Top tips to land top tech jobs in 2017

Over two thirds of of IT directors claim their organizations don't have sufficient in-house tech skills. The skills gap in the industry is ongoing concern and in result developers are in high demand. This trend is likely to continue and even grow for the foreseeable future.

It means that on average if you're software developer you should not experience big difficulties in getting a job. But make no mistake about it - if you want to reach for really attractive position in well-respected organization that's still going to be a hugely competitive space.

Here are few pointers how to drive your candidacy up a notch and increase chances of securing yourself a desirable spot.

1. Set up your online profiles / personal website Play your own trumpet and talk openly about your skills & professional track record. Let anyone know them! But do not make any descriptions overly long. Rather than that keep it concise and to-the-point. Also make sure your profiles contain keyword-rich headlines.

tip: get extra exposure by creating your profile on ChallengeRocket.com. Online talent communities are often recruiters are sourcing for new exceptional talents. And if you participate in our challenges it might be a clever way to get few high-calibre successes behind your belt! And that brings us to the next point. 

2. Compete in Hackathons (both online and onsite) That is both an opportunity to show off your skills and get discovered. And if you happen to score well in those events then it's an excellent badge on your resume! You can always check the latest events from our website. 

3. Observe new trends and learn skills to set you apart from IT crowd. It may be something very peculiar or something pretty obvious - like for instance Big Data. A significant amount of organizations use Data Mining techniques right now to discover new things and analyze wide variety of indicators. Still amount of developers knowing non-relational languages like noSQL or tools like IBM Hadoop is not very big. Keep in mind that that some trends might be changing really quickly! But don't let that discourage your. A they say the moment you stop learning is the moment you may start becoming much less relevant.

4. Learn about the company product before attending the interview. Ideally make sure you know it inside out. Be able to explain what value can you bring in the context of that product. Be able to communicate that precisely and clearly (tip: practice in front of the mirror!). We assume you're passionate about the company you're applying to. Then make sure you speak with passion during the interview!

5. Prepare for tech interviews that may include researching specific tasks, algoritm assignments and logic riddles that are often used during assessment. I know that this point is slightly controversial for some developers. One of my friends said: "I know I am very good developer. And I have over 10 years of hands-on experience working with actual big projects. If they cannot see that it's their problem. I will refuse to solve any stupid riddles in the interview". 

While I see the point in his thinking I need to raise objection. Two objections actually. First of all not everyone can claim 10 years industry experience which can indeed mean you already proved yourself in the battle. Some have a long experience but canot really reveal their projects. And another thing and the basic question is do you want to miss an opportunity (if it wasn't attractive you would not apply in the first place) just because you don't fully agree with the candidate assessment approach. We think it's absolutely fine to communicate politely to the interviewer if you don't see a point behind certain assignment or do not find it relevant for the position you're applying to. But at the same time try to solve. And come prepared. Otherwise it may also be you loose it to developer who's in fact much less experienced and skillful just because he took some time preparing for interview-specific questions for this particular company. And that does not sound like a good idea at all!

tip: in response to that ChallengeRocket is always a new online hackathon series where you'll be able to practice type of assignments that are often encountered in interviews of the most prestigious companies including Facebook, Google, Amazon, IBM, Cisco, Apple, Samsung, LinkedIn and many more!