

Ask HN: How do you get recruited? - JoeCortopassi

It seems like a common theme when I read threads about jobs/pay:<p>1) Most people agree that $40,000 a year is barely 'minimum wage' when it comes to programming of any sort.<p>2) Recruiters are always bugging them.<p>3) Right now is the 'hot market' for developers.<p>So what's a developer to do if they are making 'minimum wage' in the programmer's Bull Market? How does one get so lucky to have the problem of people calling them up for better jobs?
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malyk
Last november I was sitting around with time on my hands and decided to update
my LinkedIn profile. I wrote a long-form, pseudo-essay resume. A week later I
got a call from a recruiter who hooked me up with one interview. Another week
after that I got called by another recruiter who put me in touch with 12 other
companies. I got offers from three of them and I think I would have gotten a
fourth if I hadn't accepted one of the first three before getting through the
second interview.

I didn't think that my resume was all that special having worked for DC area
government contractors my whole career, but everyone was super excited to talk
to me and I went to second or third interviews for 11 of the 13 places I spoke
with.

So...update your LinkedIn profile and give a lot of data. Get a github account
(honestly, I had basically nothing there and still don't, but it's a good
thing to be able to point too), and try and get active in some local
development groups/message boards/newsgroups.

Good luck!

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MrMike
Just happened to a few friends of mine. They were pretty "anti-social-media
sites", but I convinced them to set up a LinkedIn profile (as public as I
could get them to set the privacy settings) and an about.me page... and set up
reciprocal links between the two. They fully fleshed out their profile on LI
including the technologies in which they are well versed. They happened to
live outside of a hot market, but were looking to move to one, and they set
their location as the hot market. Within a few days, they had a few recruiters
that had reached out and several job interviews lined up or in progress. All
this happened within the span on a couple of weeks. I'm not saying it's a
recipe for success for everyone; the people I'm talking about are seriously
amazing developers, with skill sets that reach far beyond just writing code.

Edit: I'm not a recruiter, but I'd be happy to take a look at your LI/A.me
pages if you decide to set them up and give you feedback.

~~~
JoeCortopassi
Don't have an About.me, but here's my LinkedIn. Definitely appreciate any
tips: <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joe-cortopassi/24/76b/5b9>

~~~
MrMike
So, at first glance (sorry pressed for time right now), there are a couple of
spelling/grammar issues you should tackle. More importantly, there is no
description for what you currently do at Trinnovations. You list some of your
specialties, which is great, but there's no context on how you use/used them
in your previous/current jobs.

I would set up an about.me page and link to your LI. Link out from LI to your
about.me. Start blogging if you think you can fit it in. Even if it's filled
with entries about what you learned/did/achieved/figured out that day or week.
The more technical the better.

And, as was mentioned in another comment: You're close to a hot spot already.
Close is stretching it considering the drive from IE to Santa Monica, but, do
it anyway. Do it on a Saturday. Go to Coloft in the morning, get a day pass,
and work on something. Take breaks and meet others. Not sure what to break the
ice with? Try something like "Hey, so is coloft always this energetic
(/vibrant/quiet/boring/lively/productive/whatever)". Ask what they're working
on. Listen. They'll ask you the same.

Don't let yourself make up excuses. You're close enough to a really hot market
where companies are climbing over each other for talent. If you want it, make
it happen.

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codeslush
How good are you man? Your profile says Objective-C. Get out there and show
some stuff! Startup Weekend, Hackathons, local meet-ups, pick an open source
project for something and contribute, etc... BE SEEN in the REAL world.

Aside from the above: Do you have friends in the biz? Referrals are the best
way to real jobs, IMHO. Do you respond to the monthly posts here on HN where
people are seeking expertise? Where are you located?

EDIT: To answer your question: You get recruited by being good. You also need
to be visible. Create value and you will be found!

~~~
JoeCortopassi
Zero friends in the business (besides the people I work with). Getting into
programming came out of the blue for me.

Edit: For reference, here is a little weekend iPhone project I just started -
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF1KcbNjZ7Y>

~~~
codeslush
Seriously? You're in freakin' LA (or near enough to count - from your
LinkedIn) - get your ass out of your house and in the streets. Go to Santa
Monica. Go to CoLoft. Go to LASW (la.startupweekend.org). Go to any number of
the numerous meetups out here. Get GOOD and get FOCUSED. You, my man, have no
excuses! Not trying to be hard, but am being real. I would have thought you
were from some remote area or something, but rather, you're right in the
middle of the hot spot. Be seen.

~~~
JoeCortopassi
Honestly didn't know LA was a big scene. It's a good 2 hour drive to get out
there from where I live (Temecula/Murrieta) area, but if it's as strong of a
scene as it sounds like, maybe I need to start going out there.

~~~
codeslush
Joe - there is a ton of opportunity near you - San Diego, Orange County,
LA...I suggested Santa Monica because it's a hot spot of hot spots right now -
at least for start-up oriented people. I mentioned CoLoft, because the owners
are fantastic and have a lot of great events going on. Go to them and check it
out. They have a website - get involved in a meeting or two. I know the drive
is long, but it will ultimately be worth it. You may have to endure it for a
few months, maybe not so long. The investment of time, if you can get from
point a to point b, is worth it.

I looked at your iPhone app (via YouTube). Why is this not released yet?
What's holding it up? It's a basic app, but it demonstrates you can write an
iPhone app - and that market is REALLY hot, EVERYWHERE. You should be able to
get remote gigs as a contractor pretty easily. Your best bet is to release it
and then promote yourself. Release it and then post back here that you
released it. You'll get good feedback (like: left align the categories, right
align the totals, or something like that).

You really do have a lot of opportunity all around you. I was a bit
insensitive in my prior post. For all I know you CAN'T get out of the house.
Shame on me for that. If you need help, let me know. I will not hold your hand
and give you every single detail, but I will provide enough info or
suggestions to get you moving in the right direction so that you can get in
front of the opportunities if you're willing and able.

~~~
JoeCortopassi
Don't even sweat the comments, I didn't take it as offensive at all. If
anything it was super encouraging. I guess I kind of assumed that I was
missing out by not being in the Silicon Valley area, but it sounds like I have
more opportunity than I thought.

The iPhone app is close to being done, but I feel like it's missing a few
things to be a true MVP (ability to export data). It's honestly just been a
weekend project (<10 hours), that I made to help my wife and some of her
friends. Sounds like I need to get it up ASAP though, if for no other reason
than a resume builder that shows ability.

Appreciate all the feedback. It's hard learning in a vacuum, and it can be
refreshing to get a fresh perspective.

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tdfx
I submitted a 3 line patch to Tornado and got an email a few months later from
a Facebook recruiter. I'm fairly certain they would never actually hire me but
if you're not getting any emails from clueless recruiters you must really be
hiding yourself from the internet. Get out on GitHub and get involved in
stuff.

Edit: If you're even mildly competent in the things you listed on your HN
profile then you'd be one of the top 10 candidates I've interviewed in the
past couple years for "PHP developer" positions.

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MonkeyAttack
$40k doesn't mean anything. What does your market look like, and how much
experience do you have? Depending on what part of the world/country you live
in, how much experience you personally have in your specialty, and how hot
your specialty is, that might be normal.

As for actually getting better offers, online social media is great, but also
try going to local user groups, conventions, and the like. A person can better
judge you than a keyword search engine can.

~~~
JoeCortopassi
Apparently, from reading the other comments, I'm within a couple hours drive
from a hot market (LA). But I like what you mention about local user groups
and such. Do you know of any tools for finding those kind of groups/meetings?

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kennyma
Being in Temecula doesn't help much since there's hardly any tech companies
out there. You are closed enough to LA that it's worth making a drive once a
week to go to a tech meetup or work out of CoLoft to expand your network.
Surround yourself with other smart people in the industry. The worse thing
that can happen is that you learn something.

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makecheck
For me (many years ago) it really helped to have my résumé posted online and
linked from the site of the free software that I was working on. Sometimes
these things are noticed.

~~~
JoeCortopassi
Have my LinkedIn profile setup, but I guess I could put my resume up as well.
Do you mind me asking what software you were working on? Was it an open source
project?

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makecheck
Open source, yes. It was a terminal (MacTerm), it happened to be used by a
hiring manager at a company.

I don't know that any employers ever looked at the source code. But publishing
the source probably helps because they can see what your programming is like
right from the start.

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glimcat
Network.

Be awesome.

