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How do you "signal competence?"

• freyr 10y ago
  The easiest (or most common) way is to start young: go to a top university. This makes it far easier to jump into a top company. Then you're mostly there, without even necessarily programming anything exceptional. Otherwise, you could get really good at interviewing, write publicly (book, popular blog, etc.), give talks at conferences, create popular open source software, etc.
  • Retric 10y ago
    That's the first level, obvious credentials. Don't forget that legwork like SAT prep classes, or presentations which don't teach you useful skills can still open doors. Next is networks of people that will vouch for you. This does not necessarily take a lot of effort, but being the only resume someone is looking means you just skipped a lot of pre-filters. "I was thinking about possibly jumping ship. O your looking for someone? How about we do lunch and talk about a possible fit." Now add presentation; speech patterns, dress, non verbal indicators, but also what subjects to bring up in conversation. Pull this off and people will often skip the need for in depth evaluation based on assumptions.
    • ryandrake 10y ago
      This is [sadly] the accurate advice. While "love what you do" and "learn a lot" and "improve your skills" sound nice, the reality is that success more often than not comes from pedigree (what school you went to, who your parents are), people (who you know) and polish (how smoothly you talk/dress, how you carry yourself, confidence, ability to make small talk, etc.). EDIT: I'll also add "self-promotion". So, the four P's: Pedigree, People, Polish, and Promotion.