Do you prefer to search for a job in a job board or trough a recruiter?

I don't see why you wouldn't do both. I have always done both. I don't even make a distinction. But then I never go to an agency and say "find me a job" ... I apply for a job that the agency is advertising. Some are slippery and try to palm one of their crappier jobs on you "there is this amazing company I know you would be a great fit for..."

Another option is to cold email investors in case you are open to working at a start up.

[delayed]

First preference is to ask my network of people I've enjoyed working with before.

Second is to find growing companies I find interesting and contact then directly.

the market is not competitive there is just artificial scarcity and recruitment games which have been created on purpose

I prefer recruiters that already have a good job fit in mind. They have an 'in.' That's how I got 3 or so of my last offers.

Any time I've 'applied', it feels like just sending information into the void, and never hearing anything back.

I’ve never truly trusted non in-house recruiters… I was once hiring for a position and working with a contract recruiter. He literally said “let me dig through my roster and see who I placed more than 90 days ago” And they’re guarantee was 90 days. Essentially admitting that he poaches staff from one customer to feed another just to get commission. Was just so ethically poor in my opinion, never wanted to work with this type of recruiter ever since. Our goals are not aligned.

Recruiters or contacts within the company I’m interested in. Not worth playing the resume filtering game with random applications to companies.

When I was younger I preferred recruiters. Now that I’m at a more senior level, I’ve found recruiters to be a net negative. The reason is that, as your salary grows, so does the commission paid to the recruiter. Companies have been much more reluctant to hire me because doing so means an instant $30,000+ expense for an unknown amount of benefit. As a result, the interviews were onerous and largely a waste of time (multiple extra rounds, meeting with outside consultants, answering the same question over and over, etc.).

Apply directly to companies.network with potential managers, colleagues, and their internal recruiters.

I know HN hates recruiters but my success rate with them is much much higher than any job post I’ve reacted to online.

I don't even bother with responding to recruiters any more unless they're an actual employee of the company they're recruiting for. Too much noise, too little signal. I wouldn't bother with using an agency as they're still the same big ol' ball of poor communications and lack of understanding what they're recruiting for as the ones who proactively reach out to potential candidates.

* For large employers you can no longer apply directly without an inside connection to hand carry your resume to the hiring manager and vouch for you. These large employers are required to post open positions online and accept applications online for EEO compliance but otherwise ignore all incoming resumes. They are receiving too many resumes online and so now ignore them out right.

* Third party recruiters are expensive for everyone. Yet, they can bypass the stupidity of the prior bullet point.

* Developers, in most cases, are a commodity. A meaningless replaceable gear in a larger machine. Talent and skills are largely irrelevant in many areas of software now, but years of experience still appear to be tie breakers. You resume should account for these considerations if you want to achieve employment.

* I am noticing lately hiring is walking back from that prior bullet point because commoditization of candidate selection does not work for more senior positions. For example you cannot substitute competence for a framework and cheaply achieve security, accessibility, test automation, architecture, and so forth. Eventually making decisions becomes more important than putting text on screen. In this case your only goal is to land an interview by any means possible so that your experience can do the talking.

Neither have been effective for me. I look for posts by hiring managers on Linkedin, and go from there -- e.g., look for a mutual connection to give a warm intro, message the hiring manager, etc.

The common HN response that I have trouble relating to is:

"Network! Go to coffee with people you worked with, offer to help people for free with their projects, and go to many founder and social events! I never used a recruiter in my life and I'm a bazillionaire founder over in the Bay Area!"

In contrast, never in my 20 yr career have I ever found a job like that. As charming as I am, it seems I'm always going to use recruiters (and today I'm a senior manager).

Recruiters and the interview process blow, but they're unavoidable in my experience. No books or startups to my name, however.