How to Get A High Paying Tech Job Without Being a Great Programmer
I hate Leetcode. Some people have an easy enough time mastering the solutions to the complex data structure questions asked in SWE interviews and are able to secure themselves a high-clout job at some FAANGesque company. I am not one of those people. I have tried making my way through the Blind 75, I’ve studied Sean Prashad’s interview common patterns, and I’ve skimmed through Cracking the Coding Interview but it just isn’t for me. I love technology and working on real projects, but absolutely despise the troll under the bridge type of riddles that companies zealously ask their candidates. Luckily, there’s an alternate path. The path is simple enough, but it will require you to be proactive, tenacious, and a little outgoing. But trust me. It’s better than Dynamic Programming.
Step 0: Make Sure This is What You Want
Yeah, yeah I’ve been on Glassdoor too. There’s a lot of money in tech. But do you want to hate your job? The first thing to ask yourself here is if you actually have any interest in technology at all. Here is a little test for you. Have you ever done a personal project? Have you ever researched how to start your personal project? Have you ever had an idea for a project? Have you ever been inspired by technology? If you answered no to all of these questions then you may want to consider a job that is not in tech. You must have some sort of innate interest in the world of technology to be happy and successful with this career path. Remember, Glassdoor doesn’t account for the salaries of people who get fired.
Step 1: Look Good on Paper
Résumé
Your Résumé sucks. How many of your accomplishments have you supported with quantitative data? How many strong action words do you have? Is it even ATS friendly? Sorry I don’t mean to ridicule your CV, but it really needs a makeover. If you aren’t already using an ATS friendly template, just find one.
But I can’t find a free template!
Now that you have a template, make everything you put in it sound really impressive. If your only technical experience is making it halfway through an SQL Coursera course, then you might want to present yourself as a Data Scientist specializing in Relational Database Systems. I’m not telling you to lie. I’m telling you to carefully hyperbolize your achievements. If you have literally nothing, I encourage you to try to do a course with a certification and work on some simple projects to pad your CV a little bit.
After you have made a solid résumé, you want to have a strong LinkedIn profile, a charming GitHub account, and nice Cover Letters.
Everyone’s favorite social media. Your LinkedIn account is kind of like your Instagram — except instead of making your abs look extra toned with filters, you want to make it look like you were second in command to Elon Musk at Tesla. There are a few key things you can change about your LinkedIn that can really improve SEO and push a recruiter to reach out to you. Here is the bare minimum for a LinkedIn profile:
- Professional Profile Picture
- Location
- Updated Current Position with Description
- Two Past Positions with Descriptions
- Education
- Three Skills
- 50 Connections
- Recommendation
- Custom URL
If you don’t have everything on this list, then you are missing out on opportunities. After you have taken care of that, move on to further making your profile stand out by adding the following:
- Custom Banner
- Interesting Headline Highlighting Your Unique Strengths
- Sprinkled Keywords in About Section
- 3–5 Bullet Points Per Experience with a lot of Keywords
- Technical Skills (Take out Soft Skills)
- Start Posting
The last one is where you can really make a big impact. Think of it this way. When you have your first interview with a recruiter, it would be ideal if you both talked about something you can comfortably speak towards. So if you post about your interests in technology or business on LinkedIn, then a recruiter with similar interests may see that and be excited to speak to you. You don’t have to write your own posts… you can repost articles with one or two sentences of your own insight. There is nothing better than having a recruiter that is looking forward to talk to you about something that you are good at.
GitHub
You aren’t allowed to call yourself a programmer until you have tried to “git reset — hard” away the atrocious code you decided to commit earlier. Aside from being a super fun version control host, GitHub functions as a social media for developers. You will often be asked to link your GitHub profile to job applications and you want to make sure that you have a killer looking front page. GitHub has a feature where if you make a repo with the same name as your username, you can make a profile README be your landing page. Making an attractive README is ridiculously easy, (nothing more than another template search) but it can make you look like a real serious programmer.
Here are some templates you can use to base your ReadMe off of — no reason to learn a bunch of Markdown features from scratch.
Of course, you don’t want to have a codeless GitHub — that would make it too obvious that you’re a poser. So… just add things. It doesn’t have to be a complex project. Make a repo to keep a grocery list. Make a repo to keep track of changes you make in your Résumé. Make a repo to track your solutions to Leetcode problems. Here’s a handy Chrome extension that you can connect to your Leetcode and Github accounts to automatically push your solutions to a GitHub repo.
Soon enough you’ll have a contribution graph that looks like this.
I’m pretty sure no one really cares about your contribution graph, since you can commit to past dates with a simple git command. I won’t tell you what it is though, remember I don’t condone lying.
Cover Letters
Most people say these are not important, and they are somewhat right. But because such a small number of people send in any type of cover letter, having one may really make you stand out. Use this nifty cover letter creator to expedite the process and submit something where most people choose not to. It’s not perfect, but it gives you a good starting framework.
Great. Now anyone who looks you up is impressed and recruiters want to get in touch. Let’s validate that a little more by using your network.
Step 2: It’s Who You Know
Referrals are the holy grail of the tech world. They get your foot in the door, put your Résumé at the top of the stack, and sometimes even let you skip some of the initial interview stages.
But who do I ask for referrals?
First/Second Degree Connections
You’ve got friends, right? Well stop thinking of them as friends. They are connections. These are the first people you should be approaching for referrals without much hesitation. If you are interested in applying to a specific company, you can head over to LinkedIn and type the company name into the search bar. After that, filter the results to narrow them down to just your first or second degree connections.
Here is a guide to how you should approach your connections for referrals:
Going in Cold
Remember when I said that you are going to need to step out of your comfort zone? Well this is where that comes in. When it comes to asking people for things, just remember the simple ideology that “the worst they can say is no”. They may also say “Ew, you’re so ugly!”, but that generally only happens in very specific scenarios. Use the following guide to get referrals through cold emailing.
I want to note that this should be considered a crucial part of your application process for every company you apply to. Do NOT skip it. Reach out to someone — anyone — for a referral, it will go a longer way than you think.
Step 3: Apply Like Crazy
I’m sure you have heard the phrase “It’s a numbers game”, whether it be in regards to job applications or your buddies pushing you to ask for a girl’s number at the club. From my experience, it holds to be true in at least one of those cases. The best sites I have used to find jobs are: Indeed, Glassdoor, Handshake, GitHub, and Google. While you are applying, I strongly encourage you to also keep track of where and when you applied and when you hear back. Here is a great chrome extension that helps you do this:
Another chrome extension that is helpful is Simplify. Though it isn’t always perfect, it helps to automate the application process by filling out some fields with one click.
So go out and apply everywhere. Leave no stone unturned. It really does take just one yes.
Step 4: Climb the Ladder
An alternate title to this section is “Be Realistic”. If you are looking to land a software engineering job at a FAANG company or a huge startup like Uber, then you are going to have to get pretty good at coding. Specifically, you’ll have to put in the hours Leetcoding. However, you can start out at a mid tier company, gain crucial and invaluable skills and see how they can transfer to better jobs as your career progresses. Alternatively, you could apply to positions at top companies that don’t require the most technical expertise. Examples are Product Management, UI/UX Design, Technical Writer, SEO Specialist, Software Sales, etc. Either way, the world of tech is huge and there are thousands of companies looking for people with different skills and backgrounds. Your job is to find out where you belong and show these companies that you are valuable. Because whether you can do 1000 Leetcode problems or none, there is something that you bring to the table. Find out what that is and put it in bright shining lights on a billboard. You’ll find your place soon enough :).
Plug
I run a workshop that will guide you through everything discussed in this article along with more tips and “cheat codes” for the application process in a small classroom setting. We’ll work together to develop a unique career plan that works for you. Fill out this form if you are interested. Good luck and thanks for reading.
- Rohan
