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I had 1.5 years of experience (in China). I hustled hard in SF, got rejected by 100+ companies, and really, really struggled to scrape by on some set price cont

I had 1.5 years of experience (in China). I hustled hard in SF, got rejected by 100+ companies, and really, really struggled to scrape by on some set price contract gigs. All of that changed one night when I showed a demo of a browser game I'd made at a meetup some Groupon devs happened to be at. That lead to a phone screen, an onsite, a job and then never another time when I couldn't get a decent tech job. Of course my skills improved over time, but the biggest delta was just getting a single name on my resume that hiring recruiters respected. I sometimes wonder how many people are out there are like me a decade ago—able to do well in whiteboard interviews, capable enough to contribute, eager... and consistently denied a chance to even try.

AlotOfReading 4y ago
I suspect the answer is rather high. I had similar experiences getting back into tech when I decided archeology wasn't the field for me. I had about some years of experience paying my way through college with contract dev work, but after several offers were retracted once a execs saw my background I managed to find an old school hacker in SF said yes. They were filling in while the real boss was on medical leave. When the real boss got back, I was immediately informed shouldn't have been hired despite doing my job well. Years and companies later, I've brought it up in those diversity hiring meetings, but that's not the sort of changes that are being sought at most places.