Getting hired as a software engineer/writing code

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MoonRiver
Hummingbird
Hummingbird

Joined: 22 Jan 2019
Gender: Female
Posts: 21

22 Jan 2019, 5:50 pm

My partner is a software engineer and all he wants to do is write code. He completed his master of IT recently just for s**ts and giggles, thinking it would open doors. It was his way of trying to be more neurotypical. He says he learnt nothing and that they even taught wrong info at university. Both he and I have been long term unemployed. I have watched him go through working for horrible bosses who didn't pay him what he was worth or withheld his pay or they didn't understand his skills and so they put him on some sort of administrative tasks because according to bosses that's "computer work" in their eyes. Meanwhile, in his spare time he would write programs that completed all the boring tasks for him at lightening speed. He hasn't had a stable job in such a long time and I don't understand the computer world myself. He keeps talking about cybersecurity and I'm desperate to help him get a job in that field. I just don't know how. We're based in Australia and people keep saying to him that he should go to silicone valley with his skills, but I mean, surely there's something here in Australia for him? We have moved around and bounced around so much that we just can't afford to pack up and move again and chase something only to be exploited or lied to because we have trouble navigating people etc. I'm all for any suggestions.



AlomstEcho
Emu Egg
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Joined: 25 Jan 2019
Gender: Female
Posts: 2
Location: Los Angles

26 Jan 2019, 2:24 am

I can speak a bit from experience as someone that is on the spectrum that works in software development in Silicon Beach (Silicon Valley of video game development down in LA) I would tread carefully with the idea of moving out here for work. the market is overflowing with more people than available jobs and an insane cost of living. I dont know what working in tech is like where ya'll are but I have had a very hard time keeping jobs due to how replaceable employees are with a job pool of this size. However a good programmer is worth his/her weight in gold so he would likely have more luck than me. Unfortunately school carries way less weight than experience in this industry which can be a bit of a catch 22. I work in video games so it may be a bit different for him but I have a few years experience finding and completing jobs in tech so if there is anything I can do or any questions I can answer I would love to help.



valarmorghulis
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

Joined: 8 Jul 2018
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 31

26 Feb 2019, 12:54 am

Welcome to my home country in Northern Europe, we need thousands of programmers! :)



Ichinin
Veteran
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Joined: 3 Apr 2009
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,653
Location: A cold place with lots of blondes.

26 Feb 2019, 4:40 am

Check your PM.


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Facepipe
Butterfly
Butterfly

Joined: 11 Mar 2019
Age: 46
Posts: 14

25 Mar 2019, 5:09 pm

High up Cisco qulifications like the CCIE almost guarantee employment



blackomen
Toucan
Toucan

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Joined: 8 Sep 2009
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 264
Location: Former Californian in Dallas

03 Jul 2019, 2:10 pm

Dunno why but I've NEVER been able to land a job in the San Francisco area which includes Silicon Valley even as a programmer. First time was when I finished college in the area and wanted a brief part time job or internship before heading to grad school. Second time in 2009 when I finished grad school and thought I could land a job there despite the bad economy. I landed a job in LA instead. Third time in 2016 when I lost my job in LA and wanted to try again here.. No dice but ended up accepting an offer in Texas. One of the jobs ive interviewed for in Silicon Valley involved 3 rounds of phone interviews and an all day in person before i was told i was rejected. I later inquired and there were literally 10,000 ppl competing for a single position and that was in 2016, not 2009

Don't be fooled by the low unemployment rate there. For a while i thought that meant jobs were abundant. Later, i realized that the people who were unemployed quickly moved out due to the absurd cost of living.

Btw, i only realized that employers who were not super picky and turned the whole interview process into something akin to America's Got Talent with countless rounds when interviewed in Texas and later switched jobs again in the same state. Unlike California, Texas has a pretty big shortage of programmers and many states in the US do as well since so many in this industry seem to have a fetish for California esp with the romantic notions of working for Silicon Valley over there.