Advice to my young self: forget side projects and focus on your job

Re:Advice to my young self: forget side projects and focus o... by fossuser on Monday October 12, 2020 @07:11PM (#24760598)

Not only this, but the premise that working on your job will impress recruiters is just wrong.

There's a pretty simple flow chart for getting hired at a bay area company:

1. Go to MIT, Stanford, Cal, an Ivy, or CalTech and make sure you have linked in.

2. If 1 isn't possible then make a friend who works where you want to work and get a referral.

3. Cram leetcode

That's basically it.

Don't give up doing side projects and things you actually enjoy because that's how you learn.

I think you're also overly harsh on recruiters (they're not 'bottom-feeders'), they're friendly and can help you out - but they're just looking in a very narrow subset. Basically the graduates from those schools and people already employed at FAANGs.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Advice to my young self: forget side projects and focus o... by chris11 on Monday October 12, 2020 @10:40PM (#24761708)

Working at a good company can also help out. MS/Facebook/Amazon/Google all have reputations for a decent hiring bar and need to recruit a lot of engineers. There are other companies that have decent reputations and are less selective about interviewing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Advice to my young self: forget side projects and focus o... by Cthulhu_ on Tuesday October 13, 2020 @04:28AM (#24763479)

Honestly, if you have a FAANG on your CV you're pretty much set, especially outside of SF (e.g. every other tech hub in Europe). Senior developer / CTO will be the kind of job offers you'll get, and recruiters will be all over you.

Disclaimer: I don't have a FAANG on my CV.

[ Parent | on HN ]