[conspire] Getting a programming job in 2020

[paulz at ieee.org]

 There is definitely a generational change in the tech work force.  Those of us who entered Silicon Valley long ago were  fortunate that many companies were looking for trained workers.  In my case, I thought it was fun to mess around with Amateur Radio and related stuff.  When I graduated from college, I was fortunate to get a job offer from HP.   That was then.

NOW, tech education is being promoted in many ways even at grade schools.  STEM programs, STEAM programs, Maker movement, etc.  As Diedre pointed out there are now a lot of CS grads who have dreams of making it rich, but will find that the job market is no longer growing without limits.  Hiring has become much more competitive. 

For someone currently looking for a software position, the questions are 
   
   - What languages and applications are currently in demand?  dice.com has a number of articles about languages and wages and who is hiring.     

   - Which of those languages / applications do you know and can put on your resume?
Look for inexpensive classes in the language you think will be most helpful.  Khan Academy has amazing stuff for free.  There are others that are not expensive.  Complete some of the classes, list them on your resume and be ready to demonstrate your skills to a hiring company.  

Using the CSIX.org mailing list can potentially put you in touch with someone at your target company and then get an inside idea of the hiring process.
One company screens potential applicants by sending a "challenge" software problem.  You are given a limited time to send in your solution.  Someone I know was potentially a good fit, but he blew his chance.  He didn't see the email until 2 days later.  Then he discovered that he didn't have a compiler installed on his computer.  The clock ran out before he got started.



    On Friday, February 14, 2020, 11:28:31 AM PST, Deirdre Saoirse Moen <deirdre at deirdre.net> wrote:  
 
 If others have useful input specific to the field generally (as well as the bay area in particular), I'm all ears.
The sad state for developers with significant experience who haven't been doing it for a while professionally (e.g., me):

1. There are more CS grads than ever before.
2. They are better prepared than ever before.
3. They are prepared on skills that didn't exist when we entered the workforce.

Your resume needs to really communicate that you're as prepared and dedicated to doing the job as they are.

Please tune *every* resume if possible. Why? The volume of resumes has dramatically increased over the years, and so essentially it's a search engine optimization type of problem. Alas. https://www.jobscan.co has helped me get interviews. (I will note they don't help for Apple's applicant tracking system, which is internally written.)

I recommend grinding on Hacker Rank or Leetcode if you haven't. IMHO, they're not important (or even particularly interesting) problems for the most part, but they do help flex the brain muscles and keep the algorithm knowledge swapped in.

https://www.hackerrank.com/T
https://leetcode.com
Interview Cake has the most interesting questions, but the least breadth of languages to work in afaik:
https://www.interviewcake.com
-- 
  Deirdre Saoirse Moen
  deirdre at deirdre.net



On Thu, Feb 13, 2020, at 7:28 AM, Elise Scher wrote:

Hi People,
     I just need a job. Please help. I used to program for a living for 16 years.

Thanks,
Elise Scher


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