How To Get Job Referrals From Other Engineers [6 Ways That Work]

There is usually not much of a shortcut with referrals because it takes time, determination, and hard work to build a great network.

But, once you have that network it really does start to feel like you're getting the VIP treatment - while everyone else needs to grind apply for 100s of jobs.

How do you find software engineers to ask for referrals?

1. Join open source project and help with tech debt or bugs, like this one: https://github.com/MunGell/awesome-for-beginners

2. Join a local meetup in your area that gives back to the community.

3. Join a data structures & algorithms study group, like Jonathan Watson's.

4. Join an alumni group from your bootcamp or university.

5. Find a mentor who will help you on your job hunt and advocate for you, like, Jayme Edwards or me 👋

6. Identify other devs on LinkedIn and send them emails to connect (Check out the Austin Belcak method to see how it's done)

Even if you're not in the market for a job right now, I recommend you get started. Trying any of the 6 ideas above will only make it that much easier for you to get referrals when you need them.

And most seasoned devs will tell you as their careers advance, most opportunities tend to come to them from their network.

These ideas were some of the most valuable given to me when I was starting out, so please comment down below with any other actionable ideas for finding referrals take that I didn't cover here.