5 ms·

I can't even remember the 80-85 jobs I've applied for in the last 7 months.

by amzo 6y ago

giantg2 6y ago
When I got out of college, I applied to about 250 jobs and only got 3 calls. Luckily one of those did pan out. I keep hearing how there's a war for technical talent. I guess I don't have any.
- thedufer 6y ago
  I think the problem is not that there isn't enough if it (this may or may not be true) but more that it is very hard to figure out where it is. There are probably a good number of people who aren't presenting themselves well, despite having the talent, and get lost in the many applicants that don't seem to know how to program at all. Finding the right people is really hard. I do think the need for technical talent is there, though - I've had a very different experience from what you describe.
  - giantg2 6y ago
    To add some more detail, my experience was during the mortgage meltdown and fallout from that. I agree with your perspective. I also think there are issues on the recruiting side. Sometimes it seems like they don't know what they need and they just list a ton of unnecessary stuff in the list of required skills.
    - bradlys 6y ago
      I had a similar experience but during 2014-2016. It’s very common with new grads to spend 6+ months applying to get a job (even if you have internships or work experience). Almost no companies will take the risk due to whatever stigma. It took me about 2 years after college until I got steady employment. I think I had sent over 750 apps and interviewed at over 100 companies. Most of the time they were trying to get a senior software engineer (5+ years xp) but considered me because I was probably one of the only people who had applied to their place. My interviewing skills were/are still garbage compared to the competition though.
- imbusy111 6y ago
  Out of hundreds of applicants I screen, very few even have the skill to implement a standard algorithm with recursion in a language of their choice that I explain meticulously.
  - ss2003 6y ago
    But is that a skill that is required for lots of positions?
    - imbusy111 6y ago
      If you are slapping together web templates with a Python back-end, then maybe not, but if you are automating industrial processes, build tools to improve data handling or work on any technical computational stuff, then absolutely yes. I expect someone to be able to reason abstractly. There are still plenty of jobs that require excellent technical skills.
    - letstryagain2 6y ago
      I learned recursive programming decades ago in high school. (Solve the Towers of Babylon with recursive algo). So, yes. Somebody calling himself a programmer or engineer should be able to produce this.
      - andi999 6y ago
        To me this seems similiar to if you want to call yourself a physician, you need to be able to speak latin. Its true (at least need to pass an exam), but it is only signaling, and no just having a few latin derived labels.
        letstryagain2 6y ago
        I am not a programmer. But a guy not being able to program a simple recursive function? Really? In a programming language of his or her choice?
      - nullsense 6y ago
- phonebucket 6y ago
  > When I got out of college, I applied to about 250 jobs and only got 3 calls. Luckily one of those did pan out. > I keep hearing how there's a war for technical talent. I guess I don't have any. When I left academia, I struggled for 6 months to get a job. Then, 6 months into my first data scientist role, my company had to downscale and the whole data science team (me included) laid off. I got three offers in two weeks following that, even though I was more or less the same candidate as 6 months earlier. That one line on my CV of having a modicum of commercial experience made such a big difference.
  - gen220 6y ago
    This is the reality. Having any work experience at all is huge. I thankfully/sometimes-by-accident worked 5 internships during my 4.5 years in my upper-middling college, and had no problem picking a place to work afterwards. I had many friends who over-indexed on grades and had 0-2 internships. Many of them were really smart, but couldn't get the foot in the door for an interview. Experience (including internships at legitimate companies) will get you past the the resume screen and recruiter call. From that point on, it's your interviewing skill that counts most.
    - giantg2 6y ago
      True. The only experience I had was as a freelance web and android dev.
- confidantlake 6y ago
  There isn't. If there were, they wouldn't put experienced candidates through all day interviews and fail them if they don't solve every leetcode question thrown at them.
krallja 6y ago
Keep a spreadsheet or Trello board.

I can't even remember the 80-85 jobs I've applied for in the last 7 months.

by amzo 6y ago

I can't even remember the 80-85 jobs I've applied for in the last 7 months.

When I got out of college, I applied to about 250 jobs and only got 3 calls. Luckily one of those did pan out. I keep hearing how there's a war for technical talent. I guess I don't have any.

thedufer 6y ago
I think the problem is not that there isn't enough if it (this may or may not be true) but more that it is very hard to figure out where it is. There are probably a good number of people who aren't presenting themselves well, despite having the talent, and get lost in the many applicants that don't seem to know how to program at all. Finding the right people is really hard. I do think the need for technical talent is there, though - I've had a very different experience from what you describe.
- giantg2 6y ago
  To add some more detail, my experience was during the mortgage meltdown and fallout from that. I agree with your perspective. I also think there are issues on the recruiting side. Sometimes it seems like they don't know what they need and they just list a ton of unnecessary stuff in the list of required skills.
  - bradlys 6y ago
    I had a similar experience but during 2014-2016. It’s very common with new grads to spend 6+ months applying to get a job (even if you have internships or work experience). Almost no companies will take the risk due to whatever stigma. It took me about 2 years after college until I got steady employment. I think I had sent over 750 apps and interviewed at over 100 companies. Most of the time they were trying to get a senior software engineer (5+ years xp) but considered me because I was probably one of the only people who had applied to their place. My interviewing skills were/are still garbage compared to the competition though.
imbusy111 6y ago
Out of hundreds of applicants I screen, very few even have the skill to implement a standard algorithm with recursion in a language of their choice that I explain meticulously.
- ss2003 6y ago
  But is that a skill that is required for lots of positions?
  - imbusy111 6y ago
    If you are slapping together web templates with a Python back-end, then maybe not, but if you are automating industrial processes, build tools to improve data handling or work on any technical computational stuff, then absolutely yes. I expect someone to be able to reason abstractly. There are still plenty of jobs that require excellent technical skills.
  - letstryagain2 6y ago
    I learned recursive programming decades ago in high school. (Solve the Towers of Babylon with recursive algo). So, yes. Somebody calling himself a programmer or engineer should be able to produce this.
    - andi999 6y ago
      To me this seems similiar to if you want to call yourself a physician, you need to be able to speak latin. Its true (at least need to pass an exam), but it is only signaling, and no just having a few latin derived labels.
      - letstryagain2 6y ago
        I am not a programmer. But a guy not being able to program a simple recursive function? Really? In a programming language of his or her choice?
    - nullsense 6y ago
phonebucket 6y ago
> When I got out of college, I applied to about 250 jobs and only got 3 calls. Luckily one of those did pan out. > I keep hearing how there's a war for technical talent. I guess I don't have any. When I left academia, I struggled for 6 months to get a job. Then, 6 months into my first data scientist role, my company had to downscale and the whole data science team (me included) laid off. I got three offers in two weeks following that, even though I was more or less the same candidate as 6 months earlier. That one line on my CV of having a modicum of commercial experience made such a big difference.
- gen220 6y ago
  This is the reality. Having any work experience at all is huge. I thankfully/sometimes-by-accident worked 5 internships during my 4.5 years in my upper-middling college, and had no problem picking a place to work afterwards. I had many friends who over-indexed on grades and had 0-2 internships. Many of them were really smart, but couldn't get the foot in the door for an interview. Experience (including internships at legitimate companies) will get you past the the resume screen and recruiter call. From that point on, it's your interviewing skill that counts most.
  - giantg2 6y ago
    True. The only experience I had was as a freelance web and android dev.
confidantlake 6y ago
There isn't. If there were, they wouldn't put experienced candidates through all day interviews and fail them if they don't solve every leetcode question thrown at them.

krallja 6y ago

Keep a spreadsheet or Trello board.