Tech Community Matchmaking

🏘️ ‘IT’ Takes a Village

Finding your online tech village is like finding the perfect Wi-Fi signal in the middle of nowhere: it's a lifesaver! You can share knowledge and exchange ideas with your fellow techies and gain access to opportunities, referrals, and IRL events. Think of it like a treasure hunt, where the treasure is not gold but insight and connections.

A LinkedIn study found that 73% of respondents were hired as a result of someone they knew making an introduction or a connection. With Recruiter fees being as high 30% of an employee’s annual salary, it’s easy to see why companies are more than willing to dish out a $5K referral bonus to current employees. As the labor market experiences considerable changes, the importance of professional networks is anticipated to grow even further.

Here are some top communities to explore: 

• Blind: Blind is a community-based platform where tech professionals can share information about their companies, including layoffs. Members can connect with other tech professionals, discuss job opportunities, and share their experiences. In Blind, everything is anonymous, so you get some real truth flying around the forums.

• Slack: When companies have a large layoff, there is often a Slack community created for Alumni that can be very helpful for navigating severance contracts, finding referrals for your next company, or simply giving your old company a big middle finger. If you’re not aware of any such Alumni Slack for your previous employer, reach out to some of your old coworkers on LinkedIn and see if you can find any clues (hey look, you’re networking!).

• Reddit: There are several subreddits for tech professionals whether your goal is to find your people, upskill for your next role, or add a 2nd/3rd job to your plate:

  • r/girlsgonewired

  • r/dataisbeautiful

  • r/cscareerquestions

  • r/learnprogramming

  • r/WomenInTech

  • r/SideProject

  • r/WorkOnline

  • r/Freelance 

  • r/overemployed

• LinkedIn - I’d be remiss if I didn’t lob this one in here.

• Codepen: This community is for front-end developers who use CodePen, a social development environment for creating HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code snippets. Members can share their work, provide feedback to others, and connect with other developers.

• Glitch: This is a collaborative coding platform where developers can create and share web applications. The community aspect comes in through the ability to remix other people's projects, collaborate on projects with others, and participate in discussions and Q&A sessions.

🎧 Listen While You Read

📈 Initial Jobless Claims Up This Week

Initial Jobless Claims measures the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time. In the U.S., these are reported on a weekly basis by the U.S. Department of Labor.

A rise in jobless claims typically suggests a weakening labor market, with more people losing their jobs and struggling to find new ones. Conversely, a decrease in jobless claims can indicate an improving labor market and a healthier economy, as fewer people are losing their jobs and are more likely to find new employment opportunities.

Here’s what this number could mean for you as a job seeker:

1. Job market competition: A high number of jobless claims may indicate increased competition for available positions, as more people are seeking employment. This could make the job search process more challenging and time-consuming.

2. Economic conditions: The jobless claims numbers can serve as a proxy for the overall health of the economy. If jobless claims are high, the economy might be experiencing a downturn, which could lead to reduced hiring or even layoffs in some tech companies.

3. Industry-specific trends: It's important to analyze jobless claims in the context of the tech industry. If the tech sector is experiencing growth and high demand for skilled workers, you may still find ample job opportunities even in a challenging economic climate.

4. Wages and benefits: High jobless claims might create an environment where employers have the upper hand in negotiations, potentially leading to lower starting salaries or less generous benefits packages.

5. Networking importance: In a competitive job market, networking becomes even more critical. Leveraging your professional connections can help you uncover job openings that may not be publicly advertised and give you an edge over other candidates.

🛠️ Tools to Help with Employment

1. Yoodli - At its core, Yoodli is an AI-powered speech coach that can help you prepare for interviews. No more looking silly in front of the mirror or struggling to get your roommate to listen to your career achievements. Yoodli can provide mock interview questions and then give you real-time coaching during your speech! As a bonus, they have an interview prep crash course providing tips and tricks from the world’s best speakers.

2. Jobs FYI - The makers of levels.fyi have leveraged their mass amounts of data to provide accurate estimates of Total Comp for job postings. Some highlights:

   • 💰 TC Estimates - Total Compensation (TC) estimates inline

   • 🔍 Powerful filters - Including total compensation, level, benefits (ex. 401k, maternity leave, etc.), company size, and several more!

   • ⬇️ Relevant sorting - Sort by pay, relevance, or date

   • 🏢 Company grouping - Jobs grouped by company to simplify your application process

   • ✋ No spam - No agencies or other job posting spam

   • ✍️ Summaries - Company summaries to find work you're passionate about

🤖 ChatGPT Tip of the Week - Interview Prep

With OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT-4, it’s reasoning abilities have drastically increased. Whether you’re paying for Plus or still using v3.5, it can be a valuable guide for preparing for an interview.

Try some of the prompts below before your next interview:

"Please provide me with a list of the most common interview questions and suggested answers for a [insert position here] position."

"What are the best strategies to prepare for a technical interview in the tech industry, including coding exercises, system design, and behavioral questions?"

"Can you give me advice on how to present my work experience and skills effectively during a job interview in the tech industry?"

"How can I handle and overcome interview anxiety or nervousness before and during a tech job interview?"

"What are some insightful questions that I can ask the interviewer at the end of a tech job interview to leave a positive impression?"

Use these prompts as a foundation and tweak them to get the best results!

#️⃣ #layoffs

@chriscoxtoks

You’re laying ME off? That’s embarassing for you… #techlayoffs #techlayoff #layoffs #genzhumor #corporatehumor #corporatememes #corporateg... See more