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iwangulenko

1,095 karma · joined May 12, 2014

Looking for a new job in Switzerland or just want to chat? Contact me at iwan@coderfit.com, or DM on any messenger/call: +41 77 986 9000

Grab a copy of "Coderfit: Make more money as a programmer" https://gumroad.com/l/cdrft

Well-received blog posts:

"Why software engineers don’t get jobs: Four horror stories" https://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/why-software-engineers-dont-get-jobs-three-horror-stories-77fd1ae3b875

"Five years after moving to Switzerland. Why I am still here." https://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/five-years-after-moving-to-switzerland-why-i-am-still-here-58c13d0385da

"8 reasons why I moved to Switzerland to work in tech" http://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/eight-reasons-why-i-moved-to-switzerland-to-work-in-it-c7ac18af4f90

submissionscomments
iwangulenko··on We created a fake language to root out resume liars
Tech recruiter here. Firms on average are more dishonest than jobseekers. The reason is simple: If you do something often enough, you get sloppy.

For instance, if you start going to the gym, at first, your exercise execution is perfect but after some weeks you get sloppier and sloppier.

Same here, firms that are hiring constantly tend to get fatigued. Jobseekers, however, are "active" for some weeks until they switch jobs; this is why you, as a jobseeker, need extra training during your jobhunt, to be on-par with them.

I don't recommend lying but I do recommend tailoring your resume such that it reflects actually what you did in an adequate level of detail. Most job seekers are too honest on the CV and during interviews.

iwangulenko··on Generalists vs specialists – Who has a greater chance of success? (2019)
Tech recruiter here. What you are saying fits neatly with my observation that during a bull market the specialists tend to do great, amazing compensation, lots of contracting options.

When the market turns these are the first to be downsized because they are very expensive. The generalists are more sought after because firms try to produce the same output with fewer resources, and for this you need the jack-of-all-trades types.

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Can you switch to a programming career despite nearing 40?
Tech recruiter here.

Choose to work in a domain you are familiar with.

If you have been an accountant, try to find an accountant software vendor who will hire you.

It won't be easy though. Ageism is my pet peeve. I think it is one of the biggest, yet forgotten-about discriminations in tech. Here a shameless plug of a video how much it annoys me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V6XMvtNKS8

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2021)
Quatico.com |Tech Lead, Senior Software Engineer (Java, Node), Fullstack, Frontend (React) wanted | Zurich, Switzerland | SALARY: 90k-130k CHF | ONSITE | Swiss or EU member-states passport-holders only We are a 20-person team building tailored web apps with heavy custom business logic on the server.

Our products are analyzing the weather data in Switzerland, hold governmental portals online, keep trading dashboards humming, and do much more.

Clean code is our passion. Yours too?

Our interview process:

1) Phone screen with our CTO

2) Two sessions of remote pair-programming with our engineers (no algorithmic questions but reasonable pair-programming tasks).

3) Onsite half a day with us.

Interested? We'd like to hear from you:

iwan.gulenko - at-sign - quatico.com (Please use "HN March 21" in the subject line to help us filter out spam)

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: How did you decide between management and technical track?
Technical recruiter here.

This is what I tell candidates:

If you like more people, do the team lead track, if you like more coding, to the tech lead, technical track.

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Should I pass on a new job because they want me to sign a non-compete?
Tech recruiter here from Switzerland.

Most non-competes that I saw are invalid because they contradict with local laws.

Firms put them anyway to scare candidates. In reality, they never hold.

I made even a video about it to calm down applicants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st7JaIdLJ4w

iwangulenko··on What is your biggest gripe with tech recruitment?
Tech recruiter here. The biggest issue is that people are random and often lie.
iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Any startups solving for software engineering hiring?
Hiring is worse.

Frameworks/programming languages at last have some logic to it. JavaScript is good for web, C good for hardware; humans are just random!

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Any startups solving for software engineering hiring?
I will try to answer:

>1. Why there is no consistency for hiring?

Because there is no consistency in humans. Jobseekers lie to me all the time, so do companies.

>2. Why companies have to be so different in assessing values ?

Because companies consist of humans, which are inconsistent, see 1.

>3. Why standardized leetcode kind of problems? instead focus on creativity & unconventional thinking?

That is only a SF/Nyc/big tech thing. Normal firms here in Switzerland (or Europe) rarely do this. The big brand names do it because they can.

Google et al. has a revolving door of applicants, so they can make them suffer. Also, if you show that you can study 3 months for an interview to balance a red black tree, you likely will do whatever the firm tells you to do. You likely will be a good worker!

If you are full of creativity & unconventional thinking, being employed (especially in a big firm) isn't a good bet, start your own firm instead. I did exactly that because I suffered as an employee, not because of the work part, programming was great, but because of the being employed part, and this is how I became a self-employed tech recruiter. Btw. if you look for work or career tips, my email is in my HN handle.

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Any startups solving for software engineering hiring?
Tech recruiter from Switzerland here.

YCombinator funds startups, and startups need scale.

Hiring is very personal, very hard to automate and scale.

Often, tech hiring startups start in a creative way but later become a database of profiles where recruiters can source, similar to Linkedin. Aline Lerner, founder of https://interviewing.io, wrote about this problem here: https://blog.alinelerner.com/ive-been-an-engineer-and-a-recr...

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2021)
Quatico.com |Tech Lead, Senior Software Engineer (Java, Node), Fullstack, Frontend (React) wanted | Zurich, Switzerland | SALARY: 90k-130k CHF | ONSITE | Swiss or EU member-states passport-holders only

We are a 20-person team building tailored web apps with heavy custom business logic on the server.

Our products are analyzing the weather data in Switzerland, hold governmental portals online, keep trading dashboards humming, and do much more.

Clean code is our passion. Yours too?

Our interview process:

1) Phone screen with our CTO

2) Two sessions of remote pair-programming with our engineers (no algorithmic questions but reasonable pair-programming tasks).

3) Onsite half a day with us.

Interested? We'd like to hear from you:

iwan.gulenko - at-sign - quatico.com (Please use "HN Feb 21" in the subject line to help us filter out spam)

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (January 2021)
Quatico.com |Senior Software Engineer (Java), Fullstack, Frontend (React) | Zurich, Switzerland | SALARY: 90k-130k CHF | ONSITE | Swiss or EU member-states passport-holders only

We are a 20-person team building tailored web apps with heavy custom business logic on the server.

Our products are analyzing the weather data in Switzerland, hold governmental portals online, keep trading dashboards humming, and do much more.

Clean code is our passion. Yours too?

Our interview process:

1) Phone screen with our CTO

2) Two sessions of remote pair-programming with our engineers (no algorithmic questions but reasonable pair-programming tasks).

3) Onsite half a day with us.

Interested? We'd like to hear from you:

iwan.gulenko - at-sign - quatico.com (Please use "HN January" in the subject line to help us filter out spam)

iwangulenko··on Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles
Now that you say it, I'd also wish for bigger font and more contrast.
iwangulenko··on Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles
I just checked: On Linkedin it is indeed optional but they made it look like they force you (https://imgur.com/a/0wdI3Wy)

I almost always see the dates with a month.

CVs are primarily consumed by people who hire people, why wouldn't you listen to what they say?

If you had to be out of work for a year and a half for personal reasons, just put it there. Trying to conceal stuff can work, but might not; hence, isn't the most conservative idea. All the best.

iwangulenko··on Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles
Usually, the firms require a PDF CV, so it is a private document shared between you and them, and it gets deleted after some weeks.
iwangulenko··on Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles
European tech recruiter here (again).

If I want to discriminate against you, I will anyway do so latest during the onsite.

I often have to skim through 200 CVs in a day and do >10 calls. I find it very convenient to have a face attached to the CV, because it helps me remember the person.

People hire people and people have faces.

I understand why people feel it is a burden to make and put a photo on the CV but I see so much updside also for candidates that I always recommend to add a photo. Here in Europe it's not forbidden but actually common. If you don't do it, you're the weirdo and your profile might get forgotten/ignored. Why risk this? I made a video to explain this once and not have to tell this to people again and again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELX85HAhHew

iwangulenko··on Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles
With "Work experience" I was referring to the field in the Show HN app
iwangulenko··on Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles
Tech recruiter here.

Pros:

+ Very beautifully designed project

+ Super readability

Big, easy to fix negative:

Force people to add months to the years! You only asks the year when someone started in "Work Experience". If I read "2012-2013" I can't tell if someone has been at a place ~12 months or ~1 month. This information is very important.

Also, please calculate the durations to allow readers to grasp tenure faster. Sometimes people need to skim through 200 CVs per day, so every inch of improvement is a big deal. Check how Linkedin does it: "May 2012 - June 2012, 1 year 1 month"

Here a video where I improve some CVs, maybe that helps to make the product better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haQ4rtEjhJQ

iwangulenko··on I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money
Indeed in Switzerland the taxes and living costs are lower than in SF/Nyc; hence, you are more likely to become a millionaire with a tech job here than almost anywhere else.

If Switzerland is an option, ping me. I am a well-connected tech recruiter with a solid network in Zurich, and I worked as a programmer before, so I know the tech scene here inside out.

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2020)
Quatico.com |Senior Software Engineer (Java), Fullstack, Frontend (React) | Zurich, Switzerland | SALARY: 90k-130k CHF | ONSITE | Swiss or EU member-states passport-holders only

We are a 20-person team building tailored web apps with heavy number crunching on the server. Our products are analyzing the weather data in Switzerland, running the trading dashboards of small private banks and do much more.

Our interview process:

1) Phone screen with our CTO

2) Two sessions of remote pair-programming with our engineers (no algorithmic questions but reasonable pair-programming tasks).

3) Onsite half a day with us.

We'd like to hear from you:

iwan.gulenko@quatico.com (Please use "HN December" in the subject line to help us filter out spam)

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (November 2020)
your email gives an error sadly
iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2020)
Quatico.com |Senior Software Engineer (Java), Fullstack, Frontend (React) | Zurich, Switzerland | SALARY: 90k-130k CHF | ONSITE | Swiss or EU member-states passport-holders only

We are a 20-person team building tailored web apps with heavy number crunching on the server. Our products are analyzing the weather data in Switzerland, running the trading dashboards of small private banks and do much more.

Our interview process:

1) Phone screen with our CTO

2) Two sessions of remote pair-programming with our engineers (no algorithmic questions but reasonable pair-programming tasks).

3) Onsite half a day with us.

We'd like to hear from you:

iwan.gulenko@quatico.com (Please use "HN Nov" in the subject line to help us filter out spam)

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2020)
trbefrnd at gmail isnt working
iwangulenko··on As a web developer, should you switch to a more niche field?
What I meant was that if you focus on devops, likely you don't have to do other things that might annoy you.

Thx for the hint about the spelling. I corrected it.

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (September 2020)
Quatico.com |Senior Software Engineer (Java), Fullstack, Frontend (React) | Zurich, Switzerland | SALARY: 90k-130k CHF | ONSITE | Swiss or EU member-states passport-holders only

We are a 20-person team building tailored web apps with heavy number crunching on the server. Our products are analyzing the weather data in Switzerland, running the trading dashboards of small private banks and do much more.

Our interview process:

1) Phone screen with our CTO

2) Two sessions of remote pair-programming with our engineers (no algorithmic questions but reasonable pair-programming tasks).

3) Onsite half a day with us.

We'd like to hear from you:

iwan.gulenko@quatico.com (Please use "HN Sept" in the subject line to help us filter out spam)

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2020)
Quatico.com |Senior Software Engineer (Java), Fullstack, Frontend (React) | Zurich, Switzerland | SALARY: 90k-130k CHF | ONSITE | Swiss or EU member-states passport-holders only

We are a 20-person team building tailored web apps with heavy number crunching on the server. Our products are analyzing the weather data in Switzerland, running the trading dashboards of small private banks and do much more!

Our interview process:

1) Phone screen with our CTO

2) Two sessions of remote pair-programming with our engineers (no algorithmic questions but reasonable pair-programming tasks).

3) Onsite half a day with us.

Tell us if you want to hear more and say hi:

iwan.gulenko@quatico.com

(Please use "HN August" in the subject line to help us filter out spam.)

iwangulenko··on Guietta – Python module to create simple GUIs
sweet! will this run on mac?

edit: tried:

"UnboundLocalError: local variable 'loader' referenced before assignment Fatal Python error: could not initialize part 2

...

'python script.py' terminated by signal SIGABRT (Abort)"

:(

iwangulenko··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (July 2020)
Quatico.com |Senior Software Engineer (Java), Fullstack, Frontend (React) | Zurich, Switzerland | SALARY: 90k-130k CHF | ONSITE | Swiss or EU member-states passport-holders only

We are a 20-person team building tailored web apps with heavy number crunching on the server. Our products are analyzing the weather data in Switzerland, running the trading dashboards of small private banks and do much more!

Our interview process:

1) Phone screen with our CTO

2) Two sessions of remote pair-programming with our engineers (no algorithmic questions but reasonable pair-programming tasks).

3) Onsite half a day with us.

Tell us if you want to hear more and say hi:

iwan.gulenko@quatico.com

(Please use "HN July" in the subject line to help us filter out spam.)

iwangulenko··on Crooked to the Millimetre
yes, it's the MIT of mainland Europe and stands for "Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich" or Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Founded in 1855 it is older than the blockchain token!

iwangulenko··on Show HN: Just hit $15k/m running unlimited design service by myself
First of all, congrats!

If you run it all by yourself, why do you write "us" everywhere?

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