If you’d be searching for a job and you’d sit with me as a friend and ask me “hey, you spoke to over 100 developers and saw some of how their job search went, what’s the secret element?”, then I would answer you, as a friend, that I can guess how well a certain job search will go according to a single KPI: “How many jobs does the person apply to”. I’d quickly add “I know it’s annoying to apply to lots of jobs, please don’t run away”, and if our conversation would be one of those conversations-that-go-well, then we would speak about all the bad things about applying to lots of jobs and find solutions to them, or work around them, or something.
If, alternatively, you’d say “oh interesting sounds right” and not give me any of the many pushbacks you’re experiencing, then I’d know this is one of those conversations that goes badly, and I’d try to think what I could do differently next time. Maybe I can go meta.
How does applying to lots of places help salary?
You can check how much the market is willing to pay you. Experiment. If an org says yes—ask for more next time. If they say no—ask for less. Roughly.
Negotiating is really hard when you have no alternative (or don’t know what your alternatives are), but really easy when there are good options lined up.
How does applying to lots of places help building skill?
You can check* how much mentorship (or other relevant skill building properties) many work places have, and pick the best (or one of the best). It’s hard to know how good this metric is without talking to the hiring manager.
How does applying to lots of places help [some other unusual property I’m looking for]?
For almost everyone who asks me this, the unusual-property is something that is easier to find out when talking to the hiring manager.
Yeah, but applying to lots of jobs is stressful / time-consuming / my-employer-will-know / how-can-I-know-the-next-job-will-be-perfect / what-if-I-am-rejected
If your response is something like that, please let me know. It’s easier for me to write things if I know it’s helping someone specific
FAQ: How to find a really good software job? (high pay, fun, skill building, and maybe optimizing for something else too)
This continues Plan B.
Things I will not answer in this comment:
How to get accepted to 1-2 specific companies (like “I want to work at Google or Microsoft”)
How to get a high impact job (Plan A)
My secret answer
If you’d be searching for a job and you’d sit with me as a friend and ask me “hey, you spoke to over 100 developers and saw some of how their job search went, what’s the secret element?”, then I would answer you, as a friend, that I can guess how well a certain job search will go according to a single KPI: “How many jobs does the person apply to”. I’d quickly add “I know it’s annoying to apply to lots of jobs, please don’t run away”, and if our conversation would be one of those conversations-that-go-well, then we would speak about all the bad things about applying to lots of jobs and find solutions to them, or work around them, or something.
If, alternatively, you’d say “oh interesting sounds right” and not give me any of the many pushbacks you’re experiencing, then I’d know this is one of those conversations that goes badly, and I’d try to think what I could do differently next time. Maybe I can go meta.
How does applying to lots of places help salary?
You can check how much the market is willing to pay you. Experiment. If an org says yes—ask for more next time. If they say no—ask for less. Roughly.
Negotiating is really hard when you have no alternative (or don’t know what your alternatives are), but really easy when there are good options lined up.
How does applying to lots of places help building skill?
You can check* how much mentorship (or other relevant skill building properties) many work places have, and pick the best (or one of the best). It’s hard to know how good this metric is without talking to the hiring manager.
How does applying to lots of places help [some other unusual property I’m looking for]?
For almost everyone who asks me this, the unusual-property is something that is easier to find out when talking to the hiring manager.
Yeah, but applying to lots of jobs is stressful / time-consuming / my-employer-will-know / how-can-I-know-the-next-job-will-be-perfect / what-if-I-am-rejected
If your response is something like that, please let me know. It’s easier for me to write things if I know it’s helping someone specific