No matter your level of experience, finessing your profile to move into new roles in tech can be challenging. Having hired software engineers for the likes of Apple, we thought we’d share our top tips for landing your dream software job.
1. Proactively reach out to companies
Offer your skills to companies even if they haven’t published a role. You never know when they might be considering a profile similar to yours in the future and often find it helpful to have people in the back of their minds. Reaching out demonstrates your proactiveness and likely understanding/interest in what that company does.
2. Build a network of developers
There are a myriad of communities for developers out there on Polywork, LinkedIn, Showcase, Twitter, Discord. Being involved allows you to build relationships, learn from others, and build a reputation for what you’re good at. Plus, personal endorsements can go a long way to help when applying.
3. Build a strong portfolio
Building a strong portfolio of software development projects can be key to getting hired. These software development projects will show employers how you work and apply the skills they need in their software developers. It’s also important to keep track of what software you’ve used for specific projects, so employers know what programming languages and tools you’re skilled at. Think about building up your GitHub profile.
4. Work on solo and open-source projects
Doing development work in your own time shows that you have a genuine interest in the role you are applying for. Being able to talk about these projects in interviews is invaluable, and shows you can put your money where your mouth is. It’s one thing to say you know something well, another if you show how.
5. Post about your solutions online.
This might be a YouTube video, a post on StackOverflow or Showwcase.
6. Know what you’re looking for
Part of this will result from appreciating what your own strengths are: you might be stronger in front-end languages, or prefer to build in the back-end, and like the challenge of needing to quickly adapt. Part of this will result from your preferences: some roles focus on solving pure tech charges with little interaction with other teams, other roles (such as at Vauban) require regular interaction with the product team. Lastly, what are your needs: in-person, remote, or mixed?
7. Find a mentor
It’s not easy starting out. Finding someone who has trodden the path you hope to take allows you to gain from their learnings and get gentle advice on how to best navigate it. Sometimes you can reach out directly on LinkedIn and see if they’re open to it. Remember to be respectful of people’s time and see if you can offer something in return. Sometimes it’s by passing the favour forward, sometimes it might be financial.
8. Work on your soft skills
In tech, communication is key to getting problems solved quickly and efficiently. If you can find ways of developing and strengthening those skills, you’ll have a killer profile. Not only this, but tech is rarely a stand-alone team. You have to know how to interact with other teams within the business, communicate what you’re working on to people with non-technical backgrounds in a way that’s understandable to them. Honing skills like critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration will make all the difference when joining a high functioning team. Try breaking down what you’re working on to family members, friends, and family that have no experience in tech and see if you can simply explain what you’re up to.
9. Understand the bigger picture
While you might know that company X is working on a specific product, step back and think why. In an interview this will truly help. Knowing what macro factors are driving the company to build that product will be the guiding star. Going into an interview being able to mirror back their hopes and desires will be like music to their ears, especially if the interview round is with the wider non-tech team members.
10. Get to know the company’s competitors and their products
It’s one thing to know the company, it’s a whole other level if you understand their competitors’ products too. While difficult, (and may be impossible if the product of the business you’re applying to has proprietary aspects you don’t know about), it’d be a huge bonus if you can know competitors’ products and bring some ideas. The best way to figure this out is to look at available sales materials.
