Ask HN: How do I show a company that I'm worth hiring?

Here's one out of my personal playbook on both sides of the hiring process: Find a company that has an API and build something with it. Make a mashup, augment a feature that they have, or build a missing feature. This shows them that you are passionate about their company, have the ability to execute, and can deliver value.<p>Find a company that you want to work for that doesn't have an API? Build one for them. Scrap their website, grab some basic data, and show them that you can build a rudimentary API that gives customers access to build on top of what they want. Or build out a cool feature that they're lacking.<p>More than programmers, companies are looking for people who can help them improve their business. If you can bring passion, execution, and vision together you'll always find a job you want.<p>Also, we're hiring: <a href="http://www.globalgiving.org/aboutus/jobs/software-engineer-for-good.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.globalgiving.org/aboutus/jobs/software-engineer-f...</a>

Where do you live? One often overlooked avenue is to get contacts in the local tech community via meetups/OSS. Having an existing employee vouch for you is a big leg-up, but of course that person is putting their reputation on the line, so they have to really know your talent / passion / dedication first. Probably not what you want to hear as it doesn't help find a job today, but having people that can vouch for your skills, long term, is invaluable and takes time to build up, so starting ASAP is a good idea. One of the open secrets in the tech world is that most job qualifications are a bit overboard and can be waived entirely for a good candidate. Just realize not ticking any of the skill boxes AND not having an inside recommendation is a hard thing to overcome, so you need to attack one angle or the other.