2. About Me
Joe Walling
25+ years industry experience
Walling Info Systems LLC
Greenville Spartanburg Developers Guild
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3. Overview
Bad News/Good news
Goals
Considerations
Marketing yourself
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4. Bad News/Good News
Good news
IT unemployment is extremely low
Upstate growing
Bad News
Looking for employees with experience
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5. Improving Chance of Finding a
Job
Have relevant experience (i.e. write software or
administer network)
Attend professional events and network
Optimize LinkedIn profile
Blog or write relevant articles
Find a mentor
Internship – even if it is unpaid
Make sure all of your friends and relatives know
when you are on the job hunting trail
Talk with all the major recruiting companies in the
area
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7. How to Get Experience
Find a non profit or for profit company that
needs something you can do and do it for
them free.
Create a product of your own desire
Bid on projects via project web sites
Ask your mentor for advice
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8. Bid on Projects
Sites
Odesk.com
Elance.com
Guru.com
Different levels – upgrading account has
advantages
Choosing projects
Posted by person or company with multiple
projects
Good feedback
High percentage of projects awarded
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9. People Do Business With People
They
Know
Like
Trust
What is the significance of this?
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10. Tips for Success in Business
Always look for win-win
Always look for how you can add value to
situations
WIIFM
Smile and be upbeat
Communicate
Don’t oversell yourself – under promise and
over deliver
Listen
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11. How Much Value Can You Add?
Save money
Save time
Make money
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12. Ask for referrals
Family
Friends
Clients – previous and current
Employers – previous and current
Coworkers – previous and current
Neighbors
Children’s friends parents
Centers of influence
Clubs, organizations, associations, church
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13. Gain Notoriety by Speaking
Associations
Chamber of Commerce
Local service organizations like Kiwanis,
Rotary, Lions, etc…
Corporations or non profit organizations
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14. Writing
Books
Blogs
Articles – get others to pass them on by
submitting them to article sites. Include
resource box.
Booklets, special reports, and white papers
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15. Other Things to Gain Exposure
Web site with portfolio
Do things for free
Help on forums
Listen
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16. Do Things for Free
Law of reciprocity
Be sure you are giving of yourself without
expecting anything in return. People will
sense if you are doing it to get something.
Or you can give things away that are useful to
person such as books or software.
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17. Eyes Wide Open
Problem =
Opportunity
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18. Contact Info
If I can help you in any way
you can reach me by email
at jwalling@wallingis.com
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Notas del editor
I‘d like to ask a few questions first so I can fine tune my presentation to your needs:
How many of you currently have a job?
How many of these jobs are IT related?
How many of you have experience developing software outside of Greenville Tech
Goals
Considerations
Different ways to make money or build your credibility
Marketing yourself or your product
If we have time at the end, I can go into more detail in anyone want to dig deeper into some of these topics.
I get calls regularly from the recruiting agencies because they can’t find enough qualified people to fill the positions.
I have heard unemployment rates as low as 3.5%
Every list of fastest growing occupations I have read includes software developers. Usually at the top of the list.
The software might be freeware or for profit.
If you work with consulting firms, the temp project might turn into a perm one.
You, your friends and your family must know some business that needs some software written.
I use contractors on Odesk for both server management and software development.
With upgraded account you typically have extra time to bid on projects before free members see it. You could already have the project locked up before the others can even see it.
It may also get you preferred placement and lower fees.
Tips on what to look for
You can’t rush things and have to spend time developing the relationship. It’s like dating, there is a sequence you have to follow and typically you don’t meet someone and then 15 minutes later get married.
These tips aren’t just for success in business. It doesn’t matter whether you are trying to sell yourself to a prospective boss or if you are trying to sell your services or products to a company. If you follow these principles in everything you do, you will be successful.
win-win – need to give client value for their money, but not so much that you resent them or can’t afford to stay in business.
listen – people will tell you what they want. You may have to read between the lines, but they will tell you.
May be labor savings
Even if you don’t save them money, if you do something that allows them to provide a service that they would not otherwise have been able to do gives them a competitive advantage that can make them more money.
Some of these things might be things that you do later on in your career. I am making the assumption that this won’t be your only job search over your career and at some point all of these points might be useful.
Speaking – Organizers are always on the lookout for a good speaker. This enhances your credibility since someone thought highly enough of you to bring you in to speak to the group.
Speaking of speakers, I need one for the GSP Developers guild a week from Tuesday. If you’re interested in coming to Greenville to present, let me know.
Writing is a huge credibility builder. Think about the authors of the books you read. Don’t you think of them as experts on the topic. Let me clue you in, they are no different than you and I except they put in a lot of time and effort to write a book. I have met authors writing topics in areas where I knew a whole lot about the topic than they did. However, I haven’t written a book so they are the expert, not me.
If your articles are good, your network will pass these on for you.
Don’t make the article a sales pitch
Use keywords you are targeting in the title and article so the search engines can pick up.
Use booklets, special reports, and white papers as bribes to get people to sign up on your list
The more you publish the more of an authority you become
These articles are always working for you even when you are sleeping. One day you open your email and out of the blue, a prospect has contacted you. That is cool when it happens.
When you do something for others, they will feel obligated to do something for you. Don’t do this to be manipulative.
Books and software are especially valuable if they are something you have written since that also adds to your credibility.
However, it never hurts if your doing something for free gets noticed and ends up in the newspaper or some other press release. Or if the president of the board also happens to run a large software development shop.
If you send someone some business, don’t you think they would be more likely to reciprocate and send someone your way.
This is a major way of determining need. Think about all the times you hear someone complain about a problem or say “I wish I could…”. Any time you hear about a problem, you should be thinking opportunity instead.