Hi Jesse,
This is going to bring things even more off topic from the SDL list, but I
can give my recommendations as someone who has been in the industry (both
in gaming and other software related jobs) for 5 years.
First, don’t include your own 16bitsoft company as part of your employment;
I think most HR teams will see this as almost filler, since the your
employment is essentially guaranteed (you wouldn’t fire yourself), and it
doesn’t give them a reference to another person to contact about your
work. It does, however, show off the type of projects you have completed.
I’d recommend moving that into a section called “Personal Achievements” or
similar to showcase that you’ve organized a team since 2009, and you’ve
released products.
Second, I don’t mean to be overly critical, but your personal page isn’t
overly aesthetically pleasing. I would recommend dropping the heavy green
background, and having your CV inline in html. It will make anyone wanting
to google the places you’ve worked or things you’ve done easy to copy/paste
or click embedded links.
Third, make your CV page reflect your style. I know I’ve almost been
saying for you to change your style, but be true to yourself while also
being aware that you want to make yourself look incredibly professional.
With that in mind, 16bitsoft.com is basically a huge canvas (using
SDL/js?), so maybe do a similar style. Look at other programmers ways to
show what they know.
Fourth, advertise everything you’ve done, even if you didn’t do it well.
For instance, I’ve tried python, and didn’t really get in it, but I have
python on my resume because I do have legitimate experience with it, and it
has opened up discussion on not only what I didn’t like about it, but
bridging the things you’ve done and like and things the interviewer has
done and likes.
Lastly, make all of your content easily accessible. If you have source
code repository accounts on places like github, sourceforge, or where-ever,
then link to them. If you have a few specific projects you’re really proud
of, show-case them with screenshots. If you use organizational software
like trello and have code related boards, show off that you know how to
plan ahead and have good follow through.
I think you’ll find that your post-secondary credentials are going to be
very important to larger companies, but smaller companies won’t be as
concerned. In contrast, larger companies won’t be as interested in your
personal projects, while smaller companies will want to look at things that
you have coded and analyze if you’re a good fit for the team. With that in
mind, you should be trying to show off what you’ve accomplished and why
that makes you a good candidate.
Now, to answer your original question, there are lots of places to look for
smaller contract work, all with a variety of pros and cons. Here are a few
that I’ve had success with:
Stack Overflow Careers http://careers.stackoverflow.com/
Pros:
- It’s popular
Cons:
- Only useful if you already really use stack overflow (as in put a lot
of hours in it) - allows you to showcase your QA skills and knowledge on
subjects, or your ability to learn from others
Reddit: Bitcoin Jobs http://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinJobs, CS Career
Questions http://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions, Game Dev Classifieds
http://www.reddit.com/r/gameDevClassifieds, and probably more
Pros:
- Many communities that cover many software fields
- Usually quick responses
- Lots of networking opportunities
Cons:
- Less formal
- Typically smaller contracts
If you live near any sort of tech hubs, you may find a consolidated listing
online - for instance, I live in Waterloo, Canada, and this city is a huge
tech hub for Ontario, and even a lot of larger Canadian companies (I
intentionally moved here just to be near it), and there is a business
called Communitech that builds a lot of relationships between companies,
offering office space, regular group meetups, and really pushes networking
between people that work on the same sort of things. This type of company
is pretty typical around tech centers, and is probably a good resource to
find.
Also, networking is very important in the software industry, because that’s
what separates you from a very long list of BaCompSci graduates. It proves
that you’re committed to the software community, and means that your not
only selling yourself as a software developer, but allowing other people to
vouch for your abilities.
With all of this, I landed my first big job by working on a fairly unique
project https://code.google.com/p/eyetracker/, and what’s interesting is
the code that was available was incredibly broken (probably still is), and
the person I was developing it for began to have different needs and no
longer required this tool. When the employer contact me, I made them aware
that it was a hobby project, I had no training in computer vision (what the
project is based around), and that I didn’t even have post-secondary
credentials to be a software developer, and with all that up front, they
still hired me, and was probably one of the best jobs, in terms of becoming
a better programmer, that I’ve ever had. This is all to say that standing
out in a crowd of people that are all doing the same things means that the
one job that wants to do something different is going to find you more
easily, and possibly be more interested.
And the last thing I’ll say is with contracts, be very willing to negotiate
payment. Aim high (be reasonable), but also give yourself a good
bottom-level price that you can allow the employer to negotiate down to -
it’s really important to do research on the sort of wages entry/junior
software developers get in the field you’re interested in (I’m going to
assume gaming).
Good luck,
-AlexOn 17 Feb 2015 11:24, “JeZ-l-Lee” wrote:
[O.T.]-Best Websites To Find Programming Jobs?
Hi,
I am currently looking for a programming job.
Can someone recommend websites where I can find good programming jobs?I’ve got a background in 2-D video game programming with C++ and
HTML5/JavaScript.
I have an online portfolio here: www.16BitSoft.com
My current resume can be viewed here: www.JessePalser.comAny help would be appreciated, thank you!
JeZ+Lee
JessePalser Gmail com
16BitSoft Inc.
Video Game Design Studio
www.16BitSoft.com
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