4 ms·

Maybe it's that you're experience says DESIGNER all over the place, but you seem to look for a "DEVELOPER with some extra product-design attributes" type job.

by nnq 10y ago

Maybe it's that you're experience says DESIGNER all over the place, but you seem to look for a "DEVELOPER with some extra product-design attributes" type job. This confuses the heck out of most recruiters, since they like to put people in "boxes with labels", like "product designer, "graphic designer", "frontend developer" etc. I mean, people can't even figure out "who should interview this guy?"... which leads to being unable to even schedule an interview... which leads to lazy people going "wtf, next" reactions... Also avoid labeling yourself as "designer who can code"... at an older job I worked with projects started by a designer/coder and it was a horrible experience... maintaining code written by a designer with rudimentary coding skills (not even basic OOP, let alone basic OOD/SOLID skills, or at least notions of FP) is pure hell for a disciplined software developer. Also adding ENTREPRENEUR there translates to "shit, this guy can leave the company and start his own business anytime". I'm an "Expert Generalist" myself, but never label myself as such, it drives everyone away! (Not even after getting a job... it will make everyone around you feel stupid and insecure, because "hey, this guy knows everything, I only know X", and they'll not enjoy working with you...) List your full experience, but label yourself as what you want your future job to be! This way recruiters, founders or engineers will know what to do with you...

oliv__ 10y ago
Thank you for your insight. The thing is, I've always been in between both and as a result truly fit in neither position, compared to people who've specialized in one side. I thought I would apply on the design side because it has always come more naturally to me, but maybe I should reevaluate.
- nnq 10y ago
  One more thing: you also have the odd combination of "product design" + "sounding-mostly-like-BACKEND tech experience", but people would expect "product design" + "frontend" with nicely sounding keywords Angular 2 or React or Polymer etc. I guess... I don't have a solution for this because I have a similar problematic set of skills (product design + backend + entrepreneur-ish + desire to jump more towards machine learning...). I'm curios how you end up solving the issue of selling this combination of skills, so please let me know how it goes ;)
  - gkya 10y ago
    Recently there was an interesting article here with a title like 'The Bipolar Programmer' where a stereotype about 'smart but lazy' STEM students; in that article I fiund nearly a definition of myself, and I think you and the OP may find that this is true for you two too. I, too, am curious for many areas of computing and art, and as a result sparsely knowledgeable about most of them, but lack profound proficiency in all of them. I believe (and daresay) that we make a category which is hard to recruit in this sector. I've lost the hope that I'll be able to fit in as a programmer-for-hire and believe that the only place for me here is as an entrepreneur-hacker and open-source side-projects person. I've actually drifted so away from programming as a profession that at the moment am studying philology at uni.
    - Jarwain 10y ago
      Are you referring to http://www.shenlanguage.org/lambdassociates/htdocs/blog/bipolar.htm http://www.shenlanguage.org/lambdassociates/htdocs/blog/bipo... or http://mhprompt.org/2016/09/29/on-being-bipolar-programmer.html http://mhprompt.org/2016/09/29/on-being-bipolar-programmer.h... ?
  - oliv__ 10y ago
    That's the thing. I much prefer backend development to frontend. Imo, the frontend world is kind of all over the place right now and most of the time those frameworks are overkill for simple projects.
- shimon 10y ago
  The positions you should apply for are called Front-End Developer. Maybe even junior front-end dev. In these positions you will do a mix of design and dev, but mostly dev, and mostly dev that the "serious engineer" devs don't want to do, like CSS. But that work has to get done and demonstrating an interest across the stack will help you work better with both the backend devs and designers.
didgeoridoo 10y ago
Second the "entrepreneur" comment. If I'm looking for an employee, I'm looking for someone who can creatively execute on my company strategy — not someone who is going to push their own vision, and maybe even leave to start their own thing at the worst possible time. The only role for which "entrepreneur" is a positive attribute is that of co-founder.

by nnq 10y ago

oliv__ 10y ago

Thank you for your insight. The thing is, I've always been in between both and as a result truly fit in neither position, compared to people who've specialized in one side. I thought I would apply on the design side because it has always come more naturally to me, but maybe I should reevaluate.

nnq 10y ago
One more thing: you also have the odd combination of "product design" + "sounding-mostly-like-BACKEND tech experience", but people would expect "product design" + "frontend" with nicely sounding keywords Angular 2 or React or Polymer etc. I guess... I don't have a solution for this because I have a similar problematic set of skills (product design + backend + entrepreneur-ish + desire to jump more towards machine learning...). I'm curios how you end up solving the issue of selling this combination of skills, so please let me know how it goes ;)
- gkya 10y ago
  Recently there was an interesting article here with a title like 'The Bipolar Programmer' where a stereotype about 'smart but lazy' STEM students; in that article I fiund nearly a definition of myself, and I think you and the OP may find that this is true for you two too. I, too, am curious for many areas of computing and art, and as a result sparsely knowledgeable about most of them, but lack profound proficiency in all of them. I believe (and daresay) that we make a category which is hard to recruit in this sector. I've lost the hope that I'll be able to fit in as a programmer-for-hire and believe that the only place for me here is as an entrepreneur-hacker and open-source side-projects person. I've actually drifted so away from programming as a profession that at the moment am studying philology at uni.
  - Jarwain 10y ago
    Are you referring to http://www.shenlanguage.org/lambdassociates/htdocs/blog/bipolar.htm http://www.shenlanguage.org/lambdassociates/htdocs/blog/bipo... or http://mhprompt.org/2016/09/29/on-being-bipolar-programmer.html http://mhprompt.org/2016/09/29/on-being-bipolar-programmer.h... ?
- oliv__ 10y ago
  That's the thing. I much prefer backend development to frontend. Imo, the frontend world is kind of all over the place right now and most of the time those frameworks are overkill for simple projects.
shimon 10y ago
The positions you should apply for are called Front-End Developer. Maybe even junior front-end dev. In these positions you will do a mix of design and dev, but mostly dev, and mostly dev that the "serious engineer" devs don't want to do, like CSS. But that work has to get done and demonstrating an interest across the stack will help you work better with both the backend devs and designers.

didgeoridoo 10y ago

Second the "entrepreneur" comment. If I'm looking for an employee, I'm looking for someone who can creatively execute on my company strategy — not someone who is going to push their own vision, and maybe even leave to start their own thing at the worst possible time. The only role for which "entrepreneur" is a positive attribute is that of co-founder.