6 ms·

If you can pass employer coding challenges as easily as you say, the rest is low hanging fruit. It’s hard for me to imagine what the problem is on your end. I h

If you can pass employer coding challenges as easily as you say, the rest is low hanging fruit. It’s hard for me to imagine what the problem is on your end. I have the complete inverse problem. Here’s what I would do: Make up a name for your own personal company and get a matching domain. Make a basic website with your domain. Under the resume/CV entry for this make-believe-company write that you perform contract work and list projects you’ve done.Frame the entry to implicitly infer they were paid gigs. Don’t lie about them being personal projects but don’t say they were for free either! In the date entry for the job type a value that spans a time value of your choice, say 3 years. Congrats you’ve now been writing code professionally for three years. With your new contracting company you have the scaffolding to get new paid projects to boot. Welcome to professional programming.

Beefin 4y ago
this. i did the same :)
pizza234 4y ago
Not sure this is an effective strategy (but who knows, it may work in some cases). As a dev who's been on the hiring side, it's very easy to spot people who adopt this strategy (where devs even define themselves as CEOs/CTOs... of fictitious companies), and for me it's a yellow flag. I personally prefer somebody who's very explicit (that is, looking for a junior position), but has considerable projects to showcase.
- whoopdeepoo 4y ago
  I followed a similar strategy and was hired as a senior. Granted I had ~8 years programming experience before being hired but none of it was as a salaried SWE.
the_only_law 4y ago
> It’s hard for me to imagine what the problem is on your end. I imagine there are plenty candidates who can also pass the screens, but have a more substantial resume, among other things.
lrvick 4y ago
I founded a community called #! 20 years ago where anyone can show up and start hacking on community projects and get some mentorship. We sometimes put bounties on things we wish to see done for the community, but in general we are a non-profit digital hackerspace and do not pay ourselves or anyone else. We encourage anyone that contributes that is unemployed to put it on their resume and we are happy to be referrals for them. Helped a ton of people get jobs in tech over the years.
- culi 4y ago
  Plug for exercism.org (I'm not affiliated). They have "learning paths" for a large number of different programming languages and volunteer experts that will do code reviews for you. The community is fantastic
- watchdogtimer 4y ago
  Do you have a link to this organization?
  - lrvick 4y ago
    https://hashbang.sh https://hashbang.sh Not much on the website. You will find us at the end of the rabbit hole.
- ensemblehq 4y ago
  This is a great idea! Would be curious how you got started. I’d love to start something similar in our local community.
culi 4y ago
For a junior it's not usually the coding challenges that are the biggest hurdle. It's getting an interview in the first place. Let alone having your resume looked at if you don't have prior industry experience
seattle_spring 4y ago
It's easy to see right through this little charade. If you label yourself as "CEO" or some related nonsense, any competent HM will throw your application directly into the garbage.
- dan-robertson 4y ago
  At least in the U.K. one-person contracting companies are reasonably common. Though I do find the GP suggestion weird.
  - atraac 4y ago
    I work as a contractor in a single-man company because in Poland it's incredibly beneficial to regular employment contract tax wise and 60-80% of polish developers do the same. I don't think I know even one person that would call himself CEO of his 'company', while working as a contractor. It would be... honestly, cringe.
  - seattle_spring 4y ago
    I’m sure it is, but I don’t think it’s really relevant to my comment: working at a “one-person contracting company” makes you an “independent contractor” and absolutely NOT a “CEO”— not even a little close.
    - dan-robertson 4y ago
      Oh, I think I misread your comment above, sorry.
- whoopdeepoo 4y ago
  Just say independent contractor
neontomo 4y ago
This doesn't suit me very well, but thank you for the suggestion.

Beefin 4y ago

this. i did the same :)

pizza234 4y ago

Not sure this is an effective strategy (but who knows, it may work in some cases). As a dev who's been on the hiring side, it's very easy to spot people who adopt this strategy (where devs even define themselves as CEOs/CTOs... of fictitious companies), and for me it's a yellow flag. I personally prefer somebody who's very explicit (that is, looking for a junior position), but has considerable projects to showcase.

whoopdeepoo 4y ago
I followed a similar strategy and was hired as a senior. Granted I had ~8 years programming experience before being hired but none of it was as a salaried SWE.

the_only_law 4y ago

> It’s hard for me to imagine what the problem is on your end. I imagine there are plenty candidates who can also pass the screens, but have a more substantial resume, among other things.

lrvick 4y ago

I founded a community called #! 20 years ago where anyone can show up and start hacking on community projects and get some mentorship. We sometimes put bounties on things we wish to see done for the community, but in general we are a non-profit digital hackerspace and do not pay ourselves or anyone else. We encourage anyone that contributes that is unemployed to put it on their resume and we are happy to be referrals for them. Helped a ton of people get jobs in tech over the years.

culi 4y ago
Plug for exercism.org (I'm not affiliated). They have "learning paths" for a large number of different programming languages and volunteer experts that will do code reviews for you. The community is fantastic
watchdogtimer 4y ago
Do you have a link to this organization?
- lrvick 4y ago
  https://hashbang.sh https://hashbang.sh Not much on the website. You will find us at the end of the rabbit hole.
ensemblehq 4y ago
This is a great idea! Would be curious how you got started. I’d love to start something similar in our local community.

culi 4y ago

For a junior it's not usually the coding challenges that are the biggest hurdle. It's getting an interview in the first place. Let alone having your resume looked at if you don't have prior industry experience

seattle_spring 4y ago

It's easy to see right through this little charade. If you label yourself as "CEO" or some related nonsense, any competent HM will throw your application directly into the garbage.

dan-robertson 4y ago
At least in the U.K. one-person contracting companies are reasonably common. Though I do find the GP suggestion weird.
- atraac 4y ago
  I work as a contractor in a single-man company because in Poland it's incredibly beneficial to regular employment contract tax wise and 60-80% of polish developers do the same. I don't think I know even one person that would call himself CEO of his 'company', while working as a contractor. It would be... honestly, cringe.
- seattle_spring 4y ago
  I’m sure it is, but I don’t think it’s really relevant to my comment: working at a “one-person contracting company” makes you an “independent contractor” and absolutely NOT a “CEO”— not even a little close.
  - dan-robertson 4y ago
    Oh, I think I misread your comment above, sorry.
whoopdeepoo 4y ago
Just say independent contractor

neontomo 4y ago

This doesn't suit me very well, but thank you for the suggestion.