Ask HN: What to do?

[osenar]

Hello guys,

I am web designer and front end developer. I don't know what to do next. I can't get a job in my county because economy is fucked. On the other side my portfolio is small becouse I can't get to work.

I tried Elance and oDesk but can't get the job with no rating and everybody is hiring Indians...

How to get connections to potential clients?

If you got tip or job for me, contact me at miha[at]vidakovic.si or check my portfolio website: http://vidakovic.si

[entreprenewb]

I'm in the US, so it's possible all this may not apply, but my two cents:

What has been your job hunting strategy so far? What kinds of positions have you been looking for?

If you're just sending your resume online you need to do a lot more. Don't hesitate to reach out to recruiters or individuals at companies directly (but be professional about it). You have to treat finding a job as a job in of itself. Track leads, use multiple forms of communication (online, email, social, snail mail, in person even), and follow up on positions you apply to if you don't hear back in a reasonable amount of time.

Personally, I've found the best leads are through people I already know or people I meet. I would look if there are any meetups or networking events nearby you can attend. If that doesn't work, perhaps you can virtually create a presence online by contributing to open projects or be more active on visible forums (HN, Stack Overflow, etc.).

Also, maybe you can broaden your scope to a wider array of positions so you can just get started working somewhere. Sometimes once you start at a company other positions open up that you can transition too.

That aside, a few notes on your site:

* The Voter link doesn't work.

* The Mlinar link opens a page with the same CS:GO language.

* Your grammar is a bit stilted. I'm guessing English isn't your native language, but if English speakers are your your target audience you may want to clean it up.

* The individual portfolio pages need richer descriptions of the kind of work you were doing.

* You have a few mailto links, but you don't actually list your email anywhere.

[osenar]

Thanks for the advices!

[Warewolf-ESB]

Work on open source projects to at least get your name out there and add some value. You can at least expand your portfolio and gain skills in the meantime. Good luck

[facorreia]

Your portfolio may be small but it seems to be tasteful and well executed. Keep at it. I'm afraid I don't have anything practical to offer you, just a general advice of trying to expand your contact circle, for example getting in touch with people online, making design contributions to open source projects, writing a few blog articles, publishing more work samples. Also on the first day of each month HN has a post where people can advertise that they're looking for work (full time or freelance).

[nicholas73]

Drop your age on your webpage. It's not just that you are 18 years old, which not only doesn't help you present your skills, but it sounds immature (as only young people measure themselves by age). I would hesitate to trust you to get things done right and on time just on that. Not all 18 years olds are unreliable of course, but why play the odds when I don't have to?

[osenar]

Clickables: http://vidakovic.si