Job Hunting 4 Techies 101

DUMAWORKS.COM | +254 701 060 302 | [email protected]

<title> JOB HUNTING 4 TECHIES

</title>

PREPARE TO LOOK FOR A JOB

BUILD YOUR DIGITAL PROFILE

Social Media

Personal Website Public Project

WWW. DUMAWORKS.COM | +254 701 060 302 | [email protected]

Online Forums

DON’T POST CRAP YOU DON’T WANT EMPLOYERS TO SEE

BE VISIBLE

NETWORK HACKATHONS

MEETUP EVENTS COMPETITIONS


NEVER STOP LEARNING

APPLYING FOR JOB OPENINGS

YOUR PERSONAL NETWORK – This is the best option. Someone you know vouches for the organization and recommends you directly to the employer.

DIRECT APPLICATIONS – These are openings that are listed on a company’s website. Less competition than a job board, but hard to build a list of leads.

JOB BOARDS – It’s easy to find leads, but you’re pitted against a large number of other applicants so it’s hard to get noticed.

STEP 1: FIND OPENINGS


Are you likely to secure an offer? Don’t apply for jobs that you don’t meet the qualifications for.

Will your skills and knowledge progress? If you want to grow as a developer, you need to be challenged by your work.

Will the job pay enough? You need to be getting enough pay that you aren’t thinking about your salary and stifling your ability to be creative.

STEP 2: QUALIFY LEADS


Is the job secure enough? You should assess the risk profile of a company. Do you want to be the first developer in an early stage startup? Do you want to be the newest member of an established team? There’s no right or wrong answer.

Am I going to be productive with this company? Do they have some sort of iterative development process? Will I get along well with the other members of the development team?

STEP 2: QUALIFY LEADS


TECHNICAL DEPTH – Highlight some of the technologies you’ve worked with and describe your level of expertise in each skill.

SOCIAL PROOF – List some of the companies you’ve worked for and/or testimonials you’ve received from past colleagues.

WORKING SOFTWARE – Link to either a working installation of an application you have created or a code sample you were responsible for. Make this easy to find and preview.

STEP 3: ON YOUR CV


PRACTICE – Practice writing code in a simple text editor without syntax highlighting or completion macros.

REFRESH– Learn these core computer science concepts:

•  Algorithm complexity

•  Sorting

•  Hashtables

•  Trees

•  Graphs

•  Operating systems

•  Architecture

STEP 4: INTERVIEW PREP


Confidence is good, arrogance is bad. Arrogance implies insecurity. Confident people don’t feel the need to overtly display their skills

STEP 5: NAIL THE INTERVIEW

Understand the value you bring. Your paycheck comes from the value you bring. Most job seekers forget this and talk mostly about what they want in a job.

Understand the organization. What does the company do? What is its vision and strategy? What are its values? Who are the competition and what is the market opportunity?


Questions to ask during an interview

•  What software have you delivered to users in the last month?

•  How do you monitor and measure the end user experience?

•  Are you profitable?

•  Why are you hiring developers now?

•  What does your technology stack look like? Whey did you choose those options?



Questions to ask during an interview

•  What is the team’s policy on technical documentation? Unit testing? Code reviews?

•  What major projects is the development team working on at the moment? What’s the strategic motivation behind them?

•  Do you do user experience or A/B testing?

•  Do you have automated acceptance tests? Who is responsible for QA?



HOW TO GET A STARTUP JOB

UNDERSTAND THE COMPANY

The Startup Story Startups always have a story of why they started the company and what they’re hoping to achieve.

Interests and Skills Talk about how your interests and skills align with the needs of the startup.

Suggest an improvement Give a suggestion on something you would improve or change.


STARTUP CULTURE

Dress code Don’t go to your interview in a suit! Wear something business casual. Be a team player Be someone easy to get along with. Most skills can be learned, but nature and character are hard to change.

Be humble In a startup, you may be working long hours and fail a lot. You also may be doing a lot of menial stuff if you work at a very early-stage company.


HOW TO GET A FREELANCE JOB

FULLTIME THEN FREELANCE

Build skills Develop skills working on real-world projects. Develop interpersonal and teamwork skills. Save money It may be a while before you get your first contract as a freelancer. You don’t want to take bad clients who treat you badly or pay bad rates.

Build contacts In the beginning, your direct professional network, like former co-workers, will bring you the vast majority of contract opportunities.


FIND OUT ABOUT JOBS

Referrals and Networking Ask people who you have worked with in the past for referrals. Grow your LinkedIn network.

Online sites Check out Elance.com, Rentacoder.com, Freelancer.com, Dice.com

Professional Profile Get involved in the open source community by fixing bugs on open source projects and answering questions on stackoverflow.


MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION

Use proper English Make sure you don’t make spelling mistakes and that your sentences are grammatically correct.

Good photo Make sure you post a professional, friendly photo on your profile.

Communicate Respond quickly and treat clients with respect. Where possible, show enthusiasm and friendliness.


FREELANCE BEST PRACTICES

Choose a small set set of skills Balance between mainstream technologies and some “niche” ones

Communication Know the client’s level of technical understanding. Make your choices clear and justify them.

Only one client at a time Switching between projects leads to lost time. Imagine switching between two jobs several times a day.


DEFINE THE PARAMETERS NEVER TAKE AN OPEN-ENDED ASSIGNMENT

Engagement term What is your start date, stop date, and expected hours per deliverable (or per week)?

Deliverables What are the discrete deliverables and remits? What approval process will you go through?

Payment terms Where do you send invoices, to who, and how many business days after submission will the client be able to pay you?


DEFINE THE PARAMETERS NEVER TAKE AN OPEN-ENDED ASSIGNMENT

Communication Who is your day-to-day contact at the client firm? Who is the project lead?

Availability When can clients expect to reach you, and vice versa? Are weekends fair game? Is there a 10pm work/sleep meridian? Work this stuff out in writing in advance


FREELANCE TO FULLTIME

Look for flexible opportunities Try to find a full time (or even part time) opportunity that allows you to work from home and/or on your own hours.

Ask your clients for a job Ask your clients if they’re hiring or if they can refer you to someone who is

List your freelance experience as a business List your experience as ABC Software Company with you as the Founder rather than “freelancer”


HELLO, NICE TO MEET YOU!

Duma Works is a CAREER BUILDING

PLATFORM that connects employers with qualified job seekers, primarily for entry-level and middle-management positions. The top sectors we deal with are office work, hospitality, and ICT.

Our MOBILE PLATFORM makes jobs accessible for everyone.

Our MATCHING ALGORITHMS

identify the top qualified candidates based on employers’ social connections and their hiring criteria. Our SCREENING SYSTEM verifies job seekers’ skills and helps train them for interviews and future employment.

OUR TECHNOLOGY

HOW IT WORKS: SIGN UP

Personal Info Name, Age, Town

Karibu DUMA Works!

Job Profile Skills, Education, Work Experience, Hours, Salary

Referral Network Colleagues, Referees, Friends, Family

SMS 22131 WhatsApp 0701060302 Website www.dumaworks.com

YOU’RE IN GOOD HANDS ACTIVE USERS: Over 9000

JOB MATCHES: Over 4500

JOB LOCATIONS: Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Naivasha, Eldoret, Nyeri, Embu, Meru

AWARDS: CLIENTS/PARTNERS:

Google Innovation Award for Social Equity and Poverty Reduction

Centennial Innovation Challenge Winners

Two online article features AND MANY MORE …

MEET THE TEAM

Christine Blauvelt Co-Founder

Arielle Sandor Co-Founder

Linus Lennstrand Chief Technology Officer

Kevyn Wainaina Customer Care

Jack Mwangi Software Engineer

Kenny Rachuonyo Software Engineer

Angela Wairimu Corporate Affairs

Fred Muya Software Engineer

THANK YOU

WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU

DUMAWORKS.COM | +254 701 060 302 | [email protected]

Job Hunting 4 Techies 101

Recruiting & HR

Transcript of Job Hunting 4 Techies 101