Hired.com runs virtual career fair for Australian developers to work in Silicon Valley

THE perks are phenomenal, but getting a job in Silicon Valley is tough. One hopeful dishes the dirt on what it really takes.

Google employees can get around its huge Mountain View campus on fun bikes. Picture: AP.

SILICON Valley. It’s the mecca for anyone remotely technologically inclined. The lure of Google and Facebook’s big, shiny campuses decked out with any toy or privilege a modern worker could possibly dream up.

Gyms, endless gourmet food, yoga classes, sculpture gardens, a bowling alley, dry cleaning, haircuts, massages and the rest. For free (or subsidised). Nice.

Not to mention being part of a community of developers, entrepreneurs, social media gurus and all-round tech folk who are dogmatic about technology’s ability to completely change the world every three days.

So how does an Australian make his or her way to this utopic land? We’ve all heard stories of a friend of a friend getting headhunted by Facebook or Apple or Twitter’s Californian headquarters for their coding prowess, usually followed by cries of ‘Oh, I’m so jealous’.

Facebook provides its workers with free food all day.

Pretty much every tech company has careers sections on their website and they are very active in recruiting new team members at US universities. But they’re not really trawling the halls of Monash or QUT.

Google, in particular, has a notoriously hard recruitment process with some applicants going through seven rounds to nab a job.

Melbourne developer Simon Robb is one of the many locals who would love a chance in Silicon Valley. He said he’d like to spend around three years in California and then come back home and leverage everything he’s learnt to launch his own start-up.

Simon Robb is hoping to get in on the Silicon Valley atmosphere. Picture: Kim Cartmell.

For Mr Robb, the concentration of technical skills, the community of developers and investors and the prestige of having Silicon Valley experience on his resume is his siren song.

He has taken part in a first for aspiring Australians — a virtual job fair hosted by Hired.com, sponsored by venture capital firm Sequoia. The fair represents the first time something of its kind has taken place locally as American firms start to recognise the depth and breadth of technology skills in Australia, coupled with a skills shortage in the States.

Mr. Robb had to go through an online application process followed by a technical test. Applicants who get through this round (about 10%) will then be ‘auctioned’ off with companies such as Square, Eventbrite and Facebook bidding for them.

Facebook has free vending machines for technology accessories. So, don’t worry if you forgot your charger.

If an applicant is ‘bid on’, he or she will then go through a video interview before the cream of the crop are flown out to California or New York for a face-to-face.

The advantage of the virtual job fair is the cost of the airfare and accommodation will be paid for by the company. And those businesses taking part have committed to investing in time and resources to sort out Australians’ visa sponsorships.

Hired.com chief executive Matt Mickiewicz said Silicon Valley companies are looking for individuals with true passion for the job. “Programming is not a nine-to-five gig,” he said.

“Silicon Valley companies are generally pretty flatly structured and everyone has the ability to contribute. So they’re looking for people who are going to be a good cultural fit, are passionate about the product and have a strong, innate curiosity.”

A ‘microkitchen’ at Google’s Californian headquarters.

If you did it the old-fashioned way, you would need a few thousand dollars up your sleeve to fly over, pay for lodgings and door knock your way in. But Mr Mickiewicz said if you made your way there on your own dime it shows initiative and commitment, then just get yourself in front of the right people who are willing to sponsor your visa.

Despite the challenges, the call to Silicon Valley for the technology clan remains strong.

Mr Robb added: “Silicon Valley is to developers and the software industry what Hollywood is to actors. It’s the hub of the best developer skills in the world. To be among it and rub shoulders with these people, working like that day in and day out is how you stretch yourself as a developer.”

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