don’t be a feature developer
Hello, It’s been a while :) I am writing a bit less these days. That’s because I am doing something else. Something you will find about soon enough… Before I tell you that, you need to know what…
Sep 11, 2023 · 2 MIN READ
Hello,
It’s been a while :)
I am writing a bit less these days. That’s because I am doing something else. Something you will find about soon enough…
Before I tell you that, you need to know what happened on Friday because the info might save your developer career!
First, the market.
So, how is the market right now for developers?
If you’ve been looking at job descriptions and interviewing, you might find it terrible!
There is too much competition, hard technical interviews, ghosting, and companies wanting everything and paying little. And all this is happening in the middle of a huge living cost crisis and inflation!
Well, I’ve done my homework and consulted a few experts!
One of them is a European-based CEO of a recruiting firm that places hundreds of developers every month. The other leads a freelance developer marketplace. To keep it simple, these people knew what they were talking about!
And despite everything you’ve heard, you know what they told me?
Oh, my dear, they told me companies are having difficulty finding developers…
Why?
First of all, developers have been the least affected by the lay-offs. It mainly affected HR, operations, and marketing people.
Secondly, the huge layoffs we’ve seen at the beginning of the year have already been absorbed by the market. Companies don’t want to let developers go quickly because they are not hard to find.
And third, most people in the market, the ones you see applying to jobs in hundreds, are employed. They are burned out at work but don’t want to quit because of the economy.
So they scroll through LinkedIn and apply for jobs, but after the first calls, they usually ghost the company and go back to what they know. They are window shoppers!
Okay… and now the most important thing, how can a developer stand out in this market?
Well, keep in mind that we are in a recession…
Which means companies are looking to make a real return on their money! Guess what ... Features don’t make money! Products make money!
So, it is time you market yourself not as a developer but as a money-making specialist.
Where is the best place to do that?
In your CV & LinkedIn profile.
How?
By directly relating the stuff you do with the revenue. Either by generating more sales (better website, better conversion, more money) or by reducing cost (automating processes that were in the past done by humans, expensive humans).
That’s it.
Do that, and you will be ahead of 99% of developers working on open-source or useless side projects, not understanding that features don’t make money, products do!
Now, I must return to work on that thing I haven’t told you about yet.
That thing is called our YouTube channel <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC07G4rT6ZvDv0lokaVHKeQw> :)
If you aren’t subscribed yet, what the heck are you waiting for?
Take care, Dragos
