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Urit posted:Holy poo poo, Twitter. I suppose #whateverrole #hiring #remote is what you'd search for? I really don't use Twitter except for joke accounts like @erowidrecruiter and @PHP_CEO.
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Nov 11, 2015 22:40
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Cool, thanks.
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Nov 12, 2015 01:39
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So I am like 75% sure I want to get a new job. My current company kind of sucks The owner refuses to hire an actual IT guy/SysAdmin/Helpdesk so I get stuck doing all of that at random times. Half the people in company have extremely unrealistic expectations for our software. They are also essentially refusing to replace a developer we recently lost while expecting the same results as before, that were already a little unrealistic. Benefits suck and are basically the barest minimum, pay isn't terrible, but it certainly doesn't justify the terrible benefits and low job satisfaction. I've decided that I what I want is: Better benefits. Equal or better pay. Not being stuck doing IT work. At least one person above me in software development.(Not reporting to sales, owner, etc directly by default) Actual structure. I currently have no deadlines, no enforced process for reporting problems, no yearly reviews, nobody above me, no real HR, nothing other than goals that I pretty much have to define for myself. More than one or two developers maintaining the entire codebase. I hate the feeling that even when things are going well, I could be left "holding the bag".(Which has happened twice now) I feel like these are not unreasonable at all. That being said, here are my real questions: I am looking to leave early to mid January at the earliest. Is it abnormal to apply to jobs now with that condition? Should I take recruiters seriously? I've usually ignored/avoided them, but I talked to one somewhat recently and felt good about the idea of it all, I know their job is to make me comfortable with that though. Is there anything in particular to be wary of? I am pretty sure on this, but the best idea is to not inform my company I am looking, correct? Now a big one. I've been in a position where I have nobody above me. I end of doing the majority of the design and architecture work as well as translating vague ideas from managements or end users into actual working solutions. I'm also the one implementing a lot of it in the end. Even when my team was at it's largest, I was still implementing the features I considered most critical. Even with that, I never really had much mentoring. Of the two developers who were previously above, one was completely out of date and pretty much ignored everything after a month or so of me working there, and the other just pushed most of the system off on me and never even reviewed what I was doing. I basically ended up having to learn everything the hard way and it's hard to tell if I've learned things right. Because of this, I am very wary of applying to "Senior" level positions even though I think I am at the point where I fit some of them pretty well on paper. Is there a good way for me to determine if I am right to be wary of these positions? I can never tell if my concerns are justified or if I just have a case of impostor syndrome. Hell, part of the reason I want to leave is that I feel it would finally answer that for me. wilderthanmild fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Nov 18, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 05:11
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If you want to leave mid January you should have started looking two weeks ago. Nobody is going to do any hiring between now and January 1. Nobody is in the office due to Thanksgiving, and the long weekends leading up to Christmas and New Years. Even if you wanted to start earlier, they probably wouldn't even let you start before January 11th or so, once they have their books balanced.
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Nov 18, 2015 06:54
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wilderthanmild posted:I am looking to leave early to mid January at the earliest. Is it abnormal to apply to jobs now with that condition? quote:Should I take recruiters seriously? I've usually ignored/avoided them, but I talked to one somewhat recently and felt good about the idea of it all, I know their job is to make me comfortable with that though. Is there anything in particular to be wary of? quote:I am pretty sure on this, but the best idea is to not inform my company I am looking, correct? quote:Now a big one. For you specifically, my advice would be to apply for jobs that look interesting and challenging (again, this means you shouldn't know a bunch of stuff on the job posting, and fewer years of experience than they list is also fine). When you interview, observe and ask questions about their development process. Try and get a feel for how you would fit into the team, including just asking what your role in the team would be. It's not science; you're going to have to use your best judgement to determine if a given environment is going to be what you want. But don't make that judgement too early - just apply.
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Nov 18, 2015 08:21
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I'll send applications/resumes later today then. There are plenty of fresh job ads as recently as yesterday afternoon. I saw two that I particularly liked from the ad/company reviews. Che Delilas posted:The standard advice here is to apply stuff that you aren't qualified for on paper. Because job postings are big wish lists from the company, written by HR drones who talked with the leader of the dev department for 2 minutes at best (and at worst working from a list of all the technologies used at the company, however rarely). I don't care how strongly worded the job posting is. "ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED SKILLS" still only means that it'd be nice if you had that skill. Yea, as far as listed qualifications I was always under the impression that a lot of the positions were listed with exact qualifications of someone who previously held the position rather than actual hard requirements. I've noticed that some even put emphasis on wording that the requirements are for the "ideal" candidate rather than being hard requirements. Ideally, I'd be looking for a job where the Microsoft/.Net stack is part of the core requirement, but would let me work outside that from time to time. For instance, at my current job I really enjoy when I get to work with Javascript/AngularJS for my front end work, just because it's different than the other stuff I normally work on. Hadlock posted:If you want to leave mid January you should have started looking two weeks ago. Well hopefully I haven't completely missed the boat then. 
wilderthanmild fucked around with this message at 14:06 on Nov 18, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 13:45
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wilderthanmild posted:Well hopefully I haven't completely missed the boat then. Of course you haven't completely missed the new-job boat, it just might not come as soon as your earliest available date  The holidays slow down the hiring process in general but saying that no one is doing any hiring between now and New Years is an overgeneralization. We just had someone put in their notice earlier this week and they'll be starting at their new company in early December. My company has started engineers in mid-December. Just start shooting out those applications and see what you get.
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Nov 18, 2015 14:24
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wilderthanmild posted:Yea, as far as listed qualifications I was always under the impression that a lot of the positions were listed with exact qualifications of someone who previously held the position rather than actual hard requirements. I've noticed that some even put emphasis on wording that the requirements are for the "ideal" candidate rather than being hard requirements. Ideally, I'd be looking for a job where the Microsoft/.Net stack is part of the core requirement, but would let me work outside that from time to time. For instance, at my current job I really enjoy when I get to work with Javascript/AngularJS for my front end work, just because it's different than the other stuff I normally work on. If you think you want to work with more front-end stuff like AngularJS, then put that in there. I switched from mid-front tier C# to full on front-end in TypeScript/AngularJS a year ago and have not been happier in my work since.
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Nov 18, 2015 18:16
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wilderthanmild posted:Yea, as far as listed qualifications I was always under the impression that a lot of the positions were listed with exact qualifications of someone who previously held the position rather than actual hard requirements. Heh, a lot of the time it isn't even that accurate. It's the IT manager meeting with the HR drone and listing literally everything that the business uses, no matter the proportion or how well-covered any particular technology is (e.g., they already have enough frontend people), and the HR drone translating that into a job description that doesn't really encompass what the business needs from a candidate right now, even if anybody on earth met every qualification and the business was willing to pay $texas for that person (which is never in both cases). quote:Ideally, I'd be looking for a job where the Microsoft/.Net stack is part of the core requirement, but would let me work outside that from time to time. For instance, at my current job I really enjoy when I get to work with Javascript/AngularJS for my front end work, just because it's different than the other stuff I normally work on. ... How do you feel about the Pacific Northwest?
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Nov 19, 2015 04:40
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Skandranon posted:If you think you want to work with more front-end stuff like AngularJS, then put that in there. I switched from mid-front tier C# to full on front-end in TypeScript/AngularJS a year ago and have not been happier in my work since. Che Delilas posted:Heh, a lot of the time it isn't even that accurate. It's the IT manager meeting with the HR drone and listing literally everything that the business uses, no matter the proportion or how well-covered any particular technology is (e.g., they already have enough frontend people), and the HR drone translating that into a job description that doesn't really encompass what the business needs from a candidate right now, even if anybody on earth met every qualification and the business was willing to pay $texas for that person (which is never in both cases). Che Delilas posted:
Maybe one day. I actually like the idea of moving up to Washington possibly. My GF wants to get out of state, but I am wary without big savings or a big job offer I feel secure in.
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Nov 19, 2015 04:57
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wilderthanmild posted:Yea, a recruiter sent me a bunch of job descriptions last month. It was shocking how many looked like they were looking for swiss army knives. A lot of them I couldn't quite figure out what I would be working on, which is alarming. I love the descriptions that are some fairly standard ASP or Java plus front end whatever and then oh yeah also some  extremely domain specific big data poo poo or hilariously obscure enterprise platform  that you should have 5 years experience in.Why yes mr. company man I'm so very passionate about ShitBagel 2.0 eCommerce Synergy Platform development..
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Nov 19, 2015 06:09
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I made a Trello board to organize the companies I want to apply to.(Trello is basically an online Kanban board) I also submitted my application/resume to what I would consider to be my first choice of companies I saw with fairly fresh ads out. Barring immediate set up of interview with the first choice, I am going to submit more this weekend.Dogcow posted:I love the descriptions that are some fairly standard ASP or Java plus front end whatever and then oh yeah also some If I ever have to place an ad for a developer again, I am going to demand 3+ years experience with our in house software. Also related, I've avoided ads mentioning random eCommerce platforms in the past. It seems like a good way to waste a lot of potential time and experience on a very small niche. Maybe it's just me. Everyone I know that worked in those kind of environments never stayed long.
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Nov 19, 2015 13:50
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Che Delilas posted:... I see plenty of .Net backend+JS-framework-of-the-day positions around here, too, so it's not just within the Microsoft geographic influence sphere.
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Nov 19, 2015 15:17
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wilderthanmild posted:I really do enjoy AngularJS, but currently I don't feel like I am quite at the point where I could really justify myself on AngularJS or javascript alone. I am pretty interested in one job I saw that was looking for somebody who could work on both asp.net MVC/Web API and AngularJS in addition to some other usual suspect type requirements for a .net shop. I am comfortable with the former, and really interested at getting better with the latter. Try not to let this hold you back too much. I was largely hired on my experience in C# and interest in AngularJS.
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Nov 19, 2015 17:58
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Munkeymon posted:I see plenty of .Net backend+JS-framework-of-the-day positions around here, too, so it's not just within the Microsoft geographic influence sphere. Yeah I wasn't trying to imply that that was the case - in fact I was referring to my current employer specifically.
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Nov 19, 2015 18:59
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New question. Two of the places I am looking at request available copies of any non-disclosure or non-compete agreements, even if aren't necessarily relevant. I have existing ones with my company. Is there a subtle way of asking for something like this without tipping them off that I am looking elsewhere? I was thinking of just asking for copies of everything I have on file and trying to frame it as me getting my life organized and cataloged.
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Nov 19, 2015 22:28
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wilderthanmild posted:New question. Two of the places I am looking at request available copies of any non-disclosure or non-compete agreements, even if aren't necessarily relevant. I have existing ones with my company. Is there a subtle way of asking for something like this without tipping them off that I am looking elsewhere? I was thinking of just asking for copies of everything I have on file and trying to frame it as me getting my life organized and cataloged. You should have gotten a copy with your signed employment papers. If not, you can always frame it as that - "I didn't get a copy of the NDA I signed when I joined the company, and I'd like to have it for my records".
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Nov 20, 2015 00:17
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Urit posted:You should have gotten a copy with your signed employment papers. If not, you can always frame it as that - "I didn't get a copy of the NDA I signed when I joined the company, and I'd like to have it for my records". Yea, I'm just gonna go with "Hey, I just realized I have no copies of any of the things I signed when I started here. Could I get some?".
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Nov 20, 2015 00:42
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I'm curious how often people at other companies find themselves changing managers. Just found out today, I'll be getting my sixth manager soon, and I've been here a few months short of two years (and I haven't really changed projects at all).
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Nov 20, 2015 22:34
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Same boss for 15 years here. YMMV.
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Nov 20, 2015 22:40
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Cicero posted:I'm curious how often people at other companies find themselves changing managers. Just found out today, I'll be getting my sixth manager soon, and I've been here a few months short of two years (and I haven't really changed projects at all). Either you keep having really good managers who get poached by other companies or projects or promoted, or really bad managers that they keep moving to a place where their awfulness won't be as much of a liability. Or promoted. 
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Nov 20, 2015 23:06
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I went through 4 managers in my first year. All of whom left to become IC's or otherwise not manage others after that stint.Cicero posted:I'm curious how often people at other companies find themselves changing managers. Just found out today, I'll be getting my sixth manager soon, and I've been here a few months short of two years (and I haven't really changed projects at all). If the details of your story are more like "left on advice of counsel" or other indicators that the team/group as a whole is on a downward trend it's different. But a high count alone isn't noteworthy. I'd be wary If they start tossing the word "dotted line" or "matrix manager" around.
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Nov 20, 2015 23:18
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Cicero posted:I'm curious how often people at other companies find themselves changing managers. Just found out today, I'll be getting my sixth manager soon, and I've been here a few months short of two years (and I haven't really changed projects at all). In also just short of two years, I've had either 4 managers or none, depending on how I interpret "manager".
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Nov 21, 2015 03:05
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I've had one manager for 7 years.
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Nov 21, 2015 04:38
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Ithaqua posted:or really bad managers that they keep moving to a place where their awfulness won't be as much of a liability. Or promoted. Promote them so high up they can't do any more damage!
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Nov 21, 2015 04:54
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Pretty much always one I think: Same manager 2 years till I moved to a different subsidiary Same manager 2 years until I was laid off Same manager 2 years even after the division was sold to another company Same manager 3 years until the project was done and I moved to different project at same company Same manager 3 years until that project was done and he left to form a startup and I left before I got a new boss (that was a bad situation all around all of the leads up to VP level stopped showing up to do a startup) Same manager for 3 years until next month where I'll get a promotion to be a peer of his and my org is moving from the local company to reporting into the global company In short either you are a massive outlier or I am.
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Nov 21, 2015 08:25
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Cicero posted:I'm curious how often people at other companies find themselves changing managers. Just found out today, I'll be getting my sixth manager soon, and I've been here a few months short of two years (and I haven't really changed projects at all). I've had six official "HR" managers in two years, and probably a dozen if you count people I actually work for.
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Nov 21, 2015 11:14
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Can I get a critique of my resume? My boring enterprise .NET LOB job looks more and more like a dead-end and although I don't quite have the portfolio for it yet I want to see if I can move to Scala or a more JVM-focused position doing cool poo poo. Here it is. I reviewed this with a co-worker and he said I word things like I'm not confident, making me seem like a student looking for an entry level position. Like "Familiar Languages and Technologies" or "Developed several modules...". He said these words make it sound like I'm not sure what I did. I don't agree with that opinion and think it's harmless. Is this a valid concern? He also said using words like "developed" isn't flashy/commanding enough, and that any chance I could get I should change things to "architected" or "redesigned". If it isn't truthful I don't want to include it, but saying you "architected" everything kind of cheapens the word I think. However I've interviewed quite a few people with this guy who have resumes that are full of bullshit like that. They're worthless developers and we turn them down, but then they go on to be contractors for some big megacorp making a ridiculous rate so I don't know what the hell to think. I started a technical blog last month. It has 3 posts and about 5000 words so far. Is this big enough to put on a resume, or does it need more meat before being used for job searches in this way? I appreciate any feedback at all. Cryolite fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Dec 9, 2015 |
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Dec 9, 2015 01:38
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Cryolite posted:Can I get a critique of my resume? My boring enterprise .NET LOB job looks more and more like a dead-end and although I don't quite have the portfolio for it yet I want to see if I can move to Scala or a more JVM-focused position doing cool poo poo. Drop familiar from "familiar languages and technologies" and I'd probably drop the whole teaching myself section or at least move it to the very bottom.
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Dec 9, 2015 01:53
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apseudonym posted:Drop familiar from "familiar languages and technologies" and I'd probably drop the whole teaching myself section or at least move it to the very bottom. I originally thought that "stuff I'm teaching myself" section was cute but I've gotten the same feedback from someone else recently, so it should probably just be dropped instead of moved. Does anybody think there's any redeeming quality to something along the lines of "these are the things I'm working on next"? Or should you either show proficiency or just plain leave it off, period?
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Dec 9, 2015 02:40
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A pretty good rule of thumb is that anything on your resume is fair game for interviewers to ask about, so don't put things on there that you wouldn't want to have talk about on a whiteboard.
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Dec 9, 2015 02:54
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Cryolite posted:I originally thought that "stuff I'm teaching myself" section was cute but I've gotten the same feedback from someone else recently, so it should probably just be dropped instead of moved. Does anybody think there's any redeeming quality to something along the lines of "these are the things I'm working on next"? Or should you either show proficiency or just plain leave it off, period? If you do have a section linking to a github account and a blog then they'll do a better job of showing that you're not a one trick pony and that you're flexible and improving than just saying "yeah I'm learning a thing". The space you buy from removing that would be better spent on going into any personal projects or OSS contributions you have. When I'm interviewing I assume most of it is filler so I only really pay attention to the projects, they're the best thing I can go off for competence.
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Dec 9, 2015 03:12
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ultrafilter posted:A pretty good rule of thumb is that anything on your resume is fair game for interviewers to ask about, so don't put things on there that you wouldn't want to have talk about on a whiteboard. I absolutely will ask a candidate about anything on their resume that looks interesting.
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Dec 9, 2015 03:56
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Cryolite posted:Can I get a critique of my resume? My boring enterprise .NET LOB job looks more and more like a dead-end and although I don't quite have the portfolio for it yet I want to see if I can move to Scala or a more JVM-focused position doing cool poo poo. Reword/omit the "previously abandoned as unworkable" clause. I know you're going for "turned hopeless project around" but that's not the only way that it can be interpreted. I'd also consider highlighting the tech talk in a different light. It reads as "I gave a lecture one day," not as "I did exhaustive research on thing and presented it to the organization, which went on to save $X or make $X more as a result". If you can stick dollar amounts on your bullet points, that's usually a good way to improve a resume. I'm ambivalent about the "tech I'm teaching myself" section. It's unconventional, sure, but some people might look at it and think "oh this guy's interested in new technology and continuing to learn, good for him". Other people will look at it and think "wtf, did this guy just fall off of a turnip truck". The kinds of industries you've worked for seem more conventional and by-the-book, so I'd probably suggest getting rid of it.
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Dec 9, 2015 03:58
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Thanks for the feedback. I'm incorporating everything you guys said.
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Dec 10, 2015 00:36
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I recently did a phone screen with a well funded start up. I thought I did badly on the phone screen, and they want to fly me out for an in person interview. Any ideas on how to address the difference in perception from the phone screen in a tactful way?
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Dec 13, 2015 12:52
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If they aren't the same person the phone interviewer will have passed notes to the in-person interviewer telling them to probe more into areas they thought you were weak or they felt weren't adequately covered. Just be ready to re-answer or clarify the bits you didn't do well at. If they really push for more on something you covered you can try "Oh yeah, I don't think I explained myself clearly on the phone with *name*, my opinion on blah is…". Make sure you know the name.
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Dec 13, 2015 14:30
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Sign posted:I recently did a phone screen with a well funded start up. I thought I did badly on the phone screen, and they want to fly me out for an in person interview. Regardless of how badly you think you did, THEY clearly think you did well enough to warrant flying you out for an in person interview. That's 2 plane trips and at least 1 night in a hotel just for the chance to talk to you in person. They are invested in you. They mainly now want to see if you are an insufferable goon or a cool dude they can work with. Don't ruin it by being too neurotic.
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Dec 13, 2015 20:13
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Skandranon posted:Regardless of how badly you think you did, THEY clearly think you did well enough to warrant flying you out for an in person interview. That's 2 plane trips and at least 1 night in a hotel just for the chance to talk to you in person. They are invested in you. They mainly now want to see if you are an insufferable goon or a cool dude they can work with. Don't ruin it by being too neurotic.
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Dec 14, 2015 01:28
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Sign posted:I recently did a phone screen with a well funded start up. I thought I did badly on the phone screen, and they want to fly me out for an in person interview. Try not to psyche yourself out by over-analyzing your performance, even if a self-conducted post-mortem is sometimes useful. Remember the old joke about how to escape a bear? ("You just need to be faster than the next fastest camper.") You may well have done better than everyone else they talked to, even if you didn't get 100%. I don't think any reasonable interviewer expects absolute perfection anyway, just doing well enough that you seem like you could probably figure out something and contribute value on the job. (This is part of why it's really important to talk through your thinking on how you'd approach the problem, etc. instead of just immediately hammering out code or spitting out an answer. How the candidate thinks is a huge part of what you're trying to figure out as an interviewer, not just how well they memorized Cormen et al.'s algorithms tome.) Objectively, you've met that standard already on some level or else they wouldn't be spending the funds to fly you out. So at most I'd make a joke about it when talking to them, but you can just drop it and move on, content in the knowledge they see something worthwhile in you. I hear you completely though. I've felt awful after 90% of the interviews I've ever been a candidate in, to the point that it seems entirely independent of how well I do or don't do in terms of landing the job. v  v
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Dec 14, 2015 02:01
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