Breaking Into the Software Industry | Part One: Getting Noticed

Thanks for checking out this video. If you find the content useful and you're watching on YouTube, it'd be awesome if you could like the video and then subscribe to the channel. Uh that would really help and let me know that you enjoy videos like this and you'd like more content like this. So, uh today I want to talk about kind of breaking into the tech industry and what that might look like for different people. So, this could be maybe you're already, you know, on your career path and you're kind of looking at trying to uh, you know, land a software engineering job or perhaps you're um in college or university, maybe just graduating and trying to get your first job. Maybe that's an internship or like I said, maybe you have graduated and you're kind of looking for that first full-time position. Um, in my opinion, I like looking at this in three three different stages or phases because I think there's three very different aspects to this that require a different set of skills or a different way that you're kind of presenting yourself or how you're um, you know, what you're focused on. So, um, in this video specifically, I'm going to f focus on this first phase and um, and just to kind of talk about the three phases in general to begin with. Um, this first phase is kind of like how you get how you get noticed to actually land your interview. The second phase is really [laughter] how you perform in that interview. And then the third phase, um I think arguably the most important, but um people aren't really focused on it to begin with, is how you're kind of performing while you've got that job. Um so of course uh we're going to look at the first part, and that's getting noticed. So the first part of this first phase in my opinion is really considering your audience and it sounds kind of funny to say but I think if you're approaching kind of looking at this from you know if you're applying to startups, small businesses or big tech um I personally think that there's different ways that you want to go about um you know focusing on where you're putting your effort. So, um, the reason I say consider your audience is because the people that are doing the recruitment, the people that you want to get noticed by, it looks different at startups versus big tech. And I can say this because I have absolutely worked in both of these, right? So, um, I worked at a company called Magnet Forensics for eight years. Um, this when I started at this company, it was like eight people. So, very much a startup. we were in a small office then I was heavily involved in recruiting right so trying to trying to build out teams um and and how we kind of had those leads of people coming in looked very different than say at Microsoft where I'm at now which is very much like an enormous pipeline of um you know talent recruiters HR um sifting through huge volumes of people applying very different right So, um I I think keep that in mind as we're going through this because I think personally that's the biggest um the biggest change that you can make when trying to improve how you're getting noticed. So, for example, as we talk through some of these things, if you're only applying to like big tech companies, some of the some of the maybe little tricks or enhancements you can do might not apply because you're uh maybe trying to uh those those techniques apply really for startups and getting noticed by those types of recruitment pipelines versus versus big tech. And the complete opposite too, right? If you're like, "Hey, I want to get noticed by startups. I really want to get into that kind of um environment. Um there's going to be things that maybe uh just aren't as uh aren't as optimized for getting noticed by those folks versus big tech. So with that said, one of the first things I want to talk about is um when you're applying um through the different portals or applications that you can submit, the keywords that are getting used, right? In my opinion, this is really important for things like big tech because the volume of résumés and applications that go through. So, um, when you think about the volume that some of these big tech companies have for applications coming in, the easiest way for them to just set a bar and kind of filter things is essentially through keywords on résumés and applications and things like that. So they might be looking for things like programming languages, skill sets, technologies, maybe um maybe even course information for like university and college graduates. They're kind of looking for keywords. And if some of those aren't being met, different systems might just filter you out completely. if they're if they aren't using automation for that and it's literally people that are sifting through, you know, all of these different applications and stuff, I can guarantee you they're [laughter] kind of looking at it the same way where they're going, um, you know, cuz it's a dedicated recruiting team, right? um they might not be the ones um like there are going to be like managers and stuff that will be kind of helping sift through this, but um the first line of trying to even get past some of those systems is going to be some type of automation or people that maybe aren't as involved in the role. And for them, their biggest optimization is literally looking for keywords that are going to stand out. So they know that they're looking for a position that's going to require someone who has some experience with say C or Java or object-oriented programming languages or databases, right? All of these keywords are things that are going to stand out. So I would say try to think about how how those systems how that automation is going to try and make your information stand out. you have to make sure that you're including some of those buzzwords, those those things that are going to make that stand out to a recruiter that's going through tons of volume um and automated systems that are going to be sifting through that information. If you think about a startup on the other hand, um I would say, and this is, of course, I'm generalizing here, but with a startup, you're more than likely having someone that's um probably closer to the technical side helping with the recruitment process. Um like statistically, like I I would say that, you know, I especially when the company was smaller, like I would be looking at resumes coming in, right? And I was not only an engineer but an engineering manager at the same time. So I'm as I'm looking through resumes at a startup. You know for me it's like the keywords can kind of help but at the same time I'm focus on different things that are going to stand out. Um now in general is it like an easy thing to do just to make sure that you're showcasing some of these keywords for your strengths and like the skill sets you have? Yeah. I think it's a low barrier, easy thing to do that really helps with big tech just to make sure you're kind of breaking through um some of the automation and again some of the the bars that some of the technical recruiters are setting just because they're looking for certain things. Yeah, super easy. Is it going to be, you know, a super high value thing for maybe applying to startups? Maybe not necessarily. Um but does it hurt? Like absolutely not. Like if I saw a resume that was like and I'm say still at a startup and I'm hiring and I see like oh C I see databases and I'm like yeah those are things we're interested in like it's not going to hurt. Um but I mean it's not for me it's not going to be the thing that really sells um uh you know my interest in a candidate. So first thing like I said that we want to talk about is is keywords. So hopefully that kind of makes sense just kind of showcasing your skill sets through keywords and thinking about the other side, the recruiting side and probably the volume that they have to go through. So that's part one. The second part that I want to talk about is your portfolio. Um, and there's a huge emphasis like obviously in the past I don't know 10 years or so like social media, right? Like everything that we do is on social media. And I think that if you're trying to stand out, having part of your portfolio show up online is just hugely valuable. Now, when it comes to big tech, right, breaking through that first barrier of just like being noticed through your application and stuff, like I said, that's going to be more like keywords and stuff just so that you can kind of get through the first line of automation. But when you start actually having people look at your, you know, look at you, your resume and everything, I think that's where having presence online can be very valuable. And there's so many different ways that you can do this. Like one of the absolute easiest ways is just make a LinkedIn profile. There's tons of recruiters that are using LinkedIn. There's probably other platforms as well. Personally, I just think stick with LinkedIn because it's simple and I'm familiar with it. Um, but like just having, you know, some of your your school history if you're like still in school, right? Um, being able to showcase, you know, talk about some projects. I'm not saying that you have to be posting or something like on a daily basis and now you have to be a thought leader and a content creator on LinkedIn or other platforms, but it's a great way to get your portfolio established, right? You can have a version of your resume on LinkedIn. It's awesome for that. So, LinkedIn, super easy one. Probably comparable websites as well. Super easy. Now, another thing you could do is if you have your own personal projects, have them on GitHub or something like that. Um, you could link those to your LinkedIn. Um, but I think being able to have links to your GitHub on uh, you know, on your resume or different applications that allow you to to offer that, definitely put it there. Um, I want to come back to to portfolio and side projects and stuff um, kind of at the end of this because I think it's really really valuable, but really I'm just talking about your presence online right now. Um, and then the third kind of variation to this is really like a personal website, right? You can make that much more custom to you, but you could showcase some of your projects that you're working on. Um, they could be things that you made in school, they could be things you made outside of school, but I think that this kind of stuff is like extremely valuable because it shows once you have people that are like, you know, they've identified your resume, you've already kind of stood out because you meet some criteria. This next level of standing out is like what are you interested in as a software developer, right? It's not a requirement. So, I don't want people to think that you have to be spending all this time outside of work programming and stuff, but does it help stand out? Like, absolutely it does, right? If you're passionate about programming, odds are you probably tried to make some things outside of school or outside of work. Why would you not showcase that? I think it's a perfect opportunity for it. So, with a personal website, you can kind of make that your own, right? You can link to your GitHub. you can link to your LinkedIn and other social media profiles that have, you know, professional content on them. Um, I think it's it's an easy way to be creative and to showcase kind of what you got going on. Uh, third and kind of last one before coming back to side projects is really um this idea about reaching out to hiring managers or recruiters. Um, and I think this can work uh kind of for and against you in different ways. This is this is my personal opinion as as a hiring manager. I've been, you know, an engineering manager for about 10 years now. Um, like I mentioned at startups and at big tech. Um, I think again personal opinion at like a in a startup environment, I personally feel like I have a lot more um influence over over hiring, right? So, if I have candidates that are reaching out to me and they're interested in jobs, based on the, you know, the the size and the the sort of life cycle of that company, we might not even have like a career page or something like that. It could it it can change like over time, right? So, having people reach out and expressing interest like can be a really good sort of like one-on-one way to get engaged with someone who's potentially hiring. So I think from like a startup perspective that can be an interesting way where um you have a candidate um expressing interest, they're showing their passion. Um that's you know that can really stand out where it kind of in my opinion works a little bit against you um is if you're reaching out to a hiring manager kind of expecting a job or expecting a shortcut. Um so I have this happen a lot to me on LinkedIn actually especially um from transitioning from magnet forensics to Microsoft which is a much much larger company. People see engineering manager they see my name there and they will add me and basically the beginning of the conversation feels like they are asking me to give them a referral to Microsoft. So, to me, that's off-putting because you're basically just looking for a shortcut. Uh, not even trying to hide it [laughter] and saying like, "Hey, like you work at Microsoft. You're an engineering manager. Like, you know, put my put my name put my name down, please, cuz I I want in." Um, like I I can't and I won't refer people that that I have no working history with, right? That makes no sense for me to do. Um, but I think there's an easy spin on this that people can kind of correct, right? Like obviously the goal when you're doing this outreach kind of thing with the hiring manager or someone that works at the company you're interested in. I know like your ultimate goal is that you're trying to make a good impression. You want to gain some information and you're hoping that ultimately that will help lead to a job. Now, coming outright and kind of being like, I want a referral, that's not going to work. That's a pretty crappy way to approach it. But I think personally, if you're asking um, you know, genuinely curious questions about, hey, like, what's it like to work there? Like, can you talk about, you know, the things that you you enjoy most about your role or or this team or this technology? Like, to me, I love having conversations like that with people. Um, now like that doesn't mean that I run to HR and like, oh, put this person's name down. But I think it's a really good way to build a relation. I think that it's helpful for you as someone who's interested in the company to get more information because why would you not want to learn? I think it's awesome. Um, but ultimately just to be totally transparent now that I'm working in big tech, if someone, you know, after we have a good conversation about that, if someone kind of leans toward the, hey, like, you know, how would I go about getting a job, I ultimately just have to kind of redirect them to the careers page because especially if I'm not hiring, um, like I can't just, you know, put their name, like I said, I can't just go to the referral page and be like, "Oh, I'm referring this person I've never worked with." I won't do it. Um, but I do think that it's helpful for you as a candidate to gain information because while you're going through this, it might seem like, hey, like it's really hard to kind of break into tech like you're interviewing the companies you want to work for as well. And you should think about that because it's really important that you find a place you want to work at. We can do another video on that later. Going back to reaching out for startups and why I think that can be really cool is that when you do have a little bit more influence as a hiring manager at a startup um because maybe you're directly recruiting for your own team, a couple other teams, whatever. Um some of those uh that relationship forming can work really well. Um like I said, there might not be a careers page or a an automated pipeline. You can go right to HR and say, "Hey, like I talked with this candidate. um they were really interested in this role. They had some, you know, some really good questions. They seemed pretty passionate about, you know, thing X, Y, or Z. Um, cool. Um, they also had their LinkedIn profile because we were chatting on LinkedIn. Um, they sent me their GitHub. Um, I was able to like, you're kind of shortcutting some of those, um, like keyword things I was talking about earlier. I can go right to your GitHub when you share it. Um, maybe check some things out. So, I just feel like at a startup in that kind of environment, the reaching out thing works a little bit better personally. Um, and I do have experience with both sides of it. So, I just wanted to be able to share that with you. So, I talked about um like side projects a little bit earlier and I just wanted to end this by saying um I think side projects are incredibly valuable. Um, if you're thinking again, this is about standing out right in the beginning. We want to be able to stand out so that recruiters um notice us that we can kind of make it to the next phase that I was talking about which is the actual interview. So if you're thinking about yourself and your classmates that you're with or maybe um some of your your colleagues that you're you're trying to break into a different industry into software engineering um and beyond that the fact that there's so many people also trying to do the same thing. How do you stand out? Right? Um, if you even think about just your classmates, they might have had all the exact same classes as you. So, how do you stand out? I think side projects personally are one of the best ways. Um, I have never cared about people's marks at school. If you're failing classes and stuff, that might be a sign that maybe um, I don't know, it depends on the class, too, but maybe you're kind of showing that you can't um, you know, rally behind something. put the effort in and and get a passing grade perhaps. I don't know. Um but when you know like if you had a a 75 versus a 98 in some math class like as a hiring manager, I honestly have never cared in 10 years. Makes no sense to me. Um I just don't care. What I do care about is that um you like to learn, that you're passionate about what you're doing, and that you're easy to work with. Those are like some of my most important criteria when you want to stand out. Um, if I'm not looking at things like marks um, and your grades in school, like having side projects to me kind of shows that passion part. Um, it can be the most simple things, right? Like you could show me that you made a calculator in some language that you didn't know how to program in because you wanted to try it out. What database technology did you try on some, you know, movie archive website you wanted to build? Or you wanted to make a weather mobile application because you wanted to try this flavor of technology that was crossplatform. Like could be literally anything. Um, it for me it's not about being wowed by some milliondoll idea you have or something like nothing like that. I personally would just love to see that you tried learning and you wanted to try things out and you have some experience to talk about that. Um because for me that just shows that you have some interest in the field that we're in that you like to learn because being on the job when we talk about phase three it's going to be all about learning and overcoming challenges. So I think um again the side projects and having that in your portfolio can be hugely valuable and that's just why I wanted to come back to that at the end. So I think that's it for this first phase. So thanks for watching again. If you're on YouTube, if you found this useful, if you want to like the video, um subscribe, that really helps me know um that you appreciated this content and it was valuable. And if you have other thoughts about maybe different parts of this phase that you think would be valuable or you have questions, add it to the comments. Thanks.