For me finding interesting companies is the hardest part. IMO you can rank companies in two dimensions: 1) companies that I'm enthusiastic about and would love to work for 2) companies that will employ me.
The trick is to find companies that are in both categories.
But the groups are fluid. You can gain more experience and therefore extend 2), or you can learn more about a company and therefore add it to 1). Or you can reduce expectations and have every single workplace in group 1).
When I look for a job I usually focus on individuals. Read an interesting blog post? I research on the author. Nice node.js library? Learn who wrote it. Amazing project? Who pays for its development and why.
This is a lifetime project, but yes, do follow individuals you admire.
If possible don't apply to jobs@..., instead send an email to a real human being. If a company has a blog, find an interesting author and contact him directly. You'll usually be told to send CV to jobs@ anyway, but it's always better (IMO) to have a friendly human-being advocate in your case.
Research github projects done by the company or employees. Try to contribute, it will not only give you an experience and a good topic for a discussion, but also can also show reveal communication patterns in the company.
Before going for an interview, try learning as much as possible about the company. From all sides: how many data centres, what AS'es, who is listed in whois entries, who is the biggest competitor, who are the investors, who are the customers, and so on. For me there are four groups of things worth researching: individuals, communication patterns and politics, technology stack, business (ie: money).
The trick is to find companies that are in both categories.
But the groups are fluid. You can gain more experience and therefore extend 2), or you can learn more about a company and therefore add it to 1). Or you can reduce expectations and have every single workplace in group 1).
When I look for a job I usually focus on individuals. Read an interesting blog post? I research on the author. Nice node.js library? Learn who wrote it. Amazing project? Who pays for its development and why.
This is a lifetime project, but yes, do follow individuals you admire.
If possible don't apply to jobs@..., instead send an email to a real human being. If a company has a blog, find an interesting author and contact him directly. You'll usually be told to send CV to jobs@ anyway, but it's always better (IMO) to have a friendly human-being advocate in your case.
Research github projects done by the company or employees. Try to contribute, it will not only give you an experience and a good topic for a discussion, but also can also show reveal communication patterns in the company.
Before going for an interview, try learning as much as possible about the company. From all sides: how many data centres, what AS'es, who is listed in whois entries, who is the biggest competitor, who are the investors, who are the customers, and so on. For me there are four groups of things worth researching: individuals, communication patterns and politics, technology stack, business (ie: money).