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RETHINKING
YOUR

JOB SEARCH
IN

TECH
by Jon Jackson
Copyright © 2021 Jonathan Jackson

2
About the author
Jon Jackson is a father, husband, coder, Tech
Founder, and Senior Lecturer at a UK university.
Over the years, Jon has spent time working as a
web developer, independent technology
consultant, and Technical Director of a digital
marketing agency.

Jon studied Computer Science at Brunel University and specialises in full-

stack web application development and early-stage technology startups
(he’s even sold one).

Jon is a Chartered IT Professional (CITP) and Professional Member of the

BCS (MBCS), a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (FHEA), and has
a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PgCAP).

Jon’s university teaching has a strong focus on workplace relevance, and

Jon works with students to explore career opportunities throughout
their time at university.

Jon enjoys helping students, founders, and anybody looking to succeed

in Tech.

Connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.

@iamjonjackson

linkedin.com/in/iamjonjackson

3
Contents

INTRODUCTION 6

WHAT THE HECK IS TECH? 7

START WITH YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE 9

LinkedIn 10
Twitter 11
GitHub 12
Build a project portfolio 14

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX 17

WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO WORK? 21

Leveraging Google search 23
Getting to know a company 24
Read the small print 25
Your first role as a steppingstone 25

SPECULATIVE OUTREACH 28
Outreach via direct email or contact form 29

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 Outreach via LinkedIn 30
Outreach via physical letter 32
Being the only applicant 33

USE TECH TO GET AHEAD IN TECH 37

Explore alternative channels 38
The power of video 39
Beat the bots 43

COMMUNITY AND CONVERSATIONS 45

Join conversations 48
Look for a mentor… or ten! 51

THE BIGGER PICTURE 56

Interviews are two-way 57
Be prepared to say “no” 58
Coding Tests 60
Interpreting feedback 62
Recruiters 64

I BELIEVE IN YOU! 66

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 67

5
Introduction

Hi, I’m Jon and welcome to this book on rethinking your job
search in Tech.

If you fit any of the following scenarios, you’re in the right place!

• I’m learning to code and have no industry experience

• I’m studying at college or university
• I’m thinking of a career change
• I’m already in my first job but I don't think it's right for me

Reading this book will not guarantee you a new job, but it will help
you uncover opportunities that you may not have considered before.

When you finish reading, I hope you will be able to feel positive
about your future prospects and feel more resilient to meet the
challenges ahead.

Please also remember that you are most definitely not alone.

Let’s go!

6
 1

What the heck is Tech?

“Tech” is a broad term. When you think of Tech, what comes to

mind?

Perhaps programming, coding, building apps, working in the cloud,

artificial intelligence?

Sure, it’s those things, but much more as well.

Many roles in Tech don’t require the ability to code, although I

personally believe being able to code is always an advantage.

Problem solving skills, communication skills, emotional intelligence,

empathy, these are all vital attributes needed in the world of Tech.

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So even if you feel like coding isn’t for you, if JavaScript gives you a
headache, if compilation errors bring you out in a cold sweat, don’t
worry!

There is a place for you in Tech.

Should you be applying for every “Junior Software Developer” job

that you find online? No. Most of them won’t be right for you, even if
you want to become a software developer.

You might need to look beyond the seemingly obvious roles you feel
you should be going for and widen your search.

The purpose of this book is to help make you aware of the different
options available to you and how you can turn your job search into a
constructive and positive experience instead of a demoralising test of
endurance.

Stick with me!

KEY POINTS
• Tech is huge
• There are so many different roles available in Tech
• You don’t need to love coding to get into Tech

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 2

Start with your online presence

Let’s start with some fundamentals.

It is wise, although not essential, to have an online presence. By this,

I mean a LinkedIn profile, Twitter, perhaps a GitHub profile.

If you decide to remain a “ghost” and not maintain any online

profiles, perhaps you should consider a career in Cyber Security. I
joke!

It is important to realise that potential employers will nearly always

look you up online. They will check out your profiles, see what you’re
up to, what you tweet about, see if there are any red flags.

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Does this seem a little intrusive? Sure. Is it a totally reasonable and
expected step for employers to take? Also, yes. This is the world we
live in now.

Below, I have included some tips on each platform I have already

mentioned. These are not meant to be exhaustive guides, but they
should help you get your online presence in order.

LinkedIn
First, let’s get your profile into shape.

• Add a photo
• Update your headline to outline what you are interested in.
Don’t just leave it as “Student at X”
• Add your education history
• Add your employment history

LinkedIn does a pretty good job of prompting you to fill in each

important section if you haven’t already, so follow the guidance
when you create your account or login.

Getting your LinkedIn profile into shape won’t magically bring you job
offers. But it will help support your job search and it will let you
engage in conversations and reach out to new connections more
confidently.

We will discuss LinkedIn in more detail throughout this book, but one
good place to start is to search for groups to join. Find groups that
are relevant to your areas of interest and specific to your country or

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region if possible. Within these groups, there will be opportunities to
interact with other people and make new connections.

You can also look at the suggested influencers to follow on

LinkedIn. Following their content may help you uncover new ideas
which could help you in your professional journey.

If you would like to connect on LinkedIn, please reach out. Here’s my

profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamjonjackson/.

Twitter
If you’re not on Twitter, don’t worry. You don’t need a Twitter
account, but if you do have one, you need to make sure it won’t
harm your job search efforts.

The simple rule is this: if you use Twitter for stuff that you wouldn’t
want a potential employer to see, then I recommend you make your
profile private.

You’ll need to use your own judgement on this. It’s your call.

Conversely, if you would like to have a public Twitter profile for

networking, learning, and building a personal brand, get started by
filling in the important bits of your profile.

• Add a photo
• Fill out your bio with details of what you’re interested in,
what you tweet about and “who you are” as a person.
• Add your location – this can be as generic as your country
e.g. “UK” or you can give your specific city or town.

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 Sometimes, this can work to your advantage when applying
for local jobs.
• If you have a portfolio website, online CV, or GitHub profile,
add a link to this in your Twitter profile.

Once your profile is good to go, you can start tweeting about what
you’re interested in, share your work, share your learning, connect
with other like-minded “techies”, and start to uncover new
opportunities.

Again, more on that later.

Here’s my own Twitter account for reference:

https://twitter.com/iamjonjackson

GitHub
If you work with code and you’re not sure what Git or GitHub is, take
the time to learn. There are some great resources online and it will
be well worth your time.

If you are aiming to become a web/mobile/app/software developer

of any kind, you should really have a GitHub account (github.com).

Having an active GitHub profile can strengthen your job applications

significantly.

There are other Git providers such as GitLab and BitBucket, but I
would recommend going with GitHub as it is so widely used.

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As with LinkedIn and Twitter, you will want to get your profile into
shape, then you can start building your reputation.

• Add a photo (sound familiar?)

• Fill out your bio with what you’re interested in and what you
do.
• You can enhance your profile page by creating a repository
named the same as your username and adding a
README.md markdown file. The contents of this file will then
be displayed on your profile page. You can have a look at my
GitHub profile as an example.

Here’s my GitHub profile for reference:

https://github.com/iamjonjackson/

Whenever you work on a coding project, whether it is following along

with a tutorial or just experimenting with something new, commit
your code to a public repository.

The more you commit code, the greener your GitHub “contributions
grid” will become.

Here’s an example screenshot of my contributions grid from my

GitHub profile page.

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I could be a lot more active (I don’t code every week, unfortunately)
but at least it shows I am “hands on” throughout the year.

See how active you can get on GitHub. Remember to commit often.
Don’t commit a whole day’s work to GitHub as a single commit. Break
things down and commit your changes as you make progress.

Think about it as building your reputation, one code commit at a

time!

Build a project portfolio

Whether you are working with code or not, building a portfolio of
personal projects can give you the edge when it comes to your job
search.

It demonstrates that you are proactive, keen to learn, and have a

good work ethic.

Nadia Alramli is the Head of Engineering at HubSpot (at the time of

writing) and she is a great advocate of personal projects.

In her own words:

“Candidates with personal programming projects stand out”

Nadia Alramli

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I got to know Nadia after connecting at an online tech conference
and she offered some valuable advice to some of my students when I
invited her to give a guest talk.

She has written an insightful blog post on this topic which I would
highly recommend you read1.

You can share your personal projects on your social profiles.

LinkedIn can be particularly effective for this, as demonstrated by

one of my past students who has done a great job of showcasing
various side projects and university assignments as LinkedIn posts.

1
https://product.hubspot.com/blog/personal-programming-projects-
beginners-guide

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A personal blog is an even better place to showcase your learning,
experiments, and projects.

You can quite easily setup a personal blog on platforms such as

medium.com, hashnode.com or wordpress.com.

You can then share your blog posts on your social profiles as well.

Keep learning by doing, show curiosity, and document your journey.

Most importantly, try to have fun with it!

KEY POINTS
• Employers will look at your online profiles, so get them into
in shape
• Your online profiles are just the starting point for building
your online reputation, networking, and starting
conversations
• Consider building a personal project portfolio

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 3

Think outside the box

If you are about to start your job search, where would you start?

Google? Sure.

Job sites like indeed.com? Ok, they might work.

You will probably be able to uncover hundreds of job listings without

too much effort. This sounds great, right? Lots of jobs to apply for.

Well, let’s rethink this.

You may apply to a hundred jobs (how soul destroying!) but how
many others are applying to those same jobs? Maybe hundreds.

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I don’t like those odds. Even if you are potentially the best candidate
for the job, how will you stand out from such a large crowd?

I’m not saying it cannot be done, because it can, but we’ll come back
to that later.

For now, I want you to think outside the box.

Did you know that there are hundreds of job

opportunities out there that aren’t even
listed online?

Did you know that there are employers out

there who are desperate to find talent but
don’t have the time or resources for a
formal recruitment process?

So, where are these job opportunities and who are these employers?

Typically, smaller companies with under 30 employees can be ideal

targets. Lots of creative/digital/web agencies are in this position. I
know this because I used to run one!

So how can you take advantage of this?

Here’s what you need to do: reach out to them!

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Do you need a complex introductory email that explains why you
would be such a valuable asset for their company?

Nope.

Have a look at the example below from Jenny2.

Can you see how simple it is?

But here’s the best bit: this example was a real email sent to me
which – you guessed it – resulted in me hiring Jenny!

Today, you may want to avoid using “Dear Sir/Madam” and use “To
whom it may concern” instead. If you know the name of the person

2
names have been changed

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you are trying to reach, though, you can address the email directly to
them.

In Jenny’s case, there was a lot of back and forth before I made the
offer, but I hope you can see how you don’t need to overcomplicate
things.

Start out simple.

If I had to sum up why I hired Jenny, one word comes to mind:

attitude.

Jenny demonstrated proactivity by making the effort to reach out

speculatively. Her initial emails were very clear, polite, to the point.
She also had a great attitude and willingness to learn.

This type of scenario was ideal for me because I hadn’t had to expend
any effort to find this candidate. She found me!

And do you know what the recruitment fees were? That’s right, zero.

In summary, there are a lot of employers out there who love having
candidates reach out to them directly.

In the next section, we’ll look at how to find these employers.

KEY POINTS
• Not all job opportunities are advertised online
• Keep your outreach messages clear, polite, and to the point
• Employers often hire for attitude over skills

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 4

Where would you like to work?

How can you find these elusive employers who would be interested
in working with you?

Well, let’s reframe the question away from them and onto you:
where would you like to work?

Do you have a dream job? What do you enjoy doing most? Are you a
natural coder? Are you gifted at organising things? Do you enjoy
working with lots of other people?

Have a think about what your ideal job might look like. If your
response to this is, “I don’t care, I just need a job to pay the bills,” I

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understand where you’re coming from, but I want you to think about
it anyway!

Your work will take up a lot of time in your life. It is worth putting
some thought into what kind of work you’d like to do and what type
of company you’d like to work for.

Do you see yourself thriving in a small and close-knit company or a

large enterprise? There are pros and cons to both.

Today, remote-first and hybrid roles are becoming more common. Do

you want a remote-first job? How do you find working from home?
Would you prefer to be in an office environment a few days a week,
or even five days a week?

You may struggle to answer some of these questions. You may not
even know what kind of company you’d like to work for if you
haven’t experienced any workplaces yet.

And even if you have a clear idea of what type of job you want, this
might evolve over time as you get older and your circumstances in
life change.

The important point here is to start thinking about it and be aware

that it matters. Some jobs will be right for you, some won’t.

With all of this in mind, you can begin your search for companies that
you might want to reach out to.

There are a few ways you can do this. Google is a good place to start.

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Leveraging Google search
Searching for companies local to you can be hugely beneficial
because it gives you an edge and makes it a lot easier to meet face to
face with employers even if you may end up being offered a remote-
first role.

Remember Jenny from before? She found my company because she

searched for web design companies local to her.

Here are some Google search ideas to get you started:

• Web Design company in [city]

• Software Development in [city]
• Digital Agency in [city]
• App Design Studio in [city]
• Game Design Studio in [city]
• IT support company in [city]

Be aware of opportunities that may not be obvious. For example, if

you would like to become a web developer, don’t ignore the IT
support companies or the Game Design studios. More often than not,
they will need web developers as part of their operations.

In fact, the first web developer I ever hired (Robert) went on to work
as a web developer at a Game Design Studio! But more about Robert
later.

As part of your company search, create a document or spreadsheet

and note down 10-15 companies that appeal to you.

This will be your “shortlist”.

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 Don’t search for jobs, search for companies

Getting to know a company

For each company you find, have a look through the following to get
a feel for what type of company they are:

• Team page – how large a team are they?

• Who are the founders/directors – can you find them on
LinkedIn? (something we’ll come back to later)
• Social media activity – they’ll look up the same on you!
• Careers or Jobs page

When you’re looking through their website and social profiles, what
kind of culture do they seem to have? Does it look like a good place
to work? Obviously, you can’t tell for sure, but there will be certain
things that give you a clue about what kind of culture they have:

• Team diversity
• Background of the founders
• Language used across their website and social media
channels (e.g. formal, informal)

Make sure to check out their Careers or Jobs page if they have one.
You don’t want to reach out speculatively to them when they have
clear recruitment guidelines or job openings on their website. This
will just make you look lazy.

If they have job openings listed but nothing seems to match what you
are looking for, don’t be put off. You can still reach out speculatively

24
and explain your ambitions, while acknowledging that their current
job openings don’t seem to be an exact fit.

Read the small print

If you do find an advertised job opening at one of your shortlisted
companies, great. Save the link and come back to it when you’re
ready to work through the application process.

Be careful to read job descriptions in full. Sometimes, they might

include requests such as:

• “Include a joke about HTML in your cover letter”

• “Make sure to tell us what your favourite animal is and why”

Do the actual answers to these types of questions matter?

Typically, not. But what it does show is that you paid attention to the
job description.

This is often a first test. Applicants who don’t bother to address this
small request will often be discarded straight away.

Don’t get caught out by something so simple.

Your first role as a steppingstone

You may find a company you would like to work at, but they may not
have any roles available for the type of work you would like to do.

For example, you may want to become a software engineer and the
company you have identified has a really attractive software

25
engineering department, but they only have vacancies in the IT
Support department.

This might be a way for you to get a foot in the door. In fact, it can be
highly advantageous to get some experience in what might feel like a
less interesting role to build up your confidence and reputation.

Companies will often look for opportunities to recruit talent

internally from different departments rather than always trying to fill
vacancies from external candidates.

If you land an interview with the company, ask about the possibilities
for advancing into other roles that you are interested in. If you come
across as proactive and keen to progress, this will only help your
chances of getting the job.

One of my students did exactly this. He first landed a technical

support role at a company. He performed well within that role and
was always keen to learn about the software development side of
things. Within a year, he had been moved to the software
development department to do what he loves!

Widening your search

Rather than only looking for IT or Tech-specific companies, you could
look at other sectors entirely.

There are often niche job websites that focus on specific sectors.

For example, charityjob.co.uk provides job listings for vacancies at

charities based in the UK. You can use the search to look for both full-
time roles and internships.

26
By entering keywords such as “IT”, “Web”, or “Software” into the
search, you can find roles you might be interested in.

If the thought of working for a good cause appeals to you, search for
charity jobs in your country or region to see what might be available.

KEY POINTS
• It is important to think about what kind of company you
would like to work at
• Don’t search for jobs, search for companies
• Get to know a company before reaching out to them

27
 5

Speculative Outreach

Once you are armed with a shortlist of companies you want to

contact, next comes the fun part.

You’ll need to reach out to them!

You can do this in different ways:

1. Direct email or contact form

2. LinkedIn
3. Physical letter (yes, you heard me!)

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Outreach via direct email or contact form
This option is quite straightforward. A company may advertise an
email address on their website, or they may have a contact form, or
they may have both.

If they have both, pick one. I wouldn’t recommend using both

methods at the same time as it could look a little spammy.

If you don’t hear back within 1 or 2 weeks, you may wish to follow up
using a different method.

In terms of what to say, as Jenny showed us earlier, it doesn’t need

to be complicated.

Keep it clear and concise.

Simple works.

You may want to embellish your message with something unique to

the company to show that you are genuinely interested in them.

Here are some examples:

I really liked your work on the […] project and that is

exactly the kind of project I would love to work on in the
future.

I value our local community, so your company stood out

to me because of your local charity work.

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I wouldn’t recommend copying and pasting these examples. Use
them as inspiration.

You can’t fake it. It must be true.

In my opinion, part of having a good attitude is being genuine. And

good employers will pick up on this.

If you get a reply, enjoy the ride even if it doesn’t turn into a job
offer. You will learn a lot just from talking to a potential employer,
even if they don’t have a role available right now.

If they’re not able to offer you anything at the moment, that can take
the pressure off and even allow you to ask other questions about
their company or “how things work” that you might be too afraid to
ask if you were interviewing for a job.

Ask questions. Keep learning.

Outreach via LinkedIn

LinkedIn has the benefit of letting you connect directly with people.
Often, this means that the Managing Director or Founder of a
company is only a couple of clicks away.

You should be able to search for the companies in your shortlist on

LinkedIn and find a list of people that work there.

Even better, if you have identified the founder(s) from the company’s
website, you can look them up directly and request to connect.

This may sound scary, but it doesn’t have to be.

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As long as you have your profile in order, you may be surprised at the
new connections you make.

If you’re just starting out on LinkedIn, it can be difficult to connect

with new people if your network is very small. You should try to
expand your network as quickly as possible when you start out.

Connect with people you already know, friends, and family to get
things going.

As your network grows, it will become easier to search and connect

with people.

When you make a connection request, you can choose to send a note
along with the request. Many people suggest always sending a note
to explain why you’re looking to connect.

I don’t believe you always have to do this as I have developed many

working relationships with people who accepted my unsolicited
connection request without an initial note explaining why I wanted to
connect.

If you don’t send a note on the initial request, you can send them a
message after they have accepted your request.

If you send a note with the connection request, the length of your
message is quite limited, so you must use the space available wisely.

Your message length is less restricted once you are connected. You
can then send links and attachments, but don’t spam people without
receiving any response. Wait for the conversation to start, then you
can share your CV or portfolio if they would like to see it.

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I have included a couple of suggestions below to give you some
inspiration. You can copy and paste the message each time but make
sure you personalise the note with their name and company.

Hi [name], I’m based locally and learning […] and I’m

interested to learn what opportunities there might be at
[company] in the future. Would be great to connect.
Take care.

Hi [name], I’d love to learn more about [company] if

you’d be happy to connect. I’m currently studying
[subject] at [college/university] and I’m keen to expand
my network. Many thanks!

As a final point, not everyone will accept your connection requests,

but don’t worry. This is just part of the process.

Outreach via physical letter

Nobody sends letters these days, right?

Well, that’s exactly why I’m telling you to consider sending a physical
letter. You can leverage the fact that hardly anybody else is doing it
and stand out from the crowd.

Want some other reasons to send physical letters?

Here’s one: emails can get filtered as spam. Letters don’t.

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Here’s another reason: do you know what the chances are of me
reading a letter addressed to me that has a handwritten address on
the envelope?

100%

I will always open and read that letter.

I like those odds! And you should to!

With a letter, you can afford to include a little bit more detail but try
not to exceed a single page.

You can include a copy of your CV if you deem it appropriate.

If you have the company founder/director’s name, you can address

the letter to them.

Again, make it personal. State why you are getting in touch. Highlight
what stood out to you about the company.

Don’t forget to include your contact details so that the recipient can
reach out if they are interested in having a conversation.

Keep a track of what letters you send and then follow up through a
different method in 2-3 weeks if you haven’t received a response.

Being the only applicant

Do you remember Jenny from earlier? She had another great thing
going for her when she got in touch with me.

She had zero competition.

33
I wasn’t interviewing anybody else for the job. In fact, there wasn’t
even a formal job opening. The role was entirely up for discussion.

As a typical owner of a small business, I didn’t have any hiring

strategy in place. I was growing my micro agency organically and,
frankly, didn’t really know what I was doing (but that’s another
story!).

As we have learned already, business owners are often on the

lookout for good people. To a certain degree, it doesn’t even matter
how experienced they are or what skills they have. If they are keen to
learn, have a good attitude, and show they are capable of being
proactive, they are well on their way to being a great hire.

Was Jenny an isolated example?

No. In fact, my first ever employee reached out to me in a similar

way.

Robert was a school leaver and had no formal experience as a web

developer, but he had taught himself a bit of code and seemed keen
to progress.

I decided to give him a chance and he excelled. He was a quick

learner and began taking on full projects in no time.

It is with great pride that I can look at his LinkedIn profile and see my
company as the first entry in his work history.

34
In case you were wondering, he is now a software team lead at an
innovative tech company. Not too shabby.

“Let’s have a chat”

If you engage in speculative outreach and things go well, you may
receive positive responses such as:

• “let’s have a chat over a coffee”

• “let’s grab a drink and discuss what opportunities we might
have”
• “let’s catch up on a video call”

It might all sound very informal, but you should still view the chance
to “chat” with the employer as a potential interview.

You will still want to prepare, research the company further, come
ready with questions of your own, be personable and professional.

If you are meeting face to face, you may not be required to wear a
suit, but try not to look too scruffy!

If you are meeting at the employers’ office, you can ask what dress
code is expected. This shows respect for the environment you will be
visiting.

35
KEY POINTS
• Keep your outreach messages clear and simple
• Pick one method for each company initially
• Follow up within 1-2 weeks using a different method
• Make it personal
• If asked to have a “chat”, prepare for it like an interview

36
 6

Use Tech to get ahead in Tech

If you are looking to get into Tech or advance your career in Tech, it
makes sense to use Tech to give yourself an edge.

We’ve already spoken about a few things you can do:

• Get your online profiles in shape

• Build a personal project portfolio
• If applicable, use GitHub to showcase your coding projects

Let’s now look at some more techniques to take your job search to
the next level.

37
Explore alternative channels
We already know that many job openings may not actually be
advertised online and one great way to uncover these opportunities
is through speculative outreach (see Chapter 5).

There may be other ways to uncover some of these opportunities.

There are some sites that let employers connect directly with talent
and arrange interviews with those that seem a good fit.

The following examples are for the UK and Europe region but if you
are based elsewhere, try searching on Google for similar platforms or
reaching out to the tech community on Twitter.

cord.co (UK & Europe)

cord.co an invite-only messaging platform that helps you connect

directly with Tech hiring teams in London and across Europe.

talent.io (UK & Europe)

talent.io allows you to create a profile and let employers apply to

you. I like how they’ve flipped the recruitment model here.

One of my students gained his first job at a small London-based

startup through talent.io, so I know it can work.

He had worked hard at his studies and had a good portfolio of work
to draw upon even though he hadn’t gained any commercial
experience before taking that role.

38
The power of video
You can use video to differentiate yourself when connecting with
potential employers.

Some job application processes actually require you to record a video

introducing yourself, but for those that don’t you can still use video
to differentiate yourself.

The more restrictive job application processes may not allow you to
embed or upload a video, but you can usually include a link to one in
a covering letter or note.

Could the video be ignored? Sure, but it might not, so it’s worth a
shot.

And there are ways you can use video outside of the job application
process too. But we’ll get to that.

How to make a video

In terms of how to make a video, hopefully you already have a

camera of some sort. Your smartphone camera or a webcam will do
just fine.

If you end up using your smartphone in selfie mode, make sure not to
shake the camera around too much!

If you’re using a webcam, you should be able to record a video with

software already available on your computer, but you may want to
look at a video recording tool such as Loom (loom.com).

39
Loom is free for short videos, which is ideal for quick intro videos. It
has a built-in screen recorder function and is available for desktop
and mobile.

The screen recorder function means you could put a slide or graphic
up on your screen and have your face in a bubble in the corner. If
you’re not so confident having your face fill the full video screen, this
can be a good alternative.

The graphic on screen can have a simple message such as “Hi, I’m
[name] and I’m looking forward to learning more about [company]”.
You could even include the company logo on there.

Every little detail like this demonstrates how much you care about
the job application and helps differentiate you from the crowd.

The added benefit of tools like Loom are the video hosting
capabilities. When you record a video with Loom, it is almost
instantly available “in the cloud” and shareable via a web link.

This is ideal because we can then include this link somewhere in our
application.

Just make sure you send the right link to the right employer,
otherwise things could get awkward!

What to say in the video?

If you are formally applying for a specific job, here’s a suggestion for
what you could say:

40
 Hi there! Thanks for taking the time to look over my
application and I look forward to learning more about
the opportunity at [company]. Take care and hopefully
hear from you soon.

That’s it. Keep it simple. Just the fact that you recorded a short video
for them already means that you’re setting yourself apart from the
crowd.

Remember to smile, be natural. Don’t act like you’re reading a

script… so don’t read a script!

You don’t want to come across like a creepy robot (unless that’s a
requirement in the job spec).

Getting the video in front of the right person

An alternative approach to sending your video link with your

application (where it might be ignored) is to try and reach out
directly to the person that might be hiring you, sending them a
personalised video.

This might work best in smaller companies where you can easily
identify the founder or director and reach out to them. But it can
work in larger organisations if you have an idea of who will be making
the decision to hire you.

We already talked about using LinkedIn for speculative outreach, and

the technique here is almost identical. Instead of reaching out

41
speculatively, though, you know there is a job available, and you’ve
applied for it!

Our goal at this point is to make the employer want to check our CV,
so reaching out via LinkedIn can be a great way to do this.

If you don’t feel comfortable sending a video, that’s fine. You can still
send a short note. But a video might just give you that edge which
can be especially useful if you are competing against hundreds of
other candidates.

In this type of video, you could say something like this:

Hi [name], great to connect and I hope you’re keeping

well. I’ve just applied for the [job title] job at [company]
so I wanted to reach out and say hello. I thought a video
would be a little bit more personal! Thanks in advance
for taking the time to look over my application and I look
forward to learning more about the opportunity at
[company]. Take care and hopefully we get to meet at
some point in the future.

On LinkedIn, you may want to wait until the person accepts your
connection request before sending them a message with your video
link.

Again, if you’re creating personalised videos and applying for multiple

roles at the same time, make sure you send the right link to the right
person!

42
Beat the bots
Let’s say you want to work for a large multinational company.

Chances are, you won’t be able to slip through the back door at one
of these organisations. They have rigorous recruitments processes
and a dedicated HR department.

They may well get hundreds of applications for each vacancy they
advertise.

To help them filter these applications, they may use bots (i.e.
software) to automatically rank applications or CVs based on how
well the content seems to match up to the job requirements.

For example, let’s say a company is hiring for an entry level software
developer role that may involve using React, JSX and TypeScript. In
larger companies, they’re probably going to train you up and put you
through some form of bootcamp or academy anyway, but they’ll put
these skills on the job description anyway.

Now, it makes sense that the employer will obviously be interested in

candidates that might already have experience in React, JSX, and
TypeScript, so they’ll instruct their software to rank CVs more highly
if they include those keywords.

If a company receives 100 applications for a job opening, they may

only want to interview the top 10 or 20. They may even let the
software discard a chunk of applications automatically. For example,
if half of the applications mention the technologies specific to the
role, the company might be quite happy to discard the remaining
applications simply to speed up the process.

43
The key lesson here is that there are some situations where you may
be rejected for a job before a human even looks at your application.

But the good news is that you can hack the process to “beat the
bots”.

Does this mean you need to lie about your experience? Absolutely
not. Don’t lie. You’re better than that!

What you can do though, is state what you’re interested in and what
you’re learning about. So, you could write that you “enjoy learning
about React, JSX, and TypeScript” in your cover letter and CV.

Obviously, this needs to be true!

If you aren’t interested in React, JSX, and TypeScript, then you

probably shouldn’t be applying for the job in the first place.

The benefit of this approach is that you’re increasing your chances of

“getting through the door” in cases where your application is being
automatically filtered by software.

The best employers hire for attitude over skills, so don’t let bots get
in the way.

KEY POINTS
• Explore alternative recruitment channels
• Use video to introduce yourself to potential employers
• Tailor your CV and cover letter when applying to large
employers to help “beat the bots”

44
 7

Community and Conversations

Having your online profiles such as LinkedIn and Twitter setup means
that you can begin to tap into online communities and conversations
that can help uncover opportunities.

Twitter is great because it is so open. You can connect freely with

anyone that has a public profile. There are active tech communities
for early career techies that post on various hashtags such as
#devcommunity, #100daysofcode, and #CodeNewbies.

There are other non-coding related hashtags too, so go and explore!

45
LinkedIn is less open in the sense that connection requests have to
be accepted but there is now a “follow” feature on LinkedIn which
gives a little bit more flexibility.

For both Twitter and LinkedIn, these should be your goals:

• Make connections
• Start conversations
• Build relationships

Why? The more you get yourself out there, the more likely good
things are going to come your way.

Whether you realise it or not, you will be building a “personal brand”.

This has long-term value and can open up opportunities for you well
into the future.

Every little action you take today will contribute to the increased
potential for positive things to happen to you in 5, 10, 15 years into
the future.

In the shorter-term, the larger your network is, the easier it is to

connect with new people that might be (or know) potential
employers.

On LinkedIn, keep an eye on your feed, or even actively monitor

specific hashtags. You never know when a great opportunity may
present itself.

Look at the example below.

46
Does this sound like a good opportunity?

Now look at how many likes and comments it received. Not many.

Care to hazard a guess at how many applicants this employer

received from this post? Again, I would expect not many.

47
Now think about all those employers who haven't got to the point of
posting anything on LinkedIn but are in fact on the lookout for
motivated individuals with a good attitude.

You can attract the attention of these employers in different ways.

One way is to actively engage in conversations on social media.

Join conversations
Here is one of my favourite examples of a conversation thread on
LinkedIn which I kicked off and then various students posted replies.

Here’s my original post:

48
One of the replies was from a student of mine called Fabio:

Here’s what happened next:

49
A potential employer reached out to talk!

If you get yourself out there and engage in conversations and present
yourself well, magic can happen.

Be more Fabio!

If you are looking for further inspiration, here is an example of a self-

motivated teenager who landed his first job as a 16-year-old by
engaging with other developers in his country via an online
community.

50
Look for a mentor… or ten!
A mentor can help build your confidence, coach you through difficult
situations, and unlock opportunities for you.

I have mentored several students and helped them find their first
role, even when they seriously lacked confidence. It’s a great feeling
to be able to help someone, and I know one day they will likely be
mentoring others too.

A good mentor will get to know you well and look out for ways to
help you grow and may even uncover job opportunities for you.

Take the following scenario as an example.

An employer I knew wasn’t advertising any formal job vacancies, but

they had previously posted on LinkedIn about being on the lookout
for freelance designers. This wasn’t ideal for the students I teach
because they are generally more technically focused rather than
visual creatives, but I decided to enquire about any opportunities on
behalf of my students anyway.

But, as it happens, they were on the lookout of web developers as

well because they had technical requirements for website builds and
other similarly technical projects.

I uncovered this opportunity simply by asking.

You (or your mentor) can do the same.

To show you how simple it can be, here is the extent of the LinkedIn
conversation I had with this employer:

51
My initial question related to freelance work but the student I ended
up introducing to this employer landed a permanent job within a
month!

So, how can you find a mentor?

You may already know someone. It might be a family member or

friend who is already working in Tech. Chances are, they will be more
than happy to answer your questions, point you in the right direction,
and help build up your confidence.

52
Knowing that you have somebody to talk to about your job search is
invaluable.

Even if you don’t know anyone in Tech already, there are plenty of
mid-level and senior employees who are happy to share their
knowledge and experience. As a rule, people like to be helpful!

Some already share their wisdom proactively on Twitter or LinkedIn.

You can learn from these ones simply by following them and reading
what they share.

You can engage on their posts or tweets by replying with questions or

comments. This helps start conversations and you never know who
might see your questions and reach out to help you, even if it isn’t
the person who first posted or tweeted.

You will widen your network and potentially end up with many
mentors helping you in different ways, either directly or indirectly.

It is wise to learn from various sources as this will give you a richer
understanding of the issues in different types of workplaces, how
different job application processes can go, how to deal with technical
interviews and coding challenges, etc…

You can also use speculative outreach (see Chapter 5) to hunt for
mentors.

Reaching out to potential employers can be a great way to start

conversations and learn more about the industry, even if the
employer doesn’t have a job available for you right away.

You can also reach out to employees at larger companies that are a
few levels above you. For example, if you want to become a software

53
engineer, search for “senior software engineers” on LinkedIn or
Twitter and reach out to those that look like a good fit for you.

When you reach out, be open, honest, and inquisitive.

Don’t reach out with curt, lazy, or vague questions and don’t make
unreasonable requests.

Here’s how NOT to reach out:

❌ “Hey, I’m desperate for a job, can you hire me”

❌ “Can you give me a job?”

❌ “Need a job bad, can you help?”

❌ “Hi, can I work for your company? Totally fine working for free.”

❌ “Got any tips for getting a job?”

❌ “Will you be my mentor?”

Respect the other person. Don’t send out the same message to
hundreds of different people hoping you’ll get lucky and one of them
will offer you a job on the spot.

You should be aiming to start conversations, not hoping for a miracle.

Show that you have a good attitude.

Learn a little bit about the person before you reach out to them. See
what roles they’ve had, what companies they’ve worked for, and

54
whether their experience seems to align with what you are
interested in.

So how could we improve on the bad examples above?

Here are some suggestions:

✔ “Hi [name], I hope you don’t mind me reaching out. I’m currently
studying to become a [job title] and I’m trying to learn as much as
possible about how to do well in a work environment. I’d love to hear
any experiences or advice you might have to share. Many thanks!”

✔ “Hi [name], thanks very much for connecting. I’m new to Tech
and currently hunting for the right [job title] job while trying to learn
as much as possible about different work environments. If you’d be
happy to chat anytime, please let me know.”

Notice that we’re making things personal, showing respect to the

person we’re reaching out to, and generally demonstrating a good
attitude.

KEY POINTS
• Make connections, start conversations, build relationships
• Find mentors you can learn from both indirectly and directly
• The more actively engaged with other people you are, the
more opportunities you will uncover

55
 8

The Bigger Picture

Searching for a job can be a long and arduous process.

It is important to look at the bigger picture before you wade in and

start to feel overwhelmed.

We have mentioned before that applying to every job listing available

is not necessarily the best approach.

You will expose yourself to the psychological toll of receiving so many

rejections. If you don’t really want the job, don’t apply for it.

Pick your battles.

56
You can increase your chances of success by demonstrating a good
attitude and using some innovative techniques to make you stand
out from the crowd.

Some of the ideas we have covered in this book are as follows:

• Build an online presence

• Showcase your personal projects
• Target companies you would like to work for, even if they
aren’t advertising any vacancies
• Try speculative outreach by email, LinkedIn, or even physical
letter to uncover hidden opportunities
• Explore alternative recruitment channels
• Use video
• Tailor your CV and cover letter to help “beat the bots”
• Engage in online communities and join conversations
• Look out for potential mentors

Once you land an interview and it goes well, should you accept the
first offer that comes your way?

Let’s first consider a few “bigger picture” issues.

Interviews are two-way

When you interview for a role, remember that you are interviewing
your prospective employer as well.

You will likely be given the opportunity to ask questions, so have

some prepared.

57
You could ask about what type of work you will be doing in the first
week, first month, first three months, etc…

You could ask about whether you will have a workplace mentor. Will
there be training and upskilling opportunities on the job? Asking
these kinds of questions can also have the dual benefit of showing
that you’re keen to develop yourself professionally.

You may also want to ask about flexible working opportunities if that
is important to you. You will want to double check what is in your
contract before signing anything, though.

Something may be said at an early interview stage which doesn’t end

up being true or applicable to you if and when you finally get offered
a role.

There are other things you will want to look out for as well. These
aren’t necessarily things you can directly ask about, but you can look
for evidence of the type of company culture, how diverse it is,
whether it is a high pressure or supportive environment.

Try to meet as many people in the company as possible and look out
for how they are behaving and whether it seems like a place you
would enjoy working at.

Remember, you don’t need to accept the first offer that comes your
way.

Be prepared to say “no”

While writing this book, I took to Twitter and asked the following
simple question: “Have you ever turned a job offer down?”

58
Interestingly, the tweet went viral, and I received hundreds of replies.

Most of the people who replied from all over the world had turned
down job offers at some point in their life.

Two responses highlighted below show the importance of turning

down a job offer or withdrawing from the interview process if you
pick up on evidence of a potentially bad work environment.

Employers should treat staff with respect, regardless of gender, job

title, salary, or anything else.

You also don’t want to end up working in a team where you won’t
feel comfortable in the environment.

59
Look out for red flags and trust your instincts.

If something doesn’t feel right, talk to someone outside the company

who is more experienced and get their viewpoint. If you have a
mentor, talk to them.

The inherent risk of applying for your first job is that you have
nothing to compare it to, so If you spot something that doesn’t seem
right, don’t assume that it must be “normal” and this is how things
are done in the workplace.

Coding Tests
When I was young and fresh out of university, I saw an advert from a
local web design agency on a UK freelancing website looking for
freelancer web developers.

I reached out to them, and they invited me for an interview. I didn’t

really know what to expect.

After having an initial chat, they gave me a coding assignment to

complete there and then. The requirement was to build a form using

60
HTML, CSS, and PHP which would include a postcode field, with
validation.

I can’t remember the exact details as it was a long time ago and I feel
old just thinking about it!

They proceeded to leave me in a room with a computer and I was to

complete the task as best as I could. I had 30 minutes.

Oh boy, did I fail!

As far as I can remember, I think I spent at least 20 minutes on a

fundamental issue just trying to get the form to load. I had just
started to chip away at the main part of the problem when my time
ran out!

But guess what. They took me on anyway.

They clearly saw some potential in me even if I had completely failed

the coding challenge. They knew I was young, and they likely took
this into consideration.

Within a few months, they had offered me a full-time position. I

declined, despite it being a good place to work, because I wanted to
pursue my own independent projects.

The main lesson here is that even if you are set coding tests or
challenges, the good employers will look beyond whether you ace
them or not.

Skills can be taught. Attitude is more important. Most employers

recognise this.

61
In my case, I had been set a coding challenge to do in real-time at the
employer’s building. Today, “take home tests” have become more
common.

I have mixed feelings about these tests as they can absorb a lot of
time and don’t necessarily offer the best indicator of whether you
will be a good fit for a company. They are still very common, though,
so it is good to be prepared.

If you are already engaging with an online community or if you have a

mentor, these are great resources to help you work these kinds of
coding tests.

Don’t let imposter syndrome kick in and make you think you should
withdraw from a job application.

You can fail a coding test and still land a job.

Interpreting feedback
When searching for a job, it is very likely you are going to experience
rejection.

The better employers are quick to convey the news if you haven’t
been successful. Some other employers drag their feet and can keep
you waiting for months. Again, be aware of this.

If you didn’t get an offer after being interviewed (perhaps making it

through several stages), you may want to ask for feedback on why
you didn’t get the job and how you might be able to improve.

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On the surface, this seems like a great idea. Approach your job search
like a journey, learning as you go, improving over time as you gain
feedback.

Fine.

But the feedback you get might not be so enlightening or helpful. It

may even be frustrating.

For example, if you had completed a coding challenge and not been
offered the job, they may offer feedback such as “you left dead code
commented out in the solution instead of removing it” or “your code
indentation was messy”.

Now, these are small things that can be fixed quite easily. The
employer may not have given you a style guideline to adhere to and
you may have deliberately left commented code in your solution to
show the process you had gone through.

So why is the employer now saying you failed to get the job because
of trivial things like this?

Well, they’re probably not.

You asked for feedback, and they gave you feedback. Frankly, they
may not be willing to admit to the real reasons for not hiring you.

They may have decided not to hire anyone after all.

The decision maker may have got on with another candidate better,
even though you were just as suitable for the job.

63
You may not have been a “good cultural fit” for the team, whatever
that means. In cases like this, you may well have escaped a hostile
work environment anyway. Silver linings!

When receiving a rejection, with or without feedback, dust yourself

down and move onto the next one. Don’t let rejections sap your
energy or get you down.

Rejections mean you haven’t found your ideal job yet.

Recruiters
It would be remiss of me not to give at least a passing mention to
recruiters and recruitment agencies.

As with all industries, there are the good and the bad.

The bad recruiters will send you to interviews for jobs which are
entirely inappropriate, push you as hard as possible to accept job
offers, and coerce you into feeling guilty if you back out of an
interview. To them, you are a commission payment.

The good recruiters will do the opposite.

That said, I would not recommend going through recruiters to land

your first job in Tech. There isn’t a need. In fact, many employers
won’t even deal with recruitment agencies.

As one employer I know said, “if they use a recruiter for their first job
in tech, they are doing it wrong”.

Recruiters can be great when you are further along in your career
and looking for senior roles or thinking about contracting.

64
But as this book has hopefully shown, there are so many
opportunities out there in the world of Tech. All you need to do is go
and find them!

KEY POINTS
• Interviews are two-way
• Pay attention to red flags and be prepared to say “no”
• Don’t let coding tests get you down
• Negative feedback from employers doesn’t always give the
full picture so don’t let it get you down
• It is not advisable to rely on recruiters to find you your first
job in Tech

65
I believe in you!

Thank you for taking the time to read this book and I truly hope you
found it beneficial.

If you feel this book helped you land a new job in Tech, I would love
to hear from you if you have experiences to share.

Wow, that would be incredible.

In the meantime, stay curious, keep talking, always learning.

I believe in you!

Connect with Jon

@iamjonjackson

linkedin.com/in/iamjonjackson

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Acknowledgements

Thanks go to Sylvia Jackson, Dave Oxley, and Kath Dunn for their
valuable input on my first draft.

Thanks also to my Twitter and LinkedIn friends for providing

inspiration while I was writing this book.

And thanks to my wife for putting up with me, as always.

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