How to Use SolvedOnce to Land a Job You're "Underqualified" For

We have all seen it: a job description that asks for "5--7 years of experience" in a technology that has only existed for three years. Or a "Junior" role that requires a list of certifications longer than a grocery receipt. To the average applicant, these requirements are walls. To the SolvedOnce builder, they are suggestions.

The "Experience Requirement" is actually a proxy for something else: Trust. Companies don't actually care about the number of years you have sat in a chair. They care about the certainty that you won't break their production environment and that you can ship value on day one. Here is how to use proof-of-work to bypass the gatekeepers and land the job you aren't "qualified" for.

Step 1: Identify the "Burning House" Problem

Every company is hiring because something is "on fire." Maybe their latency is too high, their churn is increasing, or their legacy codebase is a tangled mess. They aren't looking for a "Developer"; they are looking for a "Firefighter."

Research the company. Read their engineering blog. Look at their glassdoor reviews. Find the specific technical or product pain they are feeling.

Step 2: Document 3 "Parallel Challenges"

Once you know their pain, go to your SolvedOnce profile and document three challenges where you solved a similar problem.

• If they are struggling with scale, document the time you optimized a database query that was timing out.
• If they are launching a new product, document the time you built a MVP in 48 hours.
• If they have a messy UI, document how you refactored a complex component library for accessibility.

The goal isn't to match their years of experience; it's to match their frequency of success.

Step 3: The "Underqualified" Cover Letter Hack

When you apply, don't apologize for your lack of years. Instead, pivot immediately to proof. Your message should look like this:

"I noticed your team is currently scaling your data pipeline to handle 10k requests/sec. While my resume shows 2 years of professional experience, I have already successfully solved three challenges directly related to high-throughput data processing. You can see the full documentation, logic, and proof for those builds here: solvedonce.com/yourname"

Step 4: Bypassing the HR Gatekeeper

HR filters for keywords and years. Engineering managers filter for competence. By linking directly to a documented solution, you are giving the engineering manager the "receipts" they need to overrule HR. It is much harder to reject an applicant when their "proof-of-work" is sitting right in front of you.

Step 5: Control the Interview

If you get the interview, don't let them grill you on generic LeetCode puzzles. Bring up your SolvedOnce challenges. Say, "I actually documented a similar problem on my profile. Would you like to walk through the logic I used to solve it?" This shifts the interview from a "test" to a collaboration between two peers.

Conclusion: Competence > Credentials

The "qualified" candidate has a certificate. The right candidate has the proof. In a world where everyone is chasing credentials, those who focus on documenting their actual impact will always win the best roles.

Stop waiting to be "qualified." Start being useful.