Every so often in a hacker’s life it’s time to get a new job. In my own experience, and based on what I hear from peers, this is often a pretty painful process. A few issues stand out for me: “selling” yourself instead of being too shy, working your contacts, and thinking like the hiring manager.
Andy Lester has written a concise book of 250 pages that addresses these issues and many more: Land the Tech Job You Love. It has been a veritable eye-opener for me.
Andy has been a software developer and open source hacker for a long time, but he has also been hiring technical people for a long time and so knows both sides.
The book covers the whole process of a job search from finding open positions, preparing your resume and writing a cover letter, to interviewing with all its subtleties. It’s more than a collection of “do this, do that” lists, though. What impressed me most is the focus Andy puts on attitude and on the reasons why you should do this or that. He emphasizes shifting your thinking from focusing on yourself to focusing on how to help the company you’re applying at and their hiring manager. This advice guides each step in the job search and will put you way ahead of the candidates sending out stock cover letters and talking about what they want.
I’m trying not to gush here, but I find myself hard-pressed to find negative points. Naturally, a book like this cannot cover all situations you might find yourself in. But it’s a great resource to get you started and has lots of pointers to additional resources. I find myself reaching for this book again and again, also thanks to the plentiful examples and concise checklists.