
Ask HN: What can I do differently in my job search? - isuckatcoding
I know there are similar threads but would be nice to have a kind of updated one. Any ideas (no matter how obvious they may seem) are appreciated. I think this can help other job finders as well.<p>Some of my own are:<p>Going to meetups (I need to do this more)
LinkedIn Premium (looking up alumni)
Cold emailing companies 
Applying to positions I am definitely under-qualified for (10 years of experience in Crystal Lang required)<p>I also do manage to get interviews but I often don&#x27;t pass the non-technical screen(not a lack of culture fit but it&#x27;s more like &quot;sorry you don&#x27;t have 10 years of experience in X&quot;)  or I fumble the   coding part (Good God, I hate Hacker rank).
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dudul
From your list, I only agree with attending meetups. LinkedIn is garbage, you
don't need Premium account to get spammed by recruiters. Cold emailing
companies, I've never tried but I hear that it's very rare to get a response.

I would recommend to take the time to build a portfolio. Have some serious
Github/Gitlab repos to show your work. Better to have a handful of good repos
than 100 useless forks that you never use. That's usually how I avoid BS
coding exercise. When they send me a Hacker Rank link, I reply with a link to
my profile "here is my real code, no balancing of red/black trees, but real
world problems solved by real world solutions, take it or leave it", some take
it, some don't because they want to stick to their process.

TBH, not passing the non-technical screening is a little concerning. Did you
get any feedback on that? Do you sound like a bad co-worker? Are you not well-
spoken?

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isuckatcoding
Sorry I should clarify. It's not the lack of culture fit. I am usually
screened by someone non technical who looks at my experience and determines I
don't have enough years of experience in X or Y.

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rm999
Years of experience is just a half-assed but objective proxy for "are you good
at this?"

Do you feel like you're a good match for the positions? If you're not a good
match the HR person is doing their job and doing you a favor by saving your
time. If you are a good match and you're still getting rejected, you need to
tweak your soft interview skills. You may need to color up your resume too so
the HR person doesn't have the concern in the first place. Even if you don't
have 3 years experience with X, knowing it should be enough to get you talking
to someone who can evaluate you on it.

~~~
throw_away_777
Years of experience is how many years of experience you have, not whether or
not you are good at it. A lot of companies simply won't hire if you don't have
the experience, regardless of how good you are.

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akulbe
I'd _highly_ recommend reading "What Color Is Your Parachute" by Richard
Nelson Bolles. He's covered this there quite well.

