Ask HN: What else can I do to get hired?

7 pointsanonSrEng2023091y ago2 comments

Recruiters submit my resume often. I haven't been getting called for interviews. See my profile for my previous Ask HN on this topic.

Frontend positions: "too much backend"

Backend positions: "too much frontend"

Random requirement in the job req (e.g. mongo, mqtt, etc): "not enough experience with $REQUIREMENT", "we don't have time to train you", "we need someone who can hit the ground running"

You don't need to train me. You're paying me to know it or learn about it. Certainly there are things in your project that your team didn't know but learned along the way. I have never met anyone who knows everything about what they'll come across in a given software project. But you'd rather spend three months rifling through resumes than allow me to spend ten days getting up to speed on $REQUIREMENT.

No one is hitting the ground running. No one knows the intimate details of how your team works together, how you have structured your projects, how you like to do things. All that takes time.

I've been told I'm "tactical, not strategic" - your interview style causes this. First, I can't find anyone who agrees on what these terms even mean in a software engineering context (and no, they wouldn't explain their comment.) If I understand correctly ... Do you want a more strategic solution in this interview? Then don't present it like a puzzle that needs solving in sixty seconds.

I grew along with the hardware industry starting with the personal computers of the 1980s. I have decades of experience building software. Why are these hiring managers so focused on the precise list in the job req? These aren't HR drones, these are technical managers and team leads who are interviewing and hiring for their teams. Honestly it's starting to feel a lot like age discrimination.

Recruiters have reached out about junior positions. Sure, no problem. Then the hiring manager responds with "too senior."

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I'm doing some help desk work for an IT service company. It pays around what the delivery stuff does, so that's not great. But it's mostly remote, and I can use the downtime to work on some projects. Their coverage area is not near where I live so I'm considering bootstrapping a similar business in my area.

2 comments

fuzzfactor1y ago

Maybe draw upon those things that were more likely for programmers in the '80's than now.

When lots of viable employment was not for actual software companies, but for companies making their initial push toward computerization and who wish there would have been decades of experience to rely on.

I would estimate that competition for the most clearly defined common roles is more numerically overwhelming than in recent years, with layoffs in the software business, and among large digital orgs which have teams that operate similarly.

Now I am quite a senior citizen in age and I expected with each decade I should be able to bring more to the table regarding $REQUIREMENT coverage, but to leverage that I need to concentrate more & more on not trying to serve outfits beyond those where my experience has managed to add up.

Also, it's good to be very aware that there may be 1000 opportunities where you would be perfectly capable of outperforming everyone else already there, who have positions open and can afford to pay what you are willing to accept, but are just too focused on youth whether intentional or not.

There may be only a dozen of those who will accept anything else, and even fewer who may value it higher.

So to find them you're going to have to network like never before, follow every lead and get two prospective names from each person who is the least bit cordial about rejecting you.

Regardless of whether recruiters are doing their job as effectively as they could be, your full time job needs to be doing additional dissimilar things they are not geared toward.

>bootstrapping a similar business in my area.

Like the old sailor once advised after a shipwreck, "Pray toward heaven but row toward shore."

reify1y ago

your are forgetting about ageism.

The older you get the more interviews you tend to fail.

business is generally looking for the young.

they can invest in the young and expect 20 years service if they are treated well.

The older you get the less they are going to invest in you especially when they know you are likely to retire in a few years.

I assume you were in your 20 in 80's, knocking on 60 now. Not long to retirement

Its a cruel world.

I experienced the same in my profession.

In the end I retired early and reclaimed my dignity.

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