7 Battle-Proven Tips To Find A Developer Job In Today’s Crazy Job Market
Tech companies are getting rid of developers at lightning speed.
If you are a developer looking for a job right now, you might want to level up your game.
After helping over 200+ developers get better jobs with an average pay increase of 20k, I can only tell you what worked for us.
Here are 7 tips for you to navigate this developer market and get the kind of job you deserve:
- Be greedy when others are fearful — the truth is most developers out there are terrified of the situation. They are playing it safe, staying where they are, and waiting for the storm to pass. Don’t be them. Take advantage of the situation. This is actually the best time to go out there and find opportunities because you will face less competition than ever.
- Don’t update, upgrade — the most common advice developers get when they are back in the market is to update your CV and Linkedin. Let me tell you that merely “updating” stuff won’t get you where you want to be. To stand out these days, you will have to oversell a bit. Detail your work experience in-depth, get endorsements, get recommendations, use your network, and be relentless in selling yourself. Upskill in certain areas as well so you can be more valuable. Be relentless on this one, and you will have more opportunities than you can handle (do you want my team and I to help you with this? Apply here now to see if you qualify for your premium mentorship program).
- If you want to succeed, expect to fail — assume you will fail the first 5 to 10 interviews that you will go through. And that’s ok. You will get the experience to nail the next one, and soon you will have a great job offer on your hands. Also, when you fail, don’t overthink, don’t push people for feedback, and move on quickly to the next opportunity.
- Avoid the FAANGS — publicly traded tech companies are overstaffed. They got fat, and now they are on a diet. What’s happening under the hood? Tech is getting into more traditional sectors ( what we’ve seen in the last years is tech companies going for the most dynamic part of the GDP, industries like advertising, finance, etc). Now tech will enter more traditional sectors like construction, healthcare, education, and defense. They are heavily regulated and harder to get in, but the payoff is much higher. If you want to get a job in the long term, look there.
- It is not over until it is over — even if you are in the final stages with a company, even if they said they would make you an offer until you have a signed contract on your hands, you should not stop interviewing. Sure, you want to get comfortable, but offers get canceled all the time. Don’t goof off before the game is over.
- Surf the AI wave — take advantage of everyone talking about AI and show that you are on the latest trends. Add ChatGPT and Copilot to your CV, and dive deeper into how LLMs work. You will learn something new and stand out from the sea of developers who didn’t even play with these things yet.
- Negotiate when most would not — as I mentioned, most developers are afraid right now. When negotiating salaries, most of them settle for less than they deserve. But companies have tons of cash at hand no matter what they say (look at inflation). Once you pass the interview, open a small negotiation to see what’s at stake. If salary is not negotiable, a few vacation days or a bonus might be. That is free money :)
Here it is.
Use these 7 principles in your job hunt, and you will do better than 99% of developers who are driven by fear and have no process.
By the way, you don’t have to do all this alone.
My team and I can help you take advantage of the situation and advance your developer career to its fullest potential. We can help you find your technical gaps and put a solid plan in place to move towards more Senior positions and earn more.
Apply here to see if you qualify for our premium mentorship program!
In the meantime, don’t be afraid of the storm, use it to push your boat even faster. There has never been a better time to be a developer. If you have a plan and work hard, you will have not only a job, but a bright future.
We can help you! Apply here now (only a few spots left for May)!
Take care,
Dragos
