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So You're Looking for Work in Tech

So You're Looking for Work in Tech

It's a more competitive market than it's ever been—but don't despair! There are still plenty of jobs out there for humans who can demonstrate insight, creativity, and the ability to execute. Here's a practical guide to help you prove you can do just that.

0. File for Unemployment (If Applicable)

If you were recently laid off, file for unemployment right now. This won’t help your job search directly, but it will help you financially. Get that support—you earned it.

1. Buy a Domain and Invest in Yourself

If you don’t own a domain, buy one today. Get a GSuite (Google Workspace) account and start using a professional email like yourname@yourdomain.com. Avoid using email services like GoDaddy, Zoho, or Office365. Google is the gold standard—invest in the best.

2. Hire Yourself

Give yourself a tech project—because this is your job now. Choose a project that will add value to your life while forcing you to learn new skills. Make it hard. Examples:

  • Set up a home network using old computers. Wipe and install Linux on them. Install a database on one. Connect a web server to that database.
  • Or do all of the above in AWS.
  • Figure out what your core tools are and become REALLY good at them.  If you're not an expert in VSCode -- why not? 

Need an idea? Build a small app—like one that converts .ics calendar files into Google Calendar events.

3. Get on GitHub

If you don’t already have a GitHub account, create one. Document your entire tech project there. Don’t rely on UI tools—learn the command line. Pick some interesting projects to follow, but more importantly: check in something to your own project every day. 

4. Start Blogging

Share your thoughts, your learning, your process:

  • Blogger is still solid, but ideally host your own WordPress site.
  • There are providers that will host WordPress for under $3/month.
  • Point your domain to your blog and post regularly.

5. Fix Your LinkedIn

  • Update your status to "Looking for Work."
  • Connect with old colleagues and industry contacts.
  • Post updates about your personal project work.
  • Share your blog posts.

Yes, you’ll get recruiter spam. Block it. But stay engaged—visibility matters.

6. Activate Social Media

Even if you hate it—use it strategically. When you complete part of a project, share it. It helps build your reputation. You never know who might be watching.

7. Try Freelancing Platforms

Check sites like:

  • Upwork
  • Fiverr
  • Freelancer.com

You might find some short-term income or even build a freelance practice.

8. Keep Networking and Learning

  • Reach out to former coworkers and mentors.  This is a repeat from step 5.  It's that important.
  • Consider pursuing new certifications.
  • Practice coding and problem-solving on platforms like HackerRank.

9. Use AI Often

AI is your ally. If you're not spending at least 25% of your time using AI tools to research, code, plan, debug, and learn—you're doing it wrong.

10. Show You’re the Right Human for the Job

Every company is willing to train the right person. Your job is to show that you’re that person—curious, resourceful, adaptable, and driven.

You got this.

Comments

Karl Tatgenhorst said…
These are really great tips, one that I would add is pick a data centric language and start learning it. Udemy and some other sites are great. Once you have some comfort in it, pick an open source project related to what you want to do and build and contribute a new feature that you want.
If you succeed at this and your code is rolled into theirs, your name is hitched to theirs and that's quite a reference.
6:40 PM
Dan Fishman said…
Great suggestion! I contributed to Project Voldemort back in the day, and I still occasionally get messages about it!
12:13 PM
Dan Fishman said…
https://www.fishdan.com/2010/09/simple-versioning-implementation-of.html
12:17 PM
JimmytheGeek said…
I don't code, per se, but I'm up to my ass in kubernetes and the resulting yaml files...

I have never seen anything of value from AI. I'm not exaggerating. No search result summaries that were in any way better than the pre-AI results. I must be doing it wrong. My company recently insisted on the use of copilot to compose our self-evaluations, with the implied conclusion that they would be read by AI. Just like usenet, it's all bots and cancel bots.

I did not recognize myself or my work in copilot's output. One AI advocate outlined the prompt that got him a good result. It looked like a minimum of 110% the effort just writing the eval himself would have taken. I used copilot, discarded every particle of the output, and did it the old fashioned way.

Copyright holders should squeeze all their stolen value from the LLM owners. If Sam Altman's uh, *bits* wind up in a vice, that's a good outcome. If the tech doesn't work without theft, cool. It doesn't (or shouldn't) get to be.

#oldmanyellingatthecloud
3:48 PM
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