Let’s be honest: the tech market is getting crowded. With every passing day, the competition gets fiercer. Recently, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made headlines by stating that mid-level IT engineers could soon be replaced by AI agents, leaving much of the work to shift towards design-level decision-making and advanced automation. This means the game is changing, and simply being “good enough” isn’t enough anymore.
Another challenge I’ve noticed is the overwhelming number of applications companies receive for every job. For example, I recently had to urgently hire someone for a role. To my surprise, I received over 2,000 applications. Sitting on the other side of the table for the first time, I realized that even with so many excellent resumes and portfolios, I had to narrow down the pool based on more than just qualifications. I started looking for things like: Do they have a strong social presence? Have they worked on a truly unique project? Did they reach out directly to me or someone in the company for a referral? Have I come across them before in any context?
That experience made me realize one thing: applying to job portals isn’t enough in this competitive market.
After researching, talking to experts, and reflecting on my own hiring experience, I’ve put together this list of seven strategies that can help you rise above the noise. You don’t need to try them all—pick one or two where you can truly excel. A single, well-executed effort will always shine brighter than a scattershot approach. I will also be sharing some success stories in between to let you know that these aren’t just fancy terms or something impossible to achieve. So, let’s get started.
1. Reach Out to Recruiters Directly
Sometimes, the simplest way to get noticed is also the most effective—reach out to recruiters directly. Take Andrew Ng’s advice: “Don’t wait for opportunities to come to you.” Many companies prefer candidates who show initiative and genuine interest in their roles, and reaching out directly can help you stand out from the crowd. It might even help you skip the long queue of traditional applications.
You might have heard about cold emailing in academia, but I feel it’s not used effectively in the industrial sector. Cold emailing isn’t just about shooting an email or messaging recruiters on LinkedIn. You need to respect their time and craft a message that grabs their attention. Your first few paragraphs can either make them read further or ignore your email.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach here—it depends on the role, the job description, your experience, and other factors. Use LinkedIn to identify recruiters or hiring managers. If possible, go for a premium version to message them directly. For students who can’t afford LinkedIn Premium, keep an eye out for giveaways or free trials.
Example: Dhruv Loya, a recent graduate, landed a job at Tesla through cold emailing. Sharing his story makes it more relatable for people starting their careers. Another famous case is Tim Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Workweek,” who used a direct, personalized email to reach out to entrepreneur Peter Thiel. That email eventually landed him a position on Thiel’s board of advisors.
Yes, it takes extra effort, but if the result is landing your dream job, isn’t it worth a shot?
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2. Speaking and Networking at Technical Conferences, Events, and Meetups
I genuinely believe networking is one of the most underrated job-hunting tools. If you’re in the tech industry, I’m sure you’ve attended some sort of conference, event, or meetup. But ask yourself: Did you really make the most of the people you were surrounded by during those times? Conferences, workshops, and meetups (e.g., PyCon, NeurIPS, or local AI groups) aren’t just for learning—they’re absolute goldmines for networking. These events often give you access to exclusive, unadvertised roles and opportunities.
Personally, I suggest that if you can, secure a speaking spot at these events. Share your project, work, or even conduct a technical workshop. You can start small with local AI workshops in your region to develop a speaking portfolio. If you’re not comfortable with public speaking, at least aim to network with people in the event. Face-to-face meetings allow you to make a memorable impression and engage in meaningful technical discussions. Afterward, be proactive—connect with them on LinkedIn or start a joint project if possible.
Don’t rush into focusing on monetary benefits at the start of your career. Instead, think about the long-term value of the relationships you build and how they can lead to unexpected opportunities.
Example: Ali Ghodsi, CEO of Databricks, often shares how he networked with early adopters of Apache Spark at conferences. This community-building effort helped him secure investors and a strong team, which eventually led to the significant growth of Databricks.
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3. Building in Public
“Building in public” means sharing your learning journey, projects, or experiments openly on social media or platforms like GitHub, Twitter, or Medium. A few years ago, this term was mainly used by startup founders who shared their journeys—from ideation to execution—in real-time. But now, it’s expanded beyond just startups.
Now, think about it: when you hear about big names like Meta or OpenAI, who comes to mind? Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai? Sure, they’re the faces of these companies, but it’s not just them who make these companies successful. There’s a whole team working behind the scenes, and building in public can help get you noticed—even if you’re not in the spotlight.
The real benefit of building in public is the long-term advantages. If you decide to start your own company or launch a product down the road, you’ll already have credibility and an audience that’s excited to support and test what you create. Even if you’re just aiming for a top-paying job at a leading tech company, building a visible online presence can put you ahead of other candidates.
Here is the success formula that you can use building in public:
- Daily technical insights on Twitter/LinkedIn
- Weekly detailed blog posts
- Monthly project showcases
- Regular community engagement
Example: Take Chip Huyen as an example. When people think of ML systems or AI engineering, her name is often one of the first that comes up. She started by sharing her insights on ML engineering and is now the founder of Claypot AI. By building in public, she not only established her credibility but also created opportunities that many others wouldn’t get by just sending job applications.
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4. Technical Blogging & Content Creation
I’m glad to see that technical blogging and content creation are finally getting the recognition they deserve when it comes to job hunting and building your professional profile. Honestly, I can vouch for how rewarding this can be. I’ve received numerous offers from people who came across my technical articles and wanted to work with me. While it’s true it takes time, the payoff is real. When I first started technical writing, there weren’t many people doing it. But after COVID and especially with the rise of AI tools, the space has become quite crowded. If you want to stand out, you need to find your own unique angle. What’s going to make your content stand out? Why should someone spend their valuable time reading or watching your stuff? High-quality content always rises to the top.
So, take a moment to think: What are you good at? What gaps exist in the current content landscape? Where’s there a lack of quality material? Once you figure this out, market and share your articles with the right audience. For technical posts, Reddit is a great platform. If you’re sharing more digestible content like roadmaps, career advice, or beginner-friendly tips, LinkedIn and Twitter are perfect. You could even start a newsletter, but make sure it offers something unique.
One of the things I really enjoy about content creation is that it keeps you updated with the latest trends and developments in your field. It forces you to learn and stay on top of things, which only sharpens your skills further.
Example: Umar Jamil creates some of the most detailed, beginner-friendly video tutorials on machine learning and AI. His content is gold because it goes beyond theory—he codes everything from scratch. I’d bet my time on watching his videos because they offer something unique and valuable that’s hard to find elsewhere. Similarly, for the NLP folks, Jay Alammar’s visual guide to transformers became a go-to resource for anyone wanting to understand these models. His approach helped fill a huge gap in the community. Rachel Thomas, co-founder of fast.ai, also started out writing detailed explanations of deep learning concepts, and look at where she is now! Recruiters often look for candidates who can break down complex ideas clearly, and blogging is a great way to showcase that ability.
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5. Creating Practical Tools
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Actions speak louder than words,” and it couldn’t be more true when it comes to building practical tools. But before discussing this, let’s clear up an important distinction: the difference between your typical resume projects and building real, usable tools.
Resume projects often consist of theoretical work, research-based projects, or solutions that might not be fully deployed or usable. They may involve repetitive ideas that don’t solve real-world problems. In contrast, creating practical tools means you’re tackling tangible, real-world problems and offering solutions that others can use. These tools don’t need to be huge, groundbreaking ideas. They just need to be well-executed solutions for everyday problems. The key here is execution, not the complexity of the idea. And trust me, when done right, these tools serve as a portfolio piece that recruiters can directly interact with. They get to see your skills in action, which is far more powerful than just listing them on a resume.
Let’s say you work in AI or software development. Instead of having a project that just sits in a repo gathering dust, create a tool that addresses a problem people actually face. For example, you could build a Chrome extension that helps generate quick email replies with a base template, or a simple tool that automates data cleaning. These kinds of tools show that you can not only come up with solutions but also implement them in a way that people can actually use.
When you create these tools, you’re giving your audience something tangible. It’s more than just words on paper. You’re proving you can deliver something functional and useful.
Example: Hugging Face started as a small side project by Clément Delangue and Julien Chaumond, and look at it now—it’s a billion-dollar company revolutionizing NLP. What started as a side project for developers became one of the leading platforms in AI. This shows how even the simplest of tools can make a massive impact.
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- GitHub: Perfect for hosting your code and getting feedback from other developers.
- Heroku / Vercel: Great for hosting web apps for free, so people can interact with your tools.
- Low-code/No-code platforms (Bubble, Adalo): Ideal if you want to quickly create prototypes without diving too deep into coding.
- Stack Overflow & GitHub Discussions: These communities are awesome for getting feedback and improving your tools.
6. Open Source Contribution
If you’re in the tech space, you’ve probably heard about open source contributions. But here’s the thing: many people are more focused on the numbers, like how many contributions they can rack up, without really understanding the essence of what open source is all about. It’s disheartening because some folks treat it like a way to boost their GitHub profile, contributing low-effort stuff just for the sake of it.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t get started with easier contributions. It’s a great way to learn how it works. But once you have a decent understanding, aim for meaningful contributions that actually make a difference. The 80/20 principle applies here—focus on the 20% of contributions that really matter, and trust me, that will have a much bigger impact than dozens of shallow pull requests. If you want a deeper understanding of what I mean, I highly recommend reading Eat That Frog.
The truth is, open-source contributions aren’t just about showing off coding skills—they’re about demonstrating a commitment to collaboration, problem-solving, and improving the community. Plus, they get you noticed by recruiters. Some people even highlight the number of stars their projects have gotten as a part of their resume.
Here’s how you can start contributing in a meaningful way:
- Start with documentation
- Fix small bugs
- Add features
- Review pull requests
- Help in community forums
Example: Sebastian Raschka contributed to open-source projects early in his career, which helped him build credibility and eventually publish the widely-known book “Machine Learning with PyTorch and Scikit-Learn”. Similarly, Maxime Labonne’s open-source work on LLM post-training gained him recognition throughout the AI community. And then there’s roadmap.sh by Kamran Ahmed—which began as a straightforward project to guide developers through various tech career paths. Today, it’s the 7th most-starred repository on GitHub and the 2nd most-starred codebase overall.
Resources:
- “First Timers Only” initiative: A great starting point for new open-source contributors. It encourages beginners to make their first pull request, no matter how small.
- GitHub’s “Good First Issues”: A great place to find beginner-friendly issues you can help with.
- Open Source Guides: Offers resources on how to contribute to open source, including best practices, tips, and tools.
- Open Source Subreddit: It is a great place for contributors to discuss, share tips, and find open-source projects to get involved with.
7. Collaborate with Professors, Researchers, or Industry Professionals
Many tech geeks prefer working solo, but let me tell you, no matter how skilled you are, this might not be the most helpful route when you’re looking for jobs. And trust me, no one’s going to steal your idea. Don’t let that hold you back—be open to collaboration. Who you collaborate with really depends on your long-term goals—whether you’re leaning toward academia, industry, or independent research. What kind of environment works best for you?
For example, if you’re more industry-focused, look for mentors or renowned professionals in your sector. Share your project ideas with them. If they can’t contribute directly, ask them to mentor you. Their name alone adds credibility, and it will give your project more visibility. Don’t put yourself in a shell—reach out.
Let me share a personal story: I wanted to work on a research project focused on AI generated text detection. However, my schedule didn’t allow for formal research work, and I didn’t have the full team. So, I reached out to an independent researcher—someone not hugely famous but with a clear vision and a team that was willing to get things done. We collaborated through Cohere for AI, and guess what? Eight months later, we’re finalizing our draft for the paper. And I loved every minute of it.
Example: Many researchers at companies like Google DeepMind and OpenAI started their careers by collaborating with academic mentors. Take Ian Goodfellow, the inventor of GANs. He started his journey by working closely with his professors during his PhD. His groundbreaking work led to a job at Google Brain and, later, Apple.
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That’s all for now! If you want to know about the top high-paying AI skills for 2025, click here. And hey, if you’ve tried anything different in your job search that helped you stand out, drop it in the comments. I’d love to check it out!
Kanwal Mehreen Kanwal is a machine learning engineer and a technical writer with a profound passion for data science and the intersection of AI with medicine. She co-authored the ebook “Maximizing Productivity with ChatGPT”. As a Google Generation Scholar 2022 for APAC, she champions diversity and academic excellence. She’s also recognized as a Teradata Diversity in Tech Scholar, Mitacs Globalink Research Scholar, and Harvard WeCode Scholar. Kanwal is an ardent advocate for change, having founded FEMCodes to empower women in STEM fields.