Here are a few of the things I would recommend in no particular order. Most of them are pretty traditional.
1. Wear leather shoes. You could dress in rags, but if you are wearing leather shoes, it will make it look like you meant to. Scott Hanselman pointed this out on his This Developer's Life podcast a while back.
2. Show your github or linkedin profiles, but despite people saying "oh, this is my resume", no it is not. Quit being cute and spend 20 minutes typing up a real resume. Use one of the templates provided in most word processors. Your resume is not meant to stand out. It is meant to be used as a filter to see if there are any red flags. Think of it like just another piece of paperwork. Include your last 3 jobs (not 1 and definitely not 10), degrees, and a list of technologies you know. Do not include smarmy HR stuff like "Team Player! Great Work Ethic!" Make the resume custom taylored to fit the position you are applying for. Since you are not including everything you have ever done, just focus on the experience you have that is most relevant. Lastly, keep it to one page, with a normal font size.
3. Dress to the company +1. If they wear cargo shorts and t shirts, wear shorts with a polo. If they wear jeans and polos, wear jeans with a button down. If they wear kahkis and button downs, wear that plus a tie. If they wear suits... you probably do not want to work there so I would recommend wearing a tuxedo or nothing at all.
4. Always remember that you are interviewing them. Take charge of the interview. Ask about the culture and values. Ask the interviewer how they personally feel about X and Y aspects of the business. Ask about stability and/or revenue. If it seems appropriate (feel it out), ask where the person who's position you are filling is now and why they left. If there are red flags hiding, this is the question that will often reveal them.
6. As far as finding companies goes, pick a list of 10 you like, then email all of them. If they have a position listed, then mention the position, but if not, apply anyway and offer your services. Coders are in demand, and many companies will jump at the chance to interview an enthusiastic person who took some initiative. Pretty much ignore job requirements. They are so often unreliable, that you might as well find out in person. As long as you are fine with the stack, go for it.
7. Do not get tunnel vision. This is probably the most important thing. It is like buying a house. Do not fall in love with any one offer. You should never, under any circumstances, be applying for one job at a time. You always want multiple offers so that you can leverage them against each other. Also, if one falls through, it is no big deal. If you were going to apply for one job at a time, you are forced to go with jobs that are almost a sure thing. After all, if it does not work out, you could be out of work for another month or two. If you reach for something out of your comfort zone (something that is essential for growth), you might have a 20% shot of getting each individual job. You do not want this to be a 6 month process, so go for jobs in batches of 5. If you have a 20% chance at each, you will probably land one of them. I have seen many coders fall into the trap of feeling like they are being disloyal for following multiple leads at once. This is complete BS. Companies are interviewing as many people as they can, so do the same. You do not even work for them yet, so loyalty really should not factor in.
> If they wear suits... you probably do not want to work there so I would recommend wearing a tuxedo or nothing at all.
Don't know if that is just a joke, but one of the best places I ever worked people all wore suits, the systems were internal for a few high wealth people revolving around aviation.
Not pretentious, just looking as smart as you can. Same sort of logic as dressing up to go to the opera, I love to see gf in an evening dress, she likes me in black tie. I definitely look more dashing!
I should be wearing a suit now, but instead have my arm in a sling, so am in an injury friendly easy to dress casual t-shirt. No one objects (well aside my productivity drop due to one arm out of action).
Solid advice here. I'm going to address numbers 2, 6 and 7 with an alternative:
A really good recruiter can help with all of these things, except 'really good recruiter' seems like an oxymoron 99% of the time.
I'm a former recruiter turned tech entrepreneur, and my company, Mighty Spring (https://www.mightyspring.com) launched in private beta a few months ago to solve this problem.
We're a web app that let's you control the recruiting process. You spend <5 minutes setting up a profile, and then see a job board that is matched specifically to your background afterwards. With one click, you can indicate if you're interested in being contacted about a specific job. If you do, someone from Mighty Spring will reach out via email to schedule a call at your convenience.
We help coach you through the rest of the process with the company - including assistance with negotiation - without you ever having to formally 'apply'.
The other side of this is that we'll also create for you an anonymized pitch of your background that companies browse. Companies request to interview candidates based on these pitches. If they’re interested, they can request to interview you through the site. This means that if you're only passively looking - aka, ‘would consider the perfect opportunity if it happened to come along’ - you can field incoming requests without employers ever knowing your identity unless you choose to accept the interview request and speak with them.
All in all, it’s similar to what recruiters do today, except you manage the relationship, not the other way around.
As I mentioned, we’re in closed beta, but would be happy to expedite invites to the HN crowd. Feel free to email me with question as well (email in HN profile).
Also, even if you're not interested in our service, another tip:
Applying (in the traditional way) should be your last resort. A much better option is to try to establish an internal advocate at the company in question, and have them recommend you to the hiring manager.
This isn't has hard as it may sound. Find the profile of someone on LinkedIn (or the company website itself) who looks like they might be your peer if you got the job. Figure out their email, or simply ask them to connect on LinkedIn, and put a message in the 'include a personal note' field to the effect of:
"Hey, I saw a position at your company that I'm interested in, but I don't want to waste anyones time with an application unless I'm pretty sure it's a good fit. Do you have a minute to talk with me on the phone about your experience there?"
This works wonders, especially for those whose skill sets are in demand. Plus it works to the incentives the many employees are subject to: referral bonuses. If they recommend you (instead of you applying), they may get a nice little check.
1. Wear leather shoes. You could dress in rags, but if you are wearing leather shoes, it will make it look like you meant to. Scott Hanselman pointed this out on his This Developer's Life podcast a while back.
2. Show your github or linkedin profiles, but despite people saying "oh, this is my resume", no it is not. Quit being cute and spend 20 minutes typing up a real resume. Use one of the templates provided in most word processors. Your resume is not meant to stand out. It is meant to be used as a filter to see if there are any red flags. Think of it like just another piece of paperwork. Include your last 3 jobs (not 1 and definitely not 10), degrees, and a list of technologies you know. Do not include smarmy HR stuff like "Team Player! Great Work Ethic!" Make the resume custom taylored to fit the position you are applying for. Since you are not including everything you have ever done, just focus on the experience you have that is most relevant. Lastly, keep it to one page, with a normal font size.
3. Dress to the company +1. If they wear cargo shorts and t shirts, wear shorts with a polo. If they wear jeans and polos, wear jeans with a button down. If they wear kahkis and button downs, wear that plus a tie. If they wear suits... you probably do not want to work there so I would recommend wearing a tuxedo or nothing at all.
4. Always remember that you are interviewing them. Take charge of the interview. Ask about the culture and values. Ask the interviewer how they personally feel about X and Y aspects of the business. Ask about stability and/or revenue. If it seems appropriate (feel it out), ask where the person who's position you are filling is now and why they left. If there are red flags hiding, this is the question that will often reveal them.
6. As far as finding companies goes, pick a list of 10 you like, then email all of them. If they have a position listed, then mention the position, but if not, apply anyway and offer your services. Coders are in demand, and many companies will jump at the chance to interview an enthusiastic person who took some initiative. Pretty much ignore job requirements. They are so often unreliable, that you might as well find out in person. As long as you are fine with the stack, go for it.
7. Do not get tunnel vision. This is probably the most important thing. It is like buying a house. Do not fall in love with any one offer. You should never, under any circumstances, be applying for one job at a time. You always want multiple offers so that you can leverage them against each other. Also, if one falls through, it is no big deal. If you were going to apply for one job at a time, you are forced to go with jobs that are almost a sure thing. After all, if it does not work out, you could be out of work for another month or two. If you reach for something out of your comfort zone (something that is essential for growth), you might have a 20% shot of getting each individual job. You do not want this to be a 6 month process, so go for jobs in batches of 5. If you have a 20% chance at each, you will probably land one of them. I have seen many coders fall into the trap of feeling like they are being disloyal for following multiple leads at once. This is complete BS. Companies are interviewing as many people as they can, so do the same. You do not even work for them yet, so loyalty really should not factor in.