Tips to land a job in development – Part I: Job Offers

As all of you reading this will already know, I have been writing several times here about people I have interviewed. So far, it had never occurred to me to write something to help those who are in this war, looking for a job in the development area. In this first part (I of VI), I will talk a little about how to identify positions in the development area. This applies mostly to Brazil, but I do hope that it work for other countries…

Identify Embedded Systems Jobs

There are as many good places to work as there are bad ones. In my book “Autodesenvolvimento para Desenvolvedores”, I explore that in detail about how the developer can find good workplaces, and I even go forward to give some tips on how to choose a good place to work.

However, this is not the focus at the moment of writing; the focus right now is to better understand the job ads and know what is really important and what is not. To identify a position in embedded systems development, software programming, hardware design or web programming, in a nutshell, identifying a technical position, seems to be a simple task. In fact, it is a simple task. So if it is simple, I can even hear you ask, then why do we need to talk about it? The search for technical development jobs in Brazil has never been an easy task, although it is easy to find positions: Brazil is a country that values inventors, not innovators, and development is much more about innovation than about invention.

Right away, I will give you two tips:

I have heard many stories of developers who have suggested names to replace them when they were changing jobs and the companies have accepted those suggestions. Also the majority of the professionals I follow have found jobs online, especially through social networking.

“Anonymous” Job Postings

Typically, companies post an ad for each type of job position they need to fill and, in these days of “corporate social networks”, more and more companies have been advertising their positions openly. Previously, it was much more complicated as most preferred to remain anonymous.

Although I’m not citing references, I usually like to bring in content on which I have carried out a little research, and I have in fact done some on the anonymous job postings I have come across on social networks these days: most will lead to either some sort of HR business or paid website for job opportunity announcements. Unfortunately, most of these positions advertised on such websites are “recycled”.

I’m not saying they are not valid tools in your job search. On the contrary, those who are looking for placement or replacement opportunities simply cannot afford to avoid using such tools. And this brings me to my third tip:

Although such websites still do not properly deal with development job opportunities, and this is particularly true in the case of embedded systems where job postings end up mixed in with the IT ones, I still think it is a valid effort to use them. Some also have a vast arsenal of training content that can also come in handy.

In short, I think it depends a lot on the financial situation of each person, and on how much in terms of savings or money provision that the individual has available or the will to make available for spending on the seeking of employment.

The search should not stop.

The search for positions should be part of a job seeker’s routine. Every day he or she should devote around 1 hour to looking for new opportunities. I do not think it is right for any person to spend the whole day next to the screen trolling through the internet hunting for places to work, but it is important that he or she stays very much attuned to it. The development job seeker, ideally, should endeavor to carry out a round of daily searches in one hour, and invest the remainder of his or her time in other activities.

By correctly doing that, the development job seeker will identify the zombie job postings and other standard vacancies that are nothing more than a means to collecting of resumes.

By the way, I also recommend not falling for the quick money-making scheme. As I have mentioned in a previous post, this will only work as an individual’s distraction from his or her career. Searching for a job opportunity is part of any career and it is a very decent activity .

Fundamental, Essential, Desirable

Once you have defined where to look for a job opportunity, it is important to look into these ads with deeper detail. I have noticed that many candidates are not prepared to show off of their best qualities. This is not because they are bad communicators, it is because they have not fully understood the job ad. This is very risky: some less benevolent interviewers can judge that when someone does not know how to show his or her best, this person does not deserve to be hired.

I usually identify 3 types of required knowledge in a job ad:

1. Fundamental: what one needs to know to work on that market.
2. Essential: knowledge which obviously consists the essence of the function to be exercised by the employee.
3. Desirable: knowledge that helps the employee to perform his or her duties.

This understanding is, therefore, even more important because the essential skills required for a job opportunity may only be desirable for another. It is important to know if the candidate has what it takes. For example, it is desirable that a programmer knows project management. However, the essential thing is that he knows how to code using the programming language required for the job position, while it is fundamental that he knows how to write a computer program.

Quite often, I see the requirements of these 3 types of knowledge mixed up in job ads. The fundamental knowledge is usually covered if the candidate’s profile fits in with the educational background required for the job opportunity. For example: I have seen several opportunities for Electrical Engineering (my own academic background) focused on Energy (my particular focus was Digital Systems). Therefore, I have the fundamental knowledge because I have had a few classes on the subject and, therefore, understand the basics, but I don´t have the essential as my knowledge is very limited.

To identify the fundamental knowledge is easy. The tricky part is to separate what is essential from what is merely desirable. It is at this point that the job ads fail. I can understand the reason why some job ads posted by HR companies or headhunters are extremely generic: every resume received is stored in their databases, enabling them to be quicker at filling their client open jobs.

To help you better understand the job opportunities found, I recommend:

1. Visit the company’s website prior to the application.
2. Talk to people you know and ask them if your knowledge applies to that job vacancy ( that also helps with networking).
3. Assess the product in question. If you have any idea about how to build it, then you probably have the correct profile for the job.
4. Finally, just remember that the majority of the interviewers want people who are able to learn. If you think you can learn how to do it, then you will probably handle it if hired.

Unknown Acronyms

I have covered this topic in the previous section, but I believe it is worth reinforcing it. In a job ad, if the unknown acronyms exceed the known ones, it is recommended that the job seeker does not waste time applying for that opportunity. Only a few professionals contribute to their company’s recruitment process. When they receive a good resume that is not related to an open position they are trying to fill immediately, most of them will not remember forwarding it.

The recommendation is that the job seekers always consider opportunities that fit their profiles, and do not waste energy or money going to interviews that they won´t succeed due to lack of required knowledge. By doing so, they can make the best use of their time and sharpen their skills, learn something new or run parallel projects etc.

Experience: Proficiency versus Time

This is another topic that I have discussed in my book “Autodesenvolvimento para Desenvolvedores”, so I will be brief. Companies tend to consider experience and years of service as being in 1:1 proportion. This is not true.

When a job seeker finds a job ad whose description estates that “x years of experience” is a must, it is always appropriate to ask the following question:

Would I have the ability to handle such a job shall I be selected, even without having all these required years of experience?

In other words, the job seekers should assess whether they have the proficiency required to fill a specific job position or not. If convinced that they will be able to get the job done, they should apply, because they will not be afraid or nervous during the interview. A time period, though not decisive, can reduce the chances of a good candidate to landa job even when having the required proficiency.

Developers usually have the advantage of a very well-honed cognitive abilities. However, always remember that there is a certain human tendency to magnify one´s own qualities.

The Super Candidate

To finish this first part, I would like to comment a classic case. Some companies create unrealistic job postings describing a mile-long list of requirements that would be impossible to meet by anyone in a normal human lifespan. And some even do it to recruit for initial positions, like interns.

When a company does this, it does not usually mean that it expects to find someone having exactly all the requirements that was advertised. The over-the-top demands are not to shorten, but rather to expand the range of candidates: if anyone has a handful of those skills listed, then this candidate will be good enough.

It is important to remember that a job posting is not an accurate and detailed description of the activities to be performed by the future employee. It is during the interview that candidate and company, of course, interview each other. And this will be the subject of the next part: how to prepare for and what to bring to an interview.
Some job ads related to embedded systems scare candidates away. So, I suggest to better understand what lies behind the job ads in order to decide whether it is worth applying for or not.

Conclusion

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, it is important to carefully assess the positions for which the applicant submits his or her resume.

As we live in the Internet era and many people only want a huge list of emails to send direct mail to. I doubt that many of the anonymous ads are even linked to a real job opportunity. I think that if I were a headhunter starting my career, I would certainly spend R$ 500.00 to advertise a ghost job on Linkedin with the sole purpose of collecting resumes. Following that, I could approach future clients and show them a reliable database containing many candidates.

I must add that I do not know if this is ethical or not. I am not (and do not intend to be) a headhunter. If there are ethical guidelines on the subject, I would like to receive them. I have searched the web and I haven’t found anything as of yet.

I have one last tip.

In the next part, I will address the question of what to do when invited for a job interview.