On LinkedIn someone studying to become a DevOps engineer reached out to me asking to network and for any suggestions I might have to help them break into the Cloud Infrastructure Biz.

I figured I would share my response with you just in case you would find it useful.

My Response:

Its been a long time since I have been in the market as an employee but one recommendation would be to put together a dream list of 20 companies you think would be great to work for.

I would recommend small teams where you can wear a lot of hats and learn a lot. And something that is working on something that will keep you interested.

Go on glassdoor.com and make sure they are not jerks.

Once you have that list start following the staff there. See what techs they are working on. Then start doing projects that use that tech and "bump" them occasionally. Ask for feedback, ask their opinion on the tech or your project. If you can be helpful if they have a problem and make suggestions.

Comments are fine, cold DMs if you are feeling really bold but its best to warm that relationship up first.

Another approach is to position yourself as the "Authority" on a subject. The master of this is Jonathan Stark. That is my business coach and what I base the majority of my positioning on is.

Where to find some of these companies? I tend to follow business incubators(Gener8tor, TechStars, Y-Combination) and when they say Tech Company XYZ just raised a round I start bumping them.

Question For You:

What would your response have been? What have you had luck with getting a job in the past?