Tech Careers in NZ

How to land your first tech job

This article has overlaps with this one. You can check it out as well.

There are so many skills and technologies.

- Make something and show it. This is the best way to prove to others that you are passionate about it. - If you have a Github account, put everything on there, you can even make a portfolio there using Github pages. - If youre only interested in the money, it might be better to look at other careers. - Technically, the way the world is moving, every job is a tech job. This is discussed in more depth here.

Join an internship

Join an accelerator

Knock on company doors

Sometimes, showing people who you are in person is a good idea.

Go to meetups

Employers go to Meetups to discretely look for talent. They are looking for people who have passion for the industry, or a specific topic. People don't go to Meetups unless they're interested in the topic, or if they're looking for a job. Be the former, show off your interest in a subject and attract an Employer of a large company.

Send out cold emails

Ask friends to introduce you

Depending on your country, referrals are an excellent way to get your foot in the door. If you go into an interview without anyone knowing you, you are the same as any graduate off the street. But if you know someone in the company who is able to refer you, your odds jump up massively. Google prefers hiring from referrals. The logic being, you are the five closest people around you. So, a small part of an existing successful Employee is instilled in any referral Employee.

But, make sure you would actually be a good fit for the job. If not, your friend won't want to refer you, and pressuring them means your losing a friend, and also the job opportunity.

Referrals are good. Nepotism is bad.

In New Zealand, we are one of the least corrupt countries in the world. This means we're not legally allowed to hire people because of an external preference unrelated to the job; such as race, height, gender, or anything that can segregate you from someone else. But let's be honest, people hire people they want to work with. Hiring a tech genius who has the personality of a wet sock usually doesn't work well in the long run. Having someone that you can socially bond with contributes far more to the congruence and efficacy of a team. So, despite the legality, we inevitably prefer to employ people who are similar to us in one way or another, and given a wide enough net, every external factor is not so external, and it can be argued, indisposable to professional success.