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Ask HN: What's your best advice for finding an entry-level remote job? (2023)

jimmychoozyx 3y ago
- Move to the San Jose area (AKA Silicon Valley). Goods & services are not uniformly distributed-- so you might have to move to the place which specializes in your given industry. e.g. Tourism -> Florida. Fishing -> Alaska. IT Work -> Bay Area. - Demonstrate the skills by building a prototype product and keeping all the code in Github - A web portfolio showing projects-- i.e. demonstrating skills-- such as prototype projects, or coursework from relevant classes (e.g. a database design, a statistics script, etc.) - Have your resume on at least 5 different resume sites - Consider making 2 or 3+ different resumes, each for a slightly different job (e.g. Software Engineer, Sales Engineer, Backend-focued, Frontend-focused, Full Stack, etc.)
- Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
  Appreciate the feedback. One concern, it's not super easy to move to the US to get started in the first place.
  - jimmychoozyx 3y ago
    Apologies for assuming you were in the US. The idea is basically: Move to the place which has the highest ratio of IT jobs to people. So, that might be your nation's capital city, or perhaps a different city with a history of technology or business innovation. Or, if you're interested in a different field or occupation-- seek out the city in your region or nation which has a reputation for a competitive advantage in that field or occupation. Silicon Valley is successful in IT, in part, because the semi-conductor industry began there. "In 1956, Shockley left Bell and founded his own company — Shockley Semiconductor Labs. It was the first company to make transistors out of silicon and not germanium. The company was founded in Mountain View, California"
    - Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
      Any particular platforms one can get started with? Upwork and Fiver are very saturated...
      - jimmychoozyx 3y ago
        A couple years ago I checked those platforms, put my profile up. But got nothing out of it. I get a lot more out of approaching small business owners, or promoting my skills at networking events. I'd say... Visit a restaurant or cafe near you. Ask if they have a website and even if they do, offer to make an improved version.
throwawaysleep 3y ago
Lie on your resume to make you not entry level and then apply for the crappy contract type roles at places like Ford and Adobe.
pacifika 3y ago
A lot of places have freelancer pools. Get a few small freelance jobs then in remote companies then apply when a position opens up
muzani 3y ago
Figure out what you want to do. Find someone who has done that, often 3-5 years ahead of you. Ask them to mentor you. Probably not "do you want to mentor me" but rather "how did you do x?" You should be pretty clear on what you want to do. The mentor tells you how they did it. They could be wrong. Find someone who is right. I once asked someone more junior to mentor me. He was like "bro you got it the wrong way around" He gave good advice nonetheless and we're still good friends. It's not a perfect process, but like dating, it's a two way market and the disadvantaged side has to move first. The mentor usually need someone a little more junior doing the same thing or they're connected to someone who asks them if they "know someone".

- Move to the San Jose area (AKA Silicon Valley). Goods & services are not uniformly distributed-- so you might have to move to the place which specializes in your given industry. e.g. Tourism -> Florida. Fishing -> Alaska. IT Work -> Bay Area. - Demonstrate the skills by building a prototype product and keeping all the code in Github - A web portfolio showing projects-- i.e. demonstrating skills-- such as prototype projects, or coursework from relevant classes (e.g. a database design, a statistics script, etc.) - Have your resume on at least 5 different resume sites - Consider making 2 or 3+ different resumes, each for a slightly different job (e.g. Software Engineer, Sales Engineer, Backend-focued, Frontend-focused, Full Stack, etc.)

Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
Appreciate the feedback. One concern, it's not super easy to move to the US to get started in the first place.
- jimmychoozyx 3y ago
  Apologies for assuming you were in the US. The idea is basically: Move to the place which has the highest ratio of IT jobs to people. So, that might be your nation's capital city, or perhaps a different city with a history of technology or business innovation. Or, if you're interested in a different field or occupation-- seek out the city in your region or nation which has a reputation for a competitive advantage in that field or occupation. Silicon Valley is successful in IT, in part, because the semi-conductor industry began there. "In 1956, Shockley left Bell and founded his own company — Shockley Semiconductor Labs. It was the first company to make transistors out of silicon and not germanium. The company was founded in Mountain View, California"
  - Kalpeshbhalekar 3y ago
    Any particular platforms one can get started with? Upwork and Fiver are very saturated...
    - jimmychoozyx 3y ago
      A couple years ago I checked those platforms, put my profile up. But got nothing out of it. I get a lot more out of approaching small business owners, or promoting my skills at networking events. I'd say... Visit a restaurant or cafe near you. Ask if they have a website and even if they do, offer to make an improved version.

throwawaysleep 3y ago

Lie on your resume to make you not entry level and then apply for the crappy contract type roles at places like Ford and Adobe.

pacifika 3y ago

A lot of places have freelancer pools. Get a few small freelance jobs then in remote companies then apply when a position opens up

muzani 3y ago

Figure out what you want to do. Find someone who has done that, often 3-5 years ahead of you. Ask them to mentor you. Probably not "do you want to mentor me" but rather "how did you do x?" You should be pretty clear on what you want to do. The mentor tells you how they did it. They could be wrong. Find someone who is right. I once asked someone more junior to mentor me. He was like "bro you got it the wrong way around" He gave good advice nonetheless and we're still good friends. It's not a perfect process, but like dating, it's a two way market and the disadvantaged side has to move first. The mentor usually need someone a little more junior doing the same thing or they're connected to someone who asks them if they "know someone".