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I'm afraid I don't agree. I'm more worrying about my job than the companies about anything. If lose it, I will spend months for finding a new one. I will send

I'm afraid I don't agree. I'm more worrying about my job than the companies about anything. If lose it, I will spend months for finding a new one. I will send emails with no response. I will be offered to spend enormous time for multilevel recruitment process, just to be rejected at the end. I will spend hours making shitty take-home tasks, just to be rejected. Some companies even don't check them when I upload it on a server. I will be asked terribly complicated white-board questions about forgotten algorithms used in no place. All that just to be offered a job about coding ETLs or adding some Javascript to a website. All just to get a simple job. It doesn't look like companies are afraid. It rather looks like companies have endless stream of candidates and want to crawl them first, so they could not hire them later. My last job hunt: 55 resumes sent (I was a perfect fit for 15 positions, not 100% for the rest). 10 companies responded. 5 were interested only about the salary, 4 of them didn't respond, 1 responded with "you wanted too much, we are not negotiating salaries". 2 terribly complicated take-home things (one company didn't event check it before rejecting me). Just 1 job offer, I took it, as I didn't get any other option after 3 months of searching. It was 2 years ago. I'm looking for a job again... I've sent 20 resumes. Got no answer. All 55 companies were posting the same job ads for the next months. About 5 of them are doing all the time, and the web is full of opinions how great the companies are. So generally I feel like I'm rather useless than needed for the companies. Writing anonymously here is cool :)

commandlinefan 8y ago
Yeah, I keep reading about the software developer shortage “crisis”, but nothing about the real world seems to reflect it. There’s a shortage of the top 1% of software developers (“top” being defined by where you went to college and where else you’ve worked, not actual programming ability) - but that’s it.
- homonculus1 8y ago
  I think I might just try to get into a different field. I'm a "recent" grad yet to get my foot in the door, and I'm pretty sure I'm capable of programming... just not of navigating the absurd requirements at every corner and apparent dearth of entry-level openings. Maybe I'm just underqualified and not that good at all, maybe I'm doing something wrong in my search or I need to move to the valley or something. But thus far all my applications have been a complete waste of time and it seems foolish to continue down this path.
  - ummonk 8y ago
    There are ways around this. Triplebyte and codefights are good options and finding a recruiter to refer you tends to improve the success rate (you can email me if you need help with any of this).
    - vailprogrammer 8y ago
      Where can I email you? If you're open to helping others, that is. No email listed in your profile
      - ummonk 8y ago
        Ah, forgot that it doesn’t list the email on the profile. I updated my about page and it should have it now. Yeah, I’m happy to help everyone!
    - homonculus1 8y ago
      Well... I got to the programming problems on Triplebytes and timed out on most of them due to poor internet connection. I'm pretty demoralized but I guess it's time to check out codefights. Thanks for the suggestions!
debacle 8y ago
What market are you in that it takes months finding a new job? I know terrible programmers who are receiving 2+ offers in weeks, above their previous salary, after being let go (fired). The current job market seems very irrational to me. Salaries seem to be trending unreasonably upwards, companies are hiring anyone with a pulse, and output doesn't seem to matter. What strategies are you using to find these positions? Are you working with any good recruiters? Are you applying for a very niche set of positions?
- HillaryBriss 8y ago
  > I know terrible programmers who are receiving 2+ offers in weeks, above their previous salary, after being let go (fired). interesting. what location?
  - debacle 8y ago
    I'd rather not say, but my email is in my profile.
ummonk 8y ago
Interesting. When I was looking at potential options this summer, I mostly just responded to inbound interest on LinkedIn (including recruiters who had contacted me several months previously but I had told them at the time I wasn’t looking to switch). I spoiled up a few other options off of interviewing.io, and ended up heavily culling companies to keep my interview load manageable (especially since I was working full time). Of course, I was in the Bay Area working for a reputable company (Asana), so that probably greatly affected my success rate.
smrtinsert 8y ago
This anecdote is just that. More details are needed to figure out why you having a hard time getting hired.
notable_chuckle 8y ago
If you are only applying to jobs that you find through company websites, then I am not surprised by the lack of success in getting responses. I'd suggest trying to go through your network (hopefully you've built up professional relationships along the way) and find a job that hasn't been posted to the internet. I think you'll be more successful if you can get someone to recommend you for a job at their employer.

commandlinefan 8y ago

Yeah, I keep reading about the software developer shortage “crisis”, but nothing about the real world seems to reflect it. There’s a shortage of the top 1% of software developers (“top” being defined by where you went to college and where else you’ve worked, not actual programming ability) - but that’s it.

homonculus1 8y ago
I think I might just try to get into a different field. I'm a "recent" grad yet to get my foot in the door, and I'm pretty sure I'm capable of programming... just not of navigating the absurd requirements at every corner and apparent dearth of entry-level openings. Maybe I'm just underqualified and not that good at all, maybe I'm doing something wrong in my search or I need to move to the valley or something. But thus far all my applications have been a complete waste of time and it seems foolish to continue down this path.
- ummonk 8y ago
  There are ways around this. Triplebyte and codefights are good options and finding a recruiter to refer you tends to improve the success rate (you can email me if you need help with any of this).
  - vailprogrammer 8y ago
    Where can I email you? If you're open to helping others, that is. No email listed in your profile
    - ummonk 8y ago
      Ah, forgot that it doesn’t list the email on the profile. I updated my about page and it should have it now. Yeah, I’m happy to help everyone!
  - homonculus1 8y ago
    Well... I got to the programming problems on Triplebytes and timed out on most of them due to poor internet connection. I'm pretty demoralized but I guess it's time to check out codefights. Thanks for the suggestions!

debacle 8y ago

What market are you in that it takes months finding a new job? I know terrible programmers who are receiving 2+ offers in weeks, above their previous salary, after being let go (fired). The current job market seems very irrational to me. Salaries seem to be trending unreasonably upwards, companies are hiring anyone with a pulse, and output doesn't seem to matter. What strategies are you using to find these positions? Are you working with any good recruiters? Are you applying for a very niche set of positions?

HillaryBriss 8y ago
> I know terrible programmers who are receiving 2+ offers in weeks, above their previous salary, after being let go (fired). interesting. what location?
- debacle 8y ago
  I'd rather not say, but my email is in my profile.

ummonk 8y ago

Interesting. When I was looking at potential options this summer, I mostly just responded to inbound interest on LinkedIn (including recruiters who had contacted me several months previously but I had told them at the time I wasn’t looking to switch). I spoiled up a few other options off of interviewing.io, and ended up heavily culling companies to keep my interview load manageable (especially since I was working full time). Of course, I was in the Bay Area working for a reputable company (Asana), so that probably greatly affected my success rate.

smrtinsert 8y ago

This anecdote is just that. More details are needed to figure out why you having a hard time getting hired.

notable_chuckle 8y ago

If you are only applying to jobs that you find through company websites, then I am not surprised by the lack of success in getting responses. I'd suggest trying to go through your network (hopefully you've built up professional relationships along the way) and find a job that hasn't been posted to the internet. I think you'll be more successful if you can get someone to recommend you for a job at their employer.