3 ms·

Most developers won't just apply and interview at a single job. I usually interview with 3 or 4 companies when job hunting, and I would hate to have to spend a

Most developers won't just apply and interview at a single job. I usually interview with 3 or 4 companies when job hunting, and I would hate to have to spend a day at each.

jiveturkey 8y ago
I'll grant you that. I filter companies at the phone screen. Do you always go for an in-person if invited? I don't. I make sure to take at 15min of phone screen time for my own questions. (I don't do tech phone screens with recruiters -- complete waste of time. Competent companies have a tech phone screen with an engineer, who you can ask questions of.) And I don't parallelize my job search. I do them serially, in priority order (based on pre-interview assessment), waiting 2 weeks after interview for an offer. I get it that most people spray and pray, but for well qualified people this is the wrong approach. This is why companies get away with silly whiteboarding and take home exercises. As a candidate, you have to be more selective than that.
- Apocryphon 8y ago
  Also, given how searching for another job is not looked upon kindly by your current employer, having to hide multiple days' absences just leads to stress over losing your current income.
- jtreminio 8y ago
  I have the luxury of not needing to spray and pray. Even though recently the number has been fairly low, the PHP-tagged jobs on the monthly Who's Hiring that are open to remote would net me at least 3 or 4 jobs that interest me. Stack Overflow would add several more. From a list of ~10 I can trim it down to 2 or 3 "I want to work there" companies.
- vonmoltke 8y ago
  > I get it that most people spray and pray, but for well qualified people this is the wrong approach. Now that I am in New York, I don't generally even need to apply. I just wait for the recruiters to hit me up. When I do apply, I almost always get a response. I can be as selective as I want. When I lived in Dallas (with only two years less experience than I have now) I might as well have been invisible. I took every onsite I got because I got so few phone screens to begin with. I couldn't afford to be selective. As an aside, for an industry that claims there is a critical talent shortage this one sure has a bad habit of ignoring talent that isn't already local.

Most developers won't just apply and interview at a single job. I usually interview with 3 or 4 companies when job hunting, and I would hate to have to spend a day at each.

jiveturkey 8y ago

I'll grant you that. I filter companies at the phone screen. Do you always go for an in-person if invited? I don't. I make sure to take at 15min of phone screen time for my own questions. (I don't do tech phone screens with recruiters -- complete waste of time. Competent companies have a tech phone screen with an engineer, who you can ask questions of.) And I don't parallelize my job search. I do them serially, in priority order (based on pre-interview assessment), waiting 2 weeks after interview for an offer. I get it that most people spray and pray, but for well qualified people this is the wrong approach. This is why companies get away with silly whiteboarding and take home exercises. As a candidate, you have to be more selective than that.

Apocryphon 8y ago
Also, given how searching for another job is not looked upon kindly by your current employer, having to hide multiple days' absences just leads to stress over losing your current income.
jtreminio 8y ago
I have the luxury of not needing to spray and pray. Even though recently the number has been fairly low, the PHP-tagged jobs on the monthly Who's Hiring that are open to remote would net me at least 3 or 4 jobs that interest me. Stack Overflow would add several more. From a list of ~10 I can trim it down to 2 or 3 "I want to work there" companies.
vonmoltke 8y ago
> I get it that most people spray and pray, but for well qualified people this is the wrong approach. Now that I am in New York, I don't generally even need to apply. I just wait for the recruiters to hit me up. When I do apply, I almost always get a response. I can be as selective as I want. When I lived in Dallas (with only two years less experience than I have now) I might as well have been invisible. I took every onsite I got because I got so few phone screens to begin with. I couldn't afford to be selective. As an aside, for an industry that claims there is a critical talent shortage this one sure has a bad habit of ignoring talent that isn't already local.