[neverminder]

I got my first job in a company that was desperate, because their only other developer was leaving in days. Got my second job under similar circumstances. And a third one. I did well at all of those companies and left on my own accord. I should also mention that none of those companies were even on a map as far as serious software development is concerned.

Reality is that companies that are not desperate will be picky, take their time, drag you through a bunch of bullshit interviews, etc. Just like every other developer I get pestered by recruiters on regular basis and I often see identical job descriptions that I saw two years ago, so after short interrogation of the recruiter it becomes obvious that those are the kind of companies that are forever looking and never really giving anyone a chance.

I suppose my advice would be: start with the desperate ones, build up your experience and credibility that way and climb higher.

[ai_ia]

Maybe there should be job boards for desperate company?

[muzani]

That's your standard cheap job board. I recommended one of my previous companies post on SO jobs, they're like "we can't afford any of the programmers there".

[RUG3Y]

Desperate companies may be hiring through tech recruiters also. A lot of small companies don't have anyone on staff that can effectively interview and hire a programmer, so they hire someone to do it for them.

[the-dude]

> forever looking and never really giving anyone a chance

Or they have some bad attrition.

[StavrosK]

DrChrono is looking for a Django developer to transform healthcare! Every. Day.

[yorwba]

Also, Strikingly is hiring in their Shanghai office. The advertising works in that I remember the names, but it doesn't make me want to work there.

[busterarm]

I know a few folks who've interviewed with them and they all independently said that it was the biggest joke of a non-interview that they ever had. None of them got past a phone screen and most of them I"d consider pretty good, sociable developers.

[CrystalLangUser]

And how do you consistently find said companies?

[neverminder]

I'm afraid I have no good recipe for that, I would suggest to "brute force" it - cast a wide net and filter approach. In my case it was mostly dumb luck really. You will now a desperate one when you see it - normally they will try to close the deal ASAP instead of jerking you around.

[gcheong]

Another clue may be an interview that doesn't hit too hard technically.

[uruk]

It's a good starting point to be proficient with a very new/niche technology. For example I got my first full-time job at a similarly desperate company, because next to no one knew how to develop Windows Phone applications back then in my country and they were in dire need of such a developer. So actually I didn't have to find them, they found me. :)

[RobertDeNiro]

It sucks, but networking. Desperate companies usually don't have to means to go through a formal interview process and they'll often hire someone solely based on recommendations.

I got my current job simply because a friend worked there. I had practically zero experience in the field.

[bhu1st]

Yes, it was recommendation from personal network for me as well.