What's the best way to find a developer job in another city?
June 23, 2016 7:18 AM Subscribe
I'm a former .NET developer that moved from NYC doing large enterprise apps to a small smartup in a much smaller city doing really cool bleeding edge Javascript apps. I really like being out of the enterprise space and doing product development. However, everything in the town I am in is either enterprise or very corporate and I'm just burnt out on that. What's the best job search method to look for something in a city with more opportunity? I'm thinking SF or back to NYC but willing to live anywhere.
I've been a lead developer / architect / whatever for at least 10 years. Every job I've found has been through connections, which I assume is the best way to do it. I should have connections in NYC but I networked poorly and it was WFH so I didn't really collaborate with people in my field. My position there also went to basically management, so I was sort of out of day to day coding.
In any case I went back to coding / architecting at the startup but it went belly up for political reasons with the initial investors, but I learned a bunch of cool new things and rediscovered my love of coding. I didn't have to sit through fake corporate agile meetings and actually saw the reasons I was doing things. Really enjoying product development versus working for clients.
I'm also in my early 30s which I guess is older, but I'm not money hungry at this point in my career. I'd rather have a job I enjoy doing, and everything I look at going to careers.com or whatever seems to be the type of work I don't enjoy doing (read: middle management in a large company).
I've been a lead developer / architect / whatever for at least 10 years. Every job I've found has been through connections, which I assume is the best way to do it. I should have connections in NYC but I networked poorly and it was WFH so I didn't really collaborate with people in my field. My position there also went to basically management, so I was sort of out of day to day coding.
In any case I went back to coding / architecting at the startup but it went belly up for political reasons with the initial investors, but I learned a bunch of cool new things and rediscovered my love of coding. I didn't have to sit through fake corporate agile meetings and actually saw the reasons I was doing things. Really enjoying product development versus working for clients.
I'm also in my early 30s which I guess is older, but I'm not money hungry at this point in my career. I'd rather have a job I enjoy doing, and everything I look at going to careers.com or whatever seems to be the type of work I don't enjoy doing (read: middle management in a large company).
The path of least resistance is to find a recruiter that works in the area to shop you around. They will know the local market and who is willing to consider out of the area applicants and shop you around aggressively. They will, of course, absorb a big fee from any company that hires you, which while it won't come out of your pocket will effect what the offer is and the availability/size of things like signing bonuses. On the plus side, as you're not picky where you end up, you can scale your search very effectively.
If you do end up interviewing in more or less random locations, make sure you have some good answers for when interviewers ask, "So why do you want to move to $LOCATION?" They don't even have to be true, just convincing.
If you have the savings to not have to rush, I'd consider taking some time to figure out where you might want to live and then look for companies doing the type of work you're interested in there and start courting them. Companies prefer to hire locally but at a senior developer/architect/bleeding edge level, at least some will be willing to consider someone that needs to relocate.
I'd also suggest going to conferences that are focused on the type of work you'd like to be doing and network and job search there. If someone's talk inspires you, hit them up afterwards and ask if their company is hiring.
Lastly, update your LinkedIn with your current resume, indicate that you're looking for work, and where. If you have the right buzzwords, recruiters will come to you.
posted by Candleman at 8:51 AM on June 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you do end up interviewing in more or less random locations, make sure you have some good answers for when interviewers ask, "So why do you want to move to $LOCATION?" They don't even have to be true, just convincing.
If you have the savings to not have to rush, I'd consider taking some time to figure out where you might want to live and then look for companies doing the type of work you're interested in there and start courting them. Companies prefer to hire locally but at a senior developer/architect/bleeding edge level, at least some will be willing to consider someone that needs to relocate.
I'd also suggest going to conferences that are focused on the type of work you'd like to be doing and network and job search there. If someone's talk inspires you, hit them up afterwards and ask if their company is hiring.
Lastly, update your LinkedIn with your current resume, indicate that you're looking for work, and where. If you have the right buzzwords, recruiters will come to you.
posted by Candleman at 8:51 AM on June 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yep, recruiters should help. I live in Denver. Very active startup scene here, lots of interest in JavaScript and a low supply of developers. Check http://www.builtincolorado.com/ if you're interested.
n.b. Denver is cheaper than NYC by far, but not cheap and prices are on the rise. Good luck with your job search.
posted by rachelpapers at 1:32 PM on June 23, 2016
n.b. Denver is cheaper than NYC by far, but not cheap and prices are on the rise. Good luck with your job search.
posted by rachelpapers at 1:32 PM on June 23, 2016
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