Data Driven

I don’t recall exactly when I first heard this phrase, but I do recall really enjoying the concept when I first came to understand it. Allowing data to drive strategy and decision making, or at least inform it. It makes doing software engineering feel more like doing science. It also reminds me of reading about the proper role of reconnaissance or intelligence in military tactics and strategy. You can’t know you’re going in the right direction without some data or information about what’s ahead of you (or what’s behind you).

For my most recent job search, I’ve tried to gather some data. Job searching is fundamentally a discouraging activity. You have to send out a lot of applications or reply to a lot of recruiters, most of which will reject you. I first wanted to find out just how often this happens, so I can try to retain my motivation. If I expect to get rejected often, knowing just how often helps me. Here is a summary of some data over the past week of job searching.

Total Applications Sent	48
Total rejected outright	7	15%
Got human recruiter response	2	4%
Scheduled after talking to recruiter	1	2%

Sending out almost 50 cold applications, over about four days, I’ve got exactly one recruiter to schedule something after talking with them. That is an incredibly high failure rate. I suppose I could be part of the problem. Perhaps I’m not applying to the right jobs, or perhaps I’m not presenting myself well. However, anecdotally, most people seem to have a similar experience. In addition, if I very carefully examine each job listing and compare it to my experience, I do seem like a decent fit (or at least worth talking to) for the positions I apply for.

I suspect that this process is just simply an inefficient one, because it often relies on human intuition, which can often fall on implicit biases that aren’t very accurate. There is little I can do to change that. So for now my efforts can best be put to just getting more applications into the system so that I can get more things through that 1% gate.