My situation is I’m 1 YOE and in Canada (Canada born) atm at a bank as a SWE. I’ve desperately been trying to go to the US. I feel like I’ve been doing all I can: - applying to jobs on LinkedIn - interview prepping - side projects But crickets for interviews. I had one recently, meta, and despite almost perfect OA I got rejected :/ Am I missing something? Should I be networking or going out of my way to do something else to try and get a US job? Ik economy is part of it, but if you were a new grad or early career again what would you do in these shoes YOE 1 TC 86.5k
Yes. Networking is extremely beneficial. Especially in this awful market. Try-try-again. And apply to a role you want, keep taking a stab at it until someone is willing to take you on. If it were me, I’d search for somewhere with ample opportunity for growth in my areas of expertise, everyone has their preferences. Work hard and smart and then worry about TC in your next role.
What would you recommend for networking? Should I try to go to in person events in the US like job fairs or messaging online etc?
In person events are good. Job fairs are alright but difficult to stand out, because everyone is kind of there for the same reason. If you really want to stand out, finding ways to become a presenter at a seminar or joining industry groups, for example user groups for a specific technology tend to provide much higher quality connections. Groups like Toastmasters can help if that is an area where you struggle. The nice thing about presenting at a seminar is it is a great pathway to further your career while also inviting opportunities to come to you instead of the other way around. Alternatively, contributing to an open source community can also open lots of doors. As you network with other contributors and learn where they work, you can ask for referrals and such. When it comes down to it, networking can take place pretty much anywhere, for example I knew a VP of customer success who would hire waitstaff from a local restaurant, the classic example of golf course or gym membership. It kind of like asking how do you make friends? You talk to people. You learn their background. And when you’ve built up some rapport, you’ve done some research on a company and see a job opening at the same company, you ask them for a referral.
At OP how much does TD pay for senior level roles? I have an offer for ~260k cad for a senior dev position. What level would this be at TD? I have an interview call with them
Senior level at TD would be anywhere between 120-180 I’d imagine - and 180 being really generous. I think 99% of ppl r looking at 120-160 but it’s worth interviewing and seeing what they say. I do know pay bands have gone up slightly recently.
Try and get it into a tech company ASAP. Banks look at devs as a cost, software companies look at you like an engineer.
Got it. How much can i expect at 5.5 yoe as a dev? Recruiter mentioned it will be L9/L10
Just lc and get out. Message recruiters and hm on LinkedIn aggressively.
Can I msg you, I haven’t really tried that before and am not sure how to exactly word the messages / go ab it but seems effective