How to Land a Coding Job in Post-Pandemic Times—The Untraditional Way

I originally posted this post on my blog a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Last year, I sent out over a dozen of CVs and cold emails within a month.

I was laid off. I went into panic mode. I applied to many companies. Anything with the word "coding" or "software engineering" in the job description. I even applied to a FAANG though I rejected that idea years ago.

But I just got radio silence.

2024 was a tough market.

I know because I wasn't the only one going through layoffs. The entire industry was.

I even talked to an ex-coworker and he told me he had sent one hundred applications. I don't know if he meant literally 100 applications or not. But I wouldn't be surprised. He only got two or three positive responses.

Some time ago, I found a reflection from a junior developer here as part of the New Year Writing Challenge.

Last year, she finished a coding bootcamp or something and started to look for jobs. Oh boy! It must have been tougher for her. After the bat-soup and 2023, it seems nobody is hiring junior engineers anymore. And she tried the CV route.

CVs are dead. They're so last century.

And sending lots of CVs won't land you a job.

Well, sending CVs is a numbers game. Maybe out of 100 applications, you'll get 2-3% of responses back if you're lucky. Who knows!

Instead of CVs, I'd try an indirect approach to look for jobs:

1. Follow on LinkedIn, companies you'd like to work for and people (especially hiring managers) who work there.
2. Start genuine conversations. Ask how working there is and ask for referral programs.
3. If you use the company's product, show up with ideas to improve the product. Or the company website or social media presence. Don't simply send your CV with an "I do anything coding-related for money" attitude. That's what I did with obviously poor results.
4. Go through your network, asking if anyone knows someone working at a place where you could fit. Repeat steps 1 to 3. Or ask for an introduction.

I found my first job because I knew someone who knew someone at a company looking for coders. An introduction skipped the hiring line. And after being fired from that job, I found my next one through my network. I knew someone who knew someone.

If you're standing in a hiring line or if your CV is on a pile physically or virtually, you're already screwed. Don't wait in hiring lines. Look for indirect ways to open doors and skip the lines.

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