[Hnrobert42]

My company is fully remote. When I interview people, I don’t know how old they are, nor do I care. I look at their job history as it relates to their ability to perform the job for which they are applying. If you were applying for an associate or junior developer position, your lack of experience wouldn’t really matter. I would worry that your bouncing around reflects that you can’t be counted on to stick it out for more than a year.

To change my mind, during the interview, when I ask, you would need to explain what is different about your approach now. Not just that you want to be different, but what you are doing/thinking differently. If you gave a decent answer and everything else lined up, I would take the chance.

So, my suggestion is look for small start ups. Their hiring practices aren’t as rigid.

[zboox]

Hi Hnrobert42, thanks for your advice but I am not certain about limiting my options to small startups. I already attract small startups to a high degree and for better or for worse, they never want to hire me as W2. So I don't get sign-in bonuses, nor a 401K nor health benefits.

What I don't know is what is so different about the approach to getting hired as full-time employee compared to a freelancer that makes it so difficult for me to pass. In what ways should one behave differently at a full-time job interview compared to a contractor's interview.

Right now I'm on YouTube looking for winning tech interviews in order to see how I should speak and things to say. It's the closest you could be to a fly on the wall eavesdropping on an interview. Because when it comes to social cues, I learn better by observing than by intuition.

[Hnrobert42]

Fair points. I don’t know if there are differences in interview responses that would get you placed more frequently as a W2 or 1099. Usually that distinction is already set by the time the company posts the job. So I would confirm early in the interview that the position is full-time and not contract.

It may help to explain to the interviewer why you want a full-time position, from their perspective. That is, emphasize that you want to build something lasting and meaningful. You work best within a team where you all support each other work together. You want to minimize time wasted on spin-up cycles. Practice a 60-second explanation along those lines, so that when they ask “Why are you looking for a full-time position,” your answer will be smooth and thoughtful.

My other bit of advice is about self-confidence. I have observed that self-confidence is completely unrelated to competence. That is, there are many confident folks with who are terrible at their jobs and lots of talented people with little self-confidence. So don’t get stuck thinking that you could feel confident if you just had xyz experience or skills. You can feel that confidence right now. So while you are youtubeing, consider studying how to improve your self-confidence.

I say all this not really knowing anything about you. I may be totally wrong. I don’t many an offense. I only want to help. Best of luck.

[michaelcao]

I am also live in Viet Nam. i am working for a US company in Viet Nam. I am a founder of a vietnam startup. I read your information in hacker news. Could we make friend? I always want to learn knowledge from US experts.

[Hnrobert42]

Oh cool. Send me an email at [e-mail], and I will respond with my real address.

[michaelcao]

I just sent an email to you.