How do I get a tech job in Americaland?

So as previously threatened, I may very well be heading Stateside for a few years: my prettier half has just been accepted onto a PhD program at Brown. Given that I'm not quite ready to put a ring on it in order to get into the country, I'm going to need a job in order for this to happen (I don't fancy a Transatlantic relationship). The H1-B visa quota opens April 1st and they won't last long; ideally I need a job offer in my hand within a month or so in order to have the best chance of making it.

Me: I'm a programmer! By the time I get over there (in October) I'll have had five years experience in the games industry; lots of C++, lots of talking to nontechnical people, lots of being smart and clever and funny and British and modest. I don't want to work in games any more, nor do I want to work in finance, social media/ad analytics, or anything else that'll want to make me shoot my own head off. My dream job would be science/research at something like the Broad Institute, but I am firmly keeping an open mind here.

I'm after something near (i.e. commutable) to Providence, RI; I have my eye on Boston, because I hear there are jobs for my sort there. But I have no idea how to get a job in Americaland, and I'm very short on time. Aagh, help!

  • Do I throw my CV at a recruiter and let them handle it?
  • If so, how do I find one? Do you have any recommendations of recruiters who aren't utterly useless?
  • Do I register on monster.com and cross my fingers?
  • How do I turn a British-style CV into a US-style resume? How much is doing this important for tech jobs?

Any advice and assistance is appreciated, and may be rewarded with baked goods / British tchotchkes upon successful entry to the Land of the Free. Here's a resume.

Man, too bad you aren't headed to Austin or Portland.

I think looking for a tech-specific, local (to Brown) recruiter would be a good idea. IT and programming is one of the few fields right now where there are more jobs than there are qualified people to fill them, so if you put yourself out there in the open I think you'll hear back from a recruiter in short order.

Floomi wrote:

I have no idea how to get a job in Americaland, and I'm very short on time.

...is the cry of most of the citizens of this fine land for the last few years. Best of luck, but I wouldn't make a half-arsed effort if you really want to get something sorted right away. Do you have any contacts in that region who could help you out?

The best way to find a job in the US is from a recommendation. I've gotten a lot of contacts from LinkedIn as well, but I don't know how well that works if you're looking for a job in a new location. I'm also skeptical that recruiters would be a good resource for research jobs, academic resources would be better for that. Actually... if your wife/girlfriend is in a PhD program at Brown, why not contact their job placement advisors and see if they can help? If you're really nice and explain the situation I'd be surprised if they didn't at least point you in the right direction.

Blind_Evil wrote:

if you put yourself out there in the open I think you'll hear back from a recruiter in short order.

What's the best way to do this? Google?

Coldstream wrote:

Do you have any contacts in that region who could help you out?

I'm pulling all the strings I can. Including this thread

complexmath wrote:

Actually... if your wife/girlfriend is in a PhD program at Brown, why not contact their job placement advisors and see if they can help? If you're really nice and explain the situation I'd be surprised if they didn't at least point you in the right direction.

Fantastic idea. I'll do that!

Floomi wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

if you put yourself out there in the open I think you'll hear back from a recruiter in short order.

What's the best way to do this? Google?

Monster isn't a bad idea. I worked for this guy for a very short while, and while the job was not for me at all he is a really cool guy and very good at his job. He's north of Boston so he may end up referring you to someone else, but it's worth a shot.

Update: some contact from recruiters but no conversions to interest from employers yet. I am biting the bullet and making a US-style resume, then going on an applying spree to a bunch of jobs I found on Monster yesterday.

Quick question: Should I put my need for an H1-B visa on the resume? It seems like pertinent information but I don't want to have an "aw man, paperwork" reaction from the hiring manager. Should I mention it on the resume, in the cover letter, or keep my mouth shut?

If you're looking at major tech companies, then they have people to handle the visa problem. I'd suggest being honest about it in that case.

Smaller organisations might struggle more with a visa petition, but why not tell them upfront anyway? If they are genuinely unprepared to handle your visa application, then I'd say it's best to find out early, before you've invested time in preparing for an interview.

Of course, you could just get married I'm getting married on Sunday, so my wife can work when we get to the US.

I would definitely encourage you to be honest about it up front. It will certainly mean fewer companies call you because smaller companies in particular are less familiar or able to take on the extra process challenges involved for sponsorship and otherwise you may both spend a lot of time interviewing and getting interested in each other and then find out its not something they can support. (Which is pretty much the advice for someone getting closer to getting married too I guess )

This will probably make it feel like things are going much slower but the good news may be any company that does contact you will already have pre-qualified you a bit in their minds.

The suggestion about reaching out to the folks at Brown is really excellent too. They will likely have dealt with your specific situation a lot and of course have local contacts in the area.

My last advice is that since you are moving away from an industry you have experience in (games) you need to be as specific as you can about how your skills will help the new industries you target make money.

Definitely be honest about needing a visa. It will come up anyway since I imagine a call back will be to a foreign phone number. My experience with looking for work across the country even within the US is that it's hard to get calls back because smaller companies generally don't want to deal with flying someone out for an interview, relocation costs, etc. Finding the right recruiter would be a big help here.

Given your relatively small time frame for finding a job, I have a feeling you might need to relax your criteria a little bit. At least on the social media/advertising side, since that's so huge right now.

I work for Comcast (I know, most evil company in America) and we're constantly hiring sales, call-center, and field techs. It's stuff way below your resume, but would probably be something to hold you until you found something more in your field. I know we have positions similar to your qualifications (they're trying to get more focused on apps programming, especially with our X1 box rolling out), just not sure what's open in those areas.

http://www.comcast-jobs.com/

PurEvil wrote:

It's stuff way below your resume, but would probably be something to hold you until you found something more in your field

Bear in mind that a H1-B is job specific. You'll need to reapply if you change jobs. Technically, that also applies if you change jobs within a company, but not usually applied rigorously.

As a Brit who went through the whole gamut - B-1; H1-B; AA-1 (green card); Citizenship - feel free to ask me about the process. I can't help you with any jobs, though...

Moggy wrote:

Bear in mind that a H1-B is job specific. You'll need to reapply if you change jobs. Technically, that also applies if you change jobs within a company, but not usually applied rigorously.

Yeah, I know - although if you change jobs, you just get it transferred, and you don't have to wait for the next year's cap to open. Right?

What's the AA-1? A typo? I can't find any mention of it on t'internet. Or did you put a ring on it? The UK doesn't get the diversity visa lottery, we send too many people over on the H1-B to qualify.

Hey Floomi,

On top of sending out your resume, I'd recommend updating your LinkedIn account and possibly set up a website with some of your previous work. Also, you'll want to tailor your resume to the job description as much as possible. Lots of online positions are now automated, so if the HR software doesn't pick up the right wording your resume is going to get discarded, even if you're perfectly qualified. Check out the following YouTube feed from a local company called ProLango. They offer expensive career counseling, but I found their free videos quite helpful in getting tips for writing an online resume:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ProLango...

I just want to be honest with you - I know plenty of people here in the Seattle tech sector who have spent months looking for tech work. I should also let you in on the dirty little secret of how big companies like Microsoft handle H1 visas. You're going up against heavy competition from Indian/Chinese programmers willing to work 80 hour/weeks for half the pay of a Western programmer. That's not to say I didn't work with Europeans during my time at Microsoft - but most of the ones I knew either had been recruited from the European division or were married to Americans.

TLDR - If you're willing to pull the trigger on marriage, it opens a lot more doors to you. Your experience is solid and if a company doesn't have to sponsor you, I think you could find a good job in a few months. Trying to get an H1 visa however is going to be a lot tougher, especially given your small window of opportunity.

Moggy wrote:
PurEvil wrote:

It's stuff way below your resume, but would probably be something to hold you until you found something more in your field

Bear in mind that a H1-B is job specific. You'll need to reapply if you change jobs. Technically, that also applies if you change jobs within a company, but not usually applied rigorously.

As a Brit who went through the whole gamut - B-1; H1-B; AA-1 (green card); Citizenship - feel free to ask me about the process. I can't help you with any jobs, though... :-(

Yeah, my only 2 cents to add was that I wish him all of the luck in getting his visa.

jdzappa wrote:

I just want to be honest with you - I know plenty of people here in the Seattle tech sector who have spent months looking for tech work. I should also let you in on the dirty little secret of how big companies like Microsoft handle H1 visas.

I'd heard rumblings of this sort, but hearing it explicitly is disheartening. It's not like there's going to be a shortage of smart tech people right next to Harvard and MIT. Hurk.

The news that it's possible to get a green card through an offer of permanent employment is interesting though - it gives me another option that's slightly less "you have to get this sorted inside a month" urgent. Maybe.

Floomi wrote:
jdzappa wrote:

I should also let you in on the dirty little secret of how big companies like Microsoft handle H1 visas.

I'd heard rumblings of this sort, but hearing it explicitly is disheartening.

An H1B is quite a high bar and has some issues, so I've seen it used primarily for the people that the employer wants onsite long-term. There are other cheaper/easier approaches if the goal is just to rotate people in from a larger team in a low wage region for a few months at a time to provide extra labour during crunch periods.

You've set yourself a tough challenge, given the location, industry & short timeframe. You may need to look seriously at being willing to relax one or more of them.

Yes, be open about your need for a visa.

Regarding the resume - I always put a line for "Citizenship" in my personal info, which currently reads: British (US Permanent Resident "Green Card"). That way, you're stating the facts without begging for a visa.

To echo jdzappa, from what I've heard, you've picked a tough road. There are a lot of hoops that an employer has to jump through to get an H1B, and it costs them a non-insubstantial amount of money. Which is why hiring Chinese/Indian workers who are willing to get paid less makes it worthwhile. Also, as noted, there are a lot of American un/underemployed skilled tech workers currently - and one of the hoops that require jumping through is that the company has to show that they were unable to hire an American for the job. The whole point of the H1B visa to to fill holes in the job market that can't be filled with domestic workers.

For the record, when I was looking to move back over here, my employer (Boeing) wasn't willing to go down the H1B route for me, but were happy to hire me once I'd got my Green Card in hand.

Sorry to piss on your bonfire. I'm not saying don't try it, just go into the process with realistic expectations. At the end of the day, you don't ask, you don't get, you've got nothing to lose by giving it a shot.

I realized my original psot may have come off a bit too negative, so I'm hoping you'd indulge me for a moment. What's your main reason for not getting married if you plan to follow a girl to a new country? The reason I'm asking is a few years back I met a girl in Japan and we both moved out to Seattle together (she had to get a student visa and I packed up from the East Coast and drove cross country). I was under the impression she wanted to get married, but once she was settled and studying in the US it quickly became apparent that that wasn't her priority. Looking back, I don't think I could advise anyone to upend their life like that unless they were completely sure it would eventually lead to something permanent.

Pragmatism. We've been together for ten months so far, and while I have high hopes for this one, that's nowhere near long enough to be 100% totally confident. I'm well aware of the perils of moving abroad for someone - someone did it for me once, and it didn't work out well at all.

I'm also at a point in my life and career where I have the flexibility to accommodate - and could really do with - a big shake-up like this. Neither of us have any intention of settling down in the US but a few years abroad, possibly doing something new, could be really good for me personally right now. And if it means getting to spend time with someone I love and don't really want to break up with just because she wants to chase an academic dream, then sure. Why not

Floomi wrote:
Moggy wrote:

Bear in mind that a H1-B is job specific. You'll need to reapply if you change jobs. Technically, that also applies if you change jobs within a company, but not usually applied rigorously.

Yeah, I know - although if you change jobs, you just get it transferred, and you don't have to wait for the next year's cap to open. Right?

What's the AA-1? A typo? I can't find any mention of it on t'internet. Or did you put a ring on it? The UK doesn't get the diversity visa lottery, we send too many people over on the H1-B to qualify.

Huh. I always thought the Green Card was offically known as an AA-1. As it turns out, it's an I-551.

Anyhoo, according to this wikipedia article, the wait time for an I-551 if you don't have 5 years of relevant experience is 6+ years. Ideally, you'll make the grade for EB-2 and only have to wait the time it takes to go through the process - a year or two.

Thank God she didn't sign you guys up for the Columbia Record club, that's real commitment!

Moggy wrote:

Anyhoo, according to this wikipedia article, the wait time for an I-551 if you don't have 5 years of relevant experience is 6+ years. Ideally, you'll make the grade for EB-2 and only have to wait the time it takes to go through the process - a year or two.

I have a Masters so I'm fine for EB-2. But still, years - ugh.

jdzappa wrote:

...Also, you'll want to tailor your resume to the job description as much as possible. Lots of online positions are now automated, so if the HR software doesn't pick up the right wording your resume is going to get discarded, even if you're perfectly qualified.

Having just completed a successful job search (I think I went from "Ok, time to update the resume." to "Offer Letter" in 3 weeks), I have to disagree with this, partly.

When you post to Monster, CareerBuilder, DICE, and Indeed, put every freaking keyword you can think of in your resume, without being dishonest. All of them. No, really. All of them.
Recruiter software is keyword-based. Do not leave out something like XML or Ant because it's not a central part of developing games. Put it in, because it will increase your chances of getting a call/email.
Yes, it will increase the amount of "spamcruiters" you have to deal with. Better to delete those emails and decline those phone calls than to miss a good one because you didn't think some small keyword was "important".

Then, after you decide to pursue something with a recruiter, then you either tweak the resume, or even better, write a good cover letter.

The recruiter will ask you to email them the most recent version of your resume. Yep, even though they just downloaded it. This is when you use your discussions with the recruiter to tweak and tailor.
The recruiter will modify your resume. They all remove your contact info to ensure their client has to go through them and most/all of them add their logo to the top. Make sure your resume does not depend overly on paging and precise layout. It will get mangled to some degree.
The recruiter will be coy about the client's name and salary. Do not agree to let them represent you until they tell you who and how much. Do not feel obligated to tell them what you made at your last job. It is (mostly) irrelevant, and can only be used against you.

Industry-specific - Gamasutra has a job board. Since you have niche skills/experience/contacts, a niche job board/community might work out really well for you. Assuming you are interested in continuing in that industry.

Leverage your contacts. Update your Linked In, and even (I can't believe I'm saying it) Facebook, assuming you don't have embarrassing or overly personal information there - that pic of you skinny dipping with the Royal Guard? Not helpful. The posts where you rant about how stupid yanks don't "get" royalty? Not helpful.
That guy you worked with 10 years ago that moved to San Francisco and met Sid Meier and is now Warren Specter's golf buddy? Yeah, get in touch with that guy.

tl;dr - Don't tailor your public resume on job boards - most of them only let you have 1 free public, searchable resume. Put in ALL THE THINGS.

p.s. - Don't pay for a recruiter if you're not at the C-level or just below it.

Thanks D - that's gold. Quick question:

duckilama wrote:

When you post to Monster, CareerBuilder, DICE, and Indeed, put every freaking keyword you can think of in your resume, without being dishonest. All of them. No, really. All of them.
Recruiter software is keyword-based. Do not leave out something like XML or Ant because it's not a central part of developing games. Put it in, because it will increase your chances of getting a call/email.

I see what you're saying, but how far do we go here? I have a couple of month's experience with PHP, many years ago; I've learnt enough HTML/JS/web stuff to fiddle around with a silly little personal project. Do these go in? I don't want to give the impression I'm a web developer, because I'm not. Nor do I want to give the impression I'm fluent with anything I'm not.

Or is that entirely the wrong attitude, and the correct thing to do is vom everything I've ever used for more than ten minutes onto the page?

Facebook is looking to expand their Boston office. You could try sending them a resume as well.

Depends what sort of dev you are, really. I'm a generalist that doesn't memorize obscure language trivia. If I have used it on project, especially in a professional capacity, it at least gets listed with tech and skills. If it was deeper or more frequent use, it gets called out in bullets under the experience section with more detail.

I'm very comfortable flying by the seat of my pants as long as I get the basics of a language or tech. I previously took a java job with zero java experience. A senior dev job. I had many years of .NET and had read enough to know that the concepts would carry over, but was up front in interviewing about that, and my generalist nature.

If you would be comfortable using a tech professionally and you have used it before, especially professionally, put it In the main, public, searchable sites. Then you and the recruiter can talk about whether it is a key requirement or just some keyword that HR tossed in to weed out the crusty old Unix dudes.

Basically, be a bit cavalier on the résumé, mostly to completely honest with the recruiter, and completely honest with the interviewer.

Boston, and to a degree providence are littered with schools with tech programs, I'd suggest searching schools for availability in their tech areas.

(There's roughly 100 colleges in the Boston area)