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Ask HN: Best underrated way to get a job in tech during a hiring slowdown?
My sister-in-law is graduating at probably the worst time. I've done referrals and helped her build a portfolio, but it's pretty bleak right now.
Any other ideas?
- duxup 1y agoFind a small company, there are lots of little software companies that work in niche areas. They may not pay as much up front but you get your foot in the door and at small organizations you can touch everything. Don’t be afraid to look at weird industries you might not associate with tech.
- tolarewaju3 1y agoAhh this is good advice. Thank you!!
- mmarian 1y agoAgreed, I got into full-stack development by working at startups first.
- sargstuff 1y agoMake use of a hacker space[1] / start a version of Home Brew Computer club [0] and/or other local area club affiliated with a professional organization / join,participate in a related professional organization subgroup activity(s)[2] [0] : https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-happened-at-the-homebrew-computer-club-50-years-ago-apple-was-born-and-a-revolution-began/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-happened-at-the-homebrew-... https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/personal-computers/17/312 [1] : https://hackerspaces.org/ https://hackerspaces.org/ [2] : a) https://www.acm.org/ https://www.acm.org/ b) https://www.ieee.org/ c) start a side project to keep/retain skills aka https://makezine.com/ d) "top 10" professional organizations : https://technologymagazine.com/top10/top-10-technology-associations
- tolarewaju3 1y agoI’d never thought about this actually. I’ll definitely check out hacker spaces
- toomuchtodo 1y agoLocal/state government tech work. Pay is lower, job security higher.
- tolarewaju3 1y agoGood idea!!
- VirusNewbie 1y agoContribute substantially to large open source projects with active communities.
- tolarewaju3 1y agoThis is good and actionable. I work for Red Hat, so I actually love this
- investa 1y agoHelp her by telling her how to best apply and prep for Red Hat interviews. Yes nepotism.
- markus_zhang 1y agoMarrying a high management?
- tolarewaju3 1y agoLOLL
- markus_zhang 1y agoDefinitely an underrated way!
- revskill 1y agoYou can marry more than 1 in some regions.
- sph 1y ago> it's pretty bleak right now. My brother in $DEITY, it’s been bleak since 2023 at the very least. Two years later it’s no longer just a phase. Forget underrated, the only thing that works is referrals and word of mouth. As you’re already in the field, your direct contacts are her best option.
- bayareapsycho 1y agoidk I just spammed my resume everywhere and did a bunch of leetcode and that was enough, apply to 5 different roles every day and you'll eventually get something
- giantg2 1y agoIt is a numbers game, but I would apply to at least 10 per day. It might take thousands of applications and months of applying.
- worldsavior 1y agoDoing open source contributions. It shows you have actual experience and interest.
- giantg2 1y agoThe best "underrated" way is to lowball yourself. Apply to as many places as possible, including non-tech companies. When asked, give a starting salary that's at the bottom of the range for the position or even slightly under (use indeed, glassdoor, levels, etc for the range). Because she's a she, I strongly recommend looking at large non-tech companies that promote equality. There's probably some equality index or ESG style list to help identify them. I know they exost necaude my company gives a strong preference to female candidates, even internally for promotions and stuff. I can't give my company name but I'm sure there are others out there.
- curtisblaine 1y agoI'm not sure your company is operating legally in most western countries.
- giantg2 1y agoConsidering that I've seen the preference for gender in hiring negatively impact qualified candidates with disabilities, you might be right. But nobody can prove it, nor does anyone care.
- shumakriss 1y agoIf nobody can prove it, why give advice based on it?
- austin-cheney 1y agoIn IT there are three highly generalized routes to consider: * Low barrier of entry jobs, like most web developer jobs. Good luck, it’s a race to the bottom but it’s also where most of the jobs are. The goal here is to pad your resume with nonsense and compete with hundreds of other people that are also padding their resumes. * Jobs that require licenses and/or certifications. These will be jobs like cloud infrastructure support, cyber defense, routing/switching, project management, and operations. These jobs are harder to qualify for and are fewer than the prior bullet point but are a much safer bet and tend to pay more. * High talent jobs, which include the gaming industry and more engineering type jobs. These jobs are the fewest and not as secure as the prior category. They also are the most variable in compensation, but they tend to be the most fulfilling for people with high intelligence or high creativity. Know which way you want to go because the means to achieve these jobs differ radically.
- nicbou 1y agoI am out of touch with the current market, so take my advice with a grain of salt. I got my start by bringing tech skills in underserved industries. There is so much need for small custom software to fit local business needs, but most devs prefer bigger, longer projects in established companies. Being a tech wizard in a small business can be super fun.
- aristofun 1y agoAdvertising you are selling yourself at a great discount
- irf1 1y agoContribute to open source, solve GitHub bounties, do contract work. See https://algora.io https://algora.io
- danghiredme 1y ago[flagged]
- rasulkireev 1y agoI got the job of my dream at the company of my dream by sending an 1 min improvised introduction video + a lengthy cover letter answering all the questions in the job description. That's the first time I ever tried it and will likely be the last one (since i don't want to go to a different company). Caveat: this will prob work for a smaller company, not Google-like. Wrote a small post about it: https://gettjalerts.com/blog/tech-job-video-intro https://gettjalerts.com/blog/tech-job-video-intro
- akudha 1y agocopyright year is still 2024 in the footer
- rasulkireev 1y agodamn, should use https://getfullyear.com/ https://getfullyear.com/
- whatamidoingyo 1y agoThis has got to be a joke, right? Edit: okay, yeah. Definitely a joke. Quite funny.
- rasulkireev 1y agofixed