I'm a tech lead developer. But the past couple of years I've been looking high and low for sustainable work. The most I've gotten is projects people pulled from their back pocket because they felt sorry for me.
I've been at this opportunity search for years now...not just months. I can't pay for my health insurance anymore and my diet is 90% peanut butter sandwiches.
What hasn't worked: following the "formula" everyone tells you to follow. Reach out to the recruiter, talk to the hiring manager, get a take-home assessment (I always decline these), then maybe get hired. Perhaps it's because my mind tends to work more like a business owner--the closer I can get to taking ownership of projects the happier I am.
For the longest time I didn't talk to recruiters. They'd be the first step in a company wasting my time. I realized this is because the employer is paying for the recruiter. The recruiter is getting paid by the employer and could be completely blind to how much of a jerk the employer is.
So I decided, you know what? Tech pays a boat load of money. Even if half my paycheck were spent on someone I'd still have a heck of a lot left for savings. What if I worked with a reverse recruiter.
Better yet, several!
So I've started the rounds. I am hiring recruiters to work for me. I was very transparent with the fact that I'm talking with others, and said whoever gets me a position first wins and gets the royalty.
I'll even generate more competition further down the line. Once I'm financially stable I'll continue to work with the recruiters and offer to pay them again for yet another position. Generate competition with my current employer.
I'm sick of being looked over. It's about time I took the reigns.
Whether you give a recruiter a bonus or not, the employer is going to pay them, probably a lot more that you. Typically when a recruiter gets someone hired they’ll get somewhere in the ballpark of 10% of the yearly salary. There might be clawback provisions, eg term in the first six months means refund or free hire. Companies also allow recruiters, actively engage them, or completely prevent them. In other words, there is no scenario where a recruiter submits you to something the company won’t pay them for.
I train my engineers to do what you’re doing only I don’t have them throw money away. The more people you know who are actively considering you for things, the better. That can certainly be hard with neurodivergence. Another important thing I train is carefully consider feedback instead of being defensive. If you want to waste your money, that’s on you. I just don’t think it’s wise and I think you’re going to get taken advantage of.
Yup, I realize that's the way it's typically done. That's why I'm not playing that game.
I've already been screwed over. I've already had companies galore get really excited about hiring me, drag me through 4 hours of interviews, only to say I "wasn't a good fit." Not just once, not just twice, but hundreds of times.
Ideally the employer wouldn't be paying for the transaction. That's why I'm specifically having reverse recruiters compete against each other.
I've dealt with enough crap over the past decade I'm tired of being overlooked. It's time people took me seriously. How else can I out-build unethical tech if I'm not making money?
Yeah that’s not a thing. No one is going to submit a job app for you and do any of the interviewing. That’s not how it works and no company will do that. The only way any company will accept any resume from any recruiter is if they work with recruiters, ie the recruiter gets paid by the company. There is absolutely no process, below a very high executive level which you very clearly are not, where a recruiter wastes the time of a hiring manager trying to sell a candidate unless the hiring manager will ultimately pay the recruiter.
I’ve run out of ways to say a fool and their money are easily parted. I can only imagine how difficult you must make it for recruiters who are trying to help you grow to gain roles and hiring managers that see value beneath the glaring issues you present.
I'd hope they wouldn't submit a job app for me.
I'd hope they connect me with the right people.
From what I remember people need tech work done, not computers.
What you are describing here is not a recruiter, it’s a network. You build your network over time by creating good relationships and maintaining them. Friends from past jobs and recruiters that value me do exactly what you’re talking about for free. This isn’t a paid commodity and buying your way into a network is going to end poorly.
Do you go to local dev meetups? Do you actively participate in open source projects? Do you maintain a presence on LinkedIn? That’s what you actually want to do. You’ve fallen into an XY problem.
Yup, I have a connection of thousands of people in tech, hundreds of CEOs, founders, and presidents; I check in with them regularly. I've been to physical meetups. I ask what the need. I see if they need help.
For the past 3 years it's been, "Yeah, we might have something down the line soon."
I have a very active presence on LinkedIn. For the past 5-7 years I've been interacting with people. Publishing tech articles to help enterprise businesses for the last 2-3. I check in monthly with my higher ups by messaging them, and usually the messages go unanswered.
I've built my network over time. My network is a bunch of employed people and a bunch of unemployed people. Nobody actually hiring. I've been stuck in that rut for years. Again, the most success I've gotten is people pulling out random projects from their back pockets. Some of them I'm able to stay in contact with. Most of them I never hear from again.
SOMETHING HAS TO WORK! I WILL NOT FAIL! PEOPLE ARE DEPENDING ON ME TO SUCCEED!