Ask HN: Why can't I get interviews or offers anymore?
36 comments
Your resume reads as if it was written to appeal to an engineer.
Write one that appeals to a manager. Talk less about what you did in your previous roles and more about "the business value you provided" in your previous roles.
If in doubt, pretend you're your own boss trying to get a raise. What would you say about you to justify it?
Specifically, I got my current job (in September) because I was able to tell a story of how I took an MVP and helped move it to production at scale at a previous company. They didn't care about the tech stack or my day-to-day duties.
Write one that appeals to a manager. Talk less about what you did in your previous roles and more about "the business value you provided" in your previous roles.
If in doubt, pretend you're your own boss trying to get a raise. What would you say about you to justify it?
Specifically, I got my current job (in September) because I was able to tell a story of how I took an MVP and helped move it to production at scale at a previous company. They didn't care about the tech stack or my day-to-day duties.
That only works once he's in interviews and people are looking at his resume. He's not getting to the interviews, which means the resume/portfolio doesn't check off enough boxes to the recruiter/hiring manager.
Some things on the resume that help:
1. Ivy league education.
2. FAANG listed in past experience.
3. A slew of technologies listed.
Some things on the resume that help:
1. Ivy league education.
2. FAANG listed in past experience.
3. A slew of technologies listed.
No one cares about an Ivy education in tech, it's worth about as much as a state school. The programs are completely devoid of rigor. Now CMU or MIT might raise some eyebrows in a good way but there's maybe 3 or 4 schools in the country that are 'notable' for CS.
Engineers don't care-- sure. However, random HR person screening a resume is going to have a simple thought process.
1. Georgia tech? MMm ok.
2. Harvard? Oh I know that one!
1. Georgia tech? MMm ok.
2. Harvard? Oh I know that one!
I don't think HR really cares either. Ivy League provides you with contacts to get into the room. An advocate already on the inside who will call up HR and get them to move you into the "Consider" pile.
eh good point, I was thinking big tech, but you're right, possible that applying to some average boring bigco it might matter (for a few more years at least...)
>"the business value you provided"
Wouldn't this rely on the assumption that OP is a profit center?
I guess, "this is how much our company convinced the client to pay, and we got it done x% ahead of schedule" is probably the best one can do if they are a cost center.
Wouldn't this rely on the assumption that OP is a profit center?
I guess, "this is how much our company convinced the client to pay, and we got it done x% ahead of schedule" is probably the best one can do if they are a cost center.
Just a couple of advices. Feel free to ignore. It won't harm anyways.
- linkedin profile looks weak. Elaborate on what were the duties in form of showing up your professional achievements. Like how you improved the product with your work. How you increased company revenue. Did this -> it lead to that. This approach shows your real impact (at least a sign of it). "reduced infra cost for 20%", "latency decreased which lead to more registrations", "hired and structured 2 team", etc..
- use recruiters. 99% of time their help will be useless but because there are a lot of them this 1% will cover the rest.
- don't spend your time on no-name-another-job-list-platform. it won't work. approach company recruiters directly, apply via linkein or connect with recruiters there.
- "I can do everything for 60k" might sound like a red flag. Avoid it during the conversation.
- Interview passing is a skill. You need a time and a volume of interviews to train it. Doable.
- don't listen to "oh yeah that's a terrible market I can't get a job as well we gonna die poor" comments. you don't know who is behind the comment. like I don't know who are you btw :)
Market is not that bad. It's totally ok. Approach it as a project. Code, code, code, read, watch related videos on youtube. Acquire some clarity that you know your shit.
I wish you all the luck, you will make it!
- linkedin profile looks weak. Elaborate on what were the duties in form of showing up your professional achievements. Like how you improved the product with your work. How you increased company revenue. Did this -> it lead to that. This approach shows your real impact (at least a sign of it). "reduced infra cost for 20%", "latency decreased which lead to more registrations", "hired and structured 2 team", etc..
- use recruiters. 99% of time their help will be useless but because there are a lot of them this 1% will cover the rest.
- don't spend your time on no-name-another-job-list-platform. it won't work. approach company recruiters directly, apply via linkein or connect with recruiters there.
- "I can do everything for 60k" might sound like a red flag. Avoid it during the conversation.
- Interview passing is a skill. You need a time and a volume of interviews to train it. Doable.
- don't listen to "oh yeah that's a terrible market I can't get a job as well we gonna die poor" comments. you don't know who is behind the comment. like I don't know who are you btw :)
Market is not that bad. It's totally ok. Approach it as a project. Code, code, code, read, watch related videos on youtube. Acquire some clarity that you know your shit.
I wish you all the luck, you will make it!
>Market is not that bad. It's totally ok.
Not in my experience(got hired recently). Market is really bad right now, those layoffs have left a helluva impact
Not in my experience(got hired recently). Market is really bad right now, those layoffs have left a helluva impact
Everyone I know is in a similar situation. The tech sector saw thousands of layoffs and a decrease in free money. You're competing against hordes of ex FAANG-ers for limited opportunities during a market downturn.
Half my office was laid off and anecdotally, everyone I know is having trouble finding work.
Hang in there :(
Now might be the time to reach out to your old networks and see if any of them are unofficially hiring. I sent out dozens of applications too and didn't hear back, but reached out to an old contact and they hired me on the spot.
Half my office was laid off and anecdotally, everyone I know is having trouble finding work.
Hang in there :(
Now might be the time to reach out to your old networks and see if any of them are unofficially hiring. I sent out dozens of applications too and didn't hear back, but reached out to an old contact and they hired me on the spot.
With your background and experience, have you thought about going Indie, at least while you are waiting around in the job hunt?
Read this: https://readmake.com/
Follow this: https://twitter.com/IndieHackers
I've thought about it but never gave it a solid attempt. Ya know what? I'll buy the book. Thanks for the links.
> I was given around 40 minutes today to solve three questions about two CSV data sets...Couldn't do it in the allotted time
You need to fix this. Is it fair? Probably not, but it's what it is. If you fail the coding test, no one will pass you to the next phase.
You need to fix this. Is it fair? Probably not, but it's what it is. If you fail the coding test, no one will pass you to the next phase.
2 interviews being cut short seems strange to me. I have been on both sides of the interview table and I have never seen an interview cut short. I would only consider it if the interviewee was bombing hard, like completely lost and unable to write code.
My best guess is that you are going up against candidates who are able to fluently process and manipulate CSV data in 40 minutes, probably using python. If that is indeed the gap that is preventing you from passing interviews, consider grinding leetcode problems, and getting good at filtering, sorting, transforming lists and dictionaries, etc.
Finally, I'm sorry to hear your going through this ordeal. Best of luck to you.
My best guess is that you are going up against candidates who are able to fluently process and manipulate CSV data in 40 minutes, probably using python. If that is indeed the gap that is preventing you from passing interviews, consider grinding leetcode problems, and getting good at filtering, sorting, transforming lists and dictionaries, etc.
Finally, I'm sorry to hear your going through this ordeal. Best of luck to you.
I'm a software engineer who switched over to working beside Sales as a Sales Engineer. Referrals are the key to getting customers or getting a job.
Reach out to previous co-workers, managers, vendors you've spoken to, anyone. There's bound to be someone who has a broken website that needs to be fixed. It's more effective to spend two hours applying to one job via a warm lead than it is to send 100 applications out to cold leads.
Lowering your salary expectations won't help that much. If someone were optimizing for cost, they'd outsource to Southeast Asia or India.
Good luck!
Reach out to previous co-workers, managers, vendors you've spoken to, anyone. There's bound to be someone who has a broken website that needs to be fixed. It's more effective to spend two hours applying to one job via a warm lead than it is to send 100 applications out to cold leads.
Lowering your salary expectations won't help that much. If someone were optimizing for cost, they'd outsource to Southeast Asia or India.
Good luck!
I know developers like to put their head in sand and pretend to the contrary, but credentials do matter. Things like security or cloud certifications and security clearances are extremely valuable when looking for employment.
What has helped me the least is code quality and GitHub projects/portfolio. This has only helped me in the added technical experience and the ability to talk through a variety of scenarios during an interview.
What has helped me the least is code quality and GitHub projects/portfolio. This has only helped me in the added technical experience and the ability to talk through a variety of scenarios during an interview.
> I know developers like to put their head in sand and pretend to the contrary, but credentials do matter. Things like security or cloud certifications and security clearances
Interesting, I've interviewed with and for a number of tech companies and it's never come up. What companies are you seeing who are interested in certs?
Interesting, I've interviewed with and for a number of tech companies and it's never come up. What companies are you seeing who are interested in certs?
In the past as a JavaScript developer they are happy if you are smart enough to spell your own name or color within the lines without eating the crayons.
This year though things have been far more competitive. I wasn’t getting interviews at all until I focused on a combination of my development experience, my TS, and my certs. Since then I have had many interviews and several competing offers. In one case I given an offer to write test automation in Java with 0 years experience writing Java at this big rocket company, I do have experience writing test automation utilities though. I have since taken a work from job on API architecture for this massive data enterprise.
This year though things have been far more competitive. I wasn’t getting interviews at all until I focused on a combination of my development experience, my TS, and my certs. Since then I have had many interviews and several competing offers. In one case I given an offer to write test automation in Java with 0 years experience writing Java at this big rocket company, I do have experience writing test automation utilities though. I have since taken a work from job on API architecture for this massive data enterprise.
I suggest your TS is moderately valuable, and certs are only a slight mention at best.
I've met multiple interviewers who said if you know the material, you wouldn't bother with a certificate... For them a cert is an anti-signal for competence in getting a job!
That said, I'm now working on completing Terraform cert. I know the material well, but missed a question in an interview. Investing time/energy in fleshing out my knowledge for the cert will be helpful, even if I don't mention _having_ the cert at all.
I've met multiple interviewers who said if you know the material, you wouldn't bother with a certificate... For them a cert is an anti-signal for competence in getting a job!
That said, I'm now working on completing Terraform cert. I know the material well, but missed a question in an interview. Investing time/energy in fleshing out my knowledge for the cert will be helpful, even if I don't mention _having_ the cert at all.
So for me getting interviews has been a numbers game. I tried customizing my resume, and gave up after a few hundred tries and no responses.
Now I’ve built https://tangerinefeed.net and am using to it to apply to tons of jobs every day. No offers yet, but a handful of interviews at least.
Now I’ve built https://tangerinefeed.net and am using to it to apply to tons of jobs every day. No offers yet, but a handful of interviews at least.
I touched on some good approaches here [1]
But they’re aimed at the next tough job market, not this one, so they’re more long term.
[1] https://www.nishantjha.org/essays/squeeze
But they’re aimed at the next tough job market, not this one, so they’re more long term.
[1] https://www.nishantjha.org/essays/squeeze
> use python and some library
Was it pandas? Because it looks like they expected to see https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/reference/api/pandas.DataFram...
Was it pandas? Because it looks like they expected to see https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/reference/api/pandas.DataFram...
I was being short with my explanation. Actually, I believe they wanted something from scratch but in the response they mentioned using something besides Go with more something or another. I don't think they wanted me to use Pandas but who knows at this point!
Hello fellow Iowan!
It’s very weird that two different people cut the interview short.
I have a couple of NodeJS positions open. If you feel like it might work hit me up on my email and let’s talk.
It’s very weird that two different people cut the interview short.
I have a couple of NodeJS positions open. If you feel like it might work hit me up on my email and let’s talk.
You are not alone, this is new too: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38167731
Thank you. I just commented on their post.
Market is horrible and I'm at my wits end as well. Wait it out while employment gap gets larger is not a good idea as well.
'"Well my little brother died during my employment there so I decided to take some time to myself to cope.". She cut the interview short right after that.'
Fuck that. You're better off not working than working for someone like that.
Fuck that. You're better off not working than working for someone like that.
have you tried a staffing agency? Like Kforce? Also Try TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Capgemini, HCL. Best of luck.
The job market is shit right now, and it's nearing the holidays on top of that.
You need to assume that it will take hundreds of applications. It's partly a numbers game.
Maybe try mock interviews if you can afford it? Like with interviewing.io.
You need to assume that it will take hundreds of applications. It's partly a numbers game.
Maybe try mock interviews if you can afford it? Like with interviewing.io.
I wonder how many visits your gethub page gets
Is your GitHub account private? I’m getting a 404
GitHub has been giving me 404s for the past few days, on my own repositories. Appears to be totally random. Comes and goes on its own.
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Quick question and a cry for help. :-)
My name is Jesse. I've been writing web applications (predominately on the backend) professionally for around 8 years with some downtime here and there for personal reasons. I wrote code as a hobby for around 6 years before that. I've provided links below to GitHub, LinkedIn and so on...
There's a major problem with me, the market, or both. I've been absolutely unable to get offers in the last 6 months and out of around 100 applications, I've gotten three interviews, two of which ended short, as in, they cut the interview short. I'd love to blame myself for this but it didn't used to be this hard and honestly makes no sense why this is happening. One ill-mannered lady asked "Why did you only last 6 months at that one position?". My response was "Well my little brother died during my employment there so I decided to take some time to myself to cope.". She cut the interview short right after that.
I get a call from a recruiter every couple of days or so and I'm asked a bunch of questions and they put me on their "hiring list" after telling me they had a job in mind for me. I fall for it every time. I've never once gotten a call back about the job (or any for that matter) that they originally pitched from a recruiter in the last couple of years.
Don't get me started on the interviewers. I don't know what they're expecting sometimes. I was given around 40 minutes today to solve three questions about two CSV data sets...Couldn't do it in the allotted time. I explained what I was actually able to complete and how I would approach finishing a very rough prototype of a function (that I had 5 minutes to complete btw after setup) and went on to explain that 5 minutes isn't enough to replace SQL implementations... I would need more time. I would have sat there for days learning to implement LSM trees and so on if they had asked. They didn't ask. The interviewer said I should consider trying "project management". Ouch! I asked for tips on solving the problem faster and got a really short and lousy answer that was basically "use python and some library". What in the actual **?
tl;dr: What the ** is going on and what have you all done to my job security? I heard some companies let go of a bunch of engineers? I need help desperately. I will give the rest of my savings to whoever can help me figure out why I'm unhireable.
p.s: I'll take the first $60k offer I get, so let your bosses know you found them a great deal! I swear it on my honor. After 5 months of searching, I'm officially out of money and have a family to feed. So, don't ask me to relocate (I live pretty cheap already!) but please offer me a job.
I love you all.
https://github.com/jessehorne https://linkedin.com/in/jesseleehorne