[lucb1e]

I hear a lot about this, but never had any recruiter emails at all. I'm 20 years old so I suppose my name is just not known in the programmer world (?), but then how does that work? How do you get your name known? Day after day you hear about unemployment in the news, yet here everyone is complaining about receiving too many "please come work for us" emails?

It's not that I don't believe that many developers receive so much spam, but I don't understand why or how. How'd they even know if you're any good? According to some internship places, >50% of the developers is incompetent. Do recruiters just pull as many people as possible in for interviews and check everyone out, is that the goal? Or is it mostly just because the company wants to expand, or to compensate leaving/older people?

[solarmist]

I didn't start getting a ton of recruiter spam until I had a linkedin profile and started "connecting" with recruiters on linkedin (to "get my name out"; not sure I'd use this method to get my name out again though). Before that I would only occasionally get anything. Now every time I update my profile I get a flood of recruiter spam.

[lostcolony]

You don't need to connect to recruiters, per se. But yes, having a LinkedIn profile will ensure you get a constant trickle of recruiters. Any time you touch your profile, expect the number to increase; LinkedIn's algorithm seems to promote newly updated profiles, likely due from the assumption that touching your LinkedIn profile is like updating your resume; you're more probable to be looking for a job than someone who has left it sitting there untouched for two years.

[solarmist]

Well, it also made a big difference once I moved to the Valley

[jwarkentin]

I get a ton of recruiter spam. For me I think it's a combination of having a LinkedIn profile, an active Github and Stack Overflow profile, having a blog, and having them all linked together. Unfortunately, I'm now at a place where it's mostly just a nuisance because the positions they have to offer are generally at worse companies with worse management, environments, pay, and benefits. It's generally not worth my time to respond. If I do respond it's not going to be with my resume, but instead with a list of questions they need to answer to decide if it's worthwhile.

[peacemaker]

Pretty much identical to me. I make a point of telling them to email me details because I learned a long time ago that 99% of their phone calls are a waste of time.

It's been a very long time since a recruiter got me a good job. Mostly it's direct contact with companies or people in my network.

[jayhuang]

I'm about the same age (just turned 21), and I do get a lot of recruiter spam. I'd gladly trade to be in your shoes instead. The lack of effort many of these people put into their emails is appalling. I understand recruiters are frequently ignored so I do make an effort to respond in any way if they show some effort. "r u interested? call me" types just get deleted.

To answer your question, LinkedIn is a big part as many have mentioned, website, I also have an occasionally updated blog which has been on the top 3 of the front page on HN.

Most people to reach out to me through the blog have written the best emails and still maintain a good relationship with me after the fact. Emails from CEOs or CTOs also usually reach me there.

Other than that, my LinkedIn doesn't have too many connections (I only add people I've met or spoken with), but I do have a few good recommendations. I co-founded a business a couple years ago and I still get some contacts through people who know me from there.

For the most part, recruiter spam is not a problem you want to have. Be grateful （:

[TheCoelacanth]

Put a profile mentioning a handful of popular technologies on Dice.com with the actively looking status. You should get tons of recruitment spam. The problem is that the vast majority of it will not be good leads. Most of the jobs you will not have a realistic chance of getting because the recruiters will ignore key details such as level of experience and where you are actually willing to work.

[vonmoltke]

Or even if your buzzword-based experience is relevant. Last time I tried Dice, I got a deluge of recruiter emails for contract Django positions because I mentioned that I used Python for analyzing radar data.