Ask HN: How do you find hiring managers to talk to when job hunting?
I'm a fairly new developer in the Bay Area -- I've been self-teaching for about a year, I attended a bootcamp to try and get a running start, and I've been trying to learn everything I can since I completed it.
I've tried to specialize in JavaScript, which has enabled me to pick up odd bits of freelance work. That provides a little income, and gives me some extra focus to my learning.
I'm looking for full time job opportunities, and so far I've found the Hacker News hiring thread has been the most fruitful in terms of leads, since it enables me to actually chat with hiring managers and engineers. That gives me (and them) a much better idea of whether I'd be a good fit.
The problem I'm having is, the vast majority of the posts are for roles in SF, and I'm based in San Jose and looking for opportunities a bit closer to home. I'd love to be able to find more people to talk to, rather than just submitting my resume for job postings without a good idea of what roles are like or whether I'm well suited for them.
How do you all find contacts and real people to talk to when you're job hunting? I'd appreciate any advice!