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Comment by alinajaf | Hacker News Reader

I'm an average programmer, right in the middle of the bell-curve. I know developers who are a great deal more intelligent than I am.

The market is such now that even little old me doesn't go two days without a few emails from startup HR departments, networkers and recruiters. If I ever find myself in an interview for a full-time job at a startup, it's going to be be me interviewing them.

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That's not quite right. Most of the time, the people inundating you with emails are not the ones doing the screening. In other words, just because demand for programmers is very high, most companies haven't lowered their standards but have just put more resources into hiring (including getting more people to cast a wide net and contact as many potential candidates as possible).

I'm curious how these people know your email, and that you're a programmer.

Did you contact some recruiters at some point? Where are they farming your email address from?

I regularly get generic emails from recruiters saying they came across my profile on Github, or they'll just send me an email via LinkedIn's messaging system.

> Did you contact some recruiters at some point?

Yes, and I've had mixed experiences with them. Some of them are great, others not so much.

> Where are they farming your email address from?

I make my email address publicly available, so possibly from my LinkedIn profile or portfolio site.

Usually, emails come through Linkedin. People mostly see my name in a Meetup group, or on my github page, and I guess they check with Linkedin for the profile.

I get a few messages even though I have zero interesting projects or distinctive characteristics out there, apart from a basic "I'm a backend developer" presentation profile.

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