Getting Hired: Make yourself visible

For any given job posting, you might be competing with dozens of other developers, perhaps with more experience than you. So how can you stand a chance to still get the job?

The first thing I do when screening job applicants is looking for work that’s available online. A link to some online repositories, like your GitHub or GitLab.com account, is a huge plus. Other things like CodePen can also be interesting (some interesting things you might do on CodePen include complex pure-CSS interactions, WebGL animations, or even a simple game).

Do Open Source work

One great way to build both experience and exposure is to contribute to some project you like, or even build something on your own. It doesn’t even have to be useful! Building something fun and challenging can be a great opportunity to showcase what you can do.

• If you contribute to an existing open source project, make sure your work is correctly credited and linked to your profile.
• If you build something on your own, make sure it’s easy to actually try out (interviewers will likely look at this; ideally, build and host it somewhere — GitHub Pages are great for this — or give clear instructions for running it locally).
  • Spend some extra time to write a good README file! Why? Because written communication is a very important skill; if you are able to explain what your project is about as well as give clear instructions on how to use it, it will be a good plus for your profile.

Write clean elegant code

Any code should be well written, but this is even more important for code that is publicly available.

• Write good comments, follow a style guide, use good naming conventions, etc.
• If applicable, write good and thorough documentation. It can all be in the project’s README, or a wiki, etc.
• Write tests, and strive for high coverage.
  • If possible, add a CI to the mix and use the public badge it provides to showcase a successful build (e.g., GitHub Actions, CircleCI, etc).
• Use a tool like SonarCloud (free for open source projects) to improve your code, and show a quality gate badge on your project (documentation about that here).

Choose your new job wisely

If you’re trying to land a first job and you have multiple options, choose wisely. Your first job will have a huge impact on the rest of your carreer.

• All other things equal, prefer a company that is active in open source. This will allow you to contribute to open source projects while getting paid for it. Those contributions will usually be public and can be linked to for future job applications.
• All other things equal, prefer a company willing to explore new technologies and techniques. A job writing Apex or Cobol might pay higher but the experience you get is also much narrower and you might end up coding yourself in a corner

Invest in knowledge

Our industry is always on the move. Some of the things you learn today will not be relevant anymore in 5 years. This is exhilirating, but it also means we always need to invest into learning new things.

• Always Keep learning. Read at least 1 technical book per year (preferably more).
• Put aside some time every week to code on personal projects, especially early in your carreer. Over time, you will invest less time and that’s ok. But use your early career years to build up as much experience as you can, on and off the job.
• Read about other things! Learn about nature, art, history, whatever you fancy. The wider your horizon, the more likely you will be able to approach complex problems with a fresh perspective.
• Raise your hand if the company is asking for volunteers to try out or learn a new technology. Those are golden opportunities to learn new things while getting paid for it.
• Learn from great open source projects. Crack the code open, and read. See how others solve problems, not just technical, but also about code organisation, maintenability, documentation, etc. This is an invaluable and inexhaustible source of inspiration and knowledge. Use it.

Know they enemy future employer

• What’s written on the job offer? Too many buzz words? Do you fear you are not a good match? Know that job offers using many buzz words sometimes serve to attract candidates, not filter them out. If you know JS well, but have no experience in React, you can learn on the job; don’t let the lack of experience in specific frameworks turn you off. Of course, if they ask for Java and you only know JS or PHP, then it would be waste of time…
• Know the company! What do they do? What projects or products do they offer? Do they have a blog? Do employees speak at conferences? Gather as much info as you can. If such topics come up during the interview, it will allow you to show genuine interest in the company. And believe me, a candidate showing up for an interview that doesn’t have a clue what the company actually does can be quite a show stopper.

Be bold

This is probably the hardest part. If you really want to stand out, you have to sometimes be a little bold.

• Apply for the job and if you don’t hear back about 1 week later, contact the company directly. If there is a phone number, call them (it’s always better to call!) If not, try finding a personal email address of the person actually responsible for the hiring; using info@ or contact@ addresses should be a last resort (as you will likely not reach the right person).
  • Don’t be pushy but show genuine enthusiasm and interest. For example, you could say something like “I sent an application last week. I would really love to work for your company. I was just wondering if you had received it and when would be a convenient time for an interview.” You may be uncomfortable doing this but you’re not being rude or arrogant; you are showing genuine interest and motivation. At worst, the person might be a little annoyed and tell you to be patient (“We’ll come back to you”), but at best, this will help you stand out and get more attention than other candidates.
  • Especially if you’re very junior, show you’re all pumped up and willing to learn.
• During the interview, don’t be afraid to have an opinion! Strong opinions can be highly valued in a company (and, a company that doesn’t value strong opinions is likely not a company you would want to work for anyway). Of course, having strong opinions is one thing, being arrogant is totally different; don’t be arrogant.

Good luck! And I’d love to know how it goes; don’t hesitate to ping me.

---

Further reading: I highly recommend checking out Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. The book is mostly targeted at creatives, but a lot of tips apply to software engineers. You can read an article I wrote about this book here.

---