The hunt is real. Especially more now than ever. Overall, job statistics are good, but the major tech employers are all making big personnel cutbacks. So, there’s still opportunities. They may just be at less-known companies. Making your search more important and involved than prior.
If you’re reading this, you’re likely making a transition yourself. From some other field to Computer Science. Beyond the basic resume techniques, we need to relate everything as best as possible. If it’s not translating to the role in question, it shouldn’t be included. Remember to read everything about the role and organization. The more information you have, the more parallels can be drawn from your past experience that can be utilized. If the specifics of your experience don’t relate, how about aspects of the work. Team projects, management, teaching, etc.
It’s important to remember some of the foundational resume techniques that you should always leverage. “Less is more”. It’s important to convey information succinctly. It leaves desirable whitespace on your resume while conveying you’re a clear and efficient communicator. “Get over it, talk about yourself.” It can be hard talking about yourself. That’s is the whole idea though. Don’t downplay anything, you’re not bragging. Tell. Your. Story. “Express passion and interest.” If you have specific passions or interests that directly to your field share them! For example learning. If you’re applying to a company that emphasizes learning, they want to hear you are passionate about learning. Work it in.
Work your network. The people you are reaching out to may not be in Tech, Computer Science, etc. However, they may know someone that is. Even if their role isn’t tech-focused, internal referrals still hold a ton of weight in just getting an initial interview. This is especially important with smaller organizations. My wife works for a late stage start-up (preparing for IPO). The last three hiring rounds, there wasn’t a single new hire that didn’t have an internal referral source. So, work that network.
With the shift in job openings, every advantage available has to be taken. Don’t forget the basics of job hunting. I hope any facet of this helps you with your transition to a developer role. I’m utilizing all of these and always keeping my eye out for new approaches, techniques, etc.
