Navigating Today’s Tech Market

Kevin Howell ’11

Principal Software Engineer, Red Hat

2025-03-04

About Me

W&M CS ’11

Principal Software Engineer at Red Hat

Raleigh, NC

@kahowell@mastodon.social

https://kahowell.net

Note

These are my own opinions and experiences, and not those of my employer.

My Career

timeline
    2011 : W&M '11
         : CGI Federal - Fairfax, VA
    2013 : CGI Federal - Durham, NC
         : US Government Shutdown
         : TekSystems Contract for Red Hat IT
    2014 : Red Hat IT, Full-Time
    2016 : Red Hat Engineering

Kevin at Red Hat NHO

Agenda

• Trends
• Resumes
• Networking
• Job Hunting
• Interviews
• Resources

Trends

Artificial Intelligence

Both in early 2025:

• Jan 21 - US to invest $500 billion
• Feb 11 - EU plans to invest €200 billion

Around 200 billion USD at time of writing In fact, I’m moving to an AI team at Red Hat

Tough Market

• Applicant to job ratio
• Inflation
• Interest rates
• Investment in AI
• Experienced engineers are moving less
• Layoffs, hiring freezes

I just went through a job search Effective interest rates used to be 0% or close to 0% for software

Cycles

• Smartphone Apps
• Cloud Computing
• Big Data
• AI

Story: smartphone app development

Resumes

Skills

• Artificial Intelligence
• Problem Solving
• Collaboration

Side Projects

• Shows initiative
• Potential interview topic

Open Source Involvement

Examples:

• python.org/community
• https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/join/

GitHub

• good first issue label on GitHub projects
• contributing.md

• Often have a community slack or discourse instance
• job openings are sometimes posted early
• recognition in community can lead to opportunities
• story: contributors

Microcredentials

• Credly
• Free & Paid Trainings

• can search for microcredentials for specific skills
• find a reputable training source
• lots of free trainings

Collaboration

• Side-projects
• Open-source involvement
• Non-technical community involvement

• side-projects are more fun with a friend
• non-tech can give another dimension

Certifications

• Not expected for early career
• Many companies pay for professional development
• Discounts
• Non-technical (e.g. project management) can give you an edge

• student discounts
• sales
• they’ve been beneficial for me for career progression

Resume Tips

• One page
• Emphasize skills related to the job
• Consider checking your resume against AI (e.g. https://enhancv.com/resources/resume-checker/)

Networking

Meetups

• User groups
• Virtual meetups
• Have a job/need a job
• Learn what opportunities exist in an area

Through the local python meetup, met RENCI folks, financial sector, etc.

Conferences

• Job boards
• The “hallway” track
• Free or cheap
• Practice public speaking

Kevin @ SCALE

• student rates
• volunteer

Conferences - Suggestions

• AllThingsOpen - Raleigh, NC
• Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE) - Pasadena, CA
• Seattle GNU/Linux Conference (SeaGL) - Seattle, WA

Referrals

• Contact before applying
• Contact after applying

• before is better, sometimes referrals use a separate link
• after is good too, often can be rectified
• referrers can sometimes talk with hiring manager
• referrers can sometimes check detailed status of your application

Job Hunting

Recruiting Cycles

• Recruiting cycles are tied to budget cycles
• Cycles tend to be quarterly
• Summer and late fall are slower

• quarterly due to financial reporting requirements
• vacations & holidays

Internships

• Mostly late fall/early spring
• But don’t give up looking

Roles

• Backend Engineer
• Frontend Engineer
• Fullstack Engineer
• Technical Writer
• Data Engineer
• AI Engineer
• Quality Engineer

Job Boards at Conferences

• Employers recruit at conferences

Saved Searches

1. Look for jobs on a company’s website
2. Set up a “saved search” or “alert”

Down-leveling

• Sometimes employers compromise
• Sometimes bringing in fresh talent is valuable in itself

Can be because of:

• lack of talent with the desired experience
• budget considerations

Consider All Industries

• Healthcare/Life Sciences
• Finance
• Retail
• Technology
• Non-Profit
• Academia

Consider Contract-to-Hire

• Work as a contractor for 6 months to year
• Then convert to full-time or find something else

Benefits are tied to the contracting company

Interviews

Embrace In-Person/Hybrid

• Early career
• Mentorship

Make it clear you’re okay with in-person. Companies often find on-boarding/mentorship easier in-person.

Practice Coding Interviews

• HackerRank
• Advent of Code
• Beware of interviewing scams

Show Continuous Learning

• Talk about microlearning or side-projects

Do NOT Lie

• Or make up answers
• Instead admit you don’t know, relate to something you do know

Resources

Skills

• Linux Foundation
• edX
• Coursera
• O’Reilly - free through W&M Library
• LinkedIn Learning - free through W&M Library
• ACM Skills Bundle - O’Reilly and PluralSight - $175 annual
• roadmap.sh

ACM: $100 for membership $75 for skills bundle

check your local library too!

employers pay for some of these services for professional development too

data engineering skills for AI and backend

Jobs

• Don’t limit to LinkedIn
• opensourcejobhub.com
• idealist.org
• Check company sites

Some employers do not post to LinkedIn at all (e.g. Apple)

Other Good Resources

• levels.fyi: titles at companies
• progression.fyi: career progression at various companies
• survey.stackoverflow.co: tech job trends
• pragmaticengineer.com: substack newsletter & book on software career

Thank You

Image Credits

• Title Slide Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
• Trends Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
• Resume Photo by Van Tay Media on Unsplash
• Handshake Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash
• Binoculars Photo by Ran Berkovich on Unsplash
• Interview Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
• Bookshelf Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash