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This is a fair enough take from your position as (I expect) an experienced, seasoned developer who knows your own value. The power dynamic is tilted in your fav

This is a fair enough take from your position as (I expect) an experienced, seasoned developer who knows your own value. The power dynamic is tilted in your favor because there are way fewer people looking for work at your level, and if a company needs somebody with your skillset they're going to do what it takes to get you. If you're a recent grand or early in your career, though, you just don't have that kind of clout. You're going to jump through these hoops because you need the job, and you're going to be competing with people in a similar position doing the same.

gregjor 4y ago
Yes I understand that people earlier in their career don't have the clout of long experience. They also don't usually have a solid professional network, which can help tremendously because personal referrals are much better than blind applications. Developers trying to get a break early in their career should remember that companies want to hire people they perceive as adding value and fitting in to their team and organization. Lots of people can crank out code. Just knowing a programming language or framework is not a competitive advantage in the job market. You need to communicate good people and team skills, and either domain expertise or curiosity about the business domain. I've interviewed too many inexperienced programmers who have focused solely on technical skills that, while hard for them to acquire, don't actually stand out much in the field of candidates. Some time learning to speak to a group without anxiety (Toastmasters, for example) can have more value than learning how to traverse a tree in Python. Early in my own career companies commonly hired people with little experience, fresh out of school or eager self-taught programmers, and then trained and mentored them. Companies had to do that because of short supply, and because every computer system was proprietary and unique. Now companies won't put any effort into growing someone into a career, they want interchangeable people they can slot into a job and get work out of right away. To differentiate yourself in those conditions you need contacts and reputation, or you need to come across as someone who can add value and commit to the organization. A good recruiter (admittedly not easy to find) can help a lot because good recruiters have contacts inside companies and can coach the candidate and maybe get around some internal roadblocks. I have some articles about job hunting and interviewing, more tilted to freelancing but possibly valuable for f/t job hunters, on my site typicalprogrammer.com. Opinionated, free, no ads, signups, popups, or affiliate links.

gregjor 4y ago

Yes I understand that people earlier in their career don't have the clout of long experience. They also don't usually have a solid professional network, which can help tremendously because personal referrals are much better than blind applications. Developers trying to get a break early in their career should remember that companies want to hire people they perceive as adding value and fitting in to their team and organization. Lots of people can crank out code. Just knowing a programming language or framework is not a competitive advantage in the job market. You need to communicate good people and team skills, and either domain expertise or curiosity about the business domain. I've interviewed too many inexperienced programmers who have focused solely on technical skills that, while hard for them to acquire, don't actually stand out much in the field of candidates. Some time learning to speak to a group without anxiety (Toastmasters, for example) can have more value than learning how to traverse a tree in Python. Early in my own career companies commonly hired people with little experience, fresh out of school or eager self-taught programmers, and then trained and mentored them. Companies had to do that because of short supply, and because every computer system was proprietary and unique. Now companies won't put any effort into growing someone into a career, they want interchangeable people they can slot into a job and get work out of right away. To differentiate yourself in those conditions you need contacts and reputation, or you need to come across as someone who can add value and commit to the organization. A good recruiter (admittedly not easy to find) can help a lot because good recruiters have contacts inside companies and can coach the candidate and maybe get around some internal roadblocks. I have some articles about job hunting and interviewing, more tilted to freelancing but possibly valuable for f/t job hunters, on my site typicalprogrammer.com. Opinionated, free, no ads, signups, popups, or affiliate links.