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I've read the comments you've written on HN. It really feels like you have a good understanding of many tech out there. I'm a bit surprised a profile like your

I've read the comments you've written on HN. It really feels like you have a good understanding of many tech out there. I'm a bit surprised a profile like yours post this.It feels like you could easily pick up any entry level dev job? HN would always surprise me. If I were you, I'd show up in every tech meetups I could find.Talk with people, and offer free (paid?) advices for subject you feel comfortable with. After few weeks, I think you could get a bit of money for consulting or even a job offer.

clarry 7y ago
> It feels like you could easily pick up any entry level dev job? HN would always surprise me. Don't underestimate the extreme prejudice in tech hiring. Everyone's looking out for "red flags" and excuses to turn down a candidate. It's especially bad if you don't have either 1) recent, relevant education, or 2) recent, relevant industry experience. Open source participation might save you but not as often as you'd think, if only because few people have time for substantial open source projects and if you have non-substantial contributions, that's rarely enough to overcome the prejudice. Add any other things that work against you, for example lack of employment, ugly face, awkward speech or shy presence, yeah a lot of companies are just going to think you're a loser, or at least not the talented individual they need. Those who can afford to train people (= hire for entry level positions) are usually larger companies that siphon fresh grads and interns, and they seem to have enough supply that they don't need to look for people on the streets. In short, very few companies are willing to take chances with someone who hasn't made it through the filters already, unless they see something exceptional. And the entry level filters are heavily biased in favor of students, and against unemployed people.
- Scarblac 7y ago
  Als being homeless is a huge red flag for any job. It's a nasty spiral.
  - marcus_holmes 7y ago
    This. If HR are involved at all, then they'll gatekeep you. If you can get past HR and make contacts with the actual decision makers, there's more chance. The local Golang meetup has a "20 seconds for anyone to say anything" spot. If someone turned up there and said "I know Go and I'm looking for a job, but I'm homeless can anyone help?" then I'm damn sure someone would.
  - lazyjones 7y ago
    Being homeless in a rich European country with proper welfare systems screams of 'mental health issues'. Of course it will be a red flag for any job.
    - vertex-four 7y ago
      Technically speaking, I have a residential address that I can get post delivered to; squatting is nice like that. Nobody knows I'm homeless, except everyone on HN now.
      - Scarblac 7y ago
        That helps a lot. Do you have a good LinkedIn page with a list of technologies you've done something with?
    - Scarblac 7y ago
      The thing is he's from the UK but living in the Netherlands now, and apparently hasn't worked in a normal job recently. I think he's not going to get any help from the Dutch welfare systems.
    - pinkfoot 7y ago
      So does being scared of a telephone.
- luckylion 7y ago
  This isn't my experience at all, but that may be due to different companies. I'd expect that in large corporations with very structured recruitment processes, cozy jobs and high pay. They don't want deviation from the norm, so any red flags are "thanks, but no thanks". For smaller companies (< 50 people) and agencies though? Not my experience at all. They don't pay as well and they aren't as organized, you might not get sponsored trips to conferences, hackathons or you decide how much vacation days you want, but certification and resume gaps aren't that much of an issue in IT for them, because it's very much a sellers' market at the moment (that is: has been in the past decade, but I'll wager that it's going to be the same in the next 5 to 10 years). Homelessness is another beast, as might mental health issues be, but degrees don't matter nearly as much in the real world as they do in the corporate world.
  - clarry 7y ago
    I suspect the differences in our experiences are more regional. I imagine that Germany, having 15x the population and significantly more capital than Finland, would have a much more vibrant tech scene. Being closer to other EU countries probably helps a lot too. The demand for developers is fierce here, for sure, so it is very much a seller's market. But like I said, medium-large companies are siphoning off all the fresh blood (and no, you don't need a degree, but being a student in a relevant discipline makes all the difference!). Small companies with productive experts don't want to waste time & money on training juniors and taking chances with them. The rest of the small companies are pretty much on shoestring budget (most of them serving local niches in our small market, or playing startup with government funds which are comparable to unemployment benefits, barely enough to cover rent and food) and a bad hire could genuinely topple many of them. Sure, that does leave a handful of small companies that will take chances out of desperation, but I think they're a dying breed -- think the kind of shops that maintain some legacy doodles written in php and visual basic. Their services are slowly getting subsumed by the larger companies. The meme on local boards is that yeah, there's a huge demand for seniors with 5+ years of experience, at junior salaries. :-) I'm pretty much seeing the same thing in my network; plenty of people are working at small-medium companies that could use more bodies, but at the same time everyone's saying they wouldn't hire juniors (sometimes phrased as "we would hire juniors with relevant experience"). Similar story at my (very small) company..

clarry 7y ago

> It feels like you could easily pick up any entry level dev job? HN would always surprise me. Don't underestimate the extreme prejudice in tech hiring. Everyone's looking out for "red flags" and excuses to turn down a candidate. It's especially bad if you don't have either 1) recent, relevant education, or 2) recent, relevant industry experience. Open source participation might save you but not as often as you'd think, if only because few people have time for substantial open source projects and if you have non-substantial contributions, that's rarely enough to overcome the prejudice. Add any other things that work against you, for example lack of employment, ugly face, awkward speech or shy presence, yeah a lot of companies are just going to think you're a loser, or at least not the talented individual they need. Those who can afford to train people (= hire for entry level positions) are usually larger companies that siphon fresh grads and interns, and they seem to have enough supply that they don't need to look for people on the streets. In short, very few companies are willing to take chances with someone who hasn't made it through the filters already, unless they see something exceptional. And the entry level filters are heavily biased in favor of students, and against unemployed people.

Scarblac 7y ago
Als being homeless is a huge red flag for any job. It's a nasty spiral.
- marcus_holmes 7y ago
  This. If HR are involved at all, then they'll gatekeep you. If you can get past HR and make contacts with the actual decision makers, there's more chance. The local Golang meetup has a "20 seconds for anyone to say anything" spot. If someone turned up there and said "I know Go and I'm looking for a job, but I'm homeless can anyone help?" then I'm damn sure someone would.
- lazyjones 7y ago
  Being homeless in a rich European country with proper welfare systems screams of 'mental health issues'. Of course it will be a red flag for any job.
  - vertex-four 7y ago
    Technically speaking, I have a residential address that I can get post delivered to; squatting is nice like that. Nobody knows I'm homeless, except everyone on HN now.
    - Scarblac 7y ago
      That helps a lot. Do you have a good LinkedIn page with a list of technologies you've done something with?
  - Scarblac 7y ago
    The thing is he's from the UK but living in the Netherlands now, and apparently hasn't worked in a normal job recently. I think he's not going to get any help from the Dutch welfare systems.
  - pinkfoot 7y ago
    So does being scared of a telephone.
luckylion 7y ago
This isn't my experience at all, but that may be due to different companies. I'd expect that in large corporations with very structured recruitment processes, cozy jobs and high pay. They don't want deviation from the norm, so any red flags are "thanks, but no thanks". For smaller companies (< 50 people) and agencies though? Not my experience at all. They don't pay as well and they aren't as organized, you might not get sponsored trips to conferences, hackathons or you decide how much vacation days you want, but certification and resume gaps aren't that much of an issue in IT for them, because it's very much a sellers' market at the moment (that is: has been in the past decade, but I'll wager that it's going to be the same in the next 5 to 10 years). Homelessness is another beast, as might mental health issues be, but degrees don't matter nearly as much in the real world as they do in the corporate world.
- clarry 7y ago
  I suspect the differences in our experiences are more regional. I imagine that Germany, having 15x the population and significantly more capital than Finland, would have a much more vibrant tech scene. Being closer to other EU countries probably helps a lot too. The demand for developers is fierce here, for sure, so it is very much a seller's market. But like I said, medium-large companies are siphoning off all the fresh blood (and no, you don't need a degree, but being a student in a relevant discipline makes all the difference!). Small companies with productive experts don't want to waste time & money on training juniors and taking chances with them. The rest of the small companies are pretty much on shoestring budget (most of them serving local niches in our small market, or playing startup with government funds which are comparable to unemployment benefits, barely enough to cover rent and food) and a bad hire could genuinely topple many of them. Sure, that does leave a handful of small companies that will take chances out of desperation, but I think they're a dying breed -- think the kind of shops that maintain some legacy doodles written in php and visual basic. Their services are slowly getting subsumed by the larger companies. The meme on local boards is that yeah, there's a huge demand for seniors with 5+ years of experience, at junior salaries. :-) I'm pretty much seeing the same thing in my network; plenty of people are working at small-medium companies that could use more bodies, but at the same time everyone's saying they wouldn't hire juniors (sometimes phrased as "we would hire juniors with relevant experience"). Similar story at my (very small) company..