
Ask HN: I'm Looking for work - wturner
Hello,
my name is William.<p>I'm looking for entry level work in the bay area. I've been teaching myself how to program for two years. I've also recently enrolled in thinkful.com (starting soon) and have a small portfolio available online. I have very little professional experience doing web programming outside of my personal projects and have been teaching myself in a vacuum. With that said, this is a possible opportunity for your company to mold a new long term employee who is hungry and excited about the process.<p>Below is my homepage and SO account.<p>helpknow.com<p>http://stackoverflow.com/users/1152980/taoist<p>Thanks for reading.:)
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hmsimha
Upvoted because I'm in nearly exactly the same position as you (not that that
helps your situation -- I do have my heart set on Portland however). I
graduated in December with a bachelors in computer science after a somewhat
checkered 9-year relationship with higher education. In addition to throwing
myself to the mercy of the up-and-coming MOOC revolution to fill in some wide-
open gaps in knowledge I feel like my undergraduate education completely
failed to address, I also have several ideas I've been kicking around for side
projects that interest me and I want to start working on. My impression from
your website is that you are very motivated and accomplished for someone
lacking in a formal technical education (I'm guessing) and work experience.
Have you tried applying to entry-level positions at companies in your target
area with cover letters expanding on what you've written in this post?

~~~
wturner
All of the companies I've applied to have been via formal corporate processes
that either never get back to me or if I actually get my foot in the door
something happens where I blow it in a manner that is very superficial. For
example, I applied for an audio tester position ( non web related ) about 5
months ago that would have been perfect for my skill set and that I would have
absolutely loved. I built up a good rapport with the project leader. They then
gave me a basic online test about 3 weeks ago. Before they gave me the audio
section (which I'm confident I aced) they gave me a subsection asking me
questions about computer networking as well as a few questions that
technically I knew the answer to but the way they were phrased completely
confused the hell out of me. I then got a rejection email. Regardless, I'm
confident that I would have been perfect for the role even if I didn't know by
heart how to network a Windows system (I could easily look it up on Google and
figure it out without any problems). But to answer your question, no I haven't
created cover letters that are similar to this post. I try to phrase my cover
letters in the self interest of the company. Nobody wants to hear otherwise
and they simply don't have any reason to. One little secret though, about 8
months ago I went on a stream of interviews for web companies that give
programming and coding tests and I knew I would blow them. So I would just
suck it up, do them (and fail) and then I would go home and learn whatever it
is I was being tested on so I can parallel my skill set with the job market. I
make a habit of doing that now on every job interview/test I go on. If I fail
( which I usually do), I just make sure I make a compartmentalized note of
what they're looking for, then I go home and learn it - even if it takes me
weeks or months. My advice to you, since your probably younger than I am.
Whatever project ideas you have try and get something online and in front of
people. Even if it's just a basic version. And stay in that "state". So much
so that it becomes addictive and it imprints itself onto you and becomes the
norm.

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lifeisstillgood
I think you are aiming too broad. "Just a job - any job" makes it very hard to
decide if so done reading can or cannot help.

Can I suggest taking something you enjoy or work well on (maybe webrtc / html5
audio/video from your so comments maybe?) and focus on that. Look for
companies hiring in those areas, google for the libraries and see who has them
on their pages. Contact those people

I know it's a fair chunk of work but you are much much more likely to get a
good position out of it being focused and proactive.

~~~
wturner
I know it's about being focused and proactive. This post is an addendum to my
existing focus and proactivity. But seriously, it's a chicken and egg to even
know what I have to offer anyone. So little posts like this are my attempt to
break the dilemma.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
What you have to offer anyone sounds a lot like second guessing what employers
might want. Instead go for a solid grounding (sicp is a start) and find
something that is valuable (almost all software) and you enjoy (upto you,
audio?). If you lead they will want to employ you,

~~~
wturner
The book you mentioned looks great and ( I've heard of it ) but I'm kind of on
a tread mill at the moment. I do my best to nudge basic CS concepts in the
direction of my Javascript learning ( exploring basic sorting algorithms using
Javascript etc. ) The problem is there aren't any books like sicp that use
Javascript. Just to get familiar with Scheme to use that book might take me a
few months. So all my conceptual learning is taking place within Javascript,
while additionally learning to dodge the "bad parts" , dom manipulation, and
the entire web of intricacies of HTML-5. Within Javascript all that stuff is
part of having a strong foundation. I would love if there was a theoretical CS
Javascript equivalent of sicp. Thanks for the response.

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whichdan
Have you looked at the WhoIsHiring[1] threads? If you use some Google-Fu, you
can find some "Who is Hiring Interns" threads that are posted occasionally by
various users.

If you have any code you can show off, you should definitely throw it on
GitHub.

Best of luck!

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=whoishiring>

~~~
wturner
The problem with that route is I'm bit older and past the "intern level" age
and the other roles expect you to already know everything. I'm looking for an
entry level role where I can actually work with others to even begin to
understand a professional front-end work environment. I've tried the
telecommuting start up route where I work for peanuts and don't get paid until
a revenue benchmark it made (assuming it ever is). In my case the entire
experience felt pointless. No money and I wasn't learning anything. I actually
dont mind working for very little as long as I'm in an environment where I'm
learning something and actually have a purpose for being there.

Thanks for the thread regardless. I didn't know the who is hiring threads
worked like that.

~~~
jyu
It sounds like you want an entry level front end web dev position. Try to make
your future job title as specific as you can. "Front-end developer experienced
with JQuery and django interested in ecommerce" is better than a generic
"front-end entry level developer". You can start contacting people in the bay
area that have those job descriptions to figure out if that's what you really
want to do.

Once you have your next goal in mind, you can start optimizing towards that
goal. Can you get interviews? If not, optimize your skills / portfolio /
network to help get you interviews. Can you get job offers? If not, improve
your interview skills.

Here's a great post by Satvik Beri on how to manage 'Job Search Frustration'
by making the process into a more stepwise progression. <http://qr.ae/TpZGM>

~~~
wturner
Thanks, I saved the link and made note of the advice.

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tectonic
Send me an email - andrewcantino.com

~~~
wturner
done

