> Do you go learning a prospective employer or client’s problem domain before making contact with them, and base conversations around that? Yes, I try to do ex

> Do you go learning a prospective employer or client’s problem domain before making contact with them, and base conversations around that? Yes, I try to do exactly that. The goal is to be able to speak their language in the interview as well as determine if I'm interested. I try and find out everything I can about the company, their product and the product of any competitors. If I'm enthusiastic about it, I figure out where to send my resume. As far as tech stacks, I've learned Java, Progress, C#, various scripting and shell languages all on the job without ever knowing them prior to getting the job (I started my career as a C++ programmer which I already knew, so there's that). I think the key has been the fact that when I interview I already know about the company and their product and domain and I can ask pointed, intelligent questions and generally have a great discussion about it with them. The companies that have hired me knowing I don't know, say, Java, haven't cared. The companies that don't hire me because I don't know Java, only care about hiring Java developers and I'm glad they spared me the trouble. I don't know if it is luck, but I generally don't get many rejections. I also don't generally send my resume to more than a few companies before getting hired.