- Ask almost any software engineer and they'll tell you: It's a lot harder to get a coding job now than a few years ago.
- BI spoke with two engineers who offered $10,000 to anyone who'd help them secure a six-figure coding job.
- "The market is not at all what it used to be, and you really have to differentiate yourself a little bit more," one said.
Software engineers Argenis De La Rosa and Ryan Prescott took a creative approach to their job search recently.
"I'll pay someone $10k if they find me a 6 figure software developer role," De La Rosa first posted on LinkedIn.
"I'll draft out a legitimate contract which you and I will sign, and I'll make bi-weekly payments or whatever the payment structure of the job role is, when I get paid, you get paid," he added. "It's that simple. No hidden BS."
He added in his post that it's "a nice bounty especially if you already know a company that is hiring or are a recruiter, or are a developer who wants to give a referral."
Prescott and other job seekers on LinkedIn later joined in and posted the offer themselves.
It's an unusual proposition. While recruiters often get commissions for bringing on new hires, and companies frequently give referral bonuses to employees who recommend an external candidate who gets hired, it's usually not the applicants themselves who shell out for a position filled.
De La Rosa told Business Insider he had the idea one morning as a "Hail Mary."
"I was kind of being a little bit sarcastic, but I guess everyone received it somewhat well, and I just kind of went with it," he said.
The first 24 hours after he posted were "nonstop" messages, he said. De La Rosa said he received everything ranging from "very sketchy" sales pitches to senior engineers from Big Tech companies offering referrals or mentorship.
The software engineer said he lined up three job interviews in quick succession after making his post.
"I've gotten so much career advice like polish your résumé, make a portfolio, try to send these messages to people you don't know — and that doesn't work," De La Rosa said. "This has gotten more attention, ironically enough, than trying to do what they recommend."
Prescott, who saw De La Rosa's post on LinkedIn before posting his own version of it, told BI he was initially skeptical about the idea but ultimately thought that "this could be a really good way to cut through the noise and have my voice heard."
Some people, of course, were trying to cash in on the deal. (Prescott says one guy half-jokingly told him, "I take cash or card.") But what struck him most from the messages he received was the number of people who offered to help but didn't want the money.
"It was really interesting and super heartwarming to see the altruism," he said.
'A new way to approach this market'
Many tech companies overhired during the pandemic and later conducted mass layoffs, flooding the tech job market with thousands of applicants jostling for the same jobs.
Before the pandemic hit, "you could get tech interviews left and right," De La Rosa said. Now, he has to do "so much more" and gets "such a low ROI" on his job search practices.
De La Rosa said his offer is "a new way to approach this market that's just changing in front of our eyes."
"The market is not at all what it used to be, and you really have to differentiate yourself a little bit more," Prescott said. "It basically seems like everything you thought you knew about job hunting a year ago or two years ago, do the opposite."
Employers, it seems, are "looking for unicorns," he said.
"It's not so much, can you do the job? It's can you tick every single bullet point on my job description and there's no room for error," he added.
Prescott says a proposition like his and De La Rosa's "puts more power in the hands of the candidate."
"They have the choice to decide, what is it worth to me to land this role?" he said. "The candidate can decide what it's worth and work those terms out themselves."
To De La Rosa, the math was simple: "If I give up maybe six weeks of work in exchange for an opportunity at a reputable company, I would trade that every day of the week," he said.
Setting yourself apart
Prescott ultimately landed a job after a startup CEO reached out to him and he subsequently went through several rounds of interviews. Suffice it to say, he's not paying his current boss $10,000 to work for him, so the offer in his LinkedIn post was moot anyway.
But it had the desired effect: helping him stand out.
"Anything that's driving traffic to your LinkedIn profile is going to be beneficial in a market where cold applications and more traditional methods of job hunting are just falling flat because of the volume of applicants," Prescott said.
The biggest takeaway they've had from this experience?
"I would really just encourage more people to differentiate themselves in strange and remarkable ways," said Prescott. "I think it takes a degree of confidence and a willingness and ability to take risk to succeed in the market that we're in."
While De La Rosa is still looking for a full-time staff position, he's gotten contract work in the meantime.
He says he stands by "just posting publicly, even if it seems at the moment vulnerable."
"I think people resonate with that," he said. "If you're posting where you're at in your journey, I think a lot of people would generally want to help.
"The interviews I've gotten in the last week alone were more than the last four months."
