Rejection in the Developer Job Hunt

Hi friends!

The feedback for Eight Values has been incredible. I want to thank every one of you who reached out. There’s no greater feeling than talking to you. Y’all are cool 😊. I believe in Eight Values and the change we’re trying to make (”helping developers find dream teams that align with their values”). Now more than ever. But here’s the situation.

We currently have 2 hiring companies on Eight Values. Two is not good for a job board, I know 😅. I’m speaking to hiring companies. So far, the responses have been “it’s not a good time”. But I’m still incredibly optimistic. There are hundreds of strategies left to try & hundreds of companies left to speak to. The number of hiring companies is simply a reflection of my current sales approach, current marketing efforts, my current situation - all things I’ll improve over time! 💪

I’m also thinking of ways to get Eight Values in front of more people. I’m going to start posting on LinkedIn next month. If you want to see what’s coming, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. If I approach max-capacity levels of cringe, y’all have permission to roast me 😂. I’ll keep it 💯 though.

I’ll be at these upcoming events: HN Tokyo on May 31st 2023 and ProductTank June 1st 2023. Say hi if you’re there!

On Rejection in the Developer Job Hunt

I hate rejection like all y’all. I’m human. I want people to accept me! But I’ve learned a few things about rejection during my time building Eight Values. Maybe my perspective could help you face rejection in your job hunting journey? If this is self-indulgent, let me know!

• Remember why you set this goal. When I was 13 years old, I worked at a grocery store as a “service clerk” (read: bag boy). I placed food into plastic bags for 8 hours a day while a manager told me to “go service the customers in lane 2” — it was painful and boring. At the time, I thought, “whatever the good life is, bagging groceries AIN’T it.” I won’t go back to bagging groceries, and you should refuse to go back to your version of ‘bagging groceries’. You set this goal to change jobs for a reason.

• Hope is your greatest asset. As long as you don’t quit, you have a great chance to win. And you won’t lose hope as long as you keep that application pipeline full. Hope is precious. There are people out there that are looking for you. Your job is to find them. If you need more jobs, go through each portfolio company of this VC list, these Japanese startup map from Jetro, and this list from J-startup.

• Challenging situations allow you to practice tenacity. If you’re diligently working toward a goal, I hope you realize you are being tenacious. Right now, it might not feel great not having what you want. But tenacity is admirable. You are making your life and your family’s life better. What could be more worthy of respect?

Junior Developer Job Hunting Tactic

A bootcamp grad recently got a job at an awesome company. They recommended an interesting tactic I wanted to share with you.

I honestly struggled to get to speak with most companies, mostly due to a lack of experience.

But to try and help that I started picking up client projects and built websites for them (most of the clients were friends and family). So it gave me something to talk about in a professional manner.

The interview that landed me the job was something I had practiced for a whole week. I was remaking a NextJS application everyday and designing new features for it. After the interview I went ahead and completed all the tasks I didn't finish in time and sent them to the interviewer to ask for their opinion, which they said they were pleased to see.

tldr: Try to get some experience doing any kind of work. Hack it.

Whatever you're doing, I'm wishing you all the best.

Until next time,

👊  Ryohei