In response to your questions, speaking with some (limited, worked as an not-100%-software engineer in the SF bay area with lots of SW eng friends) experience:
How do people find good jobs there? Do you have recruiters? Are there reasons not to use them?
Large or VC-rich companies have recruiters, they’re fine to use. Lots of good but smaller companies don’t have recruiters. You can apply through their website but get a referral if possible.
A referral? Yes, most companies have an internal referral system, and if you can get any kind of referral whatsoever, this helps you.
If you hate networking, Triplebyte (https://triplebyte.com/) is pretty great. Take a programming test, get matched with top companies.
Something potentially non-obvious: there is an indirect and socially-acceptable way to ask for an internal referral. It goes something like this:
If you know someone who currently works at a company: you don’t have to ask indirectly. You can just say, “hey, will you refer me for [job] at [your company]?” You can offer to give more context on why you’re interested or what relevant background you have, but you may not need to.
If you have a tenuous connection[1] to someone who works at a company: it’s acceptable to contact them (over email if you have it, otherwise over LinkedIn) saying something like, “hey, I’ve been looking at [job] at [your company] and would love to learn more about what’s it like to work there. Any chance you’d have have time for a coffee chat / video call to talk about it in the next week?”
If they agree, aim to have a pleasant conversation about your mutual (tech / business) interest. Be a friendly, curious person who enthusiastically wants to hear about their job and company culture. This is not an interview in either direction!
Towards the end of your conversation, assuming you’re still interested in the job, say something like, “alright, thanks so much, this was so helpful. I think I will apply!” (pause here to see if they offer to refer you) “No pressure, but I figured it doesn’t hurt to ask: does [your company] have an internal referral system? Any chance you’d be willing to refer me for [job]?”
If you have a no connections at a company: it’s acceptable to look through your social networks (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook) to see if anyone at the company in one degree of separation from you, and ask for an intro through your connection. For example, you might be in touch with a former co-worker who was in the same grad school lab as someone now working at the company. It’s okay to ask that former coworker something like, “hey, I’m not sure how in touch you are with [person], but I’m thinking of applying to [their company] and would like to learn more, any chance you’d be able to intro me to them?”. Make it clear that they can say no! If they say yes, you will probably get an intro email to the person, and then this turns into (2).
In Israel, the official requirements for a job are higher than the real requirements. Are there strange things like that in your country too? (They might not seem strange from the inside, I can try helping with more specific questions)
It is the case in the USA that a good candidate usually meets more than half of the listed job requirements, but a candidate who meets all of them is probably overqualified.
One thing I’ve found annoying / weird is that you don’t necessarily hear back from recruiters or others if you don’t get a job, even after an interview. This varies among companies, but for many of them you just… eventually assume that you didn’t get the job.
on the level of, like, “took a class with them 5 years ago” or “volunteered with them at an event once”. These are not people you’re really in touch with.
In response to your questions, speaking with some (limited, worked as an not-100%-software engineer in the SF bay area with lots of SW eng friends) experience:
Large or VC-rich companies have recruiters, they’re fine to use. Lots of good but smaller companies don’t have recruiters. You can apply through their website but get a referral if possible.
A referral? Yes, most companies have an internal referral system, and if you can get any kind of referral whatsoever, this helps you.
If you hate networking, Triplebyte (https://triplebyte.com/) is pretty great. Take a programming test, get matched with top companies.
Something potentially non-obvious: there is an indirect and socially-acceptable way to ask for an internal referral. It goes something like this:
If you know someone who currently works at a company: you don’t have to ask indirectly. You can just say, “hey, will you refer me for [job] at [your company]?” You can offer to give more context on why you’re interested or what relevant background you have, but you may not need to.
If you have a tenuous connection[1] to someone who works at a company: it’s acceptable to contact them (over email if you have it, otherwise over LinkedIn) saying something like, “hey, I’ve been looking at [job] at [your company] and would love to learn more about what’s it like to work there. Any chance you’d have have time for a coffee chat / video call to talk about it in the next week?”
If they agree, aim to have a pleasant conversation about your mutual (tech / business) interest. Be a friendly, curious person who enthusiastically wants to hear about their job and company culture. This is not an interview in either direction!
Towards the end of your conversation, assuming you’re still interested in the job, say something like, “alright, thanks so much, this was so helpful. I think I will apply!” (pause here to see if they offer to refer you) “No pressure, but I figured it doesn’t hurt to ask: does [your company] have an internal referral system? Any chance you’d be willing to refer me for [job]?”
If you have a no connections at a company: it’s acceptable to look through your social networks (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook) to see if anyone at the company in one degree of separation from you, and ask for an intro through your connection. For example, you might be in touch with a former co-worker who was in the same grad school lab as someone now working at the company. It’s okay to ask that former coworker something like, “hey, I’m not sure how in touch you are with [person], but I’m thinking of applying to [their company] and would like to learn more, any chance you’d be able to intro me to them?”. Make it clear that they can say no! If they say yes, you will probably get an intro email to the person, and then this turns into (2).
It is the case in the USA that a good candidate usually meets more than half of the listed job requirements, but a candidate who meets all of them is probably overqualified.
One thing I’ve found annoying / weird is that you don’t necessarily hear back from recruiters or others if you don’t get a job, even after an interview. This varies among companies, but for many of them you just… eventually assume that you didn’t get the job.
You may have seen this already, but Haseeb Qureshi’s writing on US tech careers for earn-to-give is top-notch stuff: https://haseebq.com/tech-careers/. I’ve forwarded his advice on negotiating job offers to SO many people.
on the level of, like, “took a class with them 5 years ago” or “volunteered with them at an event once”. These are not people you’re really in touch with.
Thank you very much, this is very useful for me, specifically that you also added the culture/social norms which there’s no way I’d guess myself