Ask HN: How should I go about finding an interesting job | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How should I go about finding an interesting job

10 pointsyourfriend11 comments

Hello HN, I have been a long time user on HN and really respect this community; nowhere have I found so many bright people who are willing to offer genuine feedback and/or advice. And here I am asking for one.

I've reached to a point where I am finding it increasingly difficult to find a real development job in Canada (I live in the US but will be moving). It almost appears that there's a great devoid of opportunities for a good developer.

I have been following all the popular job feeds (indeed, workopolis, craigslist, top 100 employer etc.) for last several months and yet, I haven't found a compelling job and/or company which values developers as an asset.

I have been approached by a few companies, but they will filter me on my (easily fake-able) skill matrix or by code spit on phone. May be it is because of my background (Java), or may be it is just me (slightly above average developer :) ). Or my be my resume has never reached to human.

Sometimes I think I should rather drop the idea of working for someone and start something of my own, but I have tried and failed in the stage of ramen-profitability so many times that I don't have strength to really pull this off with dependent family anymore. As frustrating as this sounds, I really seek the direction where I can feed the family and still work on an interesting job.

How would you go about finding job you want in Canada? What am I missing?

I don't want to get shot but...

Have you tried looking for jobs in the science/research/R&D sectors? The work isn't necessarily always the most challenging technically (compared to some of the HN fare) but it is exciting in other ways - you get to pick up a bit of scientific knowledge and work to advance the human frontier. And while the pay is not the megabucks of stock options or Silicon Valley, there are other upsides (often job security, and sane working hours).

Canada has a lot of vibrant universities and research organisations, there are definitely jobs around.

This generally means enrolling full time ph.d. or at least that's what I've seen. Care to link specifics?

This generally means enrolling full time ph.d.

Not at all. I have hired software engineers for my organisation and can tell you that scientific background is not always required. Two of my hires had nothing more than school-level education, though typically a science degree confers a significant advantage.

I'm talking about jobs like this:

http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/careers/jobpost.nsf/EnglishAll/A10...

or more typically this:

http://members.aas.org/JobReg/JobDetailPage.cfm?JobID=26533

(not in Canada, but you get the idea)

The problem is that it is generally hard to find these jobs in global searches. The trick is, once you know where you are going to be, to look up research institutes in your areas and see what they have going.

It's not my field, but I hear there are a lot of jobs supporting medical research for example.

Find all the who's hiring threads on hacker news. I remember seeing at least a few interesting positions in Canada.

Buy the book "What color is your parachute". A lot of people swear by it. Personally I was too shy to find it of much use.

Look for jobs on the Joel on software job board, and the 37 signals job board.

Start an interesting blog about your programming passions.

.. just a few thoughts off the top of my head.

Done, code spit interviews from hiring threads here on HN - very poor approach. I can point out but I would rather not.

Thanks for other suggestions! will try them.

What are code spit interviews? What was a poor approach? Just curious.

Pardon me for inventing that word without realizing. By code spit interview, I meant interviews based on code exchange over phone, then without any kind of feedback what-so-ever, saying we can't proceed.

Code in question was really trivial something along the lines of calculating primes, I consider it a poor approach to judge a candidate.

I had a similar experience after applying for a job through HN, with the difference being I was never told we can't proceed... or anything, for that matter.

Can't comment on the parachute book, but have read "Don't Send a Resume" which if memory serves has good advice on how to get an employer's attention.

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Send-Resume-Other-Contrarian/dp/0...

If you are outgoing, have you considered working in the sales end of the software chain? Just an idea.

I think you probably mistaken me when I said "slightly above average", I am a tech guy and it is my passion so sales is not really an option for me

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