.

With that said, here's a list of resources I resort to when looking for a next thing:

  freelance
    remote
      http://hnhiring.me/
      https://github.com/lukasz-madon/awesome-remote-job/
      http://www.lancelist.com/
      https://gun.io/dash/
      http://www.10xmanagement.com/
      https://theworkmob.com/
      http://workingnotworking.com
      https://authenticjobs.com
      https://www.upwork.com
      http://www.happyfuncorp.com

    on-site
      http://getlambda.com/

  full-time
    remote
      https://weworkremotely.com/
      https://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/remote
      https://www.wfh.io/categories/1/jobs
      https://remotecoder.io/
      http://www.workingnomads.co/jobs

    on-site
      https://angel.co/jobs
      https://hired.com/
      https://jobs.github.com/positions
      https://www.themuse.com/
      http://startupjob.me/
      http://www.insidestartups.org/

brettlangdon2• 11 years ago

Another for full-time on-site for NYC or SF is https://underdog.io

For people looking for a new job it is basically a common app to apply to over 140 startups in NYC/SF.

Edit: Disclosure: I work for underdog.io

pixel67• 11 years ago

Where's the one for Boston lol

treystout• 11 years ago

Can confirm. I just hired an ops engineer from the underdog.io list.

thirdtruck2• 11 years ago

Seconding underdog.io. They helped me find my last job.

hluska• 11 years ago

This is an excellent post - thanks for taking the time to share your resources!!

p_ngu• 11 years ago

Would also like to mention https://www.vettery.com as another option in the full-time, on-site category. There's also https://www.whitetruffle.com too.

Great list of resources, thanks for sharing!

Disclosure: I'm part of the Vettery team.

blfr• 11 years ago

Related: if you had a personal website/blog, would it be a good idea to put "I'm looking for a gig now" on it?

nathan_f772• 11 years ago

I think it's a pretty good idea, thanks for the suggestion. I just added it to the 'about' section on my blog: http://madebynathan.com/

crdb• 11 years ago

As a "buyer" I think it's an excellent idea.

There's a prominent developer in a community I follow who recently found his company to fold, and posted that he was looking on his blog. At the time, I was pitching for a project; I set aside a place for him and had I won the project, would have contacted him asking if he wanted the job.

In another case, someone's failure became a blog post, which I shared with management of my then employer, who authorized me to get in touch and offer the person a no-questions-asked job (she didn't take it).

majc2• 11 years ago

If you're freelance/consulting. You could also say; available for booking/project work from September. (Wordsmith away!)

bbcbasic3• 11 years ago

Would it be a good idea to put "I'm looking for a gig now" if you are a permanent employee? What if your boss sees it?

totony• 11 years ago

I wouldn't advise this, seems like a terrible idea that could put you on side-projects/unimportant stuff in your current work or that could even get you fired, depending on your country.

I don't think any boss that notices the "I don't like my work/I am looking to leave" would be happy

perlgeek• 11 years ago

http://careers.stackoverflow.com/ and linkedin come to mind.

snowysocial• 11 years ago

I've been seeing a trend on twitter, where people are doing just this. Might be worth just tweeting a few of the 'popular' people in your community asking if they know of any jobs. You never know they may just give you and RT that grabs someones attention.

Good luck.

dorfsmay• 11 years ago

I think twitter only works if you are "well known" in a specific community (presented at conferences, > 1k followers, etc...). That's been one of the least effective tactics for me.

strathmeyer2• 11 years ago

Yes people with lots of twitter friends have an easier time finding jobs. Still doesn't help those of us who aren't that narcissistic.

glogla• 11 years ago

Now if there were something similar for EU. Getting work visa in US is not exactly simple and easy.

ganzuul• 11 years ago

https://www.bountysource.com/ is an interesting option.

lazyjones• 11 years ago

I wouldn't bother "advertising" unless you're looking at freelancing, it might come across as desperate.

There are some places where recruiters will constantly look for candidates: LinkedIn, XING (not sure if it's worthwhile outside Germany), Github, maybe SO (not sure), possibly FB. Having a polished appearance there will yield plenty of contacts even without indication that you're currently looking for work (assuming hard skills that are in demand somewhere).

suttree• 11 years ago

More long-term, brand building, augment your resume style:

https://www.somewhere.com

disclaimer, I'm the founder ofc.

a3n4• 11 years ago

I've been at my current job for three years. It's a good job. A recruiter cold-called me after seeing me on LinkedIn.

If you have the common worry that your current employer will see "I want a new job!!!!" on your LinkedIn, then say something like "I'm always open to interesting opportunities."

saturdaysaint• 11 years ago

I get aggressive recruiter calls anytime I update my profile - even if it's to say that I just got a new job. LinkedIn must actively surface people that have updated their profile recently. At the very least, I'd recommend that the OP update his current tasks/responsibilities on the LinkedIn resume.

a3n4• 11 years ago

Innocuos updates. A nice signal. :)

harkyns_castle4• 11 years ago

I can't understand why anyone would be on LinkedIn, after their nefarious practices.

The last straw was the one where they requested your email login details, and proceeded to spam your contacts with join requests. What kind of a prick of a company does that?

I guess they factored in the people that'd pay attention to that kind of scumbaggery, and those that wouldn't and figured they'd end up on top. Guess they did too. You're a product, not a customer, when you're on LinkedIn, much the same as Facebook.

The nail in the coffin for me has been recruitment agencies stressing I should be on it - any advice from the vampires like that is a good sign you should be doing the polar opposite.

a3n4• 11 years ago

The last straw was the one where they requested your email login details

That last straw has been active for probably as long as they existed. I didn't fall for it, but a lot of people who know me did, and I used to get a lot of linkedin spam because of it. Either they've refined their practices, or people have wised up, or we've passed peak LinkedIn.

In any case, I ignore most email from LinkedIn, I don't play the endorsement game in either direction, and anyone who receives spam from LinkedIn related to me are themselves LinkedIn products, so they made the choice.

I've figured out how to exist peacefully with them, and other than this thread it doesn't take any time out of my day. :)

elliotec• 11 years ago

This is all small in comparison to the enormous benefits it has as a career-building tool. I have gotten numerous interviews and 2 full time jobs in no small part because of LinkedIn.

If there was a viable alternative I'd jump on it, but for now it seems to serve its purpose very effectively.

100timesthis• 11 years ago

you don't know how glad I feel reading this, i's exactly how I feel about linkedin, and I can't explain how a lot of people people like it, even my coworkers (Analytics team, pretty technical).

bbcbasic3• 11 years ago

Any advice from the vampires like that is a good sign you should be doing the polar opposite.

Not always. They are not all out for your blood.

w1ntermute• 11 years ago

Check out Hired.com. One of its nice features is that it'll hide the fact that you've set up a profile from your current employer.

drincruz• 11 years ago

I've had good experience with http://angel.co though you have to be careful since there are recruiting agencies that scour that site as well. In NYC there is also http://interviewjet.com, http://hired.com, and http://underdog.io. These all pretty much have a similar model where you can have be in the highlight with a handful of other engineers sent to a whole lot of companies at the same time.

dzohrob• 11 years ago

Hey, I run AngelList's jobs platform. If you could give me details on the recruiters that spammed you, I'd really appreciate it (dave@angel.co). Either way, thanks for the mention.

romanu_zg• 11 years ago

Did you try toptal.com? Toptal offers heaps of projects, and every single client is vetted by developers that work for Toptal before the job is posted. Basically, they guarantee continuous quality work for remote developers. Changed my life!

rdslondon• 11 years ago

http://yuriybabenko.com/blog/my-experience-joining-toptal I don't think is a good place for a developer, only wasting of time and money.

mdpopescu• 11 years ago

Thanks for the link. Matches my experience quite closely:

1) They refused to set the rate I asked for. It was "too much for someone from Eastern Europe", so they set it to half that.

2) Despite going along with that, I never managed to get any contract through them - probably because they don't focus on C# that much. Even when I find something interesting and apply, I usually don't hear back for at least a couple of weeks.

It is extremely possible that I'm just not a good fit for the jobs, or that I am indeed asking for too much, but so far my experience with the site has been... underwhelming.

xsolid2• 11 years ago

If you are looking for a steady stream of high quality freelance gigs and do not want to worry about billing, hunting for clients and other headaches you encounter as a freelancer, then you should definitely check out http://toptal.com

The best part of it is that it has a sprawling community of freelancers all over the globe who are happy to help whenever you need it and if by any chance you happen to end up having holidays somewhere, there is a huge chance that there are some Toptalers right around the corner happy to take you out for drinks and give you some insider tips on the location.

Full disclaimer: I work with Toptal at the moment and am pretty happy to be there :)

harunurhan• 11 years ago

Addition to others http://remoteok.io/ is good for remote jobs.

larrydag• 11 years ago

For those looking at Data Science and Analytics I created an app that looks at the DataTau Who's Hirning.

https://larrydag.shinyapps.io/dthiring/

sid6376• 11 years ago

In case anyone is interested in a full time role at Booking.com , based in Amsterdam, My company is currently looking for a variety of roles. I would be happy to talk to you. See email in my profile.

pknerd• 11 years ago

Twitter/Facebook.

tejay• 11 years ago

You're welcome at gun.io any time. :)

Ask HN: Where is it OK on the Net to say “I'm a developer looking for work?”

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