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by sixhobbits·8y ago·view on hn ↗
This is true for developers applying through job ads. patio11 has a written millions of words of advice, many of which talk about how to land work (hint, don't apply through job ads), so I'm not going to try rephrase that, but if you're a developer (even without experience) and you're good at what you do, you really shouldn't have any issues finding work.

(shameless plug) I'm working with hyperiondev.com. We offer 6-month coding bootcamps, and our grads have companies fighting over them even though they have zero "real world" experience and only 6-months of training (yes I've read the bootcamp vs theoretical CS degree flamewars to preempt anyone who believes that anyone who writes a line of code should have 3 years of CS theory to back it up).

Know your stuff. Have a portfolio (minimal is fine). Talk to people (not recruiters or HR staff). There is almost no easier way to find work at the moment than by saying "hey I know what a for loop is", so I have limited sympathy for the people who claim they can't get jobs because of lack of experience in dev.

2 comments
For Boston at least that is patently untrue. Every company wants to run you through the whiteboard hazing. Knowing what a for loop is, is going to get you shit.

Also, don't apply to companies? That may be fine for a small percentage of people who can get ahead of the pack or luck out but that's not doable for the whole industry. Is every junior dev supposed to constantly troll meetups and cold email more senior devs to get into the industry? Networking like that is good advice now because it makes you stick out but if everyone does it then the senior devs are going to start treating newcomers like we treat recruiters and just blanket ignore them until we need something from them. It's not feasible for the entire industry to be growing in demand and still only be willing to grow the supply of devs through the old boys club style of networking

I am assuming you are making an overstatement. Even then, you are really mislead if you really think someone who knows the basics of control structures is going to get a job in the industry.