Наталя ХандусенкоWork
20 May 2026, 14:00
2026-05-20
How to get an offer for a Middle-developer in Ukraine? 5 search rules from an IT professional who achieved 50% responses to his reviews
The crisis in the IT market forces candidates not just to look for vacancies, but to build a real strategy. The story of Front-End developer Vlad Gorobets is an example of how a systematic approach brings results. His job search marathon lasted 3.5 months and included more than 60 reviews, 27 interviews, and more than 10 technical interviews. Despite attempts to "knock" on European companies via LinkedIn, the developer found his ideal offer in Ukraine. Vlad told dev.ua how he managed to get an incredible conversion in almost 50% of responses to his reviews.
The crisis in the IT market forces candidates not just to look for vacancies, but to build a real strategy. The story of Front-End developer Vlad Gorobets is an example of how a systematic approach brings results. His job search marathon lasted 3.5 months and included more than 60 reviews, 27 interviews, and more than 10 technical interviews. Despite attempts to "knock" on European companies via LinkedIn, the developer found his ideal offer in Ukraine. Vlad told dev.ua how he managed to get an incredible conversion in almost 50% of responses to his reviews.
"Over time, I realized that the rules of the market have changed a lot and you either have to play by them or be unemployed. That's why I built rules for myself, which, in my opinion, helped me a lot in the future," Vlad Gorobets wrote on LinkedIn.
So the developer formed his own strategy of 5 basic rules. Vlad shared his approach on LinkedIn, and dev.ua asked the author for additional details.
Rule 1: Record interviews
"This is probably my most important rule," Vlad shares. "I recorded absolutely every interview: from getting to know the recruiter to the technical stages and bar raising. Of course, I did this only with the consent of the other party. If the recruiters hesitated, I explained: I only needed the recording to analyze my weaknesses. It worked."
The key element at this stage is the involvement of artificial intelligence. One of his cases looked like this: an interview recording was uploaded to an AI service, which automatically transcribed the conversation into text and translated it into English. The developer then sent this text to Claude with a clear prompt: to evaluate the answers taking into account his professional level.
"I explained the context to Claude: that it was a technical interview, described my approximate level, and asked him to evaluate my answers. As a result, he analyzed them, gave fairly high-quality feedback, and even made a development plan: what I should improve on, what topics to study in more depth, and what to pay attention to next," the developer adds.
When reviewing the recordings yourself, the developer advises paying attention not only to the factual accuracy of the answers, but also to your confidence during the conversation.
Rule 2: Build an attractive resume for both recruiters and ATS systems
“I believe that a clear and structured resume that is equally well read by both recruiters and ATS systems is at least 50% of success,” Vlad is convinced. Unlike many colleagues, the developer did not adapt the CV for each individual vacancy, but instead focused on one universal, but highest-quality version.
In the process of creating a resume, Vlad highlighted several key factors. The first is a concise but capacious Summary block. In just a few sentences, you need to explain how many years of experience you have, in what areas you worked, what tasks you solved, and how you can be useful to the company. It is also worth adding soft skills here: for example, the ability to learn quickly or the ability to take responsibility.
“The next important step is to describe your experience in detail through the prism of business value,” the developer explains. “You need to show what benefits you brought to the business. Instead of a dry “optimized the application,” it’s better to write in numerical terms: “improved performance and increased PageSpeed from 50 to 90.” Specific results are perceived much better. The main message of your resume is to show your value to the business.”
For entry-level specialists, Vlad recommends adding pet projects, links to GitHub, and relevant courses or certifications.
By the way, at this stage, the developer again involved artificial intelligence: AI helped him correctly structure the job description at previous places of work and translate the text into English.
Rule 3: Set up notifications about new vacancies in messenger
“Speed of response in today’s market is critically important,” explains Vlad. “I had a case where I sent my CV second in line, and the recruiter replied to me within 10 minutes. If I had been in the first hundred candidates, the queue for my CV might not have reached it at all.”
To ensure maximum response speed, the developer set up the official Telegram bot from Djinni. As soon as a new relevant vacancy appeared on the platform, Vlad instantly received a notification in the messenger, followed the link and applied. He did not use other similar services, since this tool was quite enough.
In addition to notifications, another detail that helped him catch up on time was a pre-prepared cover letter template. Vlad did not write each letter from scratch, but used a universal template, which he minimally adapted to the requirements of a specific position. This combo of instant notifications and a ready-made template allowed the developer to significantly save time and be among the first applicants for the vacancy.
Rule 4: Discipline and Training
“The main thing here is not to give up and knock on every possible door,” Vlad emphasizes.
The developer turned the job search process into a daily routine, devoting an average of 3–4 hours a day to it. His day consisted of two mandatory parts: market monitoring and continuous learning.
"Almost every day I learned something new in my field so that in the event of a technical interview I could easily answer 90% of the questions," the developer added.
For basic job search, the developer used LinkedIn, Djinni, and DOU as standard. However, the real discovery was the unconventional approach suggested to him by his friend Vadym Kolomiets.
"Vadim advised me to look at the lists of top companies on DOU and go directly to their corporate websites," Vlad shares. "The fact is that large market players often publish current positions exclusively on their career pages, bypassing popular job boards. Therefore, looking for a job there is a fairly reasonable step that increases your chances."
Rule 5: Rest
“I am convinced that job searching is also a full-time job that requires a lot of resources,” Vlad emphasizes. “That is why balance is critically important here. If you sit in front of a monitor 24/7, constantly updating the job feed or studying, you can quickly burn out. I strongly recommend giving yourself time for quality recovery.”
The developer himself, during his 3.5-month marathon, did not forget about the importance of switching in time. Simple but effective things helped him to keep himself in shape and avoid stress: time spent with his family, walks to the sea, regular sports, and even computer games in his free evenings. Such a reboot allowed him to return to interviews with a fresh head and new strength.
Instead of a conclusion
In the end, persistence and a clear strategy paid off: Vlad found a job on the Djinni platform. He successfully closed the search and accepted the offer for the position of Middle Front-End Developer. The developer is not disclosing the name of the company yet, but notes that this is exactly the “perfect match” he was looking for.
