Latest / DevQuestions with Tim Corey / 268. Navigating the Current Job Market

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268. Navigating the Current Job Market · DevQuestions with Tim Corey

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Getting a job today is not like getting a job ten years ago.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm continually hearing about even skilled developers who've applied to dozens, if not hundreds, of jobs without ever hearing back from one.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: New software developers are scared to enter the marketplace if they feel like AI will replace them, or they feel that they're competing against too many people for too few positions.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Seasoned developers who felt secure in their jobs all of a sudden are concerned because companies are laying off developers all around them.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: So what do you do?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: How do you survive as a software developer in today's job market?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's the topic we're going to address in today's episode of Dev Questions.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Dev Questions Podcast with Tim Corey.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Software development is more than just writing code.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about the rest of it.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Specifically, let's talk about the job market today, how AI has impacted it, and how to get a job as a software developer.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: In preparation for a series of live workshops that I'm giving starting next week, I've been doing a lot of research into the current job market.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of fear and frustration out there, and that tends to cloud up things quite a bit.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, this confusion is causing good people to miss out on great opportunities.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: And while my workshop is going to go into much more depth with practical hands-on work, let's at least get a better understanding about why software development is still such a great field to get into, as well as how to get a job today.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now, let's separate this issue into four broad categories.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: The first one is the developer job market.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: What's the job market like for developers in general?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then next we'll talk about AI replacing developers and where that's at and what the time frame is if it's ever going to happen.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Then we'll talk about the auto-reject job applications where you apply and you either hear nothing or you get the immediate or very quick response of we're going in a different direction.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, competing against people who use AI to cheat, whether that's they pretend to have more skills than they actually do, or they use AI to get a leg up in the hiring process or the application process and so on.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: So let's cover those four areas and how we can address each.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're not going to have time to go into depth in these four issues, but let's at least clear some things up about each.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, the developer job market.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: The job market for software developers is actually very good.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: I know that sounds weird because you've heard doom and gloom a lot, and maybe even experienced doom and gloom in the software uh development space.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: But the Bureau of Labor and Statistics lists the field of software development as one of the fastest growing fields in the US with a growth rate of about 17% over the next 10 years.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: The median income, that means the middle, not the average, the median for software developers is about two times the median of the population as a whole.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: So instead of like in the 60s,$60,000-ish, it's$130,000-ish.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we have more job opportunities, and we have basically double the pay of normal jobs or of the normal US citizen.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about why it doesn't feel that way.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, first off, we've heard a lot about layoffs.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: So Microsoft just laid off 9,000 people.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: The month before they laid off 6,000 people.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's terrifying.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And 15,000 people out of one company is a really one person out of one company is a really bad thing.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: 15,000 is a tragedy.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: So that makes it sound like the market is struggling.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: But here's the deal: Microsoft is also posting profits.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: They're posting record profits.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: They're saying that they're having a great year, and yet they're laying off 15,000 people.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: So how do you reconcile those two things?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if you look at the overall tech industry, and there we go, again, in the course or the workshop, we go over this more, but there are sites out there that track the entire tech industry, not just software developers, but tech in general.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: And this year, there's been about 80,000 layoffs so far.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: This is July.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, last year, in all of last year, we had about 150,000 total, which means we're basically on pace for what we had last year, 2024.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: And in 2022, we had about the same.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now, 2023 was different, but we had 260,000 layoffs, which is 100,000 more than the year either side of it.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And this year, again, it's on pace for what we had last year and three years ago.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: So what we're seeing is this is kind of normal.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Now, should it be normal?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely not.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Does it impact real people?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: 80,000 people, 100,000 people, 200,000 people, these are real people.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, that's a major impact.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: But that has no relation to how is the industry doing?
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: The industry is growing.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: The layoffs are kind of normal.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you might say, but hiring has seemed slow.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, it has seemed slow because it has been slow.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, again, if you go back to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics for June of this year, again, I'm in the US, so I use US numbers, but there's similarities around the world, of course, differences.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: I can't cover everything.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: But in the US, in June, we posted an actual growth in the job market, about 100, I think it was 140,000 people, somewhere around there, 170, something like that.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Which overall, that's not just tech, that's overall.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: But when you actually looked at it, most of those were state and local government jobs because they were ramping up their departments of education because the federal government laid off theirs.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: But then we also had growth in the healthcare industry.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the two big areas.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: Everything else is basically flat.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: So why do I mention this when talking about software developers and what's going to impact us?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if the entire US economy is at a basic standstill as far as hiring, hiring about as much as it lays off, or not really moving a whole lot.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if the whole economy is doing that, then it only makes sense that tech does as well.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're seeing those same impacts in technology.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean no one's hiring, but it does mean it's going to be slow compared to what we've seen in previous years because the entire economy is slow.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: So you can't just say, well, I'll go a different profession because, well, all the professions are slow, unless you're into government or healthcare.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just for one month.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: But uh let's talk now about you know, people don't seem to need developers like they would, you know, the tradespeople.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: I hear this a lot.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you shouldn't go into software development because AI is going to replace you.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about that next.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, you should go into being an electrician or a plumber or a masonry person.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Those are great careers.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: And if that's what you want to do, that's great.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I can tell you what, software developers usually make as much or more than tradespeople.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And they do so in office.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's a whole lot easier on your body working from a chair, usually, um, than you know, digging ditches or pulling wire in attics and all the rest of the stuff that goes into be a tradesperson.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's about what you want to do for your career.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Software development is a very strong career and it has not weakened.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: The overall economy has, but our actual industry has not compared to the rest of the economy.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that's number one.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's a solid career and it's still solid, even though, and don't get me wrong, you may find it's hard to get a job.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna address that in a minute.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: But just note that just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's it's overall bad, or that your experience reflects everybody's experience.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're gonna address how to make your experience better than hopefully everybody else's.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but just note that overall things are pretty good in a pretty not great economy right now.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that's number one.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about number two, which is AI is replacing developers, right?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we've we've seen the articles, we've seen the news stories, and again, you have to step back from the hype.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, with the with the first one, it was all about the the negative people.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, the economy is bad and and software development is dead, and you know, companies are laying off, therefore software developers are going away, and all these negative things that are just really there to stir up things.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, in the same way, there's people out there trying to stir things up with AI.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: And they're trying to make it sound like AI is this thing that can come in and replace developers, and it's going to take all of our jobs away.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I hear a lot of people that are super negative and are telling people just don't get into the industry.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get into the industry because, you know, I've been here for 30 years and I know that this job's not going to be here another five, and AI is just coming for us.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's not going to.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's just not.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, we see more and more that AI is kind of doing the opposite.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: So again, I've got a new course coming out July 29th.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're watching or listening to this or watching this after that, that's probably already out.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's called Navigating AI, where we talk about what is AI and then what it's not, how to define all the terms.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then we go into the hype and get past the hype and learn about how AI works and how AI is going to work, and then what you know, what we've seen of the hype, and then what the repercussions of that were.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: For example, um, an early example of hype was Klarna, um, a company in Europe that decided we're not gonna we're gonna lay off or get rid of 700 positions, not developers, just uh people who answer phones and and respond to customer service requests.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna they said we're gonna let those people go and replace them with AI because it's better.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: And they had all these things about how we we've tested it.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And the AI is is smarter and faster and you know more reliable and gives better answers and makes for a shorter phone call and it, all these things.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: And they made headlines all over.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: If you search for Klarna and AI, you'll find a ton of them.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: But then you'll now find articles about how Klarna is going, oops, that didn't work.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, people hated that, and that didn't didn't actually provide the the answers we thought it did.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: And all the things he said about how AI was better wasn't actually true.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: And now they're hiring people back.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just for customer support roles, not to diminish those roles, but those roles typically are taking a binder and saying, okay, in this binder is all the answers, just find the right one that applies to their question and match it up.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: And yet AI couldn't do those roles.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, what's going to do about developers?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen how companies have tried to replace developers, they keep talking about it, but it's more about them trying to get views on their product and views on their company and boost their stock than it is about actually doing these things.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we've seen it just doesn't work.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, Gartner did a survey, a study about AI, I think uh mid-last year.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: And they talked about, you know, what is AI gonna do?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: How is it gonna impact software developers?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: They talked to a whole bunch of CEOs, they did a whole bunch of research, and they found, first of all, AI is not gonna take software developer jobs.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And in fact, it will probably add software developer jobs.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: But also, there's an interesting statistics in there about the fact that when they talk to CEOs about AI, a lot of them said, we're implementing AI, but we don't know what AI is or how it's gonna work.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason why is because they're just afraid of falling behind.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: So they're just throwing AI on things.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: They're just using it as a way to manipulate their stock price, to try and put their company forward and make it look like they're doing great things, or maybe stumble into somehow success with this thing they don't understand.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, no, AI is not going to replace developers.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, there's a couple of studies recently that found out that senior developers were actually slowed down by AI.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Now, they enjoyed it more, they enjoyed working with the AI more, but the end result was they were slowed down.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because they had to do more code reviews, more iterations of the AI in order to get the right solution, not just a working solution.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where the key is gonna be, is you need to know how to work without the AI in order to better instruct the AI.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: You can't just be a person who says, let's vibe code this, I have no clue what I'm doing, but that's okay, the AI does.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's not gonna work.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: But when you know more about software development, it takes longer to work with the AI than it does to just do a job yourself, at least right now.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: But the satisfaction of doing it is better.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: You have a better experience and sometimes better results if you know how to guide it.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, no, AI isn't taking your job.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: AI isn't even making developers faster at this point.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, with all of that, number three, let's talk about the fact that, okay, you're saying that the job market is great for software developers.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm not saying that.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm saying that the job market is slow in general, but for software developers, it's better than other areas, and it's still growing.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: So, why is it then that you feel like you get rejected or auto-rejected whenever you apply for a job?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: So this has been happening for years.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, some people say, oh, it's AI's fault.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: AI is re-rejecting people.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: And to an extent, that could be true.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but this has been happening for years before AI.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, I remember when I was at one company I was working for early on in my career, I applied and was qualified for hundreds of roles, and I kept applying and nothing.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: I would get nothing.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't even get interviews, I wouldn't even get the next level up.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that was, you know, in the early 2000s.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: That was, you know, 20 plus years ago, and that was happening.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't AI then.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so what is it about this, the fact that you can get a person to talk to you?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I've been on both sides of the hiring, um, the hiring uh area.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've I have applied for jobs, I have also posted jobs and seen the results.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, first of all, what I see is that every time I post a job, I get a flurry of of resumes.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of them people don't even read.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: People don't even read the position.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: I had one that said, well, this is a work-from-home job, but you need to be in this area.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's a tax thing.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: I had to have people in this area.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: I also wanted to have them close by for team meetings, but it's a work-from-home job.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, just that sentence got missed by people who were like, got it, remote job, I'll apply for it.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Even though I am, you know, two continents away, even though I can't work in the US, even though I am nowhere near where you want me to be, I'll still apply.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so there's that, but there's also people who are applying who don't even come close to matching up with the position.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: People who apply for a senior C Sharp developer job who have never developed in C Sharp.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: And they say, well, I've got two years of experience in Java, and that's great.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you could probably program in C Sharp if you took a little bit of time, but that's not the same thing as a senior developer.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Two years' experience, no matter what it was, wouldn't be enough for a senior developer.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yet they're applying.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I know I've seen the hundreds, if not thousands, of job applications for one position come in.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you may be thinking, that's why.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I don't hear anything, because I'm in that avalanche of jobs and I'm getting lost.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, yes, you are.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but let's talk about why.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm a small company, and so I do the first pass in the first pass reviews.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: However, in most companies where there's more than a few employees, you don't do the first pass with the person actually doing the hiring.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: So the um the software development lead or the manager does not do the first pass review of resumes.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody else does the weeding down, usually HR.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: So what does HR not typically know about?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they don't know about software development.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's not their their thing.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's not what they know about.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: So what do they know?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: They know they have a job posting and they know they have resumes or applications.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so what they do is they match the application up to the job posting.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: And they say, is this even close?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of times, good people with good qualifications who are fully qualified for that role will get passed over in this pass.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now, whose fault is that?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's the applicant's fault.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now you may grumble and complain, and you know what, there's also room for it being HR's fault.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: I will grant you that.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes HR will do things that they they filter out people they should not.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: And they've also used AI for filtering out people they should not.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: And they've people have applied to their own position and been rejected automatically.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I totally get there can be times when those restrictions are too tight or when they are looking for the wrong things.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: However, that's more of the exception than the rule.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because here's how I know I have worked with companies who are hiring developers.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: And by and large, when they hire developers, they hire qualified developers.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, were they the most qualified of the entire candidate pool?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe not, but they were qualified.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: So somehow that person got through when others that may have been more qualified didn't.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about why they didn't get through.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's an ATS or ATS stands for applicant tracking system, it's a it's a program that automatically scans your application and compares it to the job posting.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or AI can do the same thing now, or it's just an HR person that's doing the exact same thing.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: What they're going to be looking at is how close of a match are these two things?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: So when you say, I am a C sharp developer and you post about being a C sharp developer, but the application is asking for a.NET developer with 10 years experience.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the the HR person, the ATS, the AI, AI is actually probably the best of this.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the rest of those probably don't know that.NET, that C sharp is.NET.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so those two things can be equated to an extent.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: So they don't know that your resume is going to match up.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe, and I've seen this a lot, I've I've talked to people who have bemoaned how you know the job market has passed them by or how the job market just doesn't see their resume as valuable.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I've looked at their resume and they say, I'm looking for a senior C sharp developer job, and they've mentioned C sharp on their resume once or twice at the most.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, guess what?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't show me that you're a senior C sharp developer.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: It just doesn't.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it doesn't match up with the job posting.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: So what can you do about this?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what you really need to do, and people hate to hear this sometimes, but you need to match your resume to the job posting.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: We go over this in the workshop in more depth, but the the five-minute summary is this.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: You need to create a master resume that has all your experience, all of your things that you've done, really good bullet points that's important, that have really good information, not just empty words, which are kind of like empty calories.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: You want really meaningful bullet points, but you want to have one master resume that has everything.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then you can create a few that are very specific to the types of jobs you're applying for.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: C Sharp developer, DevOps developer, uh team lead developer.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever the case may be, you can have sub-resumes for those that are more customized.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes you can just take that subresume and send it in as your application.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of times what you need to do is take even that sub-resume and tweak it a bit before then sending that in.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: It shouldn't take more than 10 or 15 minutes to do per posting.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: You may say, well, Tim, I've got to apply to 100 postings to even get hear back from one.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: I can't take 10 minutes per posting.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you're going to have to reduce the number of jobs you apply for or spend more time, but what you're doing is increasing the chances of getting through every single application.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: You're increasing the chance of getting to the next level.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so you can either increase the chances or you can do the same thing you've always done and expect different results.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's the choice.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: So when it comes to the idea of, you know, you're in a sea of people and they all seem the same, yes, you need to stand out.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that's going to take doing things differently than everybody else does.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you can complain about it, or you can actually learn to stand out and get results.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it's either complain about it and say, woe is me, and just walk off into the corner and wait for someone to magically discover you, or you can work on making some changes and hopefully seeing different results.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's harsh, I know.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's frustrating, I know to have to do this extra work, but this is the climate we are in.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's the reality we have to accept.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's talk number four real briefly, which is competing against people who are using AI to cheat.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: So this is becoming more and more of a thing.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: I I hear uh recruiters, I hear people who are interviewing people.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: I've talked to people where, you know, they they they see the person they're interviewing maybe on Zoom or other uh video chat, and they'll ask them a question and they'll watch the the person shift their eyes and maybe see them kind of move like maybe they're typing, and they'll then come back and give an answer.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: What are they doing?
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: They're going to the AI, they're getting the answer, and they're coming back.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, is that right?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: No, because that's not explaining who you are, that's trying to explain what the AI can do.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not, again, if you let the AI lead you, then you're replaceable.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: You just are.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, your job will be replaced because if all you can do with the AI says to do, you're not a valuable employee.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: So what do you do to stand out and stand out from this crowd?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, your experience is going to show through, which does mean you need experience.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that doesn't mean you need to have worked at a company.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now, that's valuable.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's very valuable.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: And if you can get a job, do that because that experience is super valuable.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: But you can get experience just by building things.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: You can build applications that show off what you can do.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now, companies are already implementing in-person interviews and things like whiteboarding sessions.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know that we hate those and those aren't great, but they're doing things like that because they're trying to mitigate this whole cheat with AI and pretend you're better than you are, or pretend you know more than you actually do.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, this process is broken.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, we can complain about it.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I would love to find a good solution.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm working on a good solution for companies to help them with making better interviews.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: But there is still gonna be an in-person probably uh part of this process because of AI.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are you gonna do?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: Be prepared for that, be practiced for that.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: Have actual proof of your experience.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's being a huge help.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: This is where portfolio items are super valuable and it will become more valuable because it's not just where you say, hey, I can do this.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's not that just you say, hey, I got this shiny thing that can show off.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're saying is, hey, here's something that I built that took a month to build.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Here's something that actually works, that shows off these five skills that I'm saying that I have.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, an employer can look at you and look at somebody else and go, Well, that person has told me they can do this.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: You have showed me that you can do this.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a big deal difference.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: So when it comes down to you versus somebody else, well, when you are showing what you can do, you stand out.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: This is a percentage change.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's all it is.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna be the um the silver bullet, it's not gonna be the one thing, unless in your case it is.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: But what it's gonna do is improve your odds.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what you want to do in this whole process is in every step along the way, look to improve your odds.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, another one is to be known by someone in the company.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're applying to Acme Corp and you know this coyote guy and you, yeah, it's bug by your efforts.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but if you know this guy and you can say, hey, I know that person, and maybe they even put a good word into their boss, well, all of a sudden that creates a connection that is going to help, again, improve percentage-wise compared to someone who doesn't have a connection.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: You're just looking to increase your odds.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, at the end of the day, you have to figure out how to stand out from the crowd, not just do the same thing as everybody else and expect to be treated differently.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're listening to this episode with the first 36 hours of launch, there's still time to join the Get Hired workshop if you want to go in further depth of how to do these things.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you can also go to imtimcory.com for details.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but otherwise, you can join the mailing list at imtimcory.com to be alerted when we have other workshops or content launching.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: I try really hard to give as much free um stuff out there.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: These podcast episodes are part of that, but we have others as well that that work on getting you hired because not just enough to be entertained by my videos or or or my podcast episodes.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: I really want to get you employed.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: I want to get you out doing the thing that you were designed to do.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: So let's work together on getting that done.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: And as always, I am Tim Corey.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us for this episode of Dev Questions.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: When you're ready to learn to think and code like a professional developer, head over to IamTimCorey.com and enroll in a course.