

Two months of work and 0 dollars - edgar_di

I'm new to web development, and have worked for two months creating iteration after iteration of my personal portfolio www.smaugh.net  however I haven't being able to find a job or to make a single dollar out of my work. Please help! what am I doing wrong? this is my passion! I really love writing code and dream to become amazing at it.
======
fekberg
1\. Did you contact any recruiters on LinkedIn?

2\. Did you call up any companies in your city even if they don't have any
jobs listed?

3\. Have you tried applying for jobs that might sound "too hard"? Often
recruiters up the level in the job applications but when it's in fact not
really needed.

4\. Open-source your CV/the website you made and show possible companies how
awesome your coding is.

5\. Call recruiters, e-mail recruiters, knock on their doors, call companies
and e-mail them even if they don't have any jobs listed.

6\. Build up your brand in social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc) I get
contacted on LinkedIn a lot and I know a lot of my friends do too.

Good luck!

~~~
edgar_di
Great advice. This is the true wonder of HN community To-do 1\. sing up to
Linkedin (should have done it from the beginning) 2\. call every Wev dev
company in Melbourne 3\. be brave 4\. open source 5\. call some more 6\. Use
social media

Thank you! this is the kind of advice I was craving for

------
lutusp
> I'm new to web development, and have worked for two months creating
> iteration after iteration of my personal portfolio ...

The problem is obvious -- when you have spent as much time creating successful
Web content as you have spent writing your CV, job offers will start pouring
in.

> I really love writing code and dream to become amazing at it.

Someday you will be able to say, "I've spent years honing my Web development
skills, and I'm objectively very good at it -- here is a list of my successful
projects." When that happens, you will have to disconnect your phone in order
to get any work done.

Employers don't want to hear how passionate you are about eventually learning
how to code. They want to hear how passionate you are about repeating your
many past successes.

If necessary, take volunteer assignments that will wind up on display on the
Web with your name attached to them. Then when you rewrite your CV, you can
include evidence of your abilities.

------
ScottWhigham
This thread is weird. On one reply, someone says "Sign up to Linked In"!
Another reply says, "Sign up at angel.co" and says the typical, "Worked for
me!" reply. This isn't HN-like at all. HN is supposed to be helpful and offer
real advice, not "Sign up at this website" type of replies.

OP - you are confused, in more ways than you think. Are you trying to "find
work", or are you trying to freelance ("make a single dollar out of my work"),
or both? You ask, "What am I doing wrong?" - until you tell us what "success"
looks like, we can't help you. You've given us a "portfolio" and a vague "Help
me, please!" post here - that's just not enough for anyone to give you
meaningful, actionable advice. If you act on any of the advice you've been
given thus far, you're just doing it because it feels like you are doing
something....

Tell us more details about what you want to actually do and you'll get better
responses.

------
pdx
I'm sure this is _not_ your actual problem, but I was lamenting how hard to
spell, your domain name was as I typed it into my browser. "But, I thought,
what can he do, it is his name". Then I clicked, and saw that your name is
actually Edger Diaz, not Smaaugh.

So, along with the other suggestions, how about something easy to spell, like
hackdiaz.com, updiaz.com, wisediaz.com, etc.

------
Jeremy1026
Well, you never really say you are looking for work. You have buttons to view
your CV, and a method to contact. But you never REALLY say that you are
looking for work, or what kind of work (freelance, consulting, full-time,
contract) you want to do.

~~~
edgar_di
You are right... what I have done so far is send messages stating my intent to
possible employers with a link to my site. This has proven futile. I will do
as you suggest, Thank you!

------
nayefc
angel.co - The best place to find tech jobs. I got almost 40 interviews in 3
months on it and ended up with a few nice offers.

You seem to be based in Australia though and I'm not sure how engaged the
Australian community is on AngelList.

