What I learned from recruiting for developer jobs
Tags: startup, junior, recruiting
Published: 2021-09-08 09:12:37

---
title: What I learned from recruiting for developer jobs
published: true
date: 2021-09-08 09:00:00 UTC
tags: startup,junior,recruiting
canonical_url: http://javaguirre.me/2021/08/26/what-i-learnt-from-recruiting-for-developer-jobs
---

Recruiting, something many of us have suffered more than enjoyed due to the voracious, aggressive and competitive tech world.

In several occasions candidates applying have asked me for feedback, here I compile the ideas they told me had found useful.

## TL;DR

We don’t need a PDF/paper CV, show how you work by sharing articles, your code on GitHub, your contributions on different blogging platforms, videos on YouTube.

**Companies hiring get a great glimpse** of who you are if you can share it with the world.

![](https://media.giphy.com/media/26n6WywJyh39n1pBu/giphy.gif)

## Why

Paper or PDF CVs are deprecated for many people, and It’s difficult to interact with them. I’ve been recruiting (not my main role) for four companies and I had been refining the job offers until We got to a level in which we can show our culture, honesty, and work to do through It. This has been possible thanks to other offers we liked that inspired us heavily into the direction we wanted.

Due to that, the impact of the offers is usually high in terms of valid candidates, but still, there is a high number of candidates that are discarded very fast because they don’t show anything. Meaning they have a PDF with some information and no relevant information on LinkedIn, so you need to download the PDF to gather the relevant information for a candidate. It’s fine if you’re interested in 5, but if you are in 30 and don’t have an HR person to do it, It’s cumbersome and you leave people out that might be relevant.

But due to this fact, a candidate is not very different from another, and you get the differences (sometimes) if you open all the PDFs.

## We want to know how you work and what you know

**It’s difficult to differentiate from the rest if you just have a PDF CV** , no LinkedIn detailed information, or no GitHub or articles.

## Pay for the thing

**If you are on a LinkedIn job process, pay for the lower level subscription** , it gives you information about the position you’re applying to and you can adapt your information better to the offer. It’s not about lying, but about improving the communication of your personal brand.

## We all have personal brands

**If we want to choose better job positions, we all need to take care of our personal brand**. I realized that late since what I really liked was just programming and not taking care of my brand, but I learned on time. Take care of what you are communicating and showing (good and bad) in the networks you use professionally. Try to communicate what you do and know even if you don’t have a job. I hire some people on the spot just because of that. That shows proactivity and eagerness to learn which are two very important skills.

Try to open source everything you can, even if you think is not worth noting, It always adds value. The same in terms of posting articles about something you learned, or even video.

A video about yourself is a bonus, you learn so much from It in terms of communication and character.

![](https://media.giphy.com/media/hsgN8oRJ7kjXf6JRih/giphy.gif)

## Community

**Nowadays developer communities can give you a lot of information on how the market goes** , what are the best companies to work on and most of all finding nice people to learn from. I meet the most interesting people in the Python Madrid group and I’m super happy to have been part of that community. It’s also very appealing and gives the same good proactivity and passion vibes companies would like in the people they hire.

![](https://media.giphy.com/media/zPOErRpLtHWbm/giphy.gif)

Participating in a Free Software/Open Source project is always very interesting. Even if it’s only helping with the documentation at the beginning, It’s a very relevant action to **point your career in the direction you want**. For example, finding a project you like and It’s being used in a company you want to work on. Reading code from our favorite projects is also an amazing way of improving our coding skills and essential IMHO.

## Targetting a company

- Check if they have [StackShare](https://stackshare.com/) or find a way to look for what tech they use.
- Check if they have [GitHub](https://github.com/wealize)
- Check the relevant people in the company on LinkedIn, Send an Inmail message if they don’t have positions open, try to amaze them with something you’ve done.
- Take advantage of the possibilities we have nowadays!

## Technical tests

- Don’t be afraid, you already have a no for an answer
- Abstract functionality (reading [Clean Code by Robert C. Martin](https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/clean-code-a/9780136083238/) is a good start)
- Automated testing (unit test, integration, e2e) is a must

## Interviews

- Nobody wants to listen to how bad your previous company was
- Talk about how would you be relevant in the position they are offering
- Try to give alternatives whenever there is something you don’t have (I don’t have Angular but I’ve worked with React and I could adapt…)

## Conclusion

The more hints we give the company on how we work without even knowing us the better. The more proactivity and interest in what you do you transmit the more chances will be for you to get an interview.

If you want to work remotely and a company to trust you, you can start showing it in what you do now without even starting to work with them. Show them autonomy and proactivity and that you are a [Manager of One](https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1430-hire-managers-of-one).

This was only what I’ve learned from being on both sides of the coin for years, but your path might be different than what I experienced. Let me know if that’s the case!

Have a great day!

![](https://media.giphy.com/media/jpoDZOyEg38F4cFFMi/giphy.gif)