Have you been on a job hunt recently? Yes, the time when you get to read all these annoying texts called job descriptions written in intimidating and sometimes condescending language that shatters your confidence, makes you doubt your skills, and scares the crap out of you. Unfortunately, unless you're someone who has a degree in Computer Science from an Ivy or who's switching from a FAANG, FAANG-like company, it's a bumpy ride ahead that doesn't guarantee success. Instead, you might end up working for a company with a toxic work environment, only to watch yourself start the hunt again.

The good news is — there's a flip side to this — good companies, good people, who help you grow into a better software person. They support you by offering opportunities to do meaningful work that you could be proud of. They make sure you don't burn out or get workaholic, which many people in the industry consider a badge of honor.

So how do you find these people (or help them find you)?

Stop hanging out around those Job Boards.

Job boards are not a very good place to start your job hunt. You may just look at it once but don't just stick to it as if it's some sort of map. They tell you nothing about the companies or their culture, scare you with unrealistic job descriptions, and some will show a CTC range that just makes it tempting to apply for the post. If you agree that hiring is broken, job boards significantly contribute.
A better way is to hang out in the communities and keep yourself open to conversations. Meet new people. You'll discover opportunities to get a sneak-peek into the companies, their work culture, the teams, and you can make out if there's a connection. You just feel it. If you do, reach out.

Do not apply to companies if you don't like what they do.

That's a huge red flag. Doesn't matter how good is the culture or the people working in a company; if you don't like what they're doing, it may eventually frustrate you, if not immediately. You're gonna hurt yourself and the company. It's a tough nut to crack, though. Let me help you with an example.
For instance, I don't like Flipkart because I'm not interested in e-commerce in general. So even though I admire many people working there, I'd not apply to Flipkart. However, the situation turns 180 when it comes to considering Shopify. Even though it's e-commerce, Shopify is more into empowering individual creators, helping them run their business. Now that is something I'd be as excited about as the company's founders. Boom — It's a match!

Create and show your work

It's not just you who needs a good company, a good work environment; the company, too, needs good people. They are even more concerned as they want to preserve the culture they've built over time. It's a deal, and the companies have the upper hand. You will have to make an effort. How do you do it?
Companies are looking for exciting people. Ones who possess a good (if not superior) technical grasp and can communicate well, have novel ideas, clear thoughts, and be engrossing. You can't be that person if you just build versions of the Todo app. Solve some problems instead. If you expect the companies to let go of your knowledge on algorithms or data structures, then you gotta offer something else, right? Problem-solving ability is what companies look for essentially. So be creative, automate workflows, build apps to fix real problems, even if they're just yours, go contribute ideas to open source if not code. Show that you're the dev who makes things happen.

Write. Teach.

"I don't know what I think," said the American writer Joan Didion, "until I write it down."
That's true for all of us. Few make an effort to write; others find an excuse. Jason Fried, the founder of Basecamp, wrote in his book Rework that he'd any day hire a candidate who writes well over others with better skills. I'm in no way suggesting you sit, write novels, and send your drafts to Penguin Publication. Instead, I'm telling you that you write to express yourself, share your knowledge, and teach. That is the best possible way to help yourself. If not anything else, read open source software code and contribute to the documentation because if you can read code written by others and explain it to the world, you've built a superpower right there.

Fearlessly create your own style and construct your own opinions.

A developer's original way of working is proof that she involved herself deeply in work. She questioned the language fundamentals, experimented with the tools, broke the code on production, and set the servers on fire, only to build expertise and discover her own style that makes her productive.
Companies love such people. In interviews, it becomes apparent that the developer has been playing outside her comfort zone and not building opinions and practices scrolling through threads on Twitter.
DHH, the creator of Rails, told on his podcast, "We do a lot of automated testing, but I don't do this thing called test driven development where I drive my backend design by writing all these tests first." Now that is one original style of working. Don't care about industry standards; just find a way that works for you best.

Bad companies smell like dirty underwear. So watch out and keep away.

Just like you know when your code smells, you should know when a company does. Sniff like a good dog and run away. Here's a non-exhaustive list of how to sniff poor work cultures. If a company

• is working overtime more than once in a few months, run.
• Holds hackathons and ships features over weekends and calls it fun, run.
• Emphasizes college degrees or expertise in a dozen tools and languages in the job description, run.
• Holds interviews in a supercilious manner, run.
• Asks you to install time trackers on your machine (particularly in remote jobs), run.
• Has a history of people quitting too often, run.
• Doesn't promote freedom, learning — run.

I can go on and on, but you get it.

Now I understand you need to pay your bills and you need a job, and many of the points may seem too idealistic for freshers. Or to people who are in a hurry to find a job. I totally get that. But just keep these ideas in mind, and they should help you build a bright career. But, of course, if you just want to get paid for writing a couple o' lines of code, that's cool too. I just wanted to share things I learned from my experience, and I did. And I wish you all the best!

(Originally published at thebrokenfinger.com by Yatharth)