Why Can't I Get A Job As A Software Developer?
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- Опубліковано 15 лис 2023
- Why can't I get a job as a software developer? Why is it that I apply and never hear back? How do I compete in this sea of developers? How do I stand out from the crowd? These are the questions we will answer in today's episode of Dev Questions.
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Wow, this vid is super insightful! I have been looking for a job since graduating back in July 2023 with about 320ish jobs applied to and have only had 5 interviews with around 3 going to the second round. I am definitely going to take your advice and pay attention to the job postings and technologies required and work on what i need to have to stick out of the crowd! Thank you!
I am glad it was helpful.
Thank you Tim. I learn important things from you.
You are welcome.
Thank you , that was a great video
You are welcome.
The job market sucks and it will get worse before it gets better. There are tons of companies looking to hire cheap developers. Finding a good job is the hard part.
That's unfortunately always going to be the case to an extent. Companies always want to under-pay for any type of employee. The good news is that there are LOTS of companies out there looking to hire developers. The trick is to find the right ones.
Master, I am deeply grateful for your insightful advice. It is a gift beyond measure.
You are welcome.
@@IAmTimCoreyI have master degree with 20 project and plus went to coding bootcamp 😔
@Adam-kk7nw - this video should help. Having 20 demo projects is like having none. Focus on having two or three really good ones. Having 20 means that you are showing off lesser-quality projects. My guess is that you probably also need to work on your resume for the same reason.
Thank you. I have been unemployed for quite some time and this is very helpful.
I’m glad.
Can you do one of these great videos on how know when to stop working for a company or client Please? As we all are interested in your journey From Dynamic Auto through Timothy Corey Consulting to Epicross how did you know your time was up in each area and how did you create the mindset to move on from that environment. As that would give us all a better idea of what to prepare for. Thanks.
Given new perspective on job hunting . Thanks
I am glad it was helpful.
The job hunt is killing me, Tim. I've been a developer for 12 years and I cant find a job after I had a client run out of money for a contract I was working. 12 years and I am having a hard time, cant imagine what its like for new devs. Not sure how much longer I can live in my damned car either...
If it makes you feel any better, I'm in a similar boat. 10+ years a developer and seems impossible to get a job or contract work. My experience has been a great interview, but then told that I'm over qualified for what they need and that they have decided to use a junior developer, even if I'm applying for a junior developer role! Can't win.
@@thefattysplace We can compare notes 😉. I get interviews and the occasional exam (which is getting old, fast tbh) but nothing ever comes of it. They don't pull the trigger, so to speak. It's annoying as hell.
00❤
@@ExSpoonman I haven't come up against any exams yet, although I wouldn't mind, at least then I could at least go away knowing if my skills are still good. I know I have a weakness in that I'm pretty much 100% c#/net, and a lot of recruiters are looking for JavaScript skills such as react or angular. I really don't like JavaScript frameworks, but I think I am going to have to get more experienced in it so I can add that to the list.
@@thefattysplace You say that now.... Check in after your 5th one, and we'll see if you feel the same way. Haha
Very, very tough labor market.
I talked with my neighbor, who was a head nurse at the local hospital. She told me that she hires nurses right out of the local community college with two year degrees. The hospital pays competitive wages but my neighbor told me that she and other experienced nurses spend a lot of time/energy mentoring these new nurses. That is what a good labor market looks like.
A classical musician auditioning for a major orchestra, in contrast, auditions against about 100 or so other players, most of which the orchestras "say" are not very good. That sounds a lot more like the market you are describing here than the market for nurses. And this is complete with difficult tests (you can call them auditions) by which people "prove" themselves. And really, it is very easy for employers to claim that there are no "good" applicants for their jobs, but that hardly makes that claim true.
Your lecture here is excellent, but your points underscore the issues.
It takes more time to become a nurse (2 years) than software "engineer"
@@IvanRandomDude It took me 5 years and I haven't even managed to get a job. Can't write algorithms. lol Probably 85 iq or smth.
@@renifer483 I want to assure you that algorithm questions are not a deficiency in your iq! You just need some experience with algorithms.
When I was in college I had a class on advanced data structures where I learned trees, lists, graphs, stacks, queues, and algorithms like searching and sorting. There was also some stuff on BIG O and some basic math analysis, but the real analysis was in the Corbin book which is a graduate text book and a hard read. There is a technique called recursion that you need to be good at on this stuff as trees are inherently recursive as are many algorithms (like Quick Sort and Quick Search). In recursion you have a method that calls itself, stacking variables each time until a condition is met and it returns, over and over (for each) call.
You might get a book or even take a community college class on data structures and practice on them a bit.
Frankly, these are dumb questions for C# developers. In C#, you don't use this stuff that much; with C# you need to know how to plug into the methods that Microsoft provides. I.E. Rather than writing your own sort, how do you sort a generic list or a similar structure using the Microsoft sort method.)
Tim discusses this topic in other videos.
I think the difference between nurses and software developers is a bit more complicated. The nurses you are talking about actually have two years of real training. A LOT of the people in the software development job market don't actually have that level of skill (not saying you need formal training, but you need the equivalent) and yet they are applying. That's a big issue for hiring managers, and a reason why they sort so many out.
Like I said, I know of a number of companies that have long-running open job postings. They aren't lying about a job being open. They just aren't getting enough candidates who are actually able to do a job to even a basic level.
It would be interesting to know what to do with the project after its development, how to upload your project and database to the server. For example, so that I can send a link to the site I created. Maybe you already have a video that indirectly explains this topic?
Thank you for the advice. My resume is quite generic and I think it is bloated too
You are welcome.
Genuine question. Most often a developer doesn’t build a thing on their own, they do it as part of a development team. How would that developer show their work on those projects?
You won't be able to put those projects in your portfolio. Your portfolio will almost always need to be projects you built on your own. However, you can use your work on those projects as part of your resume, where you talk about your work experience and what you accomplished at a job.
@@IAmTimCorey thanks for clarifying, but I have a follow up question. Is building a solo project really a common thing for developers? Building a polished, sleek looking web project that you're proud to show to potential employers is no trivial thing I mean it isn't something you can get done in a couple of weeks. You need good UI, good UX, good, fully unit tested code, good integration tests, good automated UI tests, and even then, your project might not use all the techs that you know, e.g. I know a bit of Azure, but my project is deployed to a VPS on Vultur, so I haven't really demonstrated my Azure knowledge.
Even if I was to host my pet project on Azure, that leaves AWS out! I don't know, I feel like there's no ticking all the boxes, you basically pick a few, and even though you know other tech, you'll just ignore those/leave them out to make your CV seem more targeted.
Can you talk about those companies that require candidates to know a lot of tecnologies. For example:
C#,Java,Python, Ruby
React, angular, vue
Unit testing, BDD testing,
Electron, Docker, K8s
MySql, Sql, Mongo. Etc etc...
What are your thoughts on links in resumes? Is it better to have a single link to a portfolio even if your portfolio has experience unrelated to the job posting, or is it better to have multiple links that direct to specific examples relevant to the posting?
Thanks again for your advice and content!
why not one link to a landing page you can summary and have a link to whereever?
I think many HR speicialists, which first receive job application, only check wheter your application match the job requirements. So, they don't even open the link to your projects.
It depends on the resume. You could just have a small section that points to your portfolio for work examples. Or, you could have a section that lists work examples, each with a link to that specific example.
@alexlitvin1297 - Portfolios aren't for HR specialists. That's why it is so important to be clear on your resume about your skills and why your resume needs to be so focused on highlighting the skills from the job posting. Otherwise, it won't get past HR to the person who is technical and who will want to see the portfolio.
@@alexlitvin1297 This might be true 10 years ago.... Most employers will use a scanning tool which uses AI currently. Last time i was looking for a job a recruiter told me i had to format my resume in a given style/format mainly for the AI tools. I would tend to agree that if your not optimized for what the AI wants, good chance no one will ever look at it...
Thank you, Tim Curry, for your beautiful advice. It really helped you a lot. Best regards
This video is BY FAR the best on this topic. Thanks Tim Corey.
You are welcome.
Anecdotal, but the last 5 years even with covid, I've had no issue landing job's this current job I got my senior title in 2 years
How do you do a portfolio as a backend developer? For examle, Docker, micro-services, distributed systems, .NET, Java...
You could create a repo for a Docker container you built. Explain what it does and show off the dockerfile. For example, I have one that takes a backup from a production SQL Server, restores it to a container, cleans out the sensitive data, and then creates a new container with just the cleaned version (the other container gets destroyed). Basically, it creates a safe development environment database automatically from a production database, which also means it tests the production backups automatically.
For a microservice, create a repo for one and explain what it does. For example, I have one that takes in an email address and some other data before sending out an email with an attached file to a user.
You could also create a mono repo with multiple services. Create a readme that includes a diagram of the services, what they do, and how they work together. Just explain that the mono repo is for ease of demonstration, not how you would do it in production for microservices.
@@IAmTimCorey Wow, thank you for the detailed suggestions. I already have some ideas now, and I think I'll start working on it. I appreciate your reply!
I can't write algorithms. Something just doesn't fire in my head. Can't go beyond for loops. Failed every job interview after 2 minutes.
@luke5100 is correct. Tutorials/training will help, but only if you practice everything that you learn over and over. Stick with it. Don't concentrate on algorithms specifically. Universities push data structures and algorithms as important topics, but they really shouldn't be taught on their own. They need to be learned as you go. Don't focus on them. Focus on building small applications. Grow your skills building things. What you will find is that you will start using data structures and algorithms naturally as you need them.
I have experience in Car/Carpet. I almost real-life, ROFL'd. I would say the undertone of this entire video, is that people aren't humble enough to ask themselves-- am I at least aware of the things I don't know about a particular topic/language/framework? I've always maintained, when you know, what you don't know, you're in good shape!
Knowing what you don't know is really important.
It is also important to understand the company you are applying to. Are you in alignment with their values?
Yep.
This is extremely useful info, thanks Tim! One quick question. You talked a lot about resume issues, but what is your opinion on cover letters? Are they required? Do people read them? Can they give you an advantage over people who don't write one?
If there is an option for a cover letter, take advantage of it. The worst thing that happens is they don't read it. The best thing that happens is they do and they learn something even more about you. Just don't make the cover letter huge or full of fluff. Be very clear. Use it as an opportunity to point out something about yourself that directly applies to the job that might not otherwise be clear from your resume.
i have notice that, there is not a lot of demand for C# developers. There are more opportunities for Java.
That is very area-specific, because the overall demand for C# developers is growing and Java is shrinking (Kotlin is taking away marketshare).
Hey Tim, why are .NET runtimes not integrated in Windows? Wouldn't it be nice for Microsoft to include the runtimes in Windows updates so that compatible .NET applications can run without needing to download and install the runtimes? Is there a downside to that?
Yes, if it updates automatically and it's an update that has breaking changes, then something might decide to not compile and the program will stop working.
We had .NET Framework runtimes integrated with Windows. It was a nightmare. If you deployed an app, and Windows wasn't updated, it would crash. Then, when people were using your app and Windows updated again, your application would crash because they got a new version. To combat this problem, Windows would keep separate major versions on your computer. That was a ton of overhead and it made things really messy.
What we have now is the ability to deploy .NET to the host separately or have the app deployed with the framework it depends on. One is a smaller download but depends on the host never updating that version of .NET. The other is a larger download, but will run the same way forever, regardless of what else is installed on the machine. To add to this, .NET is no longer bound to Windows. Now we can deploy .NET projects to Mac and Linux. So tying .NET to Windows would cause problems with cross-platform deployments as well.
Im going to quit Software Development all companies that Ive work with has no proper training program for noobs like me, Contractual jobs and Consulting is hard asf for newbies like me I was planning to switch to QA testing since I cant do much progress
Ah the age old dilemma. Should the developer have to spend tons of time specializing their resume(and ultimately many people just lie and put the requested experience) or do they list what they know and expect the person reading it to be able to filter the information they need.
Since so many companies make fake listings let alone never respond. And a lot of people have the experience of having to apply to 100+ places before getting an interview, customizing your resume every time just simply isn't feasible(unless you use AI which will lie for you).
I think the "fake listings" argument is mostly an excuse to not do what you need to do. Yes, they happen, but they aren't as common as people think. As for companies not responding, that just means your resume didn't make the cut. The excuse of "I have to apply to 100+ places" doesn't cut it when saying that customizing your resume isn't feasible. One of the big reasons why you have to apply to 100+ places is because you didn't customize it. Even if you had to apply for the same number of places, it will increase your odds of success. Even if those odds go from 1% to 2%, it is worth it.
You say "list what they know and expect the person reading it to be able to filter the information they need", but that's the problem. If you won't do the work to do that for them, they aren't going to do the work when they have 300 to 1,000 resumes on their desk.
Do what you can do. Don't expect others to put in more effort towards hiring you than you are willing to put in (per job).
@@IAmTimCorey you should look up the numbers. Up to 1/3 are actually fake(depending on industry).
First, there aren't real numbers on these because the definition is so nebulous and determining if something is "fake" at scale is nearly impossible. Second, how does that affect you? Even if one out of every three jobs you apply for is "fake", how does that change what you need to do? You either deal with the reality you are dealt and do the best you can with it, or you use it as an excuse as to why you didn't try. You still need a job. Jobs are still out there. I just don't see an alternative but doing what you can to reach your goals.
@@IAmTimCorey I think your point of what can you really do, but your best, is very valid. At the end of the day a good business is trying to find good people, and good people try and find a good business. But bad actors waist both sides time. Like I just did a code test that I studied for, for 2 days, and the test itself, one wasn't setup properly for the language I was using so had to use python, and two was so abstract and specific, unless I had multiple days to develop the algorithm I would never have been able to do it in the time they gave. So it might be a real job, and maybe someone has faced that specific problem before(probably in college and not IRL), but as someone who gave it my best there was never a possibility, then is the job actually "real".
No black friday offers this year?
Black Friday hasn’t happened yet. That happens in 7 days from now. And yes, we will have a sale.
Ah I see, thank you @@IAmTimCorey
I was hoping you would have had offers for the web dev course, was there one that I missed?@@IAmTimCorey
Overall the market sounds rough atm
Wrong. The real reason is because of typos in CVs and extra white space between Java and Script.
Have to agree. Companies are going 100% india, sri lanka and packistan. They are finding labor is pennies on the dollar and they dont have to hire entitled americans.
@@IvanRandomDude I wouldn't fault someone so much for that space between java script, but the space/void between their ears i would 😊
The market is rough (the job market overall is right now), but there are ways to navigate even a rough market. And to be clear, there are a LOT of jobs out there for developers, and that list is growing. The key is to stand out from the crowd.
@leftjabrighthook - That's not a big factor in the job market. Yes, there are some companies that have tried that approach, and some have even stuck with it. I've worked with many companies that have tried it. First, a lot of companies regret it and reverse direction. Second, quite a few are trying to supplement their staffing because they cannot find US-based developers to fill all of their roles (and they keep trying). Third, that's not the norm. Hiring labor in other countries is not nearly as cheap as people think. Not in the long run. But instead of focusing on the things you cannot control, focus on what you can do. There are LOTS of companies in the US that are hiring (and the same is true for other countries - I hear the UK market is really hot).
Boss: TLDR
Also Boss: Let's plan hours to talk about your resume and plans.
Also Boss: "It's right there in the job description."
.NET and dotnet can be tricky.
Yep, but in this case, they put "dot net".
Welcome to "Whose resume is it anyway!?"
Where the rules are made up and the points don't matter!
Truth is Software development is going in the decline, all due to the economy collapsing, wars, infation etc.
Actually, the demand for software developers is on the rise. It is one of the best fields to be in. The demand for developers is going up. You will need to work to differentiate yourself, but your odds of getting a great job are really good compared to other fields.
Really? I see other youtuber content creators saying the market's tough right now, especially for newbs like me, and your likely demographic. I can't see myself being more employable than experienced devs. There's a real glut of us out there all tutorialed-up with nowhere to go. @@IAmTimCorey