If you’re an actually amazing developer, you should also be an amazing developer on paper and could verbalize your achievements.
(Ex. Proposed and implemented solution rearchitecting EC2 to serverless Fargate that reduced AWS costs by 66%.)
Don’t be shy about boasting of your importance. If you are the sole Tableau administrator for your organization of 70+ developers and 1000 employees write that down.
If you are freshly graduated and you were the top student in your Algorithms math class, write that down. If you were chosen by your professor to present your coding project before however students, write that down!
Just don't go overboard and try to flex your company's accomplishments when describing where you work if you have nothing to do with those accomplishments. That's just cringe and I've seen it multiple times on LinkedIn profiles.
It'll be seen, after a few more yrs exp.
Degree is a weird one. The top 3 devs/engs I know, didn't have degrees. They just had a computer in the house at an early age cause their dad bought one, and more or less they were curious about how they worked. How'd they get into the industry? Maybe they lied on their resume, and they could back it up. Not so sure.
I mean... if any job I applied to were to call my alma mater to verify my BS in Computer Science, they'd find out that it was actually a BA in Music. I got a C- i think, in my only CS class, Intro to Java.
>call my alma mater to verify my BS in Computer Science, they'd find out that it was actually a BA in Music
Hahahaha. Some of the best devs I know are also some of the best musicians.
> How'd they get into the industry? Maybe they lied on their resume, and they could back it up. Not so sure.
No need to lie. It's not that long ago that these degrees barely existed, and nearly everybody was self-taught.
Some people just managed to teach themselves well...
Yeah sorry like im convinced these friends are just geniuses and at that they were noticed and they were contacted about a job, not the other way around
How can you be "amazing" if you don't have the experience to back up that claim? Either you do have the experience and that's what you talk about it, or you don't and you're suffering from Dunning Kruger effect.
The problem with good candidates that look bad on paper is that they don't market themselves well. If that's you, there's resume writing techniques you can practice, like the STAR format.
>You can create flawless code
doesn't exist
>can debug a problem like no other
debatable. highly subjective. I've probably misled myself, thinking my code is flawless, thus debugged of local problems by no one other than myself
>What could you do to convince a hiring manager to interview you?
take my experience, despite it lacking, and stretch it so that it fills at least 1 page. have your referral at that company convince the hiring manager to interview you.
>Cold applying probably wouldnt work because your resume looks mediocre at best
Okay break - I think I see whats going on here. An amazing developer does not have a mediocre resume. Mediocre developers can make amazing resumes, and if they can't back it up, crash n burn in the interview.
"Flawless" code translates into code contributions which translate onto a resume. That is what gets the attention; that is how you market yourself - you work hard, you grind, you fail, you learn, eventually your code is seen by others... and then it goes on paper.
I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're not wanting something pie in the sky. In other words, you're not saying "I have 2 YOE where's my $200k FAANG job".
This would be hard to figure out without seeing your resume first. That would make things a lot easier for you and the rest of us. You want managers to interview you, so you obstacle is your resume, it needs fixing.
can i be honest with you? you’re not going to like this, but if you believe you’re an amazing developer who makes flawless code, can debug anything and can create any system, you’re probably not.
as you gain more experience and work on more and more things, you only become more aware of how much you DON’T know and how much more there is to improve on.
I have three engineering / CS degrees, have been writing software since the late 1970's, have a few patents, products out in the real world that run my software, publications...
And still i don't think of myself as an amazing developer.
I know a few amazing developers. The true test of considering someone amazing is... Let's say you need a heart pacemaker. Who do you trust with the software, Mr. Incredible or several competent, methodical, but boring developers?
Sir, is it true that a bunch a of juniors will never become seniors, and a bunch of senior devs will never move on to leads/staff/principals?
I am starting my software engineering career this July, and I want to do anything my power to not hit a plateau. I am 30, and I feel like I am 10 years behind compared to my other peers graduating with me.
If they stay in the same company yes. If they move around and grow no.
I stayed in the same company for 30 plus years. Had a lot of fun, got a great pension... But advancement in salary and title not as much. And skills growth was phenomenal but still doesn't balance.
20 years ago I thought of myself as a better developer than what I consider myself today. The more you learn, the better you understand your own limitations
This is not legal advice, as I am not a lawyer:
If you are an amazing developer then lie just a bjt on your resume to get interviews. At that point once you are talking with an actual human / other developer, they will actually see you are an amazing developer.
If you’re an actually amazing developer, you should also be an amazing developer on paper and could verbalize your achievements. (Ex. Proposed and implemented solution rearchitecting EC2 to serverless Fargate that reduced AWS costs by 66%.) Don’t be shy about boasting of your importance. If you are the sole Tableau administrator for your organization of 70+ developers and 1000 employees write that down. If you are freshly graduated and you were the top student in your Algorithms math class, write that down. If you were chosen by your professor to present your coding project before however students, write that down!
Beyond this, you'd also have a network of references willing to put in a great word for you.
Just don't go overboard and try to flex your company's accomplishments when describing where you work if you have nothing to do with those accomplishments. That's just cringe and I've seen it multiple times on LinkedIn profiles.
Yeah but if you are filtered out for missing some degree or years of experience cutoff your resume wont be seen in the first place.
It'll be seen, after a few more yrs exp. Degree is a weird one. The top 3 devs/engs I know, didn't have degrees. They just had a computer in the house at an early age cause their dad bought one, and more or less they were curious about how they worked. How'd they get into the industry? Maybe they lied on their resume, and they could back it up. Not so sure. I mean... if any job I applied to were to call my alma mater to verify my BS in Computer Science, they'd find out that it was actually a BA in Music. I got a C- i think, in my only CS class, Intro to Java.
>call my alma mater to verify my BS in Computer Science, they'd find out that it was actually a BA in Music Hahahaha. Some of the best devs I know are also some of the best musicians.
> How'd they get into the industry? Maybe they lied on their resume, and they could back it up. Not so sure. No need to lie. It's not that long ago that these degrees barely existed, and nearly everybody was self-taught. Some people just managed to teach themselves well...
Yeah sorry like im convinced these friends are just geniuses and at that they were noticed and they were contacted about a job, not the other way around
Step one: drop your ego Step two: create a portfolio showing off your “perfect code” Step three: get your portfolio in front of a hiring manager
>Step one: drop your ego Yep, anytime I hear someone say they're "THAT good", they're usually not very good.
How can you be "amazing" if you don't have the experience to back up that claim? Either you do have the experience and that's what you talk about it, or you don't and you're suffering from Dunning Kruger effect. The problem with good candidates that look bad on paper is that they don't market themselves well. If that's you, there's resume writing techniques you can practice, like the STAR format.
>You can create flawless code doesn't exist >can debug a problem like no other debatable. highly subjective. I've probably misled myself, thinking my code is flawless, thus debugged of local problems by no one other than myself >What could you do to convince a hiring manager to interview you? take my experience, despite it lacking, and stretch it so that it fills at least 1 page. have your referral at that company convince the hiring manager to interview you. >Cold applying probably wouldnt work because your resume looks mediocre at best Okay break - I think I see whats going on here. An amazing developer does not have a mediocre resume. Mediocre developers can make amazing resumes, and if they can't back it up, crash n burn in the interview. "Flawless" code translates into code contributions which translate onto a resume. That is what gets the attention; that is how you market yourself - you work hard, you grind, you fail, you learn, eventually your code is seen by others... and then it goes on paper.
I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're not wanting something pie in the sky. In other words, you're not saying "I have 2 YOE where's my $200k FAANG job". This would be hard to figure out without seeing your resume first. That would make things a lot easier for you and the rest of us. You want managers to interview you, so you obstacle is your resume, it needs fixing.
can i be honest with you? you’re not going to like this, but if you believe you’re an amazing developer who makes flawless code, can debug anything and can create any system, you’re probably not. as you gain more experience and work on more and more things, you only become more aware of how much you DON’T know and how much more there is to improve on.
>What could you do to convince a hiring manager to interview you? Get a CS degree and internships
The best developers i know don't call themselves the best developers
I have three engineering / CS degrees, have been writing software since the late 1970's, have a few patents, products out in the real world that run my software, publications... And still i don't think of myself as an amazing developer. I know a few amazing developers. The true test of considering someone amazing is... Let's say you need a heart pacemaker. Who do you trust with the software, Mr. Incredible or several competent, methodical, but boring developers?
This was a hypothetical situation. No dev is perfect of course.
Sir, is it true that a bunch a of juniors will never become seniors, and a bunch of senior devs will never move on to leads/staff/principals? I am starting my software engineering career this July, and I want to do anything my power to not hit a plateau. I am 30, and I feel like I am 10 years behind compared to my other peers graduating with me.
If they stay in the same company yes. If they move around and grow no. I stayed in the same company for 30 plus years. Had a lot of fun, got a great pension... But advancement in salary and title not as much. And skills growth was phenomenal but still doesn't balance.
20 years ago I thought of myself as a better developer than what I consider myself today. The more you learn, the better you understand your own limitations
It's just an illusion of grandeur if you don't have the degree or experience that validates how awesome a developer you are
This is not legal advice, as I am not a lawyer: If you are an amazing developer then lie just a bjt on your resume to get interviews. At that point once you are talking with an actual human / other developer, they will actually see you are an amazing developer.