Both recruiters and candidates attend these types of events specifically for networking purposes, making them an ideal opportunity to source talent and make new connections. 

Workshops, challenges, keynote speeches, and even social events and after-parties add to the potential for building relationships. 

But with a multitude of IT-related job fairs and events taking place each year, how do you know which ones to invest your time and energy into?

Look no further! We’ve compiled a list of the best IT job fairs scheduled for 2024. 

Be aware that the dates quoted are for the next/upcoming event and are subject to change each year. 

How to recruit at IT events

These job fairs and conferences offer multiple opportunities to connect with potential candidates. Here are a few to pay attention to.

Career zones or expo floors

Many larger conferences feature designated areas specifically for career opportunities, commonly known as career zones or expo floors. 

Companies can set up booths to showcase their culture, projects, and open positions in these areas. It’s a more formal setup that allows you to:

• Display marketing materials and swag
• Collect resumes
• Conduct on-the-spot interviews or assessments

Pitch sessions

Some IT recruitment events offer ‘pitch sessions,’ where recruiters get a small time slot to present their companies to a room full of potential candidates. 

This is a fast yet effective way to generate interest and attract talent to your booth for deeper conversations later.

Networking through sessions and workshops

You don’t have to stay glued to your booth to meet potential candidates. 

Attending breakout sessions, workshops, or panel discussions related to your industry can be an excellent way to connect more organically. 

Social events and after-parties

Many conferences host social events or after-parties, which offer a more casual setting to connect with candidates. 

South by Southwest (SXSW) even combines a tech conference with a music and film festival in a big multi-sector smash-up of fun and collaboration. And dare we say it, this can really loosen people up and get them chatting!

This is a more informal networking opportunity where you can get to know people on a personal level. 

However, remember to keep it professional – your primary aim is still to find talent that fits your organization!

Virtual networking platforms

With many conferences going hybrid or completely virtual, take advantage of these events’ networking platforms. 

From chat rooms to video calls, virtual networking allows you to connect with candidates who you might not meet otherwise. Also, it’s cheaper than attending each day of the conference or event. 

DeveloperWeek 

San Francisco – February 21 to 29 (dates subject to change)

DeveloperWeek is one of the largest developer conferences and expos, attracting many thousands of developers, engineers, and tech professionals each year. 

It encompasses a vast variety of events, hackathons, workshops, competitions, and a career fair focused on tech roles. 

DeveloperWeek is a buzzing meeting ground for professionals interested in all aspects of software development, from languages and frameworks to DevOps.

For candidates

DeveloperWeek is an excellent platform to broaden your skill set and network extensively within the software development community. 

With multiple companies in attendance, the potential for networking is immense. 

For recruiters

The event attracts a high-caliber talent pool, including experienced developers and ambitious newcomers. Moreover, since this is a week-long event, there are opportunities to network across a vast number of industries and sectors.

This makes DeveloperWeek an excellent opportunity for recruiters looking for a wide range of programming skills and experience levels. 

South by Southwest (SXSW) 

Austin, Texas – March 8 to 16 (dates subject to change)

South by Southwest (SXSW), perhaps best known as a music and film festival, has evolved into a vibrant, multi-disciplinary event where technology and creativity intersect. SXSW showcases everything from virtual reality and machine learning to blockchain and AI.

It’s a must-attend event if you’re interested in the broader spectrum of what the tech world has to offer – not to mention a fantastic experience!

For candidates

SXSW is an extraordinary platform for any tech professional. With many companies in attendance, networking opportunities are everywhere, especially if you stay around Austin over the duration of the conference. 

Plus, since SXSW doubles up as a music and film festival, there are tons of opportunities for meeting new people from different walks of life. Many describe it as a life-changing experience.

For recruiters

SXSW attracts a diverse cross-section of people, making it a fantastic opportunity for recruiters and those looking to network. 

If you’re seeking multidisciplinary skills or just looking to expand your recruitment horizon, this is the place to be.

Game Developers Conference (GDC)

San Francisco, California – March 18 to 22 (dates subject to change)

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is essentially the epicenter of the gaming industry, bringing together artists, developers, and programmers from around the globe. 

With a specialized job fair, coding competitions, and a slew of workshops and panels, GDC offers an all-encompassing look at current and future game development trends.

For candidates

GDC supplies a vast array of opportunities for anyone looking to enter the gaming industry. 

Whether it’s meeting recruiters or participating in challenges, competitions, and coding competitions, GDC is a wonderful place for developers to socialize and make their mark.

For recruiters

GDC attracts the crème de la crème of the gaming world. 

If you’re in the market for game developers, artists, or programmers, this is your one-stop shop for top-tier talent.

PyCon US

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – May 15 to 23 (dates subject to change)

PyCon US is the largest annual gathering for those who use and develop in the Python programming language. 

Python has quickly become one of the most widely used programming languages and is instrumental in burgeoning fields such as AI and data science.

While the conference is centered around Python, it’s relevant to practically anyone in the tech industry due to Python’s extensive uses.

For candidates

If you’re a Python developer or even a general tech professional interested in learning Python, PyCon US is a great place to network and find job opportunities. 

Many companies that use Python attend this conference, and there’s a job fair to connect employers with Python talent, which is in high demand. 

For recruiters

Python is used extensively in various fields, from web development to data science and artificial intelligence. 

PyCon US is an ideal setting to find specialized Python developers and other professionals who are well-versed in this versatile language.

AI Expo

Santa Clara, California – June 5 to 6 (dates subject to change)

Another massive conference in Texas, AI Expo focuses on artificial intelligence and its various applications across tech and wider society. The event includes exhibitions, keynote speakers from top tech leaders, and panel discussions featuring leading experts in AI. 

A significant portion of the event is also dedicated to job opportunities within the burgeoning field of AI, and a special focus will likely be placed on generative AI tools like large language models (LLMs).

For candidates

If you specialize in AI or machine learning, the AI Expo is an invaluable opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals and discover job openings in this rapidly advancing field.

For recruiters

The specialization of AI Expo makes it an ideal place to find candidates with expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data engineering, and data science. 

Companies looking to strengthen their AI capabilities will find a concentrated pool of potential hires here.

Black Hat USA

Las Vegas, Nevada – August 3 to 8 (dates subject to change)

Black Hat USA is a specialized event that caters exclusively to the cybersecurity community. 

The conference primarily focuses on understanding the current digital threat landscape, delving into the latest in vulnerability research, and sharing state-of-the-art cyber security protection and mitigation strategies. 

Alongside these technical sessions, Black Hat USA also incorporates a ‘career zone’ that serves as a recruiting ground for companies in the security sector.

For candidates

If you specialize in cybersecurity and hacking/hacktivism, Black Hat USA is more than just a learning opportunity – it’s a job market tailored to your expertise.

For recruiters:

Finding budding and experienced cybersecurity professionals can be challenging.

Black Hat USA is excellent for locating a focused pool of candidates deeply engaged with the latest cybersecurity technology and strategies.

Grace Hopper Celebration

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – October 8 to 11 (dates subject to change)

The Grace Hopper Celebration is the world’s largest gathering of women involved in the computing and technology sectors. 

This eclectic event promotes diversity and inclusivity in the tech industry. 

With an array of keynote speakers, workshops, and panel discussions, this is an inspirational place for women looking to advance their tech careers.

For candidates

If you’re a woman in tech, the Grace Hopper Celebration offers job opportunities and mentorship programs, making it a comprehensive platform for career growth. 

For recruiters

The Grace Hopper Celebration is a unique opportunity to access a talent pool that is both highly skilled and diverse. 

Companies looking to diversify their teams will find this event particularly beneficial.

All Things Open

Raleigh, North Carolina – October 27 to 29 (dates subject to change)

All Things Open is an annual conference focused on open-source, open tech, and the open web. 

Hosted in Raleigh, North Carolina, it brings together a diverse group of IT professionals, developers, and decision-makers to discuss the latest trends and best practices in open-source technology.

For candidates

All Things Open is perfect for professionals looking to engage with the open-source community, which lately includes building open-source AI tools. 

Whether you’re a developer or someone interested in open tech, this event offers ample networking opportunities.

For recruiters

All Things Open is the place to be if you’re seeking candidates with a strong background or interest in open-source technology.

The attendees range from seasoned experts to enthusiastic newcomers who are all committed to the open-source culture.

TechCrunch Disrupt

San Francisco, California – October 28 to 30 (dates subject to change)

TechCrunch Disrupt is a dynamic event that has gained recognition as a hotspot for tech innovation. 

While it initially gained fame as a startup conference, Disrupt has evolved into a comprehensive platform where tech companies, investors, and job seekers congregate. 

The diverse event features a variety of panel discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities that cover everything from venture capital to emerging technologies like generative AI and blockchain.

For candidates

Attending TechCrunch Disrupt can be a career-defining experience. The networking opportunities are invaluable, and it’s a chance to get exposed to the latest trends in the tech industry.

For recruiters

Don’t overlook TechCrunch Disrupt as merely a startup hub. It’s an excellent opportunity to network with developer talent at all levels. 

Local Meetups and Hackathons

Local meetups and hackathons are more grassroots in nature, often organized by local communities or companies looking to scout for talent outside of major conferences. 

You’ll find plenty of these in major cities such as San Francisco. 

These events are excellent for local talent and those with specialized skills, offering an intimate platform for networking.

For candidates

Local meetups and hackathons are great for those who prefer a more hands-on approach to job hunting. 

They allow candidates to demonstrate their skills and offer excellent opportunities for one-on-one networking.

For recruiters

These smaller, more specialized events are excellent for finding candidates with niche skill sets. 

The intimate setting is excellent for establishing more meaningful interactions, making identifying candidates who would be a good fit for your organization more comfortable than some super-busy conferences.

Campus recruiting events

Campus recruiting events are typically organized by major universities, particularly those with strong engineering or computer science departments. 

These events are usually comprehensive job fairs featuring an array of companies from various industries, but there is often a strong representation from the tech sector. 

You’ll find career fairs and recruitment events at universities like Berkeley, MIT, and Carnegie Mellon. 

Get yourself out there!

The greatest thing about conferences and expos is that almost everyone is there to network, meet people, and get involved. 

They’re full of like-minded techaholics, enthusiasts, and those involved in the country’s thriving tech sector. 

Yes, there are so many to choose from, and some are fairly expensive to attend, but once you visit your first tech conference, it might lead to another!

The stats don’t feel great: one recent Time article notes that there’s one job opening for every two applicants on LinkedIn, job seekers are sending out 40 percent more applications than they did a year ago, and candidates from underrepresented groups are 25 percent more likely to be ghosted after interviews than their white counterparts.

But there’s no reason to be thoroughly depressed – far from it, actually. You’ve got options and you can get a gig. Tech companies are still hiring (I know, I work with them every day – and I am one). Instead of more conventional options, here are six things you can do right now to help yourself.

Instead of offering to do a project, ask for an informational interview

Informational interviews are a real thing! Do them. Listen, by the time roles are posted, companies already have great people in the queue for interviews (courtesy of the whisper network). Come to your informational interview with thought-provoking questions. Be genuinely interested. Do a little homework so you can feel confident and look prepared. Seek to understand the company and what a “day in the life” looks like at various roles. As a CEO, I’m much more excited by the prospect of having a real and candid conversation with someone energetic and informed than I am by babysitting (sorry!) a project. Plus everyone loves to talk about themselves – informational interviews are flattering!

Instead of waiting around for the perfect job, take a job

The notion of a dream job is something all of us were spoon-fed through all of our schooling and it sounds really great. The trouble is, it’s not realistic. Nearly three-quarters of college grads stay in their first job for less than a year. A dream job will happen for you – more than once, probably. But – like marrying the first person you date – it’s not necessarily going to happen immediately and you shouldn’t hold out for it at the expense of the valuable things you’ll gain from the next job: money, experience, a network. Take a job, a decent job. It’s just the first stop in a long career. 

Instead of only combing LinkedIn for leads, talk to your professors

In tech? Your professors of computer science, engineering, etc often know who’s hiring. Their old students – long since graduated and moved on to lucrative careers and even leadership positions – stay in touch. Industry and academia are more tightly linked than ever before as they embark on partnerships, compare notes on research and application, and work to understand the cutting edge trends for both. Best outcome? Your professors make direct connections for you. Worst outcome? They point you in the right direction.

Instead of cold emails, try warm connections 

Your conversion rate of cold messaging on LinkedIn will be pretty damn low. Find someone mutual to introduce you. Don’t be shy. People are generally happy to help others in this way – the caveat being, you have to be someone worth spending capital on. If you’re not motivated, personable, and grateful, others will not show up for you in this way. It simply won’t be worth the risk of hurting their credibility within a network it’s taken them years to build. So make sure you give your contact the right elements to work with – flag your passion for their industry, your amazing senior project, a killer prior internship – and make sure to say thank you no matter what.

Instead of waiting for an interview to land in your inbox, show your skills

You found a great place where you want to work? Wonderful. Stop checking for that invitation to a technical assessment to land in your inbox (though do it promptly once you get it, of course). Show your work – and some welcome initiative – with a link to your GitHub repository, projects you have completed, code samples. As a leader, it’s so exciting to see the projects people work on, the choices they make, and to learn about the “why” that drives a candidate. And it’s a great conversation starter in the first interview. Seeing artifacts like this helps us get there faster.

Instead of emotional appeals, frame your value intelligently

And when you finally get an interview? Don’t make the mistake I see from too many candidates: they make the interview 100 percent, all about the benefit to them. Companies should care about offering meaningful work and a clear progression path for employees – and most do. But make no mistake: it’s a misstep to say too many things like “This job would be so great for my resume” or “I will get so much out of this” or “I really need this job because of XYZ personal reason” or “me me me me me.” 

We want you to do well. We want to make this worth your while. But we want to see how what you bring fits what we need and we want to see you position this maturely. Frame your conversation around the value you can bring – and then you can also say what you’re hoping to get from the job. Remember: it’s a two-way street. 

Above all, don’t forget…

The jobs are still there. Despite the sad-sack stats at the top of this piece, economists are still noting that “layoffs declined and employers hired more workers,” making the market still pretty decent for jobseekers. 

So chin up, please. You are awesome and you will get a job. Promise.

Ruth Ikegah first started contributing as a technical writer – fixing typos, creating tutorials, and writing how-to guides for projects she was interested in.

She’s now an experienced Python developer who is a maintainer on a handful of open source community projects and a contributor on many more. She also has her own blog, regularly speaks at open source conferences, and advocates for increasing open source contributions from developers across Africa.

Ruth readily admits this was not an easy path for her – finding open source projects to contribute to as a beginner was a struggle. Instead of giving up, she focused on figuring out ways that beginners could contribute (like documentation), which led her to become an advocate for beginners.

This advocacy propelled her to be nominated as a GitHub Star in 2020 – a program that recognizes GitHub contributors who are particularly inspiring or great community educators.

She recently sat down with CoderPad Developer Advocate Corbin Crutchley to give some tips on how beginners can break into the open source space and balance their professional growth with mental care.

Getting started with open source contribution

Often the most common path to open source contribution is through your development skills. 

For beginner developers, this could be something as simple as cloning the repo of a project you like and running the code to look for bugs. Submitting bug reports is a great way to start contributing to OS projects.

Do you think your dev skills need to level up before you’re comfortable with that? Or simply want to help out in a way better suited to your skillset?

There are several non-coding contributions that Ruth highlights to help you get started:

1. Improve documentation: Documentation is often the last thought of developers. It can be outdated, riddled with typos, or full of errors – or it may even just be completely absent. If you have strong writing skills, this may be for you.
2. Help organize conferences: If you’ve got more of an organization bent, you can help organize one of the many get-togethers that bring open source communities together. Getting speakers, doing administrative work, helping with logistics, and even giving a speech yourself are all ways to contribute to community events.
3. Sponsor a project: Even all-volunteer projects need money! Providing the funding to help maintain a project is another noble way to contribute to the open source community.
4. Lend your design skills: Those open source logos didn’t design themselves. Neither did the UIs. Designers can help make the product beautiful and usable.

You can use the GitHub Explore page to locate a project you may want to work on or an event you want to help out with.

Getting paid to contribute

Yes, there are ways to get paid for contributing to open source projects.

Ruth mentioned that for many people – parents, full-time students, etc. – the time commitment needed to work on open source projects could be a deterrent, especially if that time takes away from being able to earn money.

Open source internships hope to solve that problem. 

They’re exactly what they sound like – you work on an open source project for a short period, and you’re compensated for your work in return.

Perhaps two of the most well-known are Google’s Summer of Code for developers and Season of Docs for technical writers. In these programs, open source projects apply for a grant from Google to hire an open source intern.

In return for your work with these projects, you’ll get a stipend–the exact amount will vary depending on your location and the project size, but it’s generally in the thousands of dollars.

If you’d rather be an open source bounty hunter, BountySource.com may be more up your alley.

Here open source projects will list issues that need to be solved, with a bit of monetary incentive to help motivate you:

Even if you’re not in it for the money, contributing to open source projects can be extremely rewarding. For some, it can even be downright addictive. 

Maintaining mental health for developers

Both Corbin and Ruth have struggled with burnout while working as maintainers and contributors to open source projects. 

It’s easy to want to do everything and take on too much. It can feel like you’re letting the other contributors or users down if you take a break and step away to rest. You don’t want the project to fall apart, so you make sacrifices in all the wrong places.

Ruth readily admits it takes courage to step back and make time for yourself when you have that pressure to deal with.

But she does have some tips to make taking a mental health break more manageable, and it all starts with project maintainers setting the example. They have to realize that: 

1) burnout can happen to anyone and actually decreases productivity, and 

2) the project won’t fall apart if they take a break. 

Now, this might take some planning – like delegating some of the work to some of the project contributors – but by taking a break themselves, project maintainers let the contributors know that it’s okay not to live and breathe the project every day of their lives.

The maintainers should also be aware of pending burnout in their contributors, like a drastic drop in activity. Additionally, maintainers can:

• Have regular check-ins with contributors to ensure they’re getting rest and taking care of themselves. 
• Encourage them to take breaks and let them know that their health is more important than the project.
• Discuss the possibility of burnout with them and the steps they can take to prevent it.
• Make sure they don’t overload new contributors with work, as they may not yet know how to say “no” to you.
• Set a formalized roadmap or list of goals for new contributors so that they can more easily pace themselves.

Ruth emphasizes that maintainers should act as mentors to project contributors. 

Not only is this important for creating healthy working relationships for the sake of the project, but it allows contributors to feel more comfortable talking with the maintainers about burnout. It also helps maintainers to be able to take breaks and hand off work to contributors for their own mental health. 

Nevertheless, the responsibility for turning down work isn’t only on project maintainers – contributors too need to know when they’ve reached their limits and be willing to have a conversation with the maintainers to let them know that they need time to recuperate or hand things off to other people.

Parting tip: Always be learning

It’s not uncommon for open source contributors to become maintainers themselves after gaining some experience. 

But Ruth recommends continuing to educate yourself outside of your contributions to a particular project.

She’s currently taking courses in open source management to help improve her community management skills. When it comes to sources of learning, she recommends a few free or low-cost sites:

• Open source project conference videos on Youtube
• Linuxfoundation.org
• Opensource.com
• GitHub Learning Lab
• The All Things Open conference

No matter where you take your courses, the important thing is that you keep improving upon your skills and growing yourself as a developer, designer, technical writer, or any other career path. 

And before you know it, you’ll be maintaining your own open source project.

CoderPad too believes in continuous learning – so please enjoy these informative articles we’ve published to help keep you on top of your engineering game:

• The Complete Guide to Regular Expressions (Regex)
• Integration tests vs. unit tests: Why integration tests matter more
• Rules of React’s useEffect

But for James Quick, it turned out to be a pretty good thing. He had interviewed for a software engineering role at Microsoft, where he didn’t quite make the cut. Still, the interviewers saw enough skill in him to suggest he interview for a “technology evangelist” role with them. He landed it.

There James was able to gain some valuable public speaking experience – and more importantly, he learned how much he liked talking with others about technology. 

James left Microsoft for a stint as a developer with FedEx, but his calling was clear – he missed the conferences and content creation he was doing as an advocate. He started creating videos on YouTube and speaking at conferences again and then got back into tech advocacy, first with Auth0 and more recently with PlanetScale. 

When he’s not promoting PlanetScale, you can often find him creating content for his 100K+ subscriber YouTube channel and advising others on how to find a great job in technology.

James discusses some of these job hacks in a recent conversation with CoderPad Developer Advocate Corbin Crutchley.

Great Job Hack #1: Create Content

James believes that his content helped him to get the jobs he’s had – and considers it a great way for anyone who wants to get into the tech industry. Even if you’re not super technical or don’t want to get into a super-technical role like engineering, content is a way to share your learning journey with others and prove your knowledge. 

So how do you get started creating content?

Just write or record! Find a topic that interests you and blog or talk about it. Too often, beginner content creators want their first piece of content to be perfect – so they never end up getting anything published. It may sound scary, but the only way you’re going to become a better content creator is to start creating so you can get the feedback you need to improve your work. 

For example, when James wanted to get into blogging, he made it a goal to publish one post per week. It wasn’t pretty at first, but he got feedback every week and got better.

He uses feedback to continually refine his methods with other content mediums as well. With YouTube, he admits that he doesn’t create the prettiest videos, but he’s consistent and speaks on topics that people care about. 

James has found diminishing returns when it comes to polishing his YouTube videos. After a certain level of editing, the views don’t increase enough to warrant the time spent on editing the video further.

He also recently started creating content on TikTok. He uses Tiktok to be less formal and more “himself” compared to the tutorial content he creates. But while this content is less formal than his YouTube courses, they still allow him to position himself as a subject matter expert, making him a more valuable employee.

Creating content is a great way to get noticed by hiring managers and recruiters. If your content is relevant to their business or open roles, you may be one of the first people they reach out to. 

And let’s not forget that those same hiring managers and recruiters often will also Google your name before an interview to check your online presence.

Good companies should like that you are active in online communities. If they have a problem with it, they probably are not a place you want to work. 

Great Job Hack #2: Maintain work-life balance

If you’ve worked in software for the past two years or plan on doing so in the near future, there’s a good chance you’ll be doing it from the comfort of your home.

While working from home can promote flexibility and productivity, it isn’t without its downsides, one of which is that it becomes harder to separate work life from home life. While the hustle-and-grind culture may bring you short-term gains in your career, it can also quickly lead to burnout and bad health.

For that reason, James is a big proponent of work-life balance; he promptly ends his day at 5 pm to focus on his family and hobbies outside of work. When  requests come in after 5 pm, he holds them until the next day to make self-care a priority.

Corbin added that he was doing double overtime without pay when he first started working in tech because he thought that was what one did to become a successful developer. But promotions were also harder to come by because everyone was working 80 hour weeks. Nobody thought to question the psychological toll this was having on the workforce.

If finding balance is difficult for you and you’re starting to suffer because of it, James offers two pieces of advice:

1. Set up boundaries: If you want people to respect your boundaries, you have to set them up and enforce them. 

2. Look for companies that prioritize work-life balance: This is something you’ll want to ask about during the interview process. Corbin adds that while job hunting can often be anxiety-inducing for people who may desperately need a job, it’s essential to remember that interviewing is a two-way street. 

Great Job Hack #3: Be confident in your skills

The job advice discussion then moved on to something that many new – and even veteran – developers deal with when looking for a new job: confidence in their skills and talent.

There’s a reason the term “imposter syndrome” is thrown around so much these days. Most of us have struggled with the feeling that we weren’t good enough at some point in our careers. 

But there’s a difference between acknowledging your weak points and deprecating all the hard work and experience that got you to where you are today. 

Companies will hire someone who admits they don’t know something but are willing to learn – they’re a lot less likely to hire someone who isn’t confident in themselves and what they do and do not know.

James teaches coding classes with LaunchCode and regularly advises his students to acknowledge the skills and talents that they bring to a job. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get into software development, and you should be proud of that no matter what path you’re taking to get there. 

Another way you can improve your confidence in your skills is to teach someone what you just learned. Not only do you reinforce what you’ve learned, but James often finds that the best teachers are those who just learned a topic, as they know what it’s like to be a fresh learner and can more easily help people who struggle to grasp what’s being taught. 

Before You Go: Databases and Serverless Computing

James and Corbin didn’t limit their discussion to just job advice – they also dove deep into the differences between SQL and NoSQL and touched on the benefits of serverless computing. You can find more on that in the full Twitch stream here. 

He didn’t even develop a taste for coding until he got to the University of Texas and took two classes on programming while earning his degree in electrical engineering. As a teenager, he was more interested in using computers for cruising the internet than writing software applications.

Once out of college, he knew he wanted to get into coding, and luckily his university had a recruitment pipeline with Dell that allowed him to land a job there writing firmware in C. But it wasn’t long before he was itching to work his way “up the language stack.”

That’s when he started to pursue web development by teaching himself the fundamentals of the front-end. Once he built up his portfolio, he started applying for web dev jobs and eventually landed a role with Adobe, where he worked on their Magento e-commerce platform.

After his stint at Adobe, he now finds himself as a web platform engineer for Trello, owned by the software giant Atlassian.

Quite a path for someone who started writing firmware in C and now uses React to grow one of the world’s most famous project management applications.

So how did he do it?

Tip #1: Take advantage of university or bootcamp partnerships

If you go to a school that has a recruitment partnership with a company that even vaguely interests you, then jump on it! 

Brad said that the process for getting the job was pretty straightforward, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that it’s an established company with an established recruitment program with the university.

It may not necessarily be something you want to do long-term, but it’s an excellent way to get some experience. Brad was able to get some programming experience – even if it was in C – and it helped motivate him to learn more about more advanced programming languages.

It’s worth noting that even if you don’t go through the university path to become a developer or engineer there are similar options available. A lot of coding bootcamps also partner with companies to funnel students into software careers.

And if neither one of those options work for you – if you’re self-taught, for example – following tip #2 will help push you to the front of the pack when it comes to getting an interview.

Tip #2: Show initiative with independent projects

When Brad was teaching himself web development, he started creating and maintaining open source libraries to have a portfolio of projects to show to prospective employers. 

While that number is now hovering around 20-30 open source projects he’s working on, he credits his initial portfolio with helping him get his job at Adobe. Portfolios can make a big difference for people who are coming to a role from a non-traditional background – like in Brad’s case where he was self-taught and switching from firmware to web development.

But he didn’t just throw everything on GitHub and then through the link to every interviewer.

He wanted to prove he could do web development. So first, he made his own website. Then he started creating open source projects to solve problems he was running into. As he began developing these solutions or discovered these problems, he would blog about them.

So not only did Adobe and other interviewers get to see what he was capable of technically, but they also got an insight into how he thinks and his communication skills.

“It’s great for show-and-tell,” as he puts it.

Tip #3: Know the role

When asked about how the interview process went with Dell, Adobe, and Atlassian, Brad commented that it was a little different for each one. 

While he calls his job with Adobe a “stroke of luck,” he mentioned a couple of things he did to make himself the ideal candidate. Keep in mind that this role was for a brand new team working with newer tech.

• As an external candidate, he could bring a new perspective to the project.
• He regularly read up on new technologies to show that he grasped the tools available to the team.
• A lot of his interview was conducted by backend engineers who were less familiar with front-end tech, so he could position himself as a knowledgeable resource on front-end matters – even though he was wholly self-taught and new to the job field.

His next job search would take him through 60 applications and 20 interviews, so by the time he wound up interviewing with Atlassian, he had a good idea of what interviewers were looking for. But just as importantly, after over a decade in tech, he knew what kinds of questions the interviewers should be asking.

So when he was asked about algorithms as a senior developer, he pushed back – these weren’t relevant questions to the position. He focused on the role’s needs and positioned himself as someone who could fill those needs. 

Brad readily admitted to using Github Copilot during some of the algorithm questions – and he didn’t feel bad about it. Copilot allowed him to focus on the higher-level business tasks that his role would generally be working on rather than something that a simple AI can solve.

Some advice for content creators

Of course, Brad didn’t just stick to talking about his career path. 

He and CoderPad Developer Advocate Corbin Crutchley also went deep into content creation and how to get started talking about the problems you’re solving. If you are interested in creating a podcast, blog, or Youtube/Twitch channel, you’ll want to watch the entire live stream right here.

Interested in other Dev Discussions? Check out this one Corbin recently did with SolidJS creator Ryan Carniato.

When COVID-19 struck, Stefanie Stewart and the team at medical SaaS company Kareo adjusted quickly.

“In my first call with a candidate shortly after shelter in place was mandated, I could hear birds chirping loudly so I asked if he was outside,” the technical recruiter shared. He said, “No, but I did just get six baby chicks. It was a great icebreaker.”

In the months since then, she’s shared her newfound love of puzzles with candidates and heard what they too have been up to in this unusual time (most notably, one candidate flagged pickling as a new pursuit). The pandemic has given the team a way to connect differently, perhaps more authentically, with candidates because – like everyone – they’re all in it together.

Like all companies, Kareo has had to do some quick thinking to reshape technical interviews for a COVID-19 era. Here’s what to know if you go for a job with this compelling medical software startup.

Being human matters

“We have tools like CoderPad that assure us of technical acumen,” said Stewart. “But what we’re equally interested in are those human factors of how you build relationships and connect with people.”

Stewart said a good video interview is generally a positive sign. “If we can build a relationship with you virtually, that’s a really good signal,” she noted. Candidates should feel welcome to give a sense of who they really are as people – and not feel awkward about the inevitable pet or kid noises in the background.

“We don’t think that stuff prevents you from being an amazing hire,” Stewart continued.

Brace yourself for one extra interview

Stewart said that like most companies, Kareo has had to adjust to a remote interviewing process. In this case, they’ve augmented their normal flow with one extra step at the end.

“We do an extra hour at the end of the interview with a cross-functional subset of our team,” she said. “This is really a candidate’s opportunity to ask different team members questions and get some perspective outside the role they want.”

She noted that it is not meant to be a gotcha. “I’d typically do this in person onsite after giving them a tour to help them relax and see our culture firsthand,” said Stewart. “Now I ask them to join early so I can answer questions and help them get warmed up.”

Thoughtful to the next level

“We’ve always been thoughtful,” remarked Stewart. “If we bring someone in, it’s because we want to be confident it will also be a good fit for them too.” She encouraged candidates to ask what they want to know about Kareo, whether it’s culture, the work, the challenges, or personalities, noting the tough questions are good.

Stewart pointed out they’re building on that foundation of thoughtfulness by taking extra time to ensure a truly mutual fit using carefully adapted interview questions and diligent reference checking. “We’re going to invest even more time in people because they are now working remote,” she observed. “We need to make sure they’re really comfortable doing so and we’re figuring out ways to do that in this world.”

For example, she noted, new hires normally turn to the person next to them on how to do basic things like signing onto a program or asking what’s available for lunch nearby. Now they’re identifying folks who will be a new hire’s go-to person for basic – but important – questions.

Be comfortable with communication

What happens if you make it past the hiring hurdles?

Kareo lends itself well to people who enjoy connection, communication, and transparency – and they use a variety of tools to make it happen and look for people’s participation. Perhaps most importantly, Stewart said, Kareo’s leadership has committed to holding a weekly townhall for its employees.

“Our CEO, Dan Rodrigues, goes over company updates in detail so people are completely up to date on what we’re learning and what we’re seeing in the market, with our customers, with the product, you name it,” she said. “The last 10 minutes are always reserved for questions and people feel free to ask what’s on their minds, which is cool.”

She added that other tools help fill in where needed to knit the team together in a now-virtual world.

“Slack has been great for quick, casual collaboration,” said Stewart. “People love how you can call someone and highlight things on their computer as you’re working.”

They’re also looking for ways to mimic the natural ebb and flow of the office, including standing lunch and learns, to get creative juices flowing as well. Virtual coffees help team members who might only have run into each other in the office kitchen keep up with each other’s lives.

Stewart said that although there’s been a shift in how they conduct hiring, they’re still focused on growth. “At the end of the day, we’re not going to slow down the number of people we talk to if the need is there,” she said. “So, candidates, don’t give up – connect with us!”

If you’re interested in joining Kareo’s team, check out their Careers page here.

Between the Covid-19 pandemic and the shift in the economy, 2020-2021 campus hiring is going to look a lot different. If companies are looking to hire new graduates as entry-level engineers or student interns, or build candidate pipelines of engineering students and alumni, they will be forced to do it all remotely – which will be a challenge but also a chance to try new ways to find talent.

Widen the Net with Virtual Career Fairs

Enter virtual career fairs, digital spaces where employers and engineering students can connect, learn more about each other, and sometimes even host screening interviews. Most leverage chat rooms, video conferencing, and even virtual “booths” to help students learn more about available jobs, career opportunities, and benefits of applying to and working at an organization. Employers can set prequalification screeners and job seekers prepare by scheduling 1:1 sessions with employers they are interested in, sending their resumes off digitally ahead of time.

While many companies can benefit from time and cost savings from this method, it will likely put stress on your diversity efforts and screening and interviewing processes. The stress of multiple back to back video interactions could increase your chances of confirmation bias and detract from students who have English as a second language or a more introverted personality. Be sure to pay attention to interviewer feedback and patterns.

But there is opportunity as well. With campus recruiting being moved online, this could be your chance to try new ways to find diverse technical talent. Ensuring your pipeline isn’t just filled with candidates from the elite engineering schools, companies should attend virtual career fairs at historically black (HBCUs), all-women, and community colleagues, as well as coding bootcamps like Hackbright Academy. Our partner, interviewing.io’s research shows that over 40% of hires made on their anonymous platform come from non-traditional backgrounds. Now is the time.

See the Candidates in Action

Finding the right candidate among the ocean of applicants coming from virtual career fairs will also be a challenge — and an opportunity. Resumes showing only academic performance (which Google famously called out as a bad predictor of long-term job performance, though others disagree) limit your ability to screen for role and company fit. Many companies can benefit from the time savings of using take-home projects for university candidates as a precursor to a live technical screen (CoderPad is launching our new version of take-home projects in the coming weeks). The trick here is to ensure you don’t put too much into automated scores but really take the time to review the candidate’s code. Don’t just focus on their coding skills, but also use the review to assess their process for approaching the problem and their ability to find the solution over time. The rest of the process can anchor less on the candidate’s ability to code and more on their motivations, remote collaboration skills and, importantly, their capacity for working independently without micromanagement.

Get Creative to Find Talent

Additionally, you can always try alternative hiring structures to ensure you find someone who really clicks with your team. Here at CoderPad, for instance, we’re doing paid “trial employee” periods with our new technical hires because performance day to day is what matters most to us. You might do a three-month, intern-to-hire option for recent grads.

Sell Your Company

Ensure you are doing what you can to give your top student candidates a real perspective of what it’s like for junior employees at your company. Remember that your fun office and ping pong tables are no longer selling points; they’re irrelevant, at least for now. They are likely doing their best to adapt to remote learning (and now job hunting). It’s time for you to do the same. Use the time you have via video interview to showcase the value of the work your company is doing, showcase the amazing team candidates would join, and the impact of the role itself. It’s the meaning behind what you do that will matter most to candidates.

For more tips on remote hiring best practices check out this post.

Chief among these is hiring. How will hiring now take place? Can you migrate your interview process to be remote – and still align with your values? Will founders assess candidates differently? Are there other qualities that will rise in importance as more talent becomes available on the market?

Costanoa Ventures Operating Partner Martina Lauchengco has been talking to founders regularly since the crisis began. Here’s the inside scoop on what they’ve been discussing – and what it means for candidates.

Founders will look for signals you can handle the tough stuff.

Expect more questions in interviews to understand how you’ll operate in an unusually unsteady environment. “It takes a certain amount of optimism and risk tolerance to hold steady in a time of market and demand uncertainty,” remarked Lauchengco. “Founders are going to look for people who can convey their ability to adapt and adjust because they have confidence in their own value and in the goal they’re moving toward.”

They’ll go deep on your references.

References have always been important, of course, but now you can be sure hiring managers are going to be very, very thorough. They’ll probe on how you handle uncertainty, perhaps see if you skew more toward pessimism than optimism, and try to understand how you handle direct confrontation.

“When times are more challenging, founders become incredibly judicious about hiring,” Lauchengco said. “Finding and onboarding talent is difficult, time consuming and expensive. They’re going to take the time to make sure you’re really the right fit.”

New skills are needed to be a first-round pick.

The genius jerk trope is on its way out, says Lauchengco. Founders are starting to recognize that one A+ player who is difficult but technically amazing may still not be as good as a bunch of solid B players with incredible collaboration skills. They’re more dedicated, easier to work with, and happy to push hard for the good of the team.

“This is definitely a time where founders are ultra high on collaboration skills,” she noted. “These might manifest even in small, simple ways as consistently logging in Jira or being super communicative on Slack.”
Candidates should spend time in advance of an interview thinking of clear-cut examples that unequivocally underscore their ability to be collaborative.

Don’t assume companies aren’t hiring.

It’s true the near-term economic picture isn’t a rosy one. But whether they’re new roles or simple backfills of critical positions, many companies still have to hire. Many founders will be looking for the fastest path to finding real quality – and that can mean poaching the friend they’ve always wanted to work with or tapping their employees to ask for referrals. Candidates can try to inject themselves into this process by closely examining their networks, seeing what companies sound interesting, and asking their contacts for warm intros.

“One thing to note is that your past work is the clearest signal you can send about the type of employee you’d be,” said Lauchengco. “Practically, it’s going to be pretty challenging to switch industries for that reason. You may want to stick closely with your experience base for awhile.”

Sure, try a bootcamp but be picky.

Let’s say you do want to expand your skills or switch careers. Lauchengco says a bootcamp or short-term technical program is still a viable option. “You will want to be highly selective as you choose the right option for you,” she said. “Look for a program that has a professional mentor and where you can do real work for real companies as part of the commitment. Hold that bootcamp up to a high bar.”

She advised prioritizing those programs that offer a 100 percent job guarantee at the end because they’re confident they can deliver.

Recovery is ultimately down the road. But until then, candidates will need to double down on showcasing their optimism, collaboration and flexibility to stand out in an uncertain time. If they do that, Lauchengco notes, the chances for hiring success improve significantly.

Hello!

I’m glad you’re here – thanks for checking out careers at CoderPad! In the spirit of sharing some useful context and because you’ll find I believe in transparency most of all, let me tell you why I joined this small but mighty company over some of Big Tech’s biggest brand names.

We’re on the right side of macro trends. Plus, whiteboard interviews suck.

Dev hiring is a huge macro trend. As Marc Andreessen famously said, software is eating the world. From Fortune 500 enterprise companies to smaller start-ups, more devs are being recruited and hired than ever before. And how do you separate the good from the bad? You give them a pen and a whiteboard. Srsly? If you’ve been through a whiteboard interview, you know it doesn’t really give anyone an authentic picture of the real you and what your capabilities are.

That’s where we come in with a tool that improves that process substantially — making it faster and easier to find great talent you want to work with. And it turns out that it works really well, especially remotely. We’ve always seen our remote use case as relevant — what customer doesn’t want to save time on hiring? — but today it’s obviously more than that. CoderPad is necessary. Just ask Facebook, Lyft, Twitch, Airbnb, and others.

CoderPad is profitable.

We’re more than a great idea and some capital to burn. We’re the dream come true, the real deal: great revenue growth rates, customer and usage growth, and profitability that’s all driven by a product customers adore. There are companies that have been around for over a decade that can’t say the same. One deep-pocketed investor with a clear passion for high-growth tech investing and an eye for amazing products (hello, Uber, Philz, Brooklinen and Tiny Prints!) gives us some strong connections in the market — and a ton of room and independence to do our own thing. It feels good that our profitability means we’re not at the mercy and whims of new investors and markets. It feels free — kind of like we get to do what we’re all here to do, which is what it should be about!

You will have a meaningful seat at the table.

We’re a small team and we have ownership in our business. This isn’t a team you join to coast and it’s not one where what you do ultimately won’t matter. We row this boat together. We stay small cause we want to stay small and do the work that really matters. For devs, by devs. Always.

And because we treat employees as owners, we welcome the hard questions from the get go. Please ask us the tough stuff:

• What’s our strategy? Why will we win?
• What are our levers for growth?
• How are we growing profitably? Why is that better?
• What is CoderPad’s funding strategy and how will it drive value for me?
• Are leaders here good stewards of capital? How?

You get the picture. Ask away. We want you to. Curiosity is in our DNA.

CoderPad is a place where you can know every single person in the business, make substantive contributions from the get go, feel confident we’re doing our level best to grow the value of your options, and serve a very real and growing market need with a strong product that customers really want.

As we continue to invest in this business with our time and energy, driving even greater growth with a product users love, consider joining us. We’d love to have you.

Amanda

“It was incredibly scary and daunting for them,” Nguyen said. “No friends here, no family, no idea how to find work. But what choice do you have? Something can be scary but we still have to figure out a way to get it done. There’s no other choice.”

He sees parallels between his parents’ story, which ultimately included starting their own business, and the small and medium businesses his fintech start-up now serves. The Hatch team gives company owners a boost in the form of a credit line up to $5k, without requiring rock-solid credit scores or previous business history. “Right now, it’s uncertain and unsettling, but we will continue to see SMBs rise to the occasion,” Nguyen said. “There’s so much grit to build a better life for themselves.”

He sees those same qualities as necessary for job hunters in this turbulent economy. “There are a lot of engineers and tech folks who are unexpectedly on the job market,” said Nguyen. “If you’re job hunting, you will have to match your fear with determination. And remember that recovery might be slow but it is certain.”

Focus on Mutual Fit

He recommends being purposeful about fit, if possible, because it helps drive both performance and overall contentment with a job. “I really do understand the need to make rent and buy food,” noted Nguyen. “Sometimes you do just have to take any job. But if you can, spend the time to look at the mission and the purpose. See if the product resonates with you.”

At Hatch, he says, this is the way they run technical interviews. “We strongly emphasize that this has to be a mutual fit,” said Nguyen. “That approach inspires more organic conversations. I’m interested in learning what technical leaders want to try out, how they look at the time/space complexity tradeoffs, the edge cases they see, how they collaborate.”

Nguyen also notes that technical recruiting is most analogous to a lock-and-key fit. In other words, it just clicks. “It’s so important to remember that if you don’t get a technical job, it might not be because you’re not good at what you do,” he observed. “It’s really about where we are and what we happen to need in this moment. A junior engineer, for instance, competing for a slightly more senior role might be well served by going to Facebook (or another large company that can provide structured mentorship) first and getting some grounding there.”

Modify Recruiting to Fit the New World

Hatch’s recruitment process has adapted well to the constraints of the pandemic. “Communication has always been important, and that’s even more poignant and apparent now that our interactions are taking place on a screen,” said Nguyen.

The team is overcommunicating with their candidates, covering who the interviews will be with, what they’ll consist of, etc., to ensure they feel as comfortable and prepared as possible ahead of time. “We still need to do everything we’d normally do in a live, in-person interview,” said Nguyen. “All the human rules of interaction still matter, like building in bio breaks. We’ve even migrated the lunch we’d normally do onsite to a thirty-minute tea to buffer the intense coding exercises.”

Update Your Benefits for Today

He’s confident that Hatch can continue to lure some of tech’s best and brightest. “We’re still offering our platinum-level healthcare and 401K matching, just as we did before COVID,” he said. “We’ve changed our monthly transportation stipend so that employees can now use it for things that make their work-from-home setup nicer and more productive.”

Nguyen also noted that the team’s able to structure their own schedules, which makes good communication via asynchronous channels like Slack and email more important. “Some employees have focused time between 8 and 5, others are 11 to 8, and others are in Europe,” he said. “We find we’re using email more as a way to be in sync with each other without requiring everyone to be on a video call.”

Hatch has also been intentional about other ways of connection and wellness. “We’ve aggregated a list of insurance-covered therapists and mental health providers that work via telehealth,” he said. “And we’re talking to some companies that provide wellness support as well. More broadly, we’re leaning into virtual gatherings like 6 pm workouts of the day and happy hours where we play board games.”

“It was always organic for our team to reach out and rely on each other,” said Nguyen. “But I’m really happy that it continues to be core to our DNA.”

Most recently, the team launched a new SMB series focused on learning about different small businesses. Notable events included “visiting” a goat farm, checking in with a coffee roastery to learn about the four waves of coffee, connecting with a flower shop to learn the fundamentals of floral arranging, and discussing the art of drag with a drag queen.