DEV Community: Hired

How to Negotiate Your Job Offer

Hired — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 21:04:54 +0000

So, you received an offer — congratulations! Now, you might be wondering, Can I negotiate it? Yes, you definitely can negotiate your job offer! Companies will not retract it if you do.

In fact, those who negotiate a job offer are often successful in getting a better outcome. If you’re unsure, your Candidate Experience Manager can offer support as you make decisions. We want to set you up for success in your next role. Part of that is starting with an offer that’s right for you.

Decide What Matters Most When Planning to Negotiate a Job Offer

Aside from your salary, there are other important aspects to incorporate in your overall or total compensation package. Take some time to think about this! Some examples could include:

Additional vacation time
Flexible work schedules
Professional development budgets
Technology allowances or incorporating a compensation adjustment with a performance review after 6 months and other perks In our 2021 State of Tech Salaries Report, we found that 76% of tech employees are willing to accept a lower base salary in exchange for other forms of compensation, such as equity. Flexibility, work-life balance, and company culture also weigh heavily in tech employees’ decision to accept a job.

You should also ask yourself:

What does success look like in this role over the next 9–12 months, and how is that success recognized?
What are your opportunities for growth and development?
What are you looking for in your next role and does this position meet those needs?

Preparation is Key – How the Candidate Experience (CX) Team Helps

We can help you identify your top skills and experiences to leverage as negotiation points. Examples could include: running meetups, working on special projects, or earning certifications.

We can also conduct mock negotiation sessions to help you prepare for the conversation with the company. Companies may be willing to negotiate the following: base salary, stock options, and other benefits, such as a signing bonus, (but you must make a case for it).

The Key to Successfully Negotiate Job Offer Salary

When you start negotiating, focus the conversation on what value you bring to the role and express your excitement about joining the team.

We recommend negotiating with a company you’re thrilled about and are likely to accept an offer from if they are not able to meet your request. Focus on raising the salary OR the equity. Reiterate your commitment, your motivations, and your why.

Before the conversation, consider what you’re looking for and how flexible you are. What are your must-haves vs. nice-to-haves?

An in-person conversation is fantastic, but you can also negotiate your offer over the phone. To avoid any miscommunication, do not negotiate via email.

Companies may put an expiration on your offer — it is commonly 48 hours — so you can certainly ask for more time to review and assess it, but we recommend only asking for an extension once. You don’t want to appear as though you are waiting for something better to come along.

Be prepared to explain why you need more time. Some examples include discussing with family or comparing it to another offer.

Be transparent if you’re interviewing with another company. Tell the recruiter that you are interviewing elsewhere and want to be fair to both organizations. Make sure you reiterate your interest and excitement with their offer.

Understand the Market Value for Your Salary

Use available industry tools to understand your value. Check Hired’s salary calculator and Payscale.

Research laws about whether employers can ask how much you currently make, or “salary bans.” Even in states where they can ask, if you currently earn below market value you’ll want to avoid answering this question.

Editor’s Note: Sometimes people confuse or simply mishear “salary bans” as “salary bands.” A salary ban prohibits employers from asking about your salary history, or what you “made at your last job.” A salary band is a term for the range budgeted for a role. The salary band for role “A” might be $110-142K.

Be clear when negotiating that if offered “X” amount you would be eager to accept and follow through if they hold up their end of the deal. For example: “I have researched the fair market value of X position and I anticipate a base salary in the X range.”

To Keep Things Moving, Try a ‘1-2-3’ Job Offer Negotiation Strategy

The company makes you an offer.
You counter if you’re not satisfied (think about the entire package, including base, equity, bonus, benefits, and career opportunity).
Then, they counter one more time or accept your counter offer/negotiation request.

Beyond compensation, remember that other elements of a role bring satisfaction, such as:

Teams with clear visions and strong management.
Diverse and inclusive work environments.
Opportunities to provide or receive mentorship.
Strong feedback loops and environments receptive to opinions.
Alignment with the core values of a company, including, for example, a core mission.
Opportunities to be innovative in your role or tackle stretch projects.
Flexible work hours and locations.

Want more help landing a new role? Sign up and complete your free profile on Hired to let employers find you!
Have a profile on Hired already? Great! Check out this blog to optimize your profile. Increase your chances for interview requests and better matches!

Part of a Layoff? Steps Jobseekers Need to Take First

Hired — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 21:19:00 +0000

Chapter 1 of a series to help jobseekers bounce back better than ever (or to feel better prepared in uncertain times)
If you’ve ever been laid off you know it’s often an emotional time full of uncertainty – but it doesn’t have to be that way! Welcome to part one of a blog series to help anyone laid off dust themselves off and spin it into a positive. Likewise, if you’re employed but concerned about the stability of your company or role, use this article series to get organized. It will help you feel better prepared regardless. Learn what to do after a layoff and the steps to take to set yourself up for a successful job search.

1. Process Emotions After a Layoff

Losing a job often feels like a loss that comes in waves. Some days, you may feel liberated, optimistic, and perhaps excited for what is to come. Other days, you may feel overwhelmed, confused, or just plain sad. It’s a form of grief in many ways.

It’s ok to process your loss, whatever form it may have taken. Recognize you are more than your accomplishments or a job title. Your worth is not tied to your productivity. Remind yourself that nobody is immune, from top performers to leaders, it can happen to anyone.

Give yourself time to process a recent layoff and any series of job rejections. Your feelings may surface unexpectedly, and it’s ok to feel them without letting them overrule your life. Sometimes you need to take a few steps backward before you can move forward.

2. Get Financially Organized Post-Layoff

Once you’ve taken a beat to absorb the news, it’s time to sort out your financials. It helps you feel productive, in control, and more secure during the time between roles. Find the answers to any questions you may have about your 401k, severance pay, filing for unemployment, and your health insurance. Next, take a financial inventory of your situation and set a budget for your current circumstances.

Take Care of Money & Healthcare Matters
After a layoff, there are some loose ends to clear up, such as your final paycheck, any pre-tax withholding accounts, (401ks, employee stock purchase plans, HSAs), unemployment options, and healthcare.

Most of this information should be included as part of the packet from your HR or Employee Success team. It’s easy to be overwhelmed during those meetings, though, so give yourself some grace if you can’t remember some things. Or, if you need to reach out to them afterward.

Here are some financial areas to organize after a layoff:

Your last paycheck
Severance pay
Your 401k
Unemployment insurance
Healthcare options

Your Last Paycheck
Things may be a bit different from what you’re used to regarding your final paycheck. If you normally have your checks direct deposited, don’t count on that money effortlessly hitting your bank account as usual. Many states require employers to provide a physical check for the final payment. This gives former employees easy access to paystub information. If necessary, make arrangements with your former employer to pick up your check in person or mailed to your home.

Per the US Department of Labor, there are no federal laws requiring a final paycheck to be given to a former employee immediately following a layoff. Depending on your location, there may be state laws mandating immediate payment when a layoff occurs. Some states only require the final paycheck delivered on or prior to what would have been your next regular payday.

If your company withheld money from your paycheck for an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), any monies awaiting the next purchase period may be refunded from a separate account. This might be in the form of a second electronic transfer or check. Verify any money withheld and itemized on your final paycheck is included in the refund of the ESPP monies.

To learn more about your state’s final paycheck guidelines, search for your state’s Department of Labor. Many states have made this information available online, or you can contact a representative for assistance.

Severance Pay
Severance pay can offer you a bit of a financial safety net while you’re between roles. However, severance isn’t a guarantee as there are no federal laws mandating it for everyone. A few states have mandatory severance pay laws covering planned layoffs at large organizations. Find this information with your state’s Department of Labor.

Your employment contract or the company’s severance policy in your employee handbook should tell you what to expect as far as severance from your former employer. The amount of severance pay offered is up to the discretion of the company unless you have previously negotiated it as part of your contract.

If the layoff is a result of an acquisition or merger, severance may be determined as part of the agreement and vary from what your company paid before.

Typically, severance pay amounts to one to two weeks of normal pay for every year you worked for the business. In some cases, severance takes the form of paid insurance premiums or other compensation than cash.

What About Your 401k?
If you’ve been paying into a 401k at your former job, you’ll need to decide how to manage this money after an employment separation. You have three options: leave it alone, cash it out, or roll it over. If you’re uncertain about what to do, talking to a financial planner who can thoroughly explain your options may be helpful. Your former employer may also provide resources to determine the next steps.

Typically, if you have more than $5,000 in your 401k account, you can keep this money in your existing plan. While you won’t be able to continue contributing to these savings, you do retain control regarding how it is invested within the plan. By keeping the money in your existing plan, you won’t have to pay taxes or penalties on a withdrawal and the funds will continue to gain interest.
A layoff is an uncertain financial time, and some job seekers choose to cash out their 401ks to help with the absence of a regular paycheck. However, withdrawing these funds will also come with penalties and taxes. Consider this a last resort.
If you’re considering moving your retirement savings out of your former employer’s plan but don’t want to withdraw it and pay penalties, you can roll over your funds to a new account. Many choose to roll over a 401k into an IRA. Or, you can leave the money sitting in your existing account until you land a new position elsewhere. Most plans allow you to roll over funds from an existing 401k to a new one when your employment changes.

Unemployment Insurance
Filing for unemployment benefits can provide much-needed funds when you’re between roles. Requirements vary from state to state, but generally, an applicant must be:

unemployed through no fault of their own,
eligible according to the state’s requirements for previously earned wages, and
able to and actively seeking work.

Many states allow you to apply for unemployment benefits online through the state’s Department of Workforce Development or similar.

If you’ve never filed for unemployment before, it’s okay. You’ve paid into it for probably your entire working life, and there’s no shame in receiving it. It’s there to help bridge the gap during times like these.

Generally, once you’re approved, you’ll receive an amount determined on a sliding scale based on your previous income. There are often requirements involved to continue receiving income from the program, such as weekly reporting of job search activity. Be sure to keep up with any tasks, to avoid the inconvenience of a payment disruption.

Caution, this is, sadly, also an area rife with fraud. Be vigilant and protect yourself from phishing scams, especially through texts and emails.

Healthcare Options
Healthcare uncertainties are a big stressor for many people following a layoff. Depending on your healthcare benefits from your previous role, you may be able to keep your current coverage through the end of the month your layoff took place. Be sure to ask your former employer for clarification on when you can expect this coverage to end.

Make a plan for what you’ll do when you reach this point – you have a few options:

Opt for COBRA coverage within 60 days of your layoff to keep your existing health insurance.
Choose an alternative healthcare plan on the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.
Check with your state to find out if you are eligible for Medicaid or another state-sponsored healthcare plan.
Join a family member’s employer-sponsored healthcare plan. Regardless of enrollment periods, joining your family member’s plan is categorized as a “life qualifying event” and allows you to enroll outside of the annual open enrollment window.
Purchase a short-term healthcare plan.

3. Set Your Budget

Without a steady paycheck, it’s oh so important to sort out a budget and stick to it. Take an inventory of your existing financial resources to determine what funds you have available. These resources may include:

Severance pay
Paid out unused leave days
Emergency savings
Partner’s salary
Retirement accounts
Company stock Next, map out your spending and see what your existing budget is like. Seeing where your money is currently going will help you see where adjustments can be made.

There are many resources to help you get assets, liabilities, and even goals all on the same page. Some include Mint, YNAB, and Honeydue.

4. Plan Your Next Steps

Once you have a handle on your emotions and manage the above details, you can start to prepare for the job search ahead. Get into the right mindset and define your mission to increase your chances of success.

Gain Career Clarity
Before you get into the busywork of updating your resume and looking for new positions, take some time to determine what you want and need from your next job. Find clarity regarding the direction you want to see your career take as you move forward. Reflect and identify:

Your major career goals
The type of work you enjoy
What’s important to your career growth
Your ideal work/life balance?
Your values and dealbreakers?

Evaluate the Job Market
Once you’ve nailed down the vision for your career, it’s time to evaluate the current job market. Before you begin searching for new roles, understand the present demand for your experience and skills. This information helps you determine if you need to modify salary expectations from your previous position.

Hired.com Salary Calculator

Hired.com Salaries Directory

Set a Timeline
Establish a timeline for your job search. When can you start? What’s your deadline for finding a new job? Evaluate your present circumstances regarding availability, financial status, and skills development needs to set a realistic timeframe for your search, from scanning job ads to starting your new role.

Update Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile
Before you start an active job search, it’s important to update your information. Now is the time to optimize your resume and LinkedIn profile to best reflect the role you want and help you stand out to recruiters. Here are some resources to help:

Partners, including Leet Resumes, who helps jobseekers write effective, ATS-optimized resumes for free (tips appreciated), TopResume, and Enhancv.
Our Tech Resume Guide with a free downloadable template
How to Handle an Employment Gap on Your Resume (Flip the Script!)
Our series especially for women in tech, beginning with Build Confidence and Take Control of your Tech Job Search
How to Stand Out Behind the Screen: a Guide for Remote Candidates
Job Searching? Online Networking Strategies to Get You Started

Develop Your Career Story
A layoff often feels devastating at first, but it doesn’t define your career. Before you start your job search, you need to write your career story and build your personal brand.

Decide how you want to frame your layoff when questioned about it. Focus on your experiences, talents, and skills rather than the details of what happened. Be confident in how you will present yourself, and update your social media profiles so they best align with the story you want to tell.

Consider a Side Hustle
A side hustle can be a good solution to earn money during the in-between time after a layoff and before you land a new job. While a side hustle may not become a permanent full-time employment solution at this time, it can help provide some financial security and allow you to continue developing your skills. Whether you have a current side hustle or are considering starting one, think of it as a supplement to job searching.

Ready to Start Your Job Search?

Now that you’ve taken the time to emotionally process your layoff, sort out your personal needs, and decide what you want moving forward, you’re ready to find a perfect new role.

Complete your free profile on Hired. Instead of searching for a job, employers search for you. Be sure to optimize your profile for the best matches (tips from the Candidate Experience Team).

Check out Chapter 2: Post-Layoff Job Search Plan to turn the page on this chapter of your life and begin a new one.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Workers Explore Relocation to Improve Quality of Life, Pay

Hired — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 15:22:16 +0000

Despite tech salary increases this year, many employees feel their pay does not reflect increased costs of living. According to Hired’s 2022 State of Tech Salaries report, 42.3% of remote respondents and 29.1% of local respondents surveyed feel their salaries have not matched the pace of rising inflation and living costs. Many have explored relocation already. So, if you’re a tech professional, should you stay or should you go?

How Far Does Your Salary Take You?

Let’s say you’re a software engineer living in the San Francisco Bay Area and earning an average tech salary of $176,000. Seems solid, right? Then you take into account the cost of living (COL) there and things take a turn.

Note: “Average tech salary” includes multiple roles on the Hired platform, including software engineers, engineering managers, devops, designers, analysts, and more.

After adjusting average salaries on the Cost of Living Index, we find earning that same salary in San Francisco is equal to making $223,729 in Atlanta. Relocation becomes an attractive option when it is clear earning power is different across markets. If you move to Atlanta, it’s like getting a $47,729 raise!

Perhaps you’ll consider Texas, where there are the second and third highest average salary markets in 2022, after adjustment for COL. Your San Francisco salary is the equivalent of making $216,000 in Austin and $211,000 in Dallas.

In contrast, if you consider relocating from the West Coast to the East Coast in a big move to New York, your San Francisco salary won’t take you as far. New York City had the highest COL in US markets. This means your San Francisco salary would be the same as earning $153K in the Big Apple – or over $23,000 less.

Should You Consider Relocation?

So, will you stay or will you go?

If you’re considering settling in a traditional tech hub like New York or San Francisco, know your earning power will go farther in smaller, second tier cities.

Thanks to remote work, tech jobseekers are increasingly based in lower cost of living cities, such as Denver, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta. Jobseekers from these cities rose by almost 8% from 2020 to 2022. Conversely, tech jobseekers in higher cost of living cities, such as New York, San Francisco, and Boston declined. This points to an exodus from major tech hubs.

Tech workers are increasingly distributed across the country thanks to remote work. A recent study from Brookings Institute found tech “superstars” like Seattle and San Francisco metropolises are seeing slower employment growth compared to “rising stars” like Atlanta and Dallas. As for “the rest,” or the other 83 metro locations studied, these areas saw tech employment grow faster in 2020 throughout the pandemic.

Inflation Grows No Matter Where You Relocate

In addition to the cost of living, many feel their salaries fall behind with inflation too. 64.5% of remote employees and 82% of local employees surveyed feel their salary is not in line with inflation.

Since the pandemic dramatically increased the ability to work from home (or anywhere) tech workers moved away from higher cost of living areas. In some cases it was practical. There was no longer a need to live in a higher cost of living area or they wanted a larger home to accommodate sometimes multiple home office spaces. Others moved to be closer to family, or simply because they were free to live in places they’d always wanted to.

It’s little surprise then, that most candidates still prefer pay based on their role. Only 20.2% strongly agree that pay should be determined by location or local cost of living.

Between growing costs of living and higher inflation rates, tech professionals may want to explore relocation. Shedding light on how far salaries can take you across locations does offer some guidance in knowing whether you should stay or go.

Check out the new State of Tech Salaries Report for more insights into location trends and the current hiring environment in tech.

Ready to find your dream job? Create your free Hired profile to employ your potential.

What are the Best Programming Languages to Get a Software Developer Job? (Video)

Hired — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 16:05:21 +0000

Hired, along with our partner Exponent, recently completed a video series exploring such as what the best programming languages for software developers to get a job. The series featured three of our talented engineers: Nico Thiebaut, Prakash Patel, and Dan Baker, discussing subjects such as:

How to Become a Machine Learning Engineer
Top Programming Languages to Land a Job (in 2022).
Engineering Manager vs. Individual Contributor (IC) Path Dan Baker is a former boot camper, now an Engineering Manager at Hired, a tech marketplace that matches talent with employers for roles around the world. He’s currently leading the work on the Hired Assessments product, helping candidates show their skills and find their dream jobs.

Based on the Hired State of Software Engineers report, these “top” skills or languages are taken from data on more than 360,000 interactions between companies and candidates on the platform.

Here’s a quick summary of the conversation Dan Baker had with Lucas from Exponent. To watch the full interview, scroll down to the bottom of the article.

First, what are the top programming languages for individual contributors (IC) in software development?

Based on the report data: Go, Ruby on Rails, Scala, Ruby, and React Native.

What are the most in-demand programming skills for managers?

Ruby on Rails, Scala, AWS, Google Cloud, and Ruby.

What are engineers’ favorite programming languages and skills?

According to survey data of tech talent on the Hired platform, it’s Python, Javascript, Java, Typescript, C-Sharp, and Go.

What did you find the most interesting about the top programming languages among developers this year?

Well-established technologies valuable to new programmers due to their staying power
When I got started, Ruby was the main language that was normal. It was easy for people to understand. It was the first language for a lot of people. It’s no surprise to me that Ruby on Rails, as the first usable framework, has so much popularity.

Today there are probably not that many projects getting started in Ruby but there are many being maintained in it. That really speaks to the legacy nature of coding.

Trendy or not, programming languages on the rise help employability
What stands out to me are languages like Go and Scala because they seem to be newer languages on the rise. People aren’t learning Go and getting Go engineers because they have to. It’s because they want to build new things with Go.

To an extent, that’s the truth with React Native but it’s more so the nature of React dominating the front-end framework landscape.

Do you encourage your team to regularly learn new technical skills? What skills specifically?

I frame my advice to my direct reports around:

How we can position the story for the resume for their next job?
What’s the best way to sell this for you to get a promotion internally?
How can you sell this for yourself for your next role?
Usually, it’s less about the technology and more about solving a business case. That’s what will matter to the hiring manager in the future. The technology is usually secondary.

One of my engineers is deep in Terraform right now, another knows more about React than anybody it seems, and then another knows the ins and outs of Django in a way that probably very few people know. When I’m suggesting people learn new skills it’s really catered to the use case, 100%.

What programming language is best for someone just learning to code?

If I was speaking to somebody who is just starting to code, I would recommend learning Rust. It’s exciting because it’s a new language approaching programming from a very type-centric point of view and is very low-level control while having high-level usability.

Insight from Exponent
There are often technologies probably best suited to solve a particular business case and are extremely important to learn for that reason. There are also technologies probably always very popular amongst engineers, maybe because they scratch an itch and they’re kind of technically interesting but maybe they are the wrong puzzle piece or are a bit too new for whatever you’re trying to solve on the job.

What’s a programming language mistake?

Many times I’ve seen companies make the wrong decision by supporting engineers to do things they’re curious about that don’t align with the business case. Then, the current business case they need to move forward is not addressed so they have to pivot to something that does make sense. The engineer maybe gets a skillset but it isn’t even that sellable – why? It never was usable at the business.

What about jobseekers who don’t know these ‘best programming languages?’ How do you recommend they stay competitive in their job search?

The top five skills are interesting because you get an idea of the heavy hitters and what languages people for the most. It depends on where you are in your career and how much you understand about where you want your career to go.

For an engineer who has a little bit of experience but has a good idea of what they want to do, I would say, look in that subset and maybe it doesn’t matter which is the top language.

Maybe it’s more so, which programming language do you have some experience in – and will it be viable to enough potential employers? Looking at this list, I guarantee the people who are best at Scala don’t know much about React Native.

Tip from Exponent
Most engineers won’t become an expert in all of these. You definitely want to assess where your own experience is and take it based on that.

Can you describe how Hired Technical Assessments are designed to assess a candidate’s technical ability? How can jobseekers do well in technical assessments?

Benefits of Hired Assessments
My advice to any potential client using the product is to understand what an online technical assessment can do and what it can’t. The biggest value add is not that you’re going to get an automated answer to whether this candidate is right for the role.

You’re going to have an asynchronous interaction. A candidate’s going to do the assessment when it makes sense for them. The employer is going to review their work when it makes sense for them, that’s first and foremost.

Employers can review their work, and playback how they completed it. They can see if the candidate is within an acceptable range of performance, and how they executed problems. See what kind of approaches they took and if it makes sense to you (the employer). See if they are using coding patterns successfully demonstrating a level of expertise.

Benefits to jobseekers
Candidates have the opportunity to show their thinking more than simply trying to solve the problem. In some cases, employers are looking, getting so many good candidates that they’re only able to look at the top one percent of them.

However, in these cases, no one really enjoys or does well in a game where only the top 1% are winning. You want to find a smaller pond where you can actually show a connection to the employer and show that you thought out your work.

For candidates, unfortunately, with the state of the industry and in online assessments, LeetCode reigns supreme. I recommend brushing up on that because that’s what most of these products are geared towards.

I do see a trend slowly moving away from purely LeetCode questions to framework-based questions that include a file system to find the bug, fix the bug, create a new file, and add a new pattern.

That’s where we see candidates thinking creatively and how they actually interact within an existing structure. That’s going to be more valuable – showing employers how you’re going to actually perform in the role. rather than you can do Fizz-buzz or bubble sort.

Insight from Exponent
In my own experience, I have seen more interviews where the company crafted a test case that more closely mirrored a real-world coding situation in which you had to diagnose a bug in a code base that probably looked like their actual code base.

With that comes the impression that they care about your time and like to test skills that closely match what you’re going to do on the job. This is a bit different than the more esoteric LeetCode tests that you may be doing. I think it feels more valuable from a candidate’s perspective.

Interviewing advice for software developers

I think that’s something candidates need to be aware of as they choose which companies they engage with. As somebody interviewing a candidate I know I am selling as much as I am evaluating. Candidates should get a sense of how well the company they are interviewing with is selling them.

If they’re not selling you at all, what does that tell you about the company and the culture you’d enter? On the other hand, if they’re selling you 100%, they’re not really evaluating. What does that tell you about the mess you’d enter?

There’s a healthy balance where employers care about you and the experience you’re having, while also asking meaningful questions relevant to the role.

Candidates should know who they want to interact with but it’s also really important for employers to ensure they’re creating an experience that makes a candidate feel safe in the context of their whole life cycle, from candidate to employee, to ex-employee.

Tip from Exponent
The technical interview experience you go through is, to some degree, a proxy of the engineering culture you may enter. It can be the best signal you have before you sign the paper.

Ask, where is the demand?

One takeaway from looking at this is to understand where the demand is and how important it is to find the right demand/supply ratio. That could be one. If there’s one person that needs one engineer of one type, then there you go. You can get that role and you can be happily ever after at that company.

If you just choose the one most in demand, it also might be the most candidates going after that skill set as well. What you see yourself doing matters most because ultimately when you get the role you have to show up and do the work. So find something you’re interested in. That’s where you’re going to thrive and succeed long term.

Insight from Exponent
If you have spent the last five years working in databases and think you need to learn React to be employable but your passion is databases, then that might not be the technology to learn.

Learn more languages

It’s easy to think back on when you learned the language that you actually made your bread and butter with, it was hard to learn and you probably don’t want to do that again. The truth is that with every year that passes, the way people learn coding languages is better and easier than it was the year before. Remember when Stack Overflow changed the game? There’s a time that didn’t even exist. You couldn’t ask a question – you’d get an odd forum and esoteric responses or you’d have to open a paper book. So, learn a little bit about more languages and realize you’re never pigeonholed to one.

Tip from Exponent
The first language you learn is going to be the hardest but after that, you establish mental models and understand how to read documentation. It’ll be much easier to pick up new technologies after mastering one or two.

Understand concepts in programming

Learning more languages also speaks to how much you start understanding real, valuable concepts in programming. I recommend the book, Learning Javascript Design Patterns. It reviews what you need to do to write really complex code. There is the specific stuff like hoisting but also polymorphism, ways to curry different functions to build into other ones, and there’s direct inheritance.

Understanding deeper patterns will make you a stronger programmer and enable you to do more powerful things. When an interviewer looks at a submission and says, “Oh they’re currying a function. That’s an interesting approach.” Even if you aren’t able to do it, if employers watch it (which we really encourage our clients to do), they’ll see you know your chops. At the end of the day, no business is making money by having a programmer who can write fizz-buzz the fastest.

Ready to complete a free profile and sit back while employers search for you? Learn how Hired works for jobseekers!
Are you hiring? Need help assessing coding skills? Learn more about Hired Assessments or about how to host a coding challenge.

Click here to watch the full interview, including when Dan and Exponent’s Lucas fall down a rabbit hole discussing the relationship between javascript, cryptocurrency, and building blockchain.

What Does Your Tech Salary Look Like? A Review of Salary Trends

Hired — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 14:20:02 +0000

When thinking about how your tech salary stacks up in this current hiring environment you’d consider factors like your job title, years of experience, and company size.

In this article we dive into these characteristics in relation to tech salaries based on data from Hired’s 2022 State of Tech Salaries.

So, What Do You Do?

If you’re an Engineering Manager, you are paid more than other tech roles across the US, UK, and Canada. The US pays the highest for this role with an average of $196,000 (remote salaries reach $198,000!).

The runner up for highest salaries in 2022 is US Software Engineers with average salaries of $160,469. US Product Managers take third place with average salaries of $157,602.

For those who are not in Engineering roles (Design, Data Analytics, and Quality Assurance), the good news is these positions saw the highest salary increases from 2021 to 2022.

In 2022, salaries for:

Design roles in the US increased by about 8% to an average salary of $153,005 USD. The same roles in Canada increased nearly 20% to $121,773 CAD.
Quality Assurance (QA) roles in the UK rose almost 10% to £68,215 GBP.
Data Analytics remote salaries in the US increased about 8% to $142,565 USD.

How Long Have You Been On the Job?

Years of experience will certainly sway your pay. Generally, working in tech longer correlates with a higher salary.

It may not be surprising that those with more than 2 years of experience saw major salary growth in the US and Canada.

Mid-level (4-6 years of experience) US candidates, in particular, had the greatest salary jump – a $8,000 increase from 2021 to 2022.

Again, excluding very junior level roles (0-2 years of experience), remote salaries across all experience levels also saw increased growth between this year and last at $7-8,000 USD.

Junior candidate salaries (1-2 years of experience) remained steady with little changes compared to 2021 in the US. However, they increased in the UK and for remote roles but decreased in Canada. We might attribute the salary decline to the increase of junior level jobseekers on the platform.

How Big Is Your Company?

It’s easy to assume the largest companies are associated with the highest salaries.

Contrary to popular belief, our data this year found that mid-market sized companies (300-1,000 employees) offer the highest average salaries in the US ($163,623) and UK (£85,312). That means they are passing up SMB (75-300), eSMB (0-75), and even the enterprise ENT (1000+) sized companies.

However, in Canada enterprise-sized companies did pay the highest salaries. While this conforms to that conventional notion, note the pay was only slightly higher.

How Does Your Salary Compare?

Use Hired’s Salary Calculator to see how companies value your experience. The calculator determines salary benchmarks based on real interview requests to help jobseekers like you know your worth.

Say you’re a Software Engineer with 5 years of experience. You’re based in Boston and skilled at Java. Here’s what the output would look like:

Give the calculator a try and see what you could be making with a company on Hired!

We’ve reviewed some common parameters that contribute to how tech earnings might look. Framing what you earn around these trends may lend some insight into how your salary compares in this current hiring environment.

There are a lot more factors to explore including location, benefits, and being remote versus local. Check out the new State of Tech Salaries Report for all of the insights into tech salary trends and some more resources to help you navigate the market.

How to Stand Out Behind the Screen: a Guide for Remote Candidates

Hired — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 19:22:00 +0000

Editors note: this article was previously posted on LeadDev on behalf of Hired as part of a content series for remote jobseekers.

Before the pandemic, the job market was split into two uneven parts – office work and remote work – with hardly anything in between.

Two years later and we now live in a world where you can be, say, 92% remote, visiting the office twice a month. The binary of home and office work no longer exists; ‘remote’ is a variable, and every company has its own baseline.

Some are offering remote positions on top of office ones. Many are taking a hybrid approach, giving the flexibility to work some days remotely and encouraging folks to come in for ad-hoc team events or sensitive one-on-ones. I was recently involved in a company effort to design that hybrid culture shift and it changed the way we recruit as well.

If you’re searching for a partially or fully remote role, how can you navigate through an uneven and saturated market? Here I’m sharing my guide for remote candidates looking to stand out by mixing new ‘remote’ tricks along with proven winning strategies.

1. Boosting your profile

Cut through the noise
It’s important to clearly communicate your personal baseline for working remotely. Let recruiters know if you’re willing to come to the office at all, and specify how often. Put this information on your LinkedIn profile and CV. Otherwise, you’ll waste valuable time talking to recruiters who are looking for something else and miss other opportunities due to a lack of focus. It’s also a good idea to highlight if you’re open to relocation and what your baseline would look like in the new country.

Plan for limited attention
As a hiring manager, I look through CVs every day. Attention is the most valuable resource I have, and so my task is to extract essential information as fast as possible to decide whether to start the recruitment process. I only take a deeper look when I’m preparing for the interview.

This isn’t just me. Some studies suggest you have only 7 seconds to attract a recruiter’s attention. That may be an exaggeration, but most recruiters I know settle on a 60-second interval. To increase your chances, consider structuring the most vital details on the first page and use an E or F pattern.

Showcase the most valuable details
When I scan the applicant profile, I personally look for:

Is it a remote-only candidate? If so, what is their timezone range availability? I hope to find these details at the top of the page, together with their LinkedIn URL and personal website or GitHub.
Is relocation needed? Relocation adds an interval on top of the notice period, so if I am proceeding with such a candidate I need to plan accordingly.
What can this person do, and what do they like to do? A lot of candidates barely mention what they excel at and what kind of opportunities would make them happy. I get very excited when candidates include this in a summary.
What was their last job role in detail? Here, I expect a clear distinction between responsibilities and achievements. When I was refactoring my own CV a few years back, I was surprised by how hard it was to separate achievements and tie them to numbers, let alone business outcomes. It’s no wonder that many candidates fail to paint a clear picture of their recent roles. However, doing this will get you bonus points.
Is it written in sufficiently good English? I also use the CV to estimate English proficiency and attention-to-detail levels. This is especially important for remote candidates who rely a lot on written communication. And of course, it may not be applicable to neurodivergent individuals.

Treat LinkedIn as a minimalistic version of your CV
Recruiters rely on LinkedIn more and more as a sourcing tool where they can find and reach out to attractive prospects. Moreover, if your profile is detailed and up-to-date, they may treat it as a mini CV. Sometimes, I interview candidates without seeing their CVs, just based on their LinkedIn profiles.

Consider keeping sections like your ‘Summary’ in sync between your CV and online profile. Often, candidates don’t have any description of their roles in the LinkedIn ‘Experience’ section, which renders their profile semi-useless from a sourcing perspective.

Remember that exercise of writing down your achievements? These would shine on your profile too. Because of the spam, you would still get irrelevant proposals occasionally, but less so. Having your online profile in check may lead to some of the most promising and well-targeted recruitment invites.

2. Making the right impression

Think through your video appearance
In a remote work environment, the way you present yourself matters. It’s not about how you look. It’s how you impact the experience of others. When we come to the office, we want a comfy, quiet space with a nice interior. In a video chat, each participant’s video and audio stream contributes to the overall environment. It forms that virtual office space. Your own contribution should improve it, so the interviewers can see it would be comfortable for them to work with you remotely.

Do you have everything listed below? These represent the hygiene minimum:

Good sound. Don’t use an internal microphone.
No background noise. You can also try to bring it down via software.
Non-cluttered background. The real one is better, yet you can also resort to a virtual background.
Non-blurry webcam. A cheap webcam also might do a better job if you increase the amount of light in the room.
Good internet connection. Also, arrange for a backup connection. If adjusting your current setup is entirely impossible, consider renting a meeting room through a coworking space or taking an interview from a friend’s house with a better setup.

Demonstrate remote professional traits
Every company has different needs, so there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the personal qualities you should demonstrate in the interview. Some companies may consciously allow for specific traits as a part of their D&I strategy. A good trick is to ask the recruiter what kind of remote candidates they’re looking for.

That said, there are a few common things that would highlight your capacity to work remotely

You come across as an organized person. To the extent that you are on time to join interviews, responsive to recruiters over email, and appear composed when speaking.
You have good written communication skills. The typical signals are your CV, online profile, and any written content you generate during the recruitment process (e.g., email exchange with a recruiter) or posted online earlier (e.g., your article).
You can be concise when speaking. This means you don’t take too long to deliver a point. Folks who can’t do this tend to bloat work meetings, increasing zoom fatigue. If brevity and structure don’t come naturally, you can practice in advance (try using the STAR or PARADE methods).
You can bring results autonomously. This is especially important if there’s a timezone difference. The ability to organize and unblock yourself while your colleagues are asleep becomes crucial.

3. Applying the secret sauce

Highlight what makes you special
Every person is special and can contribute in a unique way. As a hiring manager, I also have to be very pragmatic. Ultimately, I will prioritize hiring those applicants who are already aware of what makes them stand out. These folks write about it on their profile and highlight it during interviews.

Things I would look for include open source contributions, pet projects, tech articles, non-tech initiatives, and public speaking. Your personality and past experience can also make you interesting. I’ve hired pilots and poets, architects, and party people. Carefully growing a team and adding diverse personalities into the mix can make it incredibly performant and creative. It also makes for a fun place to work. Consider what kind of community you want to join, and make your profile stand out in that way.

Reflections on standing out as a remote jobseeker

One thing I haven’t mentioned at all in this article is tech skills. Those alone could get you a job, and there’s a magnitude of resources dedicated to perfecting them. But it’s a shame that so many people overlook the importance of presenting themselves in a clear, appealing, and authentic way. By boosting your profile, making the right impression, and applying a bit of secret sauce, you’ll surely increase your chances of swiftly getting the best offer from the company that’s right for you.

This article was written by Matthew Gladyshev as part of a content series for LeadDev.

Ready to find your dream role in tech, sales, or customer experience? Flip the job search script when you complete a free profile on Hired and employers search for you!

What Top Companies Look for in a Great Remote Technical Interview

Hired — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 20:11:08 +0000

Editor’s note: this article is reposted from one originally contributed to LeadDev.com for Hired…

Today’s interview candidates go through a rollercoaster ride when it comes to online technical interviews.

A typical round lasts for about 60 minutes while the candidate tackles hot and cold questions from the interviewer. While growing my team ten times its size in the last few months, I realized a lot of great candidates get rejected in interviews not because of their technical ability, but because of their inability to correlate the answers with the interviewer’s context, and understand what companies are looking for.

If you’re applying for a new remote role, what qualities should you be demonstrating in your technical interview? Or, if you’re an interviewer, what should you be looking for in your next candidate? Either way, you should be focusing on the ABCs of great engineering candidates:

A is for attitude

An average job description could be between 300 to 660 words, but almost every hiring organization looks for the candidate’s attitude over the aptitude. It has become even more important to hire candidates with a positive attitude now we’re in a remote setting. Companies have realized that if you hire someone for their skills alone and they can’t fit in with the culture and represent the company, it’s unlikely to work out for long. 89% of new hires fail after 18 months for reasons related to attitude and only 11% due to a lack of skill.

When people have the right attitude, they’re both motivated and adaptable which makes them more open to learning new skills. With the right attitude and enough effort, most new skills can be mastered quickly. Improving attitude, on the other hand, is often about changing behaviors which is always much more difficult. People need to want to change, and without the right attitude that’s unlikely to happen.

They don’t say ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’ for nothing. A lot of companies even have a culture fit interview round (also known as a bar raiser) specifically to test a candidate’s attitude. In a distributed setup, companies are looking for candidates who fit the culture like a hand in the glove. They want folks who’ll fit in with the existing team and learn to do things their way. This helps to ease out the delivery process, increase the chances of career growth, and improve stakeholder communications.

People might try to fake a positive attitude in the technical interview. To get around this, interviewers keep a close eye on whether the candidate is answering in the past tense, if they have specific examples, and if they can go into details. If they can’t, they probably don’t have the right attitude for the job.

B is for boldness

Even in entry-level positions, most employers look for evidence of boldness and leadership qualities. Successful companies need self-starters who aren’t afraid to take responsibility. They need folks who want to experiment and learn from their failures.

Today’s engineering teams need to be agile and able to manage a lot of moving parts. This is especially true in distributed teams where folks have to make things happen without the safety net of an in-person office. The speed at which agile engineering teams move can make it difficult to slow down and ask hard questions. Therefore, candor is expected from the engineers to foster openness and speed up feedback loops.

Boldness isn’t the same as aggression. Organizations are looking for candidates who can care emotionally about their team members as individuals and valued contributors, while also expressing honesty about their efforts and the results achieved by those efforts. This quality is especially critical in managers and product owners who need to be able to constantly manage stakeholder expectations, below, above, and at the peer levels.

C is for comprehension, communication skills, and creativity

Comprehension
The ability to break complicated features into workable tasks is the backbone of engineering and a priority for all companies during technical interviews. When an interviewer is asking an algorithmic programming question, they aren’t just gauging the candidate’s technical coding abilities, they’re also calibrating their comprehension ability. You’ll get extra points for breaking a chunky problem into its solvable components and asking questions about edge cases.

The ability to create order from a little chaos will be paramount in any engineering role, from individual contributor to manager. If a candidate can’t display clarity of thought in the first ten minutes of an interview, chances are the interviewer will bend towards rejecting them. Comprehension brings confidence and competence, a combination that generally leads to conquest.

Communication skills
In a remote-first world, the ability to communicate effectively with others and get along with a variety of personalities are two of the most desirable qualities in job candidates. When most of our meetings, design discussions, and project plans are discussed in a virtual setting, being great at active listening, understanding everyone’s viewpoint, and communicating to achieve a common goal is a huge advantage.

Companies need engineers and leaders who can inspire teams of humans to perform. Business leaders know that teams with great communication skills significantly outperform their competitors. So the competition for communication skills is fierce. Remote technical interviews are important opportunities to assess candidates’ ability to express themselves verbally.

Of course, in a world where emails have overtaken in-person meetings and slack has overtaken emails, companies are also looking for candidates with excellent written communication skills. While you may not have a chance to demonstrate these skills in your technical interview, you should be aware of their importance in other stages of the process.

Creativity
Last but definitely not least is the ability to think creatively. This quality can trump any of the above. Companies adore candidates who have a gift for solving problems ‘differently’. Ultimately, creativity comes from curiosity; curious people naturally research lots of information and as a result, find different ways to solve problems. They also bring a fresh perspective to conversations and usually don’t wait around to be told what to do.

There’s only one thing we know about the future of work: it will involve more changes and more disruption than we see today. The top companies know that embracing creativity is the best way to ‘future proof’ themselves against changes they can’t predict. Jobs change, companies change, and markets are changing faster than ever. Organizations need people who can adjust to these changes, learn new skills, and apply them quickly. It’s increasingly difficult for companies to forecast what skills they’ll need, so they’re defaulting to hiring talent that can solve ambiguous problems with a dash of creativity.

Reflections on How to Turn in a Great Remote Technical Interview

In addition to the above, it generally helps to have a decent home-work setup (broadband, audio, video) and a drawing pad. It definitely also helps to have a minimalistic resume, updated Linkedin profile, and a star-studded Github repository.

Today’s organizations want to attract, align, develop, and inspire top talent around the world. To do so, they’re looking for engineers who aren’t just top coders but are also accountable for their work. They’re looking for senior engineers who can’t only lead small initiatives but also display candor. And they’re looking for engineering managers who won’t just focus on technology, but also on growing and supporting their teams through change and uncertainty.

To learn more about the tech job search as a remote candidate, check out the recorded sessions from the past Hired Summit. This one-day virtual event helps tech candidates connect with the world’s leading companies hiring remote tech talent.

Ready to Complete a Free Profile on Hired and let Employers Search for You? Let’s Go!

How to Maximize your Job Offer as a Remote Engineer

Hired — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 19:26:48 +0000

This article is reposted from one originally contributed to LeadDev.com and authored by Lawrence Barker for Hired...

How can you get the job offer you want? And how can you feel confident you’re getting paid what you deserve?

With so much confusion around salaries for remote roles, these questions are top of mind when you’re on the hunt for a new job. You need to feel confident that you’re making the best decision for your future.

But in a world where some companies have threatened or committed to cutting salaries for remote employees, how can you build that confidence?

It’s easier than you might think. All it takes is three simple steps:

Learn how companies think about compensation for remote employees
Understand the market for your skills and experience
Look at benefits to understand the full offer

Let’s take a look at each of these in-depth.

1. Learn how companies do the math for remote job offers
All remote salaries are not created equal. There are several common methods companies use to calculate remote salaries, with drastically different results.

As a jobseeker, knowing these different approaches can give you direct insight into how a company thinks about remote work and what your eventual employment offer might look like.

The location-agnostic approach to remote salaries
A location-agnostic approach means that a company doesn’t consider location as a factor when calculating remote salaries. People in the same role are paid the same salary, regardless of where they work from. Wildbit and Basecamp are two leading advocates of this approach.

There’s a slight nuance here, as some companies (like Reddit) have taken a countrywide approach to location-agnostic pay. With this approach, all people in the same role and the same country receive the same pay. This means if you’re a software engineer in the United States, you’d make the same whether you lived in Silicon Valley or Omaha.

The biggest benefits of this approach are that it’s simple and equitable. You’re paid based on the value you bring to the business, regardless of where you choose to live. However, the big tradeoff for companies is that location-agnostic pay is expensive, which can mean less budget to hire additional employees and potentially slower growth.

Location-adjusted pay
As you’d expect, location-adjusted pay is when your salary is determined by your location; your salary is based on the average salary range for your role in your area. This approach aims to compensate employees based upon their value and their expected expenses. It’s a balancing act, aiming for fair pay while limiting the expense to the company.

If you’re interviewing for a role at a company using location-adjusted pay, keep in mind that salaries are ranges, even when limited to a given location. Every company will default to a different part of the salary range. To maximize your offer and hit the high end of that range, come prepared to discuss examples of your experience and skills (if you need somewhere to start, try using a salary calculator based on real market data).

Custom salary formulas
The last common approach to calculating salary is to use a custom formula.

Because these formulas are custom to each company, the best way to demonstrate is with an example like Gitlab. Gitlab’s compensation formula is published in their handbook for everyone to see:

‘Your compensation = SF benchmark x Location Factor x Level Factor x Exchange Rate’

Gitlab starts by using a benchmarked salary based on San Francisco pay data. They then factor in the employee’s location, experience level, and the exchange rate to achieve what they believe to be fair compensation.

If you’re considering taking a role at a company that uses a custom salary formula, ask questions up front to make sure you understand all of the factors involved.

2. Scope out the market to know your value
Once you’ve understood how companies think about setting salaries, you’re ready to start exploring the current market for people with your skills and experience.

At Hired, we've collected real data from interview requests and job placements on our platform. Let’s look at some highlights.

Remote software engineer salaries are top of market
The pace of salary growth varies from market to market. But are remote software engineer salaries keeping up?

The data shows the answer is a resounding yes.

While some markets saw a higher year-over-year (YoY) growth rate than remote roles, the average initial salary that employers offered remote software engineers was near the top of the list (only exceeded by San Francisco and Seattle).

We can also look at the average salary offers for fully remote roles across different markets that candidates live in. In other words, if you live in Austin or New York and want a remote role, are salaries for remote roles in your area increasing or decreasing?

As you can see below, salaries grew across the board for remote roles. The year-over-year increases range widely, but on average there was a 6% year-over-year salary growth for remote roles.

In summary, remote work can be both convenient and lucrative.

Experience is a huge lever in remote salary negotiations
One of the best ways to maximize your offer as a remote software engineer is to lean on your experience. The data shows a clear trend of higher salary offers for more experienced software engineers.

You can’t fast forward to gain more years of experience immediately, but you can leverage your past experience by highlighting the unique projects or challenges you’ve worked on in the past during the interview process.

Overcoming big challenges or shipping transformative features can expedite your learning curve, giving you another way to max out your offer with a new company. (For more tips on how to negotiate your offer, check out this post.)

3. Consider the whole compensation picture

Salary is a huge factor for jobseekers searching for new roles. But when you’re evaluating an offer from a prospective employer, don’t make the mistake of being short-sighted.

Salary is important, but there are many other factors that will impact your long-term job satisfaction, growth, and overall well-being. To truly maximize your offer as a remote employee, also consider the many non-salary benefits such as:

Variable pay and bonus potential. Every role has its own pay structure, but do you know if you’ll get paid more if you’re successful in your role? Bonuses and variable comp can turn a good starting salary into a great one.
Equity. Equity gives everyone a stake in the company’s success. If the company is successful, how will you benefit from it? It’s common for tech companies to offer equity in the form of restricted stock units (RSUs), incentive stock options (ISOs), employee stock purchase plans (ESPP), and more. If you need help understanding your equity offer, Carta’s equity 101 series covers the basics well.
Flexible work options. Flexibility enables you to shape your work around the rest of your life. To evaluate a new role’s flexibility, ask about things like expected working hours, mandatory meetings, and communication norms. Do you need to be online at certain times? Is it a meeting-heavy company? Have they developed processes to prioritize asynchronous communication and work?
Healthcare. Health insurance is an expectation for most employees now, but all healthcare benefits aren’t created equally. When evaluating health, dental, and vision insurance, take a close look at the coverage details and costs involved. Poor insurance can cost you thousands of dollars per year (more if you have a medical emergency), so do your homework up front to maximize this benefit.
Parental benefits. Since parental leave isn’t guaranteed in all countries, a generous parental leave policy can be a huge bonus to a job offer. Some companies may also offer other parental benefits, such as fertility benefits, childcare savings accounts, or adoption assistance.
Wellbeing benefits. Insurance is a big part of your total wellbeing, but some companies offer supplemental benefits that make a big difference. Partnering with companies like Modern Health allows employers to offer therapy, coaching, and other resources to ensure your overall wellness for the long-term.
Home office stipends. It’s becoming increasingly common for employers to offer remote employees ‘work from home’ stipends so they can kit out their home offices with equipment to help them thrive. These stipends can equate to thousands of dollars, making them a valuable piece of your employment offer.
Training and development budgets. While you can get on-the-job training at any company, some double down on personal development through providing employees with training and development budgets. Whether it’s a subscription to a platform like General Assembly, Educative.io, or a reimbursement program, these benefits can have a major impact on your career.

Reflections
Many of these things can be difficult to put a number on. But if you don’t do your due diligence to answer these questions before taking a new role, it’s possible you’ll regret it later. Maximizing your offer as a remote engineer isn’t just about money. It’s about you. It’s about finding the role – including all of the aspects above – that maximizes your chances of realizing the satisfaction, growth, and success you’ve been looking for.

Authored for Hired by Lawrence Barker.

Interested in a Tech Role? Here's Your Resume Guide

Hired — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 20:08:48 +0000

Ready to Land your Dream Job? It Starts with the Right Tech Resume.

Believe it or not - resumes evolve over the years. There are now many variations on the classic style. We'll dive into many of them as part of a series on Resume Guides, but for now, we'll review the most basic format and provide a downloadable guide for you as well as you search for your next tech role.

Breaking Down a Standard Tech Resume

Generally, a solid tech resume contains five sections:

contact information
experience
education
skills
interests / volunteer activities.

1. Contact Information

Include the basic information to reach you. Use your first and last name, and a nickname if relevant. Keep it professional, of course, but if the legal name you use on your tax paperwork, for example, is William, but you go by and sign emails as "Liam," include both.

Do not feel compelled to include your entire address. Some people find themselves on mailing lists for years because they included their whole mailing address when posting on random job boards, for example. Include a preferred phone number, your LinkedIn profile link, and if relevant, your GitHub info.

With today's emphasis on remote work, you can simply list your:

name
email
phone number
city / state, and
relevant social profile links.

2. Professional Experience

Be sure to focus on your relevant experience here. Some people choose to title this section, "Relevant Experience," for instance. Don't list every task you ever performed. Reference the job description for the role you want and emphasize any overlap. Also, remember to write your current role in present tense, and your prior roles in past tense.

Overall, keep it succinct and list (in the same order for each company):

company name
title
a high level overview of your role and dynamic within the organization -- this might include who you report to, that you lead a team of 6 people, work cross-functionally with multiple departments, etc.
metrics and accomplishments (this is key!)
brief description of your day to day.

3. Education

If you went to university, include your degree, school, and graduation year. Was your GPA exceptional? You may include it, but otherwise leave it out. Also, if you're 10 or more years from graduation, you can leave the year off. It's no big deal. Likewise with campus activities and jobs. Once you've been out of school for a few years, very few people will base decisions on your part-time job at Subway or that you were Treasurer for the Choral Society.

If you have a degree in something unrelated to a tech role, or if you are part of the growing number of self-taught engineers or bootcamp graduates, this is fine. A degree of any sort is an accomplishment, don't worry if it was in Music Performance or Finance.

If you've pivoted to a new career thanks to bootcamps or online courses, list your certifications and other relevant credentials.

4. Skills

For some people, this section supersedes the education one. Recruiters (or ATS software) often zero in here. List your top skills in order of expertise, frequency, and relevancy. This means focusing on your strongest skills, and have the greatest comfort level.

You have some freedom here, too. If you have a passion project or regularly use a skill or programming language for an ongoing hobby or volunteer activity, it's fair game. Just because you don't use it for your day to day job, doesn't mean you're not fluent in it. It's just important to differentiate between skills or languages you used briefly four jobs ago versus those you know well and could confidently use in your next role.

Related: Curious about the most in-demand skills? Our 2022 State of Software Engineers report found Go was the most requested skill for the second year in a row, creating 1.8x more interview requests for engineers proficient in it.

5. Interests / volunteer activities (if there's room!)

This section is a great place to highlight your involvement in your community or other volunteer pursuits. They often provide insight into other desirable skills or character traits. Plus, they often provide conversation starters for interviews. For example, maybe you are:

a miniature model enthusiast - skills translation - an attention to detail with an ability to see the big picture too.
a tutor for kids or a coach for a sport - skills translation - patience, an interest in helping others improve, and talent as a leader.
an avid runner who runs a marathon for charity every year - skills translation - dedication and a commitment to philanthropy.

Next steps for your Tech Resume

Download the Tech Resume Guide for more helpful tips, including a list of technical action verbs. This will help the language on your resume be more active than passive. There's also a downloadable sample resume inside to get you started with easy formatting.

Get Your Tech Resume Guide Here
Complete Your Free Profile on Hired and Let Employers Come to You!

Curious about a Career in DevOps? How to Prep for Strong Interviews

Hired — Fri, 13 May 2022 00:21:15 +0000

Hired welcomes guest contributor Vyacheslav Nikitan, the Lead DevOps Trainer at NIX United, to share insights for those interested in a career as a DevOps specialist.

Those who decide to pursue a career in DevOps do not always know what they want to do. They may not even be aware of the fundamental responsibilities of a systems administrator or a DevOps specialist.

Basically, a DevOps specialist brings order to the software development cycle. They create processes and methodologies to balance needs and may surface tools to help. They facilitate the entire development lifespan from coding and deployment, to updates and maintenance.

In our field, the ability to independently search for missing information and constantly learn new things is essential and valuable.

DevOps is a relatively new discipline. It has piqued people's interest for the past four or five years. Essentially, it is about IT for the sake of IT. DevOps specialists are involved in the automation and optimization of IT processes.

Tasks are frequently related to automation, improvement, optimization, or the creation of something new from this perspective.

The direction of DevOps is toward modern technologies and approaches with diverse applications and utilities. So, if you're interested in this career, be prepared to constantly learn new things and keep up with what's going on in the DevOps world.

Our specialists must be versatile because the DevOps technology stack does not rely heavily on development technologies. They can work on various projects because DevOps principles are universal.

As the IT industry continues to expand systems and migrate to cloud services, the demand for DevOps on these projects is increasing rapidly. At the same time, because the field is new, there aren't many experienced professionals available.

For example, our team now requires approximately 20 DevOps specialists.

What do we pay attention to on a DevOps resume?

The first thing we look for in a resume is stability — how long the candidate has been with a particular team.
We also consider the technology that the specialist is familiar with in practice. We must know how well a person understands certain technologies and whether they can be considered an expert in them.
DevOps specialists in our teams frequently communicate with foreign customers and client-side developers. As an outcome, the candidate should be fluent in English in order to communicate effectively.

Common interview topics and questions for DevOps specialists

You must be able to manually create infrastructure before learning how to automate infrastructure setup, deploy applications and their workspaces, and fulfill related duties.

That's the only way to fully comprehend how things work out there.

We consider a variety of factors. We don't have control questions on which we make an immediate decision. Whether a candidate has sufficient skills or requires additional training is usually clear at the end of the interview.

Surprisingly, the simplest, most basic questions are frequently unanswerable by candidates. Few people realize how often ready-made solutions are obtained from the Internet. This is an indication of professional interest and trainability, in our opinion.

Even such basic questions often stump candidates:

How do I rename a file in the console?
Where do I look at logs in Linux?
How do you find a package in a repository?

Related: Looking to skill up? Hired partners can help with certifications, bootcamps, courses, and more!

Basic DevOp Specialist skills: what you need to know

The general OS structure and purpose of Linux directories
User permissions (OS user rights), groups, and access rights setup
Word processing, file management, process and service management, networking, timing, disk management, bash basics
Experience with Centos/Ubuntu package managers, installing packages from source
The principles of the web
Practical skills in installing and configuring nginx/apache web servers
Experience in installing popular CMSs such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal
The purpose, operating principles, and organization of DBMS MySQL, SQL queries, database backup and restore
The principles of mail and the purpose of mail protocols
Experience in configuring postfix/exim+dovecot+roundcube
The principles of DNS and the types of resource records and their purposes

Do I need to know how to write code for a career as a DevOps Specialist?

It is not necessary to know how to write code. However, it is a valuable skill for automating administrative tasks such as deploying an application, configuring the environment in which it must run, or configuring an entire infrastructure. DevOps coding skills will undoubtedly be useful in such situations.

Are you looking for a new role in DevOps or another tech subrole like engineering or data analyst? Complete a free profile and let employers come to you!

Useful resources to prepare for a DevOps Specialist interview

Linux basics:

Directory structure:

Linux Directory Structure Explained for Beginners

Permissions:

Package management:

How the web works:

Web servers configuration:

Databases:

Mail:

How to Configure Postfix with Webmail on Ubuntu 18.04

Vyacheslav Nikitan’s IT experience includes nine years as a system administrator and DevOps specialist. He works with AWS and Linux and trains newcomers in team settings at Nix United.

Combating Imposter Syndrome

Hired — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 13:48:22 +0000

Anxiety, Fear of Failure? You're Not Alone: How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome

Have you ever felt like you’re in way over your head in your career? Or maybe read a job description and thought, ‘there’s no way I’m qualified for that’? If so, you may be experiencing imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome is the appearance of anxious thoughts and feelings that lead you to believe you’re out of your depth in a certain situation or like you’re a fake that may be discovered at any point. You might feel like you’re not deserving of success, praise, or even a new job or promotion.

A scientific study explains how imposter syndrome manifests within professional women: “Despite objective evidence of success, these women had a pervasive psychological experience believing that they were intellectual frauds and feared being recognized as impostors. They suffered from anxiety, fear of failure, and dissatisfaction with life.”

Imposter syndrome is a common underlying fear in many professionals. That same study also estimated that nearly 70 percent of people will experience it at some point in their lives. Imposter syndrome is especially prevalent in those looking for new jobs. Read on to understand the root causes of imposter syndrome, how to detect it, and actionable tips on how to combat it during the job search process.

Identify Ways to Spot Imposter Syndrome

These feelings of inadequacy can be insidious and not altogether apparent. You may not even realize that you’re experiencing imposter syndrome.

As Jessica Bennett, author of Feminist Fight Club, explains in her FastCompany article, imposter syndrome comes in many flavors. Bennett outlines the most common ways you can identify that you’re experiencing it:

Feeling sure that you’re going to fail or embarrass yourself.

Feeling like you’ll be exposed at any moment, that you’ve tricked people to get your position.
Devaluing your worth or minimizing your accomplishments, even if others are actively championing you.
Underestimating your expertise, like thinking you’re not qualified for a new job (more on that in the next sections).

Understanding the Impact on Minorities

Unfortunately, imposter syndrome is more common amongst women and underrepresented groups. Studies show that female entrepreneurs experience imposter fear to the degree that it hinders career growth. Even prior to entering the professional world, college students found links between imposter feelings and certain ethnic groups, leading to mental health problems. We recommend Sheryl Nance-Nash’s BBC article for a deep dive on how oppression, systematic racism, and unequal representation leads to more instances of imposter syndrome for women of color.

Defeat Imposter Syndrome in the Job Hunt

Imposter syndrome may manifest itself within your jobsearch. If you’re on the hunt for a career change, but find yourself doubting your experience, abilities, or strengths, it may keep you from applying to certain roles. You might look at a job description and think there’s no way you could measure up, even if you have both the preferred proficiencies and experiences listed in the description - that’s imposter syndrome rearing its ugly head.

This is even more common for women. For example, we’ve all heard the stat that men will apply for a job when they meet 60 percent of the qualifications, compared to women who apply when they meet 100 percent.

Below you’ll find our tips for countering feelings of inadequacy and gaining the courage to confidently apply to more positions.

Keep a “Wins Folder”

Cataloging your accomplishments and milestones is a great way to reinforce your worth. Start a “Wins” folder, either on your desktop or in Google Drive. The idea is to organize and track your professional achievements. If you’re ever feeling unsure and incompetent, open the folder and scan some entries. As a bonus, you likely need some of this information for job applications, so it will be easy to access.

Ideas of the collateral to save:

Collect any positive feedback from colleagues, supervisors, clients, or customers, i.e., performance reviews or project assessments. You could even screenshot encouraging emails as a PDF.
Keep track of benchmarks and goals you hit in your previous roles (sales quotas, effective campaigns, etc.).
Notate any promotions you’ve received and that positive evaluation that may have accompanied it.

Set and Track Achievable Goals

Setting small, realistic goals, allows you to identify tangible accomplishments and celebrate meeting them, effectively bolstering your self-esteem. As the productivity experts at Hubgets explain, “without specific, decisive goals to point you in a clear direction, it can be a challenge to find motivation and purpose... Establish your main target each day and set out to achieve it before working hours are over. The thrill of pursuit and the pride of success are excellent motivators.”

When job hunting, your goals can be small tasks like, update my resume, or apply to three positions this weekend. Then make sure to recognize and celebrate when you meet those objectives. This consistent reinforcement can help to boost your self-confidence and keep you motivated during the job search, especially when feelings of doubt or low self-worth pop up. As we all know, looking for a new job can be a discouraging process. This practice will help!

Network With Peers

Comparison can be a dangerous habit on the job search. Keep in mind that the goal of networking isn’t to measure yourself against others in your industry, it’s more so to give you perspective. When you join new groups or attend events, you’ll receive a broader sense of the current job landscape. Additionally, you’ll create invaluable relationships with folks that may be outside your current organization but still understand what you’re going through. As such, you can receive support, positive reinforcement, and validation.

Also, look for those who’ve successfully completed a job hunt and ask about their experiences. You might be surprised how many others felt imposter syndrome during the process only to end up in a role they rightfully deserved.

Fill Up Your Tool Box

There are many tools you can incorporate into your daily life to reaffirm your worth.. You just need to understand them, experiment with them, and see what works for you.

To get started, try these practices recommended in the guide, The Power of Self Discovery for Female Entrepreneurs:

Meditate while asking yourself questions to gain clarity. For example, “What am I trying to achieve? What am I doing that works?”
Focusing on abundance by listing what you’re grateful for in your life and career.
Take self-assessment tests to better understand your personality, strengths, and weaknesses, i.e., Meyers-Briggs, Enneagram, PATH Assessment.
Ask close friends for feedback.
Journal to dig deeper into issues or release your negative thoughts.

Avoid Imposter Syndrome and Find the Perfect Role

Imposter syndrome can rob you of your confidence and make you doubt your unique skills and experiences. Even worse, it might make you second guess applying for a new position that’s perfect for you. And regrettably, this problem is more likely for underrepresented groups and women.

Instead of beating yourself up or getting lost in negative thoughts, take action against imposter syndrome. Use the above strategies to reinvigorate your mindset and banish thoughts of skepticism and worry. Know that you’re not alone when you feel doubt, and remind yourself of your qualifications.

Happy job hunting!

Hired's platform helps connect tech and sales talent with employers. See how it works.

Tracy Ring is a freelance writer and content marketer. She brings a real-life perspective to her writing from 10+ years of diverse experience, including HR, project management, customer and client relations, and admin roles. Connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Ageism in the Workplace: What it Is and What to Do About It

Hired — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 20:14:30 +0000

In recent years, organizations across all industries have made strides when it comes to building diverse and inclusive teams. In fact, companies are increasingly hiring and promoting employees from historically underrepresented groups, and they’re also extending offers to more and more women, who now make up the bulk of the U.S. workforce. But despite this progress, there’s still a lot more work to be done, as outlined in Hired’s 2021 Wage Inequality Report.

While organizations might have improved the gender and ethnic diversity of their teams, many of them are still discriminating in other regards, such as on employees who are further on in their careers. This form of discrimination called ageism.

What is ageism?

Simply put, ageism is a prejudice that causes organizations to overlook qualified older candidates and hire younger workers instead.

According to the AARP, ageism is pervasive in America. One recent study found that nearly 25% of workers 45 and older have been the subject of disparaging comments due to their age. What’s more, roughly 60% of older workers have seen or experienced ageism in the workplace. Ageism is perhaps most prevalent in the tech sector, where seven of the largest 18 tech firms have a median employee age of 30 or younger.

Add it all up and it comes as no surprise that the same survey found that 76% of older workers agree that ageism is a major obstacle standing in between them and a new job.

For this reason, many older workers tend to stay at jobs longer than their younger peers; they’re fearful that they might have a hard time switching jobs.

What causes ageism?

Ageism is a bias that makes businesses see older employees as more of liabilities than assets.

In an age of technological innovation, companies might think that older employees might not be technically proficient enough to work productively. At the same time, older individuals are thought to be stuck in their ways, making it harder for them to embrace change or try something new.

In some instances, ageism might be linked to the fact that older employees tend to earn more than their younger colleagues due to their deeper professional experience. Cash-conscious companies might opt to extend offers for candidates just out of college who are happy to work for less.

How COVID-19 exacerbated the ageism problem

It’s no secret that the pandemic upended all of our lives, causing major disruptions at work and at home. When COVID-19 first made landfall, many businesses were forced to rapidly transition to remote work. Others had to lay off workers, which contributed to a massive surge in unemployment numbers.

Unfortunately, the older segment of the population was hit hardest by this trend. In fact, older workers were 17% more likely to lose their jobs than younger ones. Because of this, older workers faced higher unemployment rates than their younger peers for the first time in nearly a half-century, according to PBS.

The good news is that — while the deck may be stacked against older workers to some extent — all hope is not lost. With the right approach, older professionals can overcome the bias of ageism in the job search, ending up with meaningful employment on the other side.

With all this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the tactics you can employ to navigate your job search in your later years.

How you can combat ageism and be confident in your job search

First things first: Update your resume so that it fits on one page and is reframed in a way that reflects your current goals. After you’ve done that, it’s time to start looking for work.

As you begin your job search, here are five tips to keep in mind that can help you overcome the challenges associated with ageism — and move forward to the next chapter of your career with a positive mindset.

1. Demonstrate your energy
At the end of the day, companies are looking to hire energetic, passionate individuals. You might have worked for 25 years in corporate America and have all the requisite skills and experience, but if you come across as low-energy or like you’re just going through the motions, hiring managers may not be convinced enough to gamble on your candidacy.

Instead of talking about all your experience, lead with your energy and convey your passion and excitement for the company and role.

2. Develop new skills
Let’s face it: Some level of technical skills are a must in almost every job today and if you don’t have at least basic computer skills, it’s going to be a lot harder for you to land a new job in your later years.

Luckily, there’s an easy fix to this: Commit yourself to continuous learning and always try to develop new skills and learn new things. One easy way to do this is to complete certifications through popular business platforms like General Assembly, Exponent, Educative, and AWS.

3. Be curious and teachable
Succeeding in today’s ultra-collaborative business landscape requires being a team player and willing to be flexible. By demonstrating your curiosity and teachability throughout the interview process, you can prove that you have the right mindset to become a critical contributor to the team.

Two ways to show your willingness to learn and ability to quickly acquire new skills is by taking up interesting hobbies (e.g., learning how to write code) and taking on volunteer jobs (e.g., mentoring at-risk youth).

4. Lead your interviews
Acing an interview isn’t just about giving good answers to each question. It’s about forming a personal relationship and connection with the person on the other side of the table (or the Zoom call).

By connecting with your interviewer on a deeper level and bringing a positive, pleasant attitude to the session, you can make a great first impression which can carry you to the finish line and lead to a job offer.

5. Arm yourself with data
When you’re older in your years, you need to be cognizant of the fact that your interviewer is likely thinking about how your age might be a disadvantage. So, you need to be prepared to defuse those objections right out of the gate.

One way to do that is by bringing data to the table. For example, research suggests that workers continue racking up knowledge and expertise well into their 80s — and that those two traits correlate with job performance. What’s more, data suggests that the average successful startup founder is 45-years-old.

It’s also important to make sure you have a good understanding of what a fair salary would be for your experience and role. Our latest report showed that older professionals were offered lower salaries than younger professionals for the same role, so make sure you leverage tools like the Hired Salary Calculator to understand your value before the interview.

The more nuggets of information like this you have floating around your head, the more confident you will be when you finally sit down at the table.

Ready to land your next job?

With the right mindset and a determination to land a new job, it’s possible to overcome the challenges associated with ageism and start the next phase of your career. By keeping these tips in mind as you begin your next job search, the task might be a little easier and less daunting. Tools like Hired that provide transparency in the hiring process can also help to reduce uncertainty and increase the likelihood that you will find the right job at the right terms for you. Good luck!