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>I feel like despite my lack of experience, find FOSS projects maintained by Big Tech and find ways to contribute value to those projects, this will get your f

>I feel like despite my lack of experience, find FOSS projects maintained by Big Tech and find ways to contribute value to those projects, this will get your foot in the door and will overcome the lack of experience and get you immediate attention from those already inside. This is a problem of visibility, not skill. The reality is that it's very difficult to get your message out when you're competing with so much other noise.

jsyang00 2y ago
This is a hard way to go, unless you are really very confident in your skills. OP, I would recommend trying to reach out directly for referrals on LinkedIn instead if you are not already. That will at least make it likely your resume will get looked at. It is correct that you have a visibility problem, not a skills one.
- casegg 2y ago
  Thank you for the advice. I've done that a few times for jobs i was particularly excited to apply for, but didn't think about it from the perspective you mentioned. I'll definitely do that from now on.
- sandwichukulele 2y ago
  OP states that they have gone through "After over 300 applications, I haven't even landed a single interview." This may be a "hard" way to go, but it is certainly a way to consider to prove yourself. You can reach out directly for referrals but not just can anyone do that, you have people who game the system with AI which adds to the noise (I can imagine a simple system with Large Language Model and a Large Action Model could be easily setup to repeat the process to request referrals on LinkedIn). Not everyone can create immediate value and this isn't something obvious to consider and why I suggest OP to do so.
- _akhe 2y ago
  Even with skills there's more than meets the eye to contributing to FOSS. You usually have to be in their Discord, have survived their mods long enough for people to appreciate your presence and help you provide. To get a PR in you have to be pretty actively using the project and be lucky enough to spot an issue worth fixing. Either that or you're going through Issues trying to find something important enough that someone isn't working on. Let's say you find the thing, you fork the repo (because you aren't on the team) make the change, open the PR, then it's back to Discord trying to get someone to look at the PR. Sometimes a miracle happens and they approve the PR, but you still aren't allowed to merge it, gotta usually bother them one last time to merge it. Worth it if it's a project you use all the time and you truly understand the codebase, I do this all the time with stuff I use, but nearly impossible if you're an outsider just trying to get a PR merged on something you don't use especially in a well-known repo.
casegg 2y ago
I managed to stumble across my first contribution to a popular open source project about 2 months ago but haven't actively looked for one since. It could be worthwhile to take another look, but it's hard to not feel the imposter syndrome.
- _akhe 2y ago
  Yeah especially in that scenario. Do something super trendy with LLMs or procedural pixel art or something and do a Show HN. Looking at nuance.js you seem to like writing libraries. The JavaScript side of AI needs lots of help with little utilities and stuff like this! I think a project + Show HN would: - build confidence - get eyes and feedback on your work - increase your legitmacy to others ultimately resulting in people contacting you Make it a point to show Hacker News something awesome every Friday until you get a job, would give you a metronome and carrot-on-a-stick at least - "hope" I think they call it
carlosjobim 2y ago
Nobody should work for free, especially not for the wealthiest companies in the world.
- sandwichukulele 2y ago
  You shouldn't have to game the system to get a job either, 300 application should be more than enough but it is not so. If I were desperate for work, it would also mean I have an abundance of time and I would use this time focused on those projects because it is one way I can think of to prove my business value. Focus on the root problem, that is find ways getting hired in the first place. You may not like my way but it is a definitive way

jsyang00 2y ago

This is a hard way to go, unless you are really very confident in your skills. OP, I would recommend trying to reach out directly for referrals on LinkedIn instead if you are not already. That will at least make it likely your resume will get looked at. It is correct that you have a visibility problem, not a skills one.

casegg 2y ago
Thank you for the advice. I've done that a few times for jobs i was particularly excited to apply for, but didn't think about it from the perspective you mentioned. I'll definitely do that from now on.
sandwichukulele 2y ago
OP states that they have gone through "After over 300 applications, I haven't even landed a single interview." This may be a "hard" way to go, but it is certainly a way to consider to prove yourself. You can reach out directly for referrals but not just can anyone do that, you have people who game the system with AI which adds to the noise (I can imagine a simple system with Large Language Model and a Large Action Model could be easily setup to repeat the process to request referrals on LinkedIn). Not everyone can create immediate value and this isn't something obvious to consider and why I suggest OP to do so.
_akhe 2y ago
Even with skills there's more than meets the eye to contributing to FOSS. You usually have to be in their Discord, have survived their mods long enough for people to appreciate your presence and help you provide. To get a PR in you have to be pretty actively using the project and be lucky enough to spot an issue worth fixing. Either that or you're going through Issues trying to find something important enough that someone isn't working on. Let's say you find the thing, you fork the repo (because you aren't on the team) make the change, open the PR, then it's back to Discord trying to get someone to look at the PR. Sometimes a miracle happens and they approve the PR, but you still aren't allowed to merge it, gotta usually bother them one last time to merge it. Worth it if it's a project you use all the time and you truly understand the codebase, I do this all the time with stuff I use, but nearly impossible if you're an outsider just trying to get a PR merged on something you don't use especially in a well-known repo.

casegg 2y ago

I managed to stumble across my first contribution to a popular open source project about 2 months ago but haven't actively looked for one since. It could be worthwhile to take another look, but it's hard to not feel the imposter syndrome.

_akhe 2y ago
Yeah especially in that scenario. Do something super trendy with LLMs or procedural pixel art or something and do a Show HN. Looking at nuance.js you seem to like writing libraries. The JavaScript side of AI needs lots of help with little utilities and stuff like this! I think a project + Show HN would: - build confidence - get eyes and feedback on your work - increase your legitmacy to others ultimately resulting in people contacting you Make it a point to show Hacker News something awesome every Friday until you get a job, would give you a metronome and carrot-on-a-stick at least - "hope" I think they call it

carlosjobim 2y ago

Nobody should work for free, especially not for the wealthiest companies in the world.

sandwichukulele 2y ago
You shouldn't have to game the system to get a job either, 300 application should be more than enough but it is not so. If I were desperate for work, it would also mean I have an abundance of time and I would use this time focused on those projects because it is one way I can think of to prove my business value. Focus on the root problem, that is find ways getting hired in the first place. You may not like my way but it is a definitive way