Nia Watson

Yesterday I posted a Software Engineer job in Dallas, TX. Today it had 411 applicants   Here is how I screened through the applicants (writing as I go along).   The job is not remote. Since the role is hybrid onsite in Dallas I can reject everyone outside the state of Texas. Some folks leave off their City, State from their resume so they’ll get lumped into the non-local crowd.   I'm left with 163 applicants   Next I'm rejecting applicants with only their first name on their resume (or first name and first initial) and the ones who need visa sponsorship (this client does not sponsor). The lion share of candidates won’t disclose visas on their resume so I’ll likely have to discover those manually. A large portion of those are the ones who apply with only their first name however. For anyone else that applies with only their first name...maybe revisit that.   I'm left with 91 applicants   Next I’m rejected applicants based on mismatched job titles. The client is looking for someone full stack and this a PHP shop modernizing to full stack JavaScript with React.js & Node.js. I'm looking for variations of Software Engineer or Full Stack Developer titles with matching tech stacks. I’m left with 29 applicants Now I’m going to start looking at individual resumes instead of the grid view in our ATS. I’m looking for candidates who have 3 key items (PHP, React.js, and Node.js) and located in the Dallas area. I’m left with 0 applicants I didn’t get the chance to screen for other important items like experience level, job hopping, or give preference to candidates coming from the restaurant industry or experience working on a customer loyalty platform (what this client is asking us for). See why this job market is so hard? With the return to office mandates, clients are making every single job search a “needle in the haystack”. I’m trying to be efficient with my time and leveraging the grid view in our ATS (which most recruiters use). Part of problem here is an ATS’s ability to parse the correct information from resumes into the grid view. None of them are 100% accurate. Our is pretty good, but not perfect. It’s possible that great resumes were rejected because they used complicated resume templates and the ATS took a wrong guess in populating the grid view fields. Lessons for Job Seekers: - Use commonly used boring resume templates (definitely not Canva) - Tailor your resume for every application - Use your full name, job title, and location at the top - Be mindful of the job title. Will it match or disqualify you? Should you be applying to this job? - If you’re not local, follow up with a LinkedIn message letting the company know you’re interested in relocating. - If you’re planning to relocate, use the new city on your resume (just be upfront about that in the interview).

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I got my first job after learning HTML/CSS and some basic JS/Vue for about ~6 months. It was a student position, but I got it because of my portfolio + projects (even though they were bad) that showed my passion. It's true that the job market has changed since then, and I do believe it's more difficult to land an entry level front-end job today - but it's definitely not impossible. Channel your learning, focus on the basics, and build a lot of projects. Then toss the best of them into a neat portfolio. Most of the learning will happen on the job, so the key is to stand out and get your foot in the door somewhere. Then you can always improve and level up from there. 🔥

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I once had a recruiter tell me... that if you meet 40% or more the requirements apply to the job. Just because you don't meet all the requirements doesn't mean don't apply. No need to second guess yourself since that 40% is up to you to decide. This is how anyone looking for a new job should approach them. Let's get these jobs. At FYJUMP we are launching a membership program that shows how to get tech jobs in any hiring climate and gives access to tech professionals who have done it. Many at Amazon, Google + more. 🚀 Join the waitlist: https://lnkd.in/gFtGCctE #Intel #AWS #Amazon #google #job #hiring #softwareengineer #newgrad #entrylevel #techcareers #jobs #OpenToWork

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When making a resume or about page that includes my experience and skills in technologies ranging from C# and .NET MAUI and Blazor, to React and React Native, is it beneficial to include I do in fact have experience with HTML and CSS also? Or are some things implied? #dotnet #webdevelopment #linkedin #resume

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🔥🔥 HOT TAKE 🔥🔥 A new(ish) developer with a business degree and a cert from a boot camp is more effective than one with a CS degree. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 The majority of software engineering jobs are around solving Business Problems, not CS Problems. Understanding what the business is trying to achieve gives you a leg up when writing code to solve that problem. Additionally, many concepts you'll be exposed to in business have echoes in software development. That may be because much of early software engineering was done to solve...wait for it...Business Problems! (Yes, and military ones.) ________________________________________________________________________________ Think Kafka is neat? Accountants have been keeping ledgers for millennia. 🤓 Kubernetes is cool? Looks a lot like franchises from certain perspective... 🤷‍♂️ Microservices? You mean division of labor? That's been happening for eternity. _______________________________________________________________________________ As always, keep the discussion in the comments respectful.

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Brace for takes: Going into 2024 the snake has eaten its tail on SPA vs MPA setups. Server side rendering is all the way back, but with JS on the front and back end. For a decade React has been positioned as library not a framework, but that opinion has flipped. I recommend learning react as a framework instead of a library. You learn it either way, but the framework perspective is more relevant to the moment. Learning to use Next.js is your best target. https://nextjs.org/learn If you look for a tutorial or course, look for something that teaches you React / Next.js / Typescript If you are looking for an environment that encompasses all three look at PayloadCMS. https://payloadcms.com/ CSS whips right now. Nesting, scroll timeline, has(), color spaces... we are having fun over here. Spend your time working on CSS and not SASS. (You could look into Tailwind to supplement your React journey)

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Jr. Devs, When you are sitting in that interview chair trying not to say the wrong thing and trying to remember all the stuff you’ve been told about how to interview well, don’t forget this one thing that should give you at least a little more confidence. You're not the only one being interviewed. You may think… duh, there are tons of candidates for this job. However, that’s not what I’m talking about. You are interviewing the company. Most Jr. Devs don’t think like this because, frankly, most Jr. Devs are just trying to get a job and they often don’t care or don’t consider the company or the culture they end up in. I’ve spent a lot of time on the DevMentorDave YouTube channel recently talking about mentoring and the need for it in our organizations. But that’s only one part of finding the right fit. The company is looking for candidates they think will fit what they need. Notice I said, ‘NEED”. They don’t just hire because it’s fun (it’s not). They need someone and you need to make sure they are a good fit for YOU before accepting an offer or before leaving the interview. Don’t just ask questions you found on a website or were given by a recruiter. Think about what matters to you as an employee and as an individual and ask questions that will impact how you work and impact your success and future. That level of confidence and interaction in the interview may just set you apart from the pack, even if your dev skills are the same as all the other candidates. #juniordeveloper #mentoring #interview 

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Great interview between Brian Jenney and Vanessa V. with a lot of great nuggets! Some of my favorite tidbits: - If you're an introvert, you can pick and choose the people you WANT to talk to (which could make all the difference in networking!) - Find the learning tools that work for the way YOU learn (Thanks for the Scrimba rec!) - Finding a junior role is not about a specific skill or language or tool but rather your personality and aptitude (can they see working with you? can they see you GROWING?) There are no hacks or secret passwords to getting a job in tech: sometimes it's just consistently showing up, learning new skills, and getting experience (wherever and however you can 😎 ) If you want to listen, I'll put the Spotify link in the comments but highly recommend checking these peeps out!

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Day 48 of #100daysofALXSE 📈 Progress Overview: - Time Spent: 3 hour 💡 What I Learned: After submitting my HTML/CSS Odin Project Landing Page yesterday, my mentor noticed how far my class names are from best practices. Though my web page looks 80% similar to the sample I am given to replicate, he insisted I must embrace the Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship way, part of which is not only creating working software but also WELL CRAFTED. I continue today to read and practice more on naming conventions for organizing CSS class names. Though I've come across a freeCodeCamp article detailing the BEM Naming Convention, I plan to go deeper into my search 📚 Resource Used: https://lnkd.in/d9sEsEnX 🗓️ Plan for Today: Learning never stops. #CodeNewbie #LearningInPublic #CodingJourney #ALX_SE #100daysofALXSE #DoHardThings

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The candidate experience isn't focused on enough. Came across this in a post for a Software Developer opening. If it takes 6 rounds to determine if a Software Developer is a fit then the people conducting the interviews shouldn't be interviewing. Round 1: Preliminary Interview  Round 2: Hiring Manager Interview Round 3: Take Home Assignment (Coding Challenge) Round 4: Behavioral Interview Round 5: Technical Interview Round 6: Executive Interview It should be no more than 3 for most positions.... The Two to Three Interview Rule: Many hiring professionals advocate for a structured hiring process that includes two to three interviews. The rationale behind this approach is to strike a balance between thorough evaluation and respecting the candidate's time and experience. Pros of 2-3 interviews: Efficient Use of Time Positive Candidate Experience Better Decision-Making Two to three interviews can provide a comprehensive assessment while preventing interview fatigue, which can lead to suboptimal decision-making. Cons of Excessive Interviews: Diminished Interest Negative Perception Missed Opportunities as they drop out / accept another offer The ideal number of interviews for assessing candidates is a delicate balance. While two to three interviews are generally considered sufficient to make an informed decision, exceeding this number can have adverse effects on the candidate experience and the organization's reputation.  6 rounds...No thank you

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For those that took a coding bootcamp and are currently experiencing issues with landing a job, here’s what helped me get a job after my bootcamp: 1. Find a role that is not only looking for juniors, but also has a tech stack that you learned in the bootcamp. 2. Once one is complete, find the Hiring Manager/Recruiter responsible for the role that you’re wanting to apply to. 3. Connect with them and establish a relationship. This is very important because speaking directly with this individual will allow you to get straight to the “meat and bones” at hand and establish whether or not you’re a good fit. 4. Afterwards, and probably the most important step, go DIRECTLY to the companies website and apply on their site. DO NOT APPLY THROUGH LINKEDIN. 5. Have a spread sheet created that tracks where you applied, the recruiter you spoke with, the date you replied, and then have 2-3 columns that track your follow-up attempts with the hiring manager regarding your application. 6. Go outside and keep doing your favorite hobbies. Hopefully one of those hobbies include building new apps with your tech stack so you remain ‘current’. There’s no point to all of this if you can’t maintain a level of mental clarity while dealing with a process that WILL include a lot of rejections. Because, if I'm being honest, the rejections do NOT end once you get a job. Your code will reject you as well, at times lmao. Cheers, and good luck!!! PS: If your bootcamp program provides a Career Advisor, or something along those lines, get with them ASAP. Shoutout Corey Bott for passing this down to me, you’re wisdom has been priceless! #Bootcamp #CodingBootcamp #SoftwareEngineer #SWE #SoftwareDeveloper #React #JavaScript

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A lot of small businesses do everything in their power to cut costs but I don't think hiring should be one of them. I have explored sites like Fiverr and Upwork. There are some great professionals on there but there are an incredibly large amount of scams. If you image-search the profile pictures, you can see that most of those people are not the professionals they claim to be. When it comes to outsourcing, for any task or project, it's essential to exercise caution in selecting your partners. If an offer seems too good to be true, it's wise to approach it with a healthy dose of skepticism.

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"How do I get my first job in DE or DS?" I feel horrible when I tell this to people. But look, the market is just really bad for junior engineers and scientists. There are a lot of startups right now and startups need people who can come in and build stuff. It sucks, but junior engineers take additional handholding before they can become independent, which (a) means you're not getting as much work per dollar for the salary you give to a junior, and (b) senior engineers are made temporarily less productive because they need to slow down to mentor juniors I'm not saying this is right or good. But this statement is generally true: the less onboarding you need, the more options you have in where you can work. --- The "bright" side is that in the tech space, you can manufacture your own experience without needing to get a job: building personal projects--ideally 1-2 super deep ones. If you have a family, specifically kids... I don't know. I'm pro family and I believe you're doing something amazing. Similar statement if you're struggling with health issues. The market only cares about output. I think what we're seeing is there are few "true entrylevel jobs". So if you can "make yourself into a mid-level or senior engineer" on your own time, you're suddenly in a new category of applicants and (in my experience) will find that there ARE jobs to be found. There is a simple formula for getting a job in software and DS: Inputs: Pre-onboard yourself. By getting experience and learning. By doing personal projects. And be decent at Leetcode. Outputs: The output is higher *likelihood* of getting accepted and having more options. People who keep the formula going long enough get jobs. But many stop because life pulls them away. Honestly, this outcome is totally fine--especially if they learned they don't find joy in SWE/DS. I'm just here to say that if you STAY and do the formula, it will happen. No guarantees on time, but for reference, I'd bet that a reasonable time frame to expect success is <2 years--potentially much faster or slower depending on your rate of investment. --- I don't have the time I once did to mentor 1:1, but: I'm willing to make Udemy course free for you. It teaches the basics of SWE principles, which are core for both DS- and DE-bound people. It covers the first skills you'd need before you can bring Python to production in any field: git, VS Code, GitHub, CI/CD, packaging, testing, etc. If you're at a point in your life where you can watch 27 hours of videos and another 27 following along with the exercises, I'll gladly send you a code to make it free. Comment or DM and tell me a bit about your situation and I'll send you a link. Happy to accept referrals if you know someone who this would be good for, but I'd like them to message me themselves to indicate that they want this.

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As a Frontend Developer You never *Hate* Styling. But I used to *hate* styling websites. No Matter how much I can do, they do not look as good as I want. Until I Know TailwindCSS. A pure gem 💎 for Developer. I can't imagine I can ever go back to CSS 🔥. #fixes #prod #SoftwareEngineer #bugs #developer #frontend #100daysofcode #programming

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If you're administering a coding interview online, *always* give the candidate a link to a sandbox environment. It's common courtesy. It's awful to go into a coding interview and find that, no, in fact, you cannot write unit tests or even print to console. These are common tools used by software developers to perform their daily work. Cutting off access to these is like telling a developer to code with their eyes shut.

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Hiring in 2024 is like a trip to the grocery store. 🛒🥦🍞 Let me explain. You enter with a list, but you always end up with things you didn't plan for or items that are out of stock (niche requirements). 📝 You're looking for ripe avocados (experienced professionals), but all you find are hard, green ones (fresh graduates). 🥑 You want the best quality, but you're also watching your budget. You're hoping for a quick in-and-out, but you end up spending hours reading labels (resumes). But hey, at least there's always free samples (interns). You stand in the checkout line, hoping for a smooth transaction, but the cashier needs a price check on half your items (background checks and references). 💳 And just when you think you're done, the checkout line (onboarding process) is longer than the Great Wall of China. Finally, you head to your car, feeling a mix of satisfaction and exhaustion, knowing that you'll likely be back next week for more. 🚗💤 #hiringhumor #hiring #recruitment

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Having managed students tackling full stack Django projects for some years, I've seen common pitfalls like view pattern mishaps and authentication system struggles. 🛑 To help developers navigate these challenges, I'm creating a Django best practices course to help bridge these pitfalls safely. 🌟 Please share your pain points and share topics you'd like to see covered in a best practices course! Let's master Django together! 🙌 #Django #WebDevelopment #BestPractices

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