undefined | Better HN

0 pointspeterburkimsher7y ago0 comments

I'll take anything as a job now. I can get my own Working Holiday visa. But I've been turned down by farms and construction companies, not only tech companies.

I don't know how to find people on LinkedIn, but I created a new account just to spam that way. I'll keep trying to add lots of strangers and hope I find a friendly one.

Yes, I used an Apple II with ADTPro to migrate data off lots of old 5.25" floppies for archiving purposes. I thought that I could start a business to do that, if I could get computer repair shops to advertise for me. So I asked the repair shops, but most didn't even reply, and the only one that did told me that I should set up the business first and then they'll ask their manager whether they'd be willing to put up a poster. My logic is that older people are rich and powerful, and fondly remember their old computers. So the data migration would put me in contact with people who could give me a real job later.

0 comments

lordnacho7y ago

Well you're closer to it than I am, but I would think there's no viable business migrating data off a decades old platform. You'd definitely have to find the right niche community to get any business at all.

> I'll take anything as a job now. I can get my own Working Holiday visa. But I've been turned down by farms and construction companies, not only tech companies.

The problem with this approach is that businesses are after specific skills. Except for minimum wage roles, which are going to be awkward for a guy with a degree. Basically, if I was a hiring manager at a restaurant I would assume you would be looking for something better almost immediately.

So assuming you can't get a fast food or farmhand job, you need to be presenting some useful skill.

I had a look at your CV.

- Those logos, what are they? Did you work there? Did you build those sites?

- When I'm looking at SWE CVs, I have about a minute to form an opinion. First, I look for relevant techs. You have some, but the easiest CVs to scan have a block at the top: C++, Kubernetes, Linux, React, JS, and so on. I might not even look at the rest of the CV if I'm looking for a C++ dev and it doesn't stick out immediately, even if it's in there further down. Looking at your CV, there's a bunch of reasonably current techs like TensorFlow, but I only saw that the 3rd time I had a look.

- You did pretty well at your IB, and you did pretty well in your degrees. You were obviously a conscientious student.

- You've got some really interesting skills under your personal interests. Stick them in the skills block.

No reason why someone wouldn't decide to interview you. What happens when you apply to Google/FB/etc?

peterburkimsherOP7y ago

I'll take a fast food or farmhand job! But I need an email address of somebody who can give me that job.

If you tell me the email address of somebody who can offer me food and shelter, I'll rewrite my résumé for them. But I need to know that there is somebody who cares if I do that. Because I've had a lot of résumé advice that was just complaining, and didn't lead to a job. I need a job, an introduction, an interview. At least a rejection letter! I don't need a choice of 20 résumés, I already have 3.

shagie7y ago

I would really encourage you to get your resume to match a traditional one page format. Something clean, professional and orderly ( https://zety.com/blog/resume-formats is just a search that seems to have some).

If it doesn't look professional, it isn't something that scans well, well, it doesn't get the appropriate information across in a timely manner. That itself is an important skill.

Consider also that France (you list your address as France) has unemployment at about 9% and youth unemployment rate at about 20%. That may not be the best place to be looking for a job.

Even with being some place for 4 years, it doesn't look like you are someone that will stay in one place long enough to recoup the cost of training a person up to the appropriate skill. This applies to everything from the farm hand and fast food (where you're also competing with that youth unemployment rate) to professional jobs. It costs money to onboard someone - even farm hand. If you aren't going to be there for a year, hiring someone who isn't going to stay is likely to lose money.

That "I'm going to go" isn't only communicated with your scattering of locations and durations, but also the volunteer experience listing CouchSurfing weekly as the top item. This is reinforced with the current extracurricular (you're not a student anymore - they're hobbies if that) listing two items... one of which is couch surfing.

If you want a programming job, computer programing isn't a 'personal interest' listed near the end of the second page - it's a first page top item.

Listing "Ideas" and then having it go to a basically empty page... that doesn't inspire any confidence. Note also that ideas are cheap - it's the implementation of those ideas that demonstrate skill. Maybe there are ideas behind the links in the upper right, but as it is, that's a blank white page.

Of these, the most important I would say is make a boring resume - something that follows the form. No, it doesn't make you stand out, but it also is something that is easy to scan and demonstrates professionalism in communication and presentation.

link_1087y ago

My 2 cents: only have one resume and one LinkedIn profile. Follow the advice the parent post gave. Make it clear what your skills are. Not sure where you live, but the Bay Area is full of places looking for engineers, apply to companies there

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse