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We all understand that it's often highly complex if not impossible for most devs to quantify an accomplishment. It's easy for some things to be quantified obvio

by fecak 10y ago

We all understand that it's often highly complex if not impossible for most devs to quantify an accomplishment. It's easy for some things to be quantified obviously - downloads, traction - though those aren't exclusive to engineering (could be marketing). Scalability numbers and measurable performance improvements are relatively common. So if you built something that is able to handle n requests maybe. The amount of revenue generated by a feature is clearly tough - but you might be able to find out new subscribers since the feature was introduced. Even if you can't, just saying you built a certain feature is probably enough in most cases. It really boils down to unique, one-off accomplishments for me. Specificity. That code that runs millions of times - tell me the product name, what that product does, what your code does, and what tools you used to build it. Even if you can't point to a quantifiable figure, the specificity gives you some credibility.

nojvek 10y ago
I saw your website. It's great. I would advise networking and attending meetups, asking for referrals. Every job I have is mostly due to referrals. Someone putting a good word on behalf of you means a lot. Also don't fire and shoot. Target like a sniper.
- moftz 10y ago
  Exactly. My first real job out of college was due to a referral. Girlfriend's stepdad put in a good word for me a a major engineering firm. I went to the interview open-house and realized quickly the people around me seemed much more accomplished and more knowledgeable about the company and the industry its in. I had some interviews later, they seemed to have gone ok, not awesome but not a disaster. Then the VP of engineering comes up to me and tells me how excited they were to have talked to me. This threw me because it all seemed way out of my league but I didn't see her approach anyone else except for a couple other candidates. I ended up getting an offer a month later. I knew my gf's stepdad definitely put in a good word for me, I just wasn't expecting it to help me that much. If I tried to get an interview from this company through the job fair at my school, I would have most likely not even gotten a phone interview. The only thing, I haven't told any of my coworkers who referred me. I'm not totally sure how prepared I am for this work and I wouldn't want any poor performance to reflect back onto him.

by fecak 10y ago

nojvek 10y ago

I saw your website. It's great. I would advise networking and attending meetups, asking for referrals. Every job I have is mostly due to referrals. Someone putting a good word on behalf of you means a lot. Also don't fire and shoot. Target like a sniper.

moftz 10y ago
Exactly. My first real job out of college was due to a referral. Girlfriend's stepdad put in a good word for me a a major engineering firm. I went to the interview open-house and realized quickly the people around me seemed much more accomplished and more knowledgeable about the company and the industry its in. I had some interviews later, they seemed to have gone ok, not awesome but not a disaster. Then the VP of engineering comes up to me and tells me how excited they were to have talked to me. This threw me because it all seemed way out of my league but I didn't see her approach anyone else except for a couple other candidates. I ended up getting an offer a month later. I knew my gf's stepdad definitely put in a good word for me, I just wasn't expecting it to help me that much. If I tried to get an interview from this company through the job fair at my school, I would have most likely not even gotten a phone interview. The only thing, I haven't told any of my coworkers who referred me. I'm not totally sure how prepared I am for this work and I wouldn't want any poor performance to reflect back onto him.