8 ms·

I've been a professional developer for 20+ years. Not once have I gotten a job from the submit-a-resume-and-interview path. Not once. It's always been a person

I've been a professional developer for 20+ years. Not once have I gotten a job from the submit-a-resume-and-interview path. Not once. It's always been a personal connection. At the risk of bragging, I'm very good at this stuff. If you're filtering resumes and doing endless interviews, you're missing out. You won't get people like me.

bonesinger 11y ago
Actually my current and prior are both submit resume and interview path. I don't know anyone where I live so I had to go a quantity approach and just blanket apply to all dev jobs I can find.But I agree I hate resume filtering. One recruiter told me to add keywords like Angular and MVC to my resume because some HR will auto dump your resume if its not there.
- logfromblammo 11y ago
  In 17 years, I have been hired 7 times. Every last one of those offers started with me submitting a resume to a company where I previously knew nobody, or at least nobody with any ability to influence the hiring process. I have also tried the "know somebody" tack. None of the people I have ever met has ever been able to even get me an actual interview anywhere, with the sole exceptions of my father, who has thrown roughly $1500 worth of business my way over my entire lifetime, and a former boss, who was laid off at the same time as everyone else, yet still managed to toss me $500 in contract work for his one-man startup as the emergency job search stretched out into the second week. On a gross revenue basis, looking good enough on paper to start a conversation, and spamming out those resumes to anyone even considering hiring someone new has been roughly 400 times more valuable than knowing other people. But my entire career has also unfolded far from the SF-Oakland-SJ metro area. We don't exactly get a lot of "meetups" around here. I'm not even exactly sure what a "meetup" is. Maybe like a geek night where everybody talks shop all night instead of having fun? Also, not a single professional recruiter has ever successfully placed me in any job, nor have they even been very good at getting me interviews. They have been worse than useless, in that every second I wasted on them would have been better spent digging up my own leads and sending my resume myself. All that said, I hate, I hate, I hate the current software professionals' hiring process and the trends in it that I have been able to observe from my end.
EliRivers 11y ago
Well, I'm looking for good software engineers. Getting someone who is a good software engineer but isn't great at personal connections for getting a new job doesn't sound like a huge loss.
- waterlesscloud 11y ago
  Whiteboard away then! Tho seriously, here's the question I'd ask of you... Is that working out for you? It sounds like it's not, since you're still looking. Maybe it's time to step back and reevaluate your process.
  - EliRivers 11y ago
    We're always looking, and when I see a sizeable company that isn't, I consider it a warning note. We have a high proportion of surprisingly high quality software engineers, from a number of European nations (a very international mix, now that I think about it). Good people move on, be it moving on within a company or without, and where I work the product is relatively narrow, so people tend to move on by leaving. I expect to be moving on myself within the next two years. When you have more than a dozen or so high quality software engineers, someone is always leaving. I advise the youngsters that if they ever find themselves in the same job and the same role for five years, they need to start thinking about their exit and get on with it. In my opinion, our process is working well, thank you. There is no whiteboard involved.
- dsacco 11y ago
  >> Well, I'm looking for good software engineers. This is the sort of comment that might be more advantageous for you if you had contact information in your profile, just FYI.
bloat 11y ago
I've been a professional developer for 20+ years. Not once have I gotten a job from a personal connection. Not once. It's always been a submit-a-resume-and-interview (via an agency). At the risk of bragging, I'm very good at this stuff. What's your point? Edit: This is completely true.
- waterlesscloud 11y ago
  Cool. That in no way contradicts my point that companies are missing out on people like me who don't use that path. That would be my point.
  - beachstartup 11y ago
    don't worry, nobody worthy is missing out on you. there are plenty of good developers out there for good companies to hire.
    - waterlesscloud 11y ago
      I'm not worried. I've been happily and productively employed with successful companies for decades. :-)
new_hackers 11y ago
Man sooo much ego in the replies to this comment. He said he is good, he probably is. No need for the commenters to get their ego hurt cause there are other good engineers in the world. I would 100% agree that the professional connections have helped me get more jobs and more offers than a computerized/headhunter/recruiter service. YMMV, but don't discount the importance of making good connections while working.

bonesinger 11y ago

Actually my current and prior are both submit resume and interview path. I don't know anyone where I live so I had to go a quantity approach and just blanket apply to all dev jobs I can find.But I agree I hate resume filtering. One recruiter told me to add keywords like Angular and MVC to my resume because some HR will auto dump your resume if its not there.

logfromblammo 11y ago
In 17 years, I have been hired 7 times. Every last one of those offers started with me submitting a resume to a company where I previously knew nobody, or at least nobody with any ability to influence the hiring process. I have also tried the "know somebody" tack. None of the people I have ever met has ever been able to even get me an actual interview anywhere, with the sole exceptions of my father, who has thrown roughly $1500 worth of business my way over my entire lifetime, and a former boss, who was laid off at the same time as everyone else, yet still managed to toss me $500 in contract work for his one-man startup as the emergency job search stretched out into the second week. On a gross revenue basis, looking good enough on paper to start a conversation, and spamming out those resumes to anyone even considering hiring someone new has been roughly 400 times more valuable than knowing other people. But my entire career has also unfolded far from the SF-Oakland-SJ metro area. We don't exactly get a lot of "meetups" around here. I'm not even exactly sure what a "meetup" is. Maybe like a geek night where everybody talks shop all night instead of having fun? Also, not a single professional recruiter has ever successfully placed me in any job, nor have they even been very good at getting me interviews. They have been worse than useless, in that every second I wasted on them would have been better spent digging up my own leads and sending my resume myself. All that said, I hate, I hate, I hate the current software professionals' hiring process and the trends in it that I have been able to observe from my end.

EliRivers 11y ago

Well, I'm looking for good software engineers. Getting someone who is a good software engineer but isn't great at personal connections for getting a new job doesn't sound like a huge loss.

waterlesscloud 11y ago
Whiteboard away then! Tho seriously, here's the question I'd ask of you... Is that working out for you? It sounds like it's not, since you're still looking. Maybe it's time to step back and reevaluate your process.
- EliRivers 11y ago
  We're always looking, and when I see a sizeable company that isn't, I consider it a warning note. We have a high proportion of surprisingly high quality software engineers, from a number of European nations (a very international mix, now that I think about it). Good people move on, be it moving on within a company or without, and where I work the product is relatively narrow, so people tend to move on by leaving. I expect to be moving on myself within the next two years. When you have more than a dozen or so high quality software engineers, someone is always leaving. I advise the youngsters that if they ever find themselves in the same job and the same role for five years, they need to start thinking about their exit and get on with it. In my opinion, our process is working well, thank you. There is no whiteboard involved.
dsacco 11y ago
>> Well, I'm looking for good software engineers. This is the sort of comment that might be more advantageous for you if you had contact information in your profile, just FYI.

bloat 11y ago

I've been a professional developer for 20+ years. Not once have I gotten a job from a personal connection. Not once. It's always been a submit-a-resume-and-interview (via an agency). At the risk of bragging, I'm very good at this stuff. What's your point? Edit: This is completely true.

waterlesscloud 11y ago
Cool. That in no way contradicts my point that companies are missing out on people like me who don't use that path. That would be my point.
- beachstartup 11y ago
  don't worry, nobody worthy is missing out on you. there are plenty of good developers out there for good companies to hire.
  - waterlesscloud 11y ago
    I'm not worried. I've been happily and productively employed with successful companies for decades. :-)

new_hackers 11y ago

Man sooo much ego in the replies to this comment. He said he is good, he probably is. No need for the commenters to get their ego hurt cause there are other good engineers in the world. I would 100% agree that the professional connections have helped me get more jobs and more offers than a computerized/headhunter/recruiter service. YMMV, but don't discount the importance of making good connections while working.