Forget Coding Projects: This is How You Get Hired
Summary
TLDRThis video discusses the challenges junior engineers face in the current job market, especially with many entry-level positions requiring years of experience. The speaker, a retired software engineering manager from Meta, explains why working on coding projects may not be the best approach for landing a job. Instead, they recommend alternatives such as internships, volunteering, open-source contributions, and even building apps. Internships are considered the gold standard for gaining real-world experience, while projects, though helpful for learning, aren't as valued by hiring managers when evaluating candidates.
Takeaways
- 💼 The job market for junior engineers and students is currently tough, with entry-level roles often requiring multiple years of experience.
- ❌ Focusing on coding projects as a way to get hired is considered a waste of time by the speaker, who emphasizes that hiring managers don’t prioritize these projects.
- 🧠 Projects are good for learning but don't compare to real-life experience when seeking a job, much like medical simulations don't equate to real surgeries.
- 📂 Hiring managers rarely review GitHub projects or portfolios, as 99% of the time the code doesn’t even run properly.
- 🧑💻 The best way to gain relevant experience is through internships, which the speaker compares to medical residencies in importance for junior engineers.
- 📉 Many junior engineers think projects give an unfair advantage, but the speaker debunks this idea, pointing to internships as a more valuable option.
- 🖥️ Building iOS or Android apps can offer some impact, but both come with time investment challenges, and monetization is typically low unless the app is heavily developed.
- 🤝 Volunteering for businesses or nonprofits can offer hands-on experience and improve communication skills but generally comes with no earnings potential.
- 🔓 Contributing to open-source projects is a more meaningful way to gain experience, especially if the contributions are accepted by the community.
- 💡 Internships are the highest-impact strategy, offering real-world exposure, and companies are more likely to trust candidates who have worked with production code under real conditions.
Q & A
Why does the speaker argue that projects are not the best way for junior engineers to get hired?
-The speaker argues that while projects are useful for learning and skill development, they don't carry much weight with hiring managers because they don't demonstrate experience working with real-life production code or dealing with real users and stakes.
What is the main reason hiring managers don't look at GitHub projects according to the speaker?
-Hiring managers often don't look at GitHub projects because, in the speaker's experience, most of the time the code doesn't run correctly. Variables are hardcoded, functions may be missing, and there are other issues that make the projects unrepresentative of real-world production environments.
How does the speaker compare coding projects to medical training?
-The speaker compares coding projects to a medical student practicing brain surgery simulations. Just as simulations aren’t enough for a doctor to perform real surgery, coding projects don't provide the real-world experience hiring managers look for, unlike internships which are akin to a medical residency.
Why does the speaker emphasize internships as the most valuable experience for junior engineers?
-Internships are emphasized as the most valuable because they offer real-world exposure, allow junior engineers to work on production code with real users, and are the most validating for hiring managers. Internships are compared to medical residencies, providing hands-on experience that projects cannot.
What are some of the alternatives to projects that the speaker suggests for gaining experience?
-The speaker suggests alternatives such as building iOS or Android apps, developing websites or Chrome extensions, volunteering for businesses or non-profits, contributing to open-source projects, and internships, with internships being the most highly recommended.
Why does the speaker rank internships higher than other alternatives?
-Internships are ranked higher because they provide real-world experience, often come with competitive pay, and offer significant validation to hiring managers. They are seen as the tech equivalent of a medical residency, offering supervised, hands-on experience in real environments.
What are some of the challenges with focusing solely on projects for junior engineers?
-Focusing solely on projects can be time-consuming, often doesn't provide the real-world impact that hiring managers look for, and may lead to frustration as many projects may not run correctly or fail to demonstrate relevant experience working with actual production code.
How does the speaker evaluate the time investment and earnings potential of building an iOS or Android app?
-The time investment for building an iOS or Android app is rated as high due to the effort needed to meet platform standards, especially for iOS, which has stricter guidelines. Earnings potential is generally considered low unless the developer is really trying to monetize their app.
What does the speaker suggest is a key challenge in volunteering as a way to gain experience?
-A key challenge in volunteering is accessibility. Finding a business or nonprofit that is open to volunteer help can be difficult, and while the experience may be valuable, there is no direct financial compensation.
What does the speaker suggest for those interested in machine learning roles who don't have a formal job?
-The speaker mentions that there will be a separate video covering specific strategies for people interested in AI engineering or machine learning roles, as these roles might have different paths to gaining experience.
Outlines
🚀 The Struggles of Junior Engineers in a Tough Job Market
The job market is difficult for junior engineers and students, with many entry-level positions requiring years of experience. The speaker emphasizes that projects alone won't differentiate candidates, despite the common belief. As a former Meta engineering manager, they argue that hiring managers don’t prioritize coding projects. While projects help with learning and building skills, they don't equate to real-world experience.
💡 Better Ways to Build Experience Beyond Projects
Instead of projects, the speaker introduces seven alternative strategies for junior engineers to build experience. These include creating apps, websites, or Chrome extensions, as well as volunteering and contributing to open-source projects. Each strategy is evaluated based on impact, accessibility, time investment, and earning potential, with specific points assigned. The speaker emphasizes that practical experience with real-world systems is more valuable to hiring managers than isolated coding projects.
🎯 Internships: The Gold Standard for Building Experience
The speaker argues that internships provide the best experience for aspiring engineers, likening them to medical residencies. They highlight that internships offer real-world exposure, validate skills in the eyes of hiring managers, and often come with strong earning potential. While internships can be hard to land and require significant time commitment, they are the most effective way for junior engineers to gain meaningful experience and stand out in the competitive job market.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Job Market
💡Entry-Level Roles
💡Projects
💡Internship
💡Production Code
💡GitHub
💡Volunteering
💡Open-Source Projects
💡Residency Program
💡CrowdStrike Outage
Highlights
The job market for junior engineers is tough, with many entry-level roles requiring multiple years of experience.
Focusing on coding projects as a way to get hired is not effective, despite popular belief.
Projects are valuable for learning, but do not impress hiring managers because they often don't involve real-world production code.
Hiring managers rarely check GitHub projects, as the code often doesn't run or lacks real impact.
Internships are the tech equivalent of medical residencies, providing supervised, real-world experience.
Junior engineers should prioritize getting internships over working on personal projects.
Projects often don't translate into job offers because they lack the pressure and consequences of real-world stakes.
One of the best strategies is to start a business, with building an iOS app offering notable impact but requiring significant time.
Building an Android app is also effective but slightly easier to execute compared to an iOS app.
Building a website or Chrome extension is accessible and can show relevant skills, but may have lower impact.
Volunteering for small businesses or nonprofits can help build real-world experience and is more valuable than personal projects.
Contributing to open-source projects is another way to build experience, but getting code accepted can be challenging.
Internships are the gold standard for gaining experience and validation in the tech industry.
Internships offer real-world exposure, high impact, and often come with significant pay.
In California, the average hourly wage for software engineering interns is over $24, and can go much higher in certain companies.
Transcripts
there's no argument that the job market
right now is pretty tough especially for
junior engineers and students we've been
seeing that a lot of job descriptions
have been asking for multiple years of
work experience even for entry level
roles so what the heck do you do about
it to differentiate yourself and I tell
you the answer is not projects and I
will explain why not projects I also
want to break down seven better ways
Junior Engineers can start building
experience even without having a formal
job as someone who has been working in
tech for close to 20 years now and as a
retired software engineering manager
from meta it kind of drives me up the
wall every time one of those videos pop
up title like these coding projects will
give you an unfair advantage and I'm
thinking well if you have done any
hiring or managing you would probably
never make videos like that then it did
hit me I actually haven't ever seen a
single thing software engineering
manager on YouTube I think I saw one
from Uber and usually Managers from
companies I haven't really heard of but
never from a Fan Company correct me if
I'm wrong if you know anyone else who
has been a manager at a Fang company
leave a name in the comment and I would
love to check them out going back to the
projects there are tons of videos out
there talking as if working on projects
is like magic ticket to getting hired at
tech companies and it is tempting to
think if I just click ahead and find one
magical project idea that will Lam me a
job but honestly focusing on projects as
your path to getting hired is one of the
dumbest ways to waste your time in my
opinion and here's the thing projects
are great for learning they help you
understand New Concepts practice coding
and build up your skills as a programmer
but when it comes to getting a job
that's a whole different story why do
hiring managers not care about your
projects imagine you need brain surgery
and you're looking for a doctor I come
to you and say hey I went to medical
school and I've done five simulations of
brain surgery on a computer in a control
environment AKA like your git or my
schools lab let me operate on your brain
if I said that as a doctor would you let
me operate on you probably not I
wouldn't now hospitals have residency
programs for a reason these recent
medical grads don't just dive into solo
surgeries first they watch procedures
then assist and only after enough
supervised practice do they do their own
surgeries and the tech equivalent of a
residency is an insip people ask me on
comments all the time I'm studying
computer science or machine learning or
data science what should I focus on and
I say go get an internship now coding
isn't usually life or death like brain
surgery but then again you did see what
happened with Crow strike the bug that
almost took down the world if you have
been living under a rock check out my
video covering the crowd's St outage and
because companies don't want to hire
full-time Junior Engineers only to see
them taking down the entire product they
usually look for people who have worked
with real life production code dealing
with real users and real sticks not just
code that runs on a local machine or
some virtual environment that has no
direct impact on actual users or to
automate your own life so do hiring
managers even look at GitHub or
portfolios and the answer is no and
here's why 99% of time the code doesn't
even run when I was hiring interns for
the first time at whatsapp I used to
review candidates a lot more carefully
partly because I didn't have a lot of
experience hiring and I wasn't sure what
to look for also since I was the 19th
engineer at whatsapp we were still
pretty small and we didn't get that many
candidates so I had the luxury to spend
more time on individual candidates back
then I would actually read some of the
code on GitHub but I quickly realized
that almost none of it actually ran
variables would be hardcoded or
functions would be missing there's also
another reason recruiters don't look at
GitHub according to a recent study
recruiters spend on average just about 7
Seconds glancing at a resume before
tossing it away they get hundreds
sometimes thousands of resumés for a
single role so do to they have time to
dig into your GitHub and review your
code probably not okay if projects and
githubschool with
this type of experience three is time
investment how much time does this
require last but not least earnings
potential is there an opportunity to
earn additional income for example
working on a GitHub project that doesn't
fully run zero on impact five on
accessibility time investment would be 1
to three depending on the project and
earnings potential is zero which brings
to a total of six to eight points I have
ranked these strategies and saved the
best for the last plus I have two bonus
strategies specifically for those
interested in becoming a machine
learning engineer which I'll cover at
the end of the list so let's dive in
first category of the projects are to
start your own business in the US
becoming a sole proprietor is pretty
straightforward I'm not a lawyer so I
won't be covering the details of setting
up your own company Google your local
regulations for that if you do decide to
go this route there are a few ways you
can do this so strategy number seven is
to build an iOS app impact here is 3 to
five grading on IOS app can really stand
out especially if you manage to pass the
Apple's tough review process this can be
a big plus if you are targeting rules
that do require iOS skills like becoming
an iOS Developer accessibility is two
because getting an iOS AB approved can
be challenging again because of the
Apple strict guidelines I gave one for
the time investment for the same reason
building an app that meets the iOS
standards can take a lot of time and
effort earnings potential can be
negative-1 or zero if you do decide to
register as a business you might have
some business cost and monetizing
through an app purchases or ads can be
an option but that is a lot of
additional work I'm just going to call
it zero for most people unless you're
really trying to make a buck so the
total comes out to five to seven points
next on the list is to build an Android
app the impact here would be 3.5 to 4.5
on Android app app might not be as
impressive as an IOS app in some cases
but it's still a solid Choice especially
since it's easier to get past the
Android review that's why I think it's a
little bit less impressive unless you're
going for an Android app developer role
for the same reason accessibility is
three time investment is a one is still
a time consuming project earning
potential again there may be some cost
involved with setting up the business
registration you might make a little bit
of Mone money but it's not guaranteed so
total comes out to be 5.5 to 7.5 points
next is building a website or a Chrome
extension impact here is 2 to three this
depends on the relevance to the job that
you're eyeing again accessibility would
be before because building a website or
a Chrome extension is generally much
easier than developing an app time
investment would be 3 to four the time
required will depend on how complex your
project is earnings potential is the
same making money from websites or
extensions is possible but the income
can be pretty minimal that brings a
total to about 8 to 11 points all right
let's dive into volunteering as the next
category this can be a great way to gain
experience and make a real impact there
are a number of ways you can do this so
strategy number four is to volunteer for
a business impact here is two because
volunteering for a local business can be
a little bit better than just doing
projects if you're working with small
companies that need technical support it
could show that you're willing to get
hands-on experience you can work with
clients communicate real requirements
meet deadlines and etc for accessibility
I gave it 2.5 finding a business that's
open to volunteers might take some
effort but it is definitely doable I
recommend you reach out to various
companies in your local area or online
time investment would be a three out of
five you have some flexibility here
since it's a volunteer PR you can can
quit if it's not working out earning
potential is obviously zero because
volunteering usually doesn't come with a
paycheck and it will be zero for the
remainder of the volunteer roles so here
the total is 7.5 number three is
volunteering for nonprofit organization
impact here is three volunteering for a
more well-known nonprofit can boost your
impressiveness Factor accessibility is
two it might be tougher to get a spot
with a high-profile nonprofit due to
competition kind investment would be
three so total here is eight number two
is working on open- Source projects
impact is three again contributing to a
well-known really popular open-source
projects can really make your resume pop
especially if your contribution is more
significant accessibility is three here
anyone can jump into open source
projects but getting your code accepted
can be more challenging time investment
would be 2 to 4 depending on the
complexity of the feature that you're
working on so the total here would be 8
to 10 points now here is what you have
been waiting for the number one option
really the best one is internship if
you're looking for the best way to build
experience hands down it's internship
impact here would be five plus I would
give it six if I could internships are
the gold standard when it comes to
experience remember when I compared it
to Medical residency earlier internship
do really offer real world exposure and
are the most validating for hiring
managers to believe in you as a
potential candidate accessibility here
is One landing on internship can be
tough time investment would be a one
because internships usually require a
long-term commitment it will be
dedicating a significant amount of time
and it's usually not very flexible but
on the upside the earnings potential is
a five plus again internships often come
with really great pay for example in
California the average hourly wage for a
software engineering intern is is about
$24.47 according to zip recruiter but
this is only average right from my
experience I have seen Insurance get way
more money than that and it's not just
big tech companies but startups can pay
really well as well so this brings a
total to 12 plus points if you're aiming
for a role in the tech industry an
internship is by far the most valuable
experience that you can get if you want
tips on Landing internships let me know
the comments and I can make a video
about it I said earlier in the video
that I'm going to share bonus strategies
for people who are interested in machine
learning roles but I'm sorry I ran out
of time so I'm going to have to record a
separate video about that if you're
interested in AI engineering or machine
learning type of roles and you want to
gain experience without actually having
a full-time job go ahead and watch this
video otherwise YouTube thinks you
should watch this one next I'll see you
there
Посмотреть больше похожих видео
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)