The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5) - how do other people get jobs?

how do other people get jobs?

I'm totally detatched from non-software engineering reality. Let's say I wanted to become some sort of other quasi-professional. How would I find and apply for jobs?

Do physician's assistants and paralegals spam out form cover letters and buzzword keyed resumes to addresses on google? How do the hiring managers filter people out? The only other jobs I've had outside of software were pantry chef and farm laborer, and I got those jobs because I "knew a guy."

Monday, January 26, 2004

>how do other people get jobs?

Just as you said. By knowing a "few guys". Always. Unless its McDonalds.

Indian Developer in India
Monday, January 26, 2004

Because software pays significantly above the average wage, and there are no formal qualifications required, there are a zillion applicants for every position.

But the "quasi-professional" jobs either don't pay so well, or they have formal licensing/training requirements (for example you need a license to be a hairdresser or dental hygenist), that they don't have a tremendous number of applicants. I know of people who've had a lot of success applying and interviewing for jobs in the $30K range such as retail management, teaching SAT/GRE training courses, or UPS/Fedex driver simply by responding to an ad in a newspaper or magazine.

NoName
Monday, January 26, 2004

My sister's an accountant (technically she's an auditing specialist) who's looking for a new role -- and apparently this involves dealing with the same (crap) agency system that we (those of us in the UK IT industry) seem to have to put up with. She won't believe me when I tell her to ignore the agents and start doing this direct. She hasn't quite got a handle on who the agents work for....

Having said that, my other half got his current role by bulk mailing local companies from a list obtained from the chamber of commerce. A friend simply hops between the same two banks in London getting a promotion each time... And my replacement position was obtained by the bizarrest of means... I'm a wargamer in my spare time, and needed some polystyrene for terrain. And the company I randomly phoned off the google search for local suppliers wanted a developer. So that was a friend sorted out with a job. Fast forward a few months and a friend of the owner of the poly factory who owns a hardware place is after a developer...

Katie Lucas
Monday, January 26, 2004

What *is* a WarGamer Katie?

Dave B.
Monday, January 26, 2004

I got jobs with a little help from my friends...and my pappy!

George
Monday, January 26, 2004

I have successfully gotten several jobs through a recruiter, and one though an ad in the New York Times (yes! actually submitted by a real company!). Lucky thing too, because I know no one in this city.

Keith Wright
Monday, January 26, 2004

> What *is* a WarGamer Katie?

Well based on her description I would say she takes little (formerly pewter) figurines, and paints them. Then takes polystyrene and other miscelaneous things to make terrain.

Then according to some rules set wages a pretend war. The USMC does this, and there are tons of hobbyists who do it. It's much more gratifying and social than the computer kind because at the end of the day you don't have a high score in some .ini file, you have a whole environment you've created. It's sort of like model trains.

There's a Games Workshop store on 8th Street in Manhattan, I was surprised when I saw it (surprised that there were enough people who do it to support a prime retail space)

http://us.games-workshop.com/

BTW, that Lord of the Rings Risk set looks interesting, though the Trivial Pursuit game is a little too geeky for me, and I never understood Monopoly using anything but real cities.

www.MarkTAW.com
Monday, January 26, 2004

Nepotism has always worked for me.

ItsWhoYouKnow
Monday, January 26, 2004

I drove around the local office parks and wrote down the names on the signs. Yes, I am dead serious.
I am lucky enough to live in a high tech area of the US. There are four or five large office parks, the rest is easy, just type www.companynamehere.com or google.
Anyone to small to have a web site is probably not worth the time.

Doug Withau
Monday, January 26, 2004