Ask HN: Is NYC a good place to get a job as a Web dev?

[venturebros]

I landed a summer internship in New York but I want to go to NYC afterwards.

I have been looking at craigslist and indeed it seems like there are plenty Web developer positions open. But I have no clue how many are actually applying for these jobs.

So is it an employer or employee market out there? Will I have trouble landing a job?

[carterac]

NYC is an insanely hot market for web engineering talent. Every founder I know complains about finding great engineers. As CEO of a tech startup here, I personally spend ~80% of my energy dedicated to finding the absolute best engineers in the city, and often I have to recruit people from other parts of the world and convince them to move here (which isn't that hard given how beautiful this city is).

Another data point: a friend who wanted to move from Microsoft to NYC had multiple job offers within a week of posting his resume to an NYC tech mailing list.

If you're interested in speaking more, please email me at [email protected]. Even if you're not interested in Art.sy, I'm happy to intro you to other NYC startups you might be interested in.

[edit] Here is a link to the Quora thread of all NYC startups that are hiring: http://www.quora.com/Startups-in-New-York-City/Which-startup...

[frankdenbow]

+1 to Carter'd thoughts.

Some other resources are these:

- FindAHacker.com (mostly NYC focused, email list of opportunities)

- HireLite.com (video chat speed dating for hiring)

- InsideStartups.org (email list of job opportunities)

There are many places looking, so things are certainly in your favor in NYC. Plus the city is awesome!

[hucker]

I have a question, how are the salaries for web engineers with masters in NYC, and how much is the rent? (I understand that both these questions are hard to answer, but a rough guess?) I'm asking because I like the idea of working in NYC for a while, and would love to see some numbers to compare with the market back here in Norway.

[sbisker]

What mailing list is this? I'm looking at moving to NY soon myself from beautiful Boston. If nothing else, I could use some help learning about "the scene".

[sbisker]

Oh, it's venturebros, the guy with the cool name! :)

Once you're in NY, drop Hackruiter[0] a line. They're YC alums [EDIT: and apparently YC funded again as recruiters] and based out of NYC, doing recruitment for startups (mostly YC alumni themselves). They got me my current contract and they're all-around great guys that, as both recruiters and engineers, understand the scene as well as anyone. They also run a weekly meetup called BrainDump[1], which is about as techy as a meetup can get (in a good way), and a mailing list "LinkedList".

They seem to be all about meeting smart, motivated people and making meaningful connections, as opposed to just playing matchmaker - so even though you're not looking yet, I bet they'd be up for a chat. Heck, if you're interested, I'll point them to this thread.

[0]http://www.hackruiter.com/ [1]http://www.hackruiter.com/about

[venturebros]

Cool, thanks! I will contact them when I am at the end of the internship.

[adrianparsons]

I just completed a job search and can say the market really is in your favor.

Stop using Craiglist. If you're going to use a service, use Indeed, Authentic Jobs, the 37 Signals job board or something else. "Inside Startups" is a great newsletter that lists jobs weekly.

Ideally, though, you want to meet people in person. There are multiple parties, events, and meetups every week.

To start, go to any of the tech meetups listed on Meetup.com. Garysguide.org has a lot of events listed as well. (Those Meetup groups have email lists, watch them for job postings.) Get business cards and follow up with people.

You're going to get offers faster than you expect. Decide what you want (big company, small company, front-end, back-end, python, ruby, etc), and learn to say "no". Before saying "yes", ask other nerds about them (at the Meetups, for example).

[rpmcb]

GitHub Jobs is a great resource, as well.

http://jobs.github.com/

[venturebros]

Oh thanks! BTW is there any reason to stay away from Craigslist?

And what are some good meetups to join?

[awarzzkktsyfj]

New York is still full of schemers, compared to SF Bay area. I lived in Mountain View for two years, San Francisco for three, and NYC for two -- I am in the process of moving back to Mountain View. I love NYC as a place to live, but found it frustrating for tech work. The job offers I've had in the SF bay area always seemed reasonable to me. In New York, I've received ridiculous low-ball offers, and have had a few friends have the same experience, but only in New York. They all have moved to San Francisco now.

[sbisker]

To answer your question more directly: There are a ton of people applying for these jobs. Like, crazy amounts. And why wouldn't there be? It's a great field to be in right now.

But thanks to things like the Mythical Man-Month[0], engineering is a field where people would rather have 1 incredible engineer than 10 mediocre engineers for the same price. So for someone with talent and the right reputation, there's arguably no better field to be in than engineering.

So basically, if you're good at what you do, engineering is one of the hottest job markets in the country. (In NY, the hotness is particularly exaggerated, because the startups there are the companies most likely to want to keep their teams small, and hire the best - and they have to compete with the financial sector, which provides large numbers of engineers a steady job with high pay.)

If you're not good at what you do (or even if you just want to get better at what you do), don't assume the hotness of the market will get you a job. The market is hot for engineers, but I'd say it's only hot for good engineers, again, due to the Mythical Man-Month effect.

But don't be discouraged. Just by being proactive getting internships and participating on Hacker News, you're probably better than 80% of the applicants your age out there. That's why so many of our answers are assuming that you're a good candidate - because odds are, you probably are. :)

[0] If you haven't read this, take a few moments out this summer to do so. It's a quick, breezy and incredibly informative read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month

[venturebros]

Frankly, I don't think I am good enough to work at startup where I am at right now. I have a better chance at landing a job at Interactive agency with my background then a startup. I will still try but I don't think it's going to happen.

[peacemaker]

It seems for web devs a great place to be, but how about for embedded/real-time programmers? I've over 10 years experience in defence and gaming industries mainly doing C++ and I'd love to work in NYC but just assumed it'd be far too difficult to land a position. Anyone have any idea?

[onassar]

It's def. a good market. Top #5 in the US no doubt. I'd say make the decision on where you want to live over whether or not you could get the best job there. Tough finding that balance, so if you like the city, run with it..

[pavel_lishin]

We're hiring for a web developer right now. When I was moving here - six months ago - I easily managed to snag four interviews over a two-day trip specifically to try to find a job.

So yeah.

[libria]

Who is "we"?

[ayb]

There are plenty of opportunities in NYC - from startups, to big brands, to finance. All of them are competing for the same talent.

When you are ready to start looking, change your LinkedIn profile to say you're a <whatever> consultant located in NYC. You will start getting contacted by headhunters within a few days.

[gsiener]

If you're already in NYC for the summer you'll have no trouble finding a job. Plan on spending your non-internship time building relationships with startups that are getting things done. This is tough because they don't necessarily hang out at the more prominent meetups but you will find them.

[venturebros]

I am actually 2 hours away from NYC for the summer. I have to find out my hours to see if I can get anytime to go to the city and get some connections.

[brandonkm]

NYC is an excellent place to find work as a developer. You have a ridiculous selection of awesome startups and larger companies to choose from. The last Brooklyn.js meetup I went to had more people looking to hire front-end developers than people looking at a ratio ~5:1.

[mbubb]

My company is looking for Ruby developers as well as backend engineers:

https://careers-collective.icims.com/jobs/intro

[markbao]

I'll freaking hire you right now.

Just kidding, but yeah, if you're good and you're in NYC, you'll be slurped up by the startups here. Everyone has problems hiring in NYC.

[bherms]

Check out CrowdTap... Hot startup hiring in NYC.