MC Job Hunt Method

I'm hunting for a new developer job.

This is how I'm going about it.

1. 1. Make a plan.
   Use paper. Use a whiteboard. Think about how to make this process your own. Ignore the internet. What fields are you interested in? What projects might you want to tackle for fun? Do you want to play the social connections game or are you going commando? A Mix? What do you want to brush up on? What projects do you have on the backburner?
2. 2. Update Resume x Y
   You're going to update your resume and then keep updating your resume.
3. 3. Otta.com
   I signed up for this and I'm using it as much for the ideas as I am applications themselves. I'm also keeping track of the jobs I submit to, because this is going to be useful for step #6
4. 4. Updated Linkedin
   Companies seem to be interested in this. Me, not so much.
5. 5. List of companies I like / would like to work for / with The process of browsing and applying for jobs has helped me clarify what I'm looking for. Namely:
   1. Small(ish) companies that build web-based tools for science or scientists.
   2. AI Companies - because I'm personally finding working alongside AI to be quite inspiring.
   3. Smallish companies in the education space. Potentially combining #'s 1 and 2, above.
6. 6. Use AI to generate lists of companies within a given space.
   If you tell ChatGPT to generate a list of companies that create web-based tools for science and scientists, with offices located in, say, New York City, it can do that.
7. 7. Get setup with DocumentCloud and setup access to Klaxon.
   This is a newsroom tool used to monitor websites. We're going to use it to monitor the career pages of companies we like.
8. 8. Go to their careers / hiring pages.
   Search > CompanyName > Scroll to bottom > Careers > Openings.
9. 9. Set up a Klaxon to watch for new job listings
   (Screenshots)
10. 10. Have cover letters ready to go for most of the important companies on the list.
    You should have a major hand in writing these. Because you're pre-writing them you don't have to be super anxious about making a quick thing - Take your time, read over the site, and draw a few personal connections. If you use AI to help, you should (obviously) still edit it to maintain your voice and, more importantly, your vision. Have a fucking vision.
11. 11. Update personal developer site / portfolio
    You've been out of the game for a minute, but now that you're applying for jobs, you should probably have some work online to demonstrate what you can do. Your GitHub profile has been quiet for some time because all your work was behind a corporate GitHub account. Start committing. Start building stuff. When the right match comes along, the hope is they recognize and are interested in your capabilities and unique characteristics.
12. 12. Start working on fun example projects to get GitHub active.
    I'm setup with Cursor.ai's IDE. It has made writing software quite fun, and removed a lot of the pain involved in syntax, various technical evolutions (JS => TS, Next.js 13 => 14/15, AWS => Everything). I've got a few creative projects that I'm setting up, including this site, here, which represents a fantasy I've had for some time now, involving an Alt Persona (Mark Condor) who loves configuring spaces for maximum utility / fun / productivity.
13. 13. Coffee + Lunches 1x Week
    And, because I'm not 100% introverted, I'm dedicating time each week to seeking out friends (old and new) and having a lunch or coffee with them. Sometimes this is vaguely work-related (i.e. friends who have jobs in tech who might know of a thing) but - honestly, I'm trying to land a cool job without having any inside connections, because 1) I want to prove to myself I can do it, after having founded my career on a connection and always doubting myself as a result and 2) I've never felt good / been interested in the nepo-game. Although... If a cool thing comes along and I do happen to know someone who can help, I'm not wholly opposed to giving it a go.
14. 14. Wish me luck, and thanks.