Mock interviews and the “experience gap”
Indy Hackers has always been a community of the doers of technology in Indiana. Its mission has largely been a social one - growing and fostering that community through our Slack and various gatherings.
Increasingly, we’re also looking at ways to increase not just the community, but the opportunities for that community.
Opportunities for all of us.
The last few years have revealed that we’re in a new era when it comes to getting a job - for both new grads and old hats.
We could all use some practice swings and some outside advice when it comes to finding a job - a first job or a new job.
Later this month, we’ll partner again with our friends at Brooksource to talk about interviews - from best practices to opportunities to get in a mock interview with their team of recruiters.
Or, you can just hang out in a Happy Hour setting.
If the weather’s nice, we might even hijack the roof again.
November 20, after work, Broad Ripple.
See ya then!
‘Tis the season
Now that we have Halloween behind us, we here at Indy Hackers HQ (of note: we don’t really have an HQ) are gearing up for our largest annual shindig - the Holiday Social.
If you haven’t registered yet, we’d encourage you to do so before November 15 - we can’t guarantee a t-shirt if you register after that date.
Oh, and this year’s design - courtesy of community member Chris Zelenak - is sweeeeeet.
Meetup of the Fortnight
IndyPy: Data Meets Intelligence is Nov 4
Join IndyPy on Tues, Nov 4 at 7pm ET for a hybrid meetup on how Python turns chaos into clarity. From powerful data validation with Pydantic to building real-world AI agents that interact with internal systems, you’ll learn patterns to wrangle messy inputs, streamline logic, and build smarter, more resilient apps. Attend in person at SEP (16080 Westfield Blvd., Carmel, IN) or join remotely via Zoom. Free and open to all. Register here: https://www.meetup.com/indypy/events/305589187/.
Upcoming Community Events
Fishers Code and Coffee - November 4 at 7:00 AM
IndyPy November - November 4 at 7:00 PM
Zionsville Code and Coffee - November 5 at 8:00 AM
Broad Ripple Code and Coffee - November 5 at 8:00 AM
Indy .NET Consortium - November 5 at 6:00 PM
Central Indiana Linux Users Group - November 5 at 6:00 PM
Carmel Code and Coffee - November 6 at 7:00 AM
Downtown Code and Coffee - November 6 at 7:00 AM
Indy Game Developer Social Hour - November 8 at 6:30 PM
Code and Tea - November 9 at 4:00 PM
Agile Indy - November 12 at 6:00 PM
CoderDojo Indy - November 15 at 11:00 AM
Indy.js - November 18 at 7:00 PM
IndyAWS - November 18 at 7:00 PM
Free Code Camp Indy - November 26 at 6:00 PM
Is there an event you would like to announce here? Let us know at newsletter@indyhackers.org and we’ll get it added to the calendar.
New on the Job Board
M365 Security Architect at Anchor Point Technology Resources
Software Developer (SysAdmin, SecOps, Cloud) at DirectEmployers Association
The IndyHackers job board is free to companies and the community. Our goal is to help as many community members as possible land jobs they love at companies based here in Indiana, growing the community of hackers throughout the state.
If your company is hiring, post your job here.
If you’re hunting for a job, the full job board is here or you can follow along in #jobs in our Slack. Or: Just reply to this email with what you’re looking for.
One Last Thing
Our upcoming event with Brooksource has two tracks - one for experienced folks and one for new technical folks.
I’ve been thinking more and more about the situation folks early in their careers are facing.
Applicant tracking systems that screen out resumes using AI.
Scammers using AI to flood every job opening they can find.
Companies using AI coding tools to fill the spots that junior engineers once started their careers with.
It’s always been tricky to get your first job in this field, and the current market conditions are only slanted on making it more difficult.
In addition to our work on delivering more career development events, we’re also pondering approaches we can help support which can help early-career engineers and technologists.
So much of landing your first job - or any software engineering job! - is showing the hiring manager that you can do the job.
The best way to do this is to show you’ve already done it.
It’s one reason my standard advice for new-to-the-field engineers is to have a side project or client work alongside their class work - so they have work to show.
In the coming months, we’re pondering other ways we can help build a new generation of our community - by closing this experience gap.
Stay tuned.
Chris Vannoy
Board President, Indy Hackers
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