You have to move there. Even if you put it up front in your resume (they usually only read it 30 mins before they interview you). None of these companies want to hire from another state. As you can not 'start tomorrow'. Even though they will have these positions open for a year or more.
Be up front you about what you are doing. They are going to think 'he is going to jump at any time'.
Be willing to stay there awhile. But be warned some of these places there may be one to two 'big companies' that hire there (and if they do not hire you are SOL). There may be some small startups here and there. So plan on that. There may not be much to choose from there for you. It is why many move away from those areas. So if you are 'lucky' enough to get into one of the companies do not plan on jumping around a lot. You will burn bridges and the community of devs is small there, and they talk.
Be willing to dig into some seriously legacy code. "oh we still use sourcesafe and vb5". The Joel test is a good indicator of how strong they are. "oh we buy the best for our devs" and the computer on existing devs desks is some beige box from the late 2000s with a CRT.
Set your pay expectations much lower than what you are used to. Had one I was looking at, I was one of 3 people who applied. He passed me over because 'I was not in the same state'. I had 5 years 'full stack' exp on the exact type of system he was working on. After a bit of back and forth they wanted to pay nearly half of what I was looking for. Which was not terribly out of line for that area. Another dude thought he could snag me for 1/4th what I wanted. These guys can be cheap. They have a product someone tinkered together years ago. But they do not have enough income to really justify any sort of real work. So they do what they can and usually just farm it out to some consultant group.
> You will burn bridges and the community of devs is small there, and they talk.
You've hit the nail on the head here and this is my main worry. I've been much more selfish lately (last 3-ish years) and I know I definitely did burn some bridges but I can't make myself care very much -- I am 41 y/o and at one point participating in a one-sided "exchange" of trying to appease while mostly humiliating yourself becomes impossible to swallow (but then again, I recognize I've had both shitty luck and self-selected bad employers due to personal drawbacks that I am still actively fighting with).
> Be willing to dig into some seriously legacy code. "oh we still use sourcesafe and vb5".
One of my strongest selling points as a senior dev is that (a) I don't mind dirty and heavy work at all, and (b) I have an excellent eye for detail, very rarely miss something and (c) I try to leave the code with better readability after I finish my current task on it.
That being said, many companies are too impatient. I've hit the brick wall of "we want somebody who can hit the ground running and we won't provide any training" personally at least 5 times in the last 3 years. And I seriously don't know what to do about that; I certainly can't know all tech stacks and domain expertises on the planet!
And it's flabbergasting how much in denial many companies are about the risk management aspect. I mean they know; they absolutely know what's going on but they concluded that training new hires is a huge business risk (due to most people never staying more than 2 years on a job) so people like myself -- even if senior and very experienced -- have literally 1% chance of getting hired in many such places.
They do have a point and they are mostly acting rationally in this situation; but they could still spare some minimal training so they stand to gain a bit more from the employee that's going to move on maximum 24 months after being hired. One or two months of training isn't that expensive for them I'd think.
> These guys can be cheap. They have a product someone tinkered together years ago. But they do not have enough income to really justify any sort of real work. So they do what they can and usually just farm it out to some consultant group.
I am realistic about that aspect and I accept it. If they wanted to pay top dollar they'd just court somebody who is 45-50 or more for several months and then do their very best to promise them retirement in the company and all the good stuff that a long stay can benefit the person.
I know they want to pay less but I'd aim for having 3-4 such customers, independently, and collect a 120% - 200% of my normal payment combined through such venues. Not always sustainable in terms of mental strain and energy but I've pulled it off successfully even as shortly as 9-10 months ago without being hugely taxed in terms of health.
RE: the consultant group trope, I suppose this is where I fail in terms of marketing. Many companies just can't take a single random person seriously even if he's John Carmack in disguise. I suspect I need to make a fancy consulting website with some fake testimonials and pretty graphics, have a photo in a rented suit and then I'll suddenly be taken seriously. People can be very shallow and easy to manipulate, huh?
I am a bit flippant here but I likely should indeed work on marketing. But how does one strong and senior single programmer advertise themselves as a consultant or, generally, a guy you go to to solve a business problem, and who is not a wage lemming? Got any pointers on that?
The consultant thing is usually a matter of budget. Hiring someone is the personal budget that has had an increase of just enough so everyone does not flee and zero real room for a new head. Yet a consulting budget is from a 'different bucket' and can usually scale up and down quickly. Those are taxed at different rates and depending on their accountants how it will work out.
For your last Q I would say a lot of the same points still matter. They are going to want someone 'local'. Someone who can come in on a moments notice when they are in the thick of it. Also keep in mind a business is not programming. I would suspect what you are really asking is 'how do I sell things'. That is a much different topic. But targeted advertising, cold calling, trade shows, emails to former and clients and colleagues. It may be worth looking into hiring an advertisement firm for some small ideas. Do what you want your customer to do and hire an expert. If you do not have the cash for that you are going to have to do it yourself. Your personal network is probably your best bet for starting to grow your business network. My dad a former insurance salesman spent a lot of time in bars selling and meeting people. They had hundreds of hours of training they took to be any good at it. It may even be worth getting a short part time job as a salesman to get the idea of what to do. Think of it as just as there are jr devs you are jr salesman. But keep in mind, there are several types of sales. Those that sell themselves (they were already going to buy it, it is just from who that matters). Those where you need to work the sale. This is the harder type. You have to basically sell yourself to them. This is either showing them they have an existing need that is not being fed, or faking it by 'creating' a need they did not know they had. Another way is to associate yourself to one of the consultant groups out there. They take a cut but can help with lead generation.
Be up front you about what you are doing. They are going to think 'he is going to jump at any time'.
Be willing to stay there awhile. But be warned some of these places there may be one to two 'big companies' that hire there (and if they do not hire you are SOL). There may be some small startups here and there. So plan on that. There may not be much to choose from there for you. It is why many move away from those areas. So if you are 'lucky' enough to get into one of the companies do not plan on jumping around a lot. You will burn bridges and the community of devs is small there, and they talk.
Be willing to dig into some seriously legacy code. "oh we still use sourcesafe and vb5". The Joel test is a good indicator of how strong they are. "oh we buy the best for our devs" and the computer on existing devs desks is some beige box from the late 2000s with a CRT.
Set your pay expectations much lower than what you are used to. Had one I was looking at, I was one of 3 people who applied. He passed me over because 'I was not in the same state'. I had 5 years 'full stack' exp on the exact type of system he was working on. After a bit of back and forth they wanted to pay nearly half of what I was looking for. Which was not terribly out of line for that area. Another dude thought he could snag me for 1/4th what I wanted. These guys can be cheap. They have a product someone tinkered together years ago. But they do not have enough income to really justify any sort of real work. So they do what they can and usually just farm it out to some consultant group.