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As a developer, what problems do you face during job search? πŸ€”

Nilohit Singh Kanwar on August 18, 2020

Here at DEV, we're a diverse community πŸ‘¨β€πŸ’»πŸ‘©β€πŸ’» Some of us own tech companies. Some of us are devs who work with tech companies. And some of us are d...
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michaelgee profile image
Michael Gee

Job: Junior / Entry Level Developer

Requirements:
HTML / CSS / JavaScript - 15 years exp
React - 15 years exp
Node - 15 years exp
Serverless - 15 years exp
Missions To The Moon Completed - 3
Nobel Prizes - 1
Lamborghinis Owned - 1

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mtee profile image
Margaret W.N

πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚The sarcasm is on point

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canmingir profile image
Can Mingir

You don't have any hands-on quantum computing experience?

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yobretyo profile image
Bret

β€œEntry level” yet it has 15 years.... that’s my problem when β€œentry level” is stated, it says 3-5 years experience.

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Matthew Schwartz

Many recruiters reach out to me with roles that are far below my skill level and pay grade. Or totally unrelated to any skills mentioned in my online profile or resume. Why would I be interested in an entry level Android development position when I'm director of a full stack web development team?

Of course I simply ignore them. But it's a waste of my time and their's.

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sjellen profile image
SJellen

-As someone changing careers, my resume is useless but it's the first thing they ask for.
-Trying to apply for jobs sends you on countless redirects.
-After you applied for jobs they ask filtering questions.
-Your application goes to a black hole.
-Job descriptions are either unrealistic or unreadable.

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utkarsh profile image
Utkarsh Talwar

"Job descriptions are either unrealistic or unreadable."

Totally agree. Job boards are plagued with bad JDs. What makes for a strong JD in your opinion?

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Herb Wolfe

My biggest problem is finding positions to apply for, locally, as I haven't been able to relocate. I'm not interested in webdev, or DotNET, so that rules out a lot of jobs.

I did have a recruiter try to place me in a contract job doing Java, but I didn't have any references that can verify my coding skills, so he couldn't proceed.

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rachelagnihotri profile image
Rachel

Sometimes, job descriptions for developers can be inaccurate because:

but there usually isn't :P

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Patrick Boyd • Edited

A) recruiters reaching out for things obviously not in my listed skillset at all saying I'd be a great fit.
B) several lately seem to have a list of requirements with x years a mile long (IE like they want the expert in everything for say a mid level or something)
C) Oh and there was the one that wanted free work as a "trial" run.
D) When I started back in the day, it was the entry jobs that wanted experience...how do you get experience if you need it to be hired? That was annoying back in the day.

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dailydevtips1 profile image
Chris Bongers

I really think there are many issues.

  • Recruiters don't understand the tech stacks
  • Recruiters ask ridiculous amount of money if you ask me
  • Interviews are off, asking the wrong questions for the wrong job
  • Tests are just plain not working anymore
  • Everyone is looking for that unicorn
  • Every unicorn is your neighbour bob, john and his dog who took a free online course (not saying it's wrong, but still apply for the right job and don't oversell yourself)
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utkarsh profile image
Utkarsh Talwar

"Recruiters don't understand the tech stacks"
"Interviews are off, asking the wrong questions for the wrong job"

I agree. I think many of these problems happen when companies outsource hiring to recruitment/screening firms that may not have expertise in the domain. If they can't tell the difference between java and javascript, they shouldn't be interviewing/screening you.

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dailydevtips1 profile image
Chris Bongers

True, but as a person being interviews it just frustrates.
and i wonder if the company paying top dollar for recruitment then gets the best person for the job?

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juliescript profile image
Julieta Campos GuzmΓ‘n
  • Intimidating job descriptions
  • Unreachable expectations for entry-level positions
  • Whiteboard interviews
  • HUGE take home assignments that are impossible to finish in their desired time frame
  • NO feedback

I think that job searching is like kissing frogs to find a prince. You need to kiss A LOT of frogs, but if you're patient then you will find a nice job. I found one after 1 year of endless CVs, calls with recruiters, take home assignments, tech interviews that made me feel worthless, and in the end I found a company which aligned with my values and wasn't so terrible during their process.

Finally, you don't have to apply to AAGF to be a successful developer.

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Raphael Habereder • Edited

Currently, it's no problem for me to find projects for my employees, but for me it's pretty much impossible. As CEO all clients in my country want me to sign a temporary employment contract, because they want to "mitigate legal risks", right... (Successfully guess the country and you'll get bonus points).
I'm not going to sign an employment contract and lose everything I've built the last 10 years, including my great employees, that would be hilariously stupid.

So the search for "real" freelancer gigs goes on. Now insert the current pandemic into the mix and it gets even worse. I don't want to be a full time manager. I want to stay on the front lines and actually create things.

Another thing would be recruiters that don't read profiles or have very unrealistic requirements. For example, this one I got in today made me laugh quite a bit:

Administration of RedHat Enterprise (min. 5 Years)
Administration of SUSE Enterprise (min. 5 Years)
Administration of IBM AIX and Power-Systems (min. 5 Years)
Administration of Solaris Systems (min. 5 years)

1) That's 20 years of experience, I'm 29.
2) Why all the different systems? I can see reasons why you would operate AIX/Solaris at the same time, but RHEL and SLES? Pick one, ditch the other, improve the life of your OPS.
3) Who in their right mind still uses Solaris? Don't get me wrong, I love me some solaris, but... why.

I'm trying not to touch the topic of "knowing someones value". Most companies want experts for a junior salary. That's just plain disrespectful.

Oh well, that's my rant for today. Onwards to like all the other cool comments :D

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Dominik Mack

If Headhunters reacht out to me the Positions are mostly somewhere else then where i'm living. And I really don't want to move away.

Also there are not really much positions for that what I want to do (App-Development). And if there are some they normally want more experience than I can offer, because I don't have that much time to teach it myself.

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Francis Provost

My main points are

  • not telling me for what company you want me
  • Not reading my profile where I clearly state that I only work remotely
  • contacting me for technos that aren't profile (linked with the second point)
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sakshatshinde profile image
Sakshat • Edited

Getting my resume In front of eyeballs.

Clarification: ATS is the culprit

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Devin Goble • Edited

There's a few things I've seen. First, job postings that have a wish list, instead of a description of what the position entails. You'll see what they do right now mixed with what they want to do someday, and no indication of which is which. Similar to that is when they ask for "experience with any of the following: Angular, React, Vue, or Svelte". I get that experience with modern frameworks can transfer, but what if I want to specialize right now? Unless I know what the stack actually is, we're wasting each other's time. Finally (I in no way want to equate this with the descrimination faced by any racial group, it's simply an observation) I feel like the fact that I'm currently an employee of a local government has limited my opportunities. I've specifically been asked questions that show that the interviewer has a poor view of government workers, specifically around productivity and skill. I've been asked those questions enough times that I wonder how many times my resume has been passed over because of it. I wouldn't want to work for anybody who would do that for any reason not related to qualifications, so no worries here.

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Ashley Sheridan

Biggest problems I've had is bad recruiters. Problems with them have included:

  • being offered an opportunity for a job that was both not my language and 100 miles from where I said I wanted jobs
  • emails to me but addressed to the name of a famous author because in the early days of my CV I'd included some authors I liked reading
  • being accused of hiding being in prison (for the record I've absolutely never been in prison!) because they'd edited my CV (telling me they hadn't and wouldn't do such a thing) and removing a few years of work history! They then tried gaslighting me and saying that accusing me 3 times of that was a joke.

Then bad interviews:

  • in one they'd messed up and started interviewing me for a different position than I went in for
  • another got annoyed when I said I liked to think of myself as a stakeholder in what I worked on (if I don't enjoy the work, why would I be there, of course I'll want to input and go above and beyond), and then in the paired programming test, the interviewer just spent half the time on his phone

To these people, I say, you get what you put in.

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utkarsh profile image
Utkarsh Talwar • Edited

"being accused of hiding being in prison"
"they'd edited my CV"
"They then tried gaslighting me and saying that accusing me 3 times of that was a joke."
"started interviewing me for a different position than I went in for"

Tha's a yikes from me dawg

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andrewbaisden profile image
Andrew Baisden

Recruiters who hype up roles, tell you that they have been reading through your profile and give you a false sales pitch telling you that you are "The perfect fit". Then they show you a job description which is a complete mismatch. But you said that you read my profile... wait no it was just a copy and paste message sent to 1000+ people πŸ™ƒ

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tnypxl profile image
tnypxl • Edited

Too few companies set a clear record of what "experience" means in the context of their company. I have many years of experience, but if it doesn't apply from the outset, why waste everyone's time being needlessly vague?

Tell me what the role will actually be doing and how my experience should line up. Would save everyone hours of phone tag and interview steps.

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aina_j profile image
AinaJ

Searching a job is relly hard as developer. You write a resume but not every recruiter read it.
And you write a letter but no everyone read it also. When you get an interview they ask you algorithm that has nothing to do with your job. Then when you get the job they ask you to do a job that never been in the job requirement.
So dear recruiter why not just hire us without these multiple process. We can adapt ourself to learn new tech if need but don't juge us with one tech that we don't know yet.

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dendihandian profile image
Dendi Handian

Finding the desired tech stack jobs near living place.

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Juanjo Aguililla

My main problem is that I would never work for a company that would hire people like me :D

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Octa

Most jobs are in locations with high cost of living or long / difficult commute times, and want you in the office four days a week at least.

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Mike

It's hard to find positions for senior level developers. It feels like companies are starting to just load up with cheaper junior devs.