

Stuck and Discouraged - ineedajob

I&#x27;ve been following this site for 3-4 years. Recently graduated college and decided to move out to Seattle to look for a job. 7 months of this so far and I can&#x27;t believe the general lack of interest in what I&#x27;ve done and can do.... I knew I was taking a risk in moving out here to look, so I initially planned to stay for 3 months, but now I think I&#x27;ve overstayed. I&#x27;m getting sick of this feeling and everyone telling me that &quot;I&#x27;ll find something&quot;.<p>Is anyone hiring a web&#x2F;mobile&#x2F;desktop (php, javascript, obj-c, java) developer in Seattle or hiring remote workers? I wish I could afford to move out anywhere to interview, but that is impossible without assistance at this point...<p>or can recommend me to your companies&#x27; open positions?<p>I&#x27;m a self taught programmer and I know I have the motivation to do what I do best...
======
calcsam
Seven months and you haven't gotten more specific feedback than 'you'll find
something' on where you're lacking?

You need to figure out specifically what's wrong and pose a more specific
question. Otherwise no one will be able to help.

Do you have any projects to show your prowess?

How many job applications have you pushed out? Are you targeting them?
(web/mobile/desktop is reallly broad.) How is your networking? (the
interpersonal type)

Do you get interviews? If you do get them, where do you tend to stumble?

This is my experience -- four months of self-taught programming to a job, in
the Bay Area.

[https://medium.com/life-hacks/3e990967a1f3](https://medium.com/life-
hacks/3e990967a1f3) [https://medium.com/tech-
blogging/79fcfd2d66e8](https://medium.com/tech-blogging/79fcfd2d66e8)

I understand you're discouraged, but this post comes off as whiny. Consider
this a kick in the pants.

~~~
ineedajob
I've applied without much success on craigslist, indeed, cybercoders,
simplyhired, weworkremotely, stackoverflow careers.

1 or 2 interviews per month and yes, I do ask for feedback... Most will tell
you that you they are going go forward with other candidates or other vague
saying which doesn't tell me much.

Whiny? I am not saying "Give me a job" or "I deserve a job" I am looking for
work.

~~~
calcsam
Okay, cool. I'd go to events, meet people in organizations using php/JS stack
(or other tech stacks you know), ask them to grab lunch. Your story could go
something like this:

"I'm a self-taught programmer looking for my first full-time programming job.
If I describe my experience, would you be able to describe the skillsets I
need to develop in order to be successful in your organization?"

I did this repeatedly and got tons of useful feedback. See my customer
development essay in earlier link.

~~~
ineedajob
I'll try to! Hopefully someone can point a direction or help with what I need
to do to get better.

~~~
pilooch
There's the open source path: while you're looking for a job, get involved in
an open source project that solves a problem you like, really can be anything.
Get involved, participate, share ideas, code stuff up, commit. This may take
longer, but this is a good way to get a job in something you like. Because
contributors are employees somewhere, and they will recognize your talent, and
know where to apply it. Good luck!

------
dl8
I am more or less in the same boat as you are. I graduated roughly a year ago,
and I've been trying to find a developer position in any big tech city (SV,
Seattle, NY, Boston, etc). I've gotten many phone/skype interviews, even got
flown out a few times for onsite interviews, but I suppose I'm just not that
great of an interviewer since I've been rejected a ridiculous amount of times.

It's really discouraging, but I've began teaching myself a lot of new
technologies and started working on some personal projects (one was even on
front page of HN a few months ago). I think the tech industry is a very merit
based industry, and if I just get good enough (or at least appear good enough)
then I will eventually land a good position.

~~~
ineedajob
I'm glad to have read this. I don't list on my resume or talk about the
technologies that I've dabbled with personally or academically since they are
not my core set.

Maybe I suck at interviewing, but there's no helpful feedback even when I ask.
One company told me to look for a junior position at a smaller company for
"more experience to be stronger candidate" even though the position that I
applied for was a junior position. It was one of those interviews where you
answer all the questions and feel great about it, but the hiring manager has
some hidden doubts.

My biggest issue is getting interviews.

------
danial
I might be able to help you look for a position at my current employer. Email
is on my personal page linked off of my profile.

~~~
ineedajob
Will do, thanks!

------
brudgers
What are you working on besides looking for a job?

~~~
ineedajob
Actively working on my personal projects (a online game, community moderated
forum/comments system, online journal and lastly my php/javascript library
that helps me reuse what I build across my personal projects.

~~~
brudgers
Just throwing out ideas.

Do these demonstrate specific skills, knowledge and abilities directly related
to the jobs for which you are applying?

Are the repositories open source?

Are you contributing to other people's open source projects?

Is your resume available on more mainstream job sites such as LinkedIn?

~~~
ineedajob
I wholeheartedly believe that the projects I am doing use general skills,
knowledge, and abilities for PHP/JS developer positions.

Some of my projects are open source on github.

I haven't contributed to anyone else's open source projects. That should not
be a deal breaker though.

My resume is available on CareerBuilder, which is basically a huge feed for
recruiters. I've applied to recruiters who email me, but never a response
back.

I do not have a LinkedIn, but am considering it.

