We always think there's some magic new thing that's gonna fix our problems. But when we get that thing we discover that we're still kinda just the same disorganized mess we always have been.
It's a physical object that you don't have to remember to click on. But it's also not an app that's sending you annoying alerts at random times. It's just there, reminding you it exists and have things to do.
Unicorn hunting is probably some of it. I followed up on one that sent me a rejection letter after two interviews and just said "I see your job has been re-posted" Never heard back. =)
I'm curious what the point you're trying to make is. It's not like ex-FAANG folks are the only ones reporting an endless stream of soul crushing rejection letters.
How anyone reasonably expects me to not tie self worth to a task that I enjoy doing, and perform a minimum of 8 hours a day 5 days a week is a mystery to me. The same goes for the folks that think the environment that I spend that time in should somehow not have an effect on my well-being.
The best I can do is understand how deeply broken the hiring process has been for a while now, and that we have still found a way to make it worse in the past few years.
It also probably helps that while my personal endeavors have so far generated $0 and I'll need to address the cash flow situation in some way soon, they have generated more genuine satisfaction than my last job. Which is surprising because I generally liked the work in my last role.
Anecdotally even folks with great resumes listing recent FAANG experience are having a hard time landing roles currently. They've also coined the silly term "The Great Hesitation" for the market currently where everyone is "waiting to see" instead of hiring.
Mostly I channel my depression and anxiety into spite which I then use to fuel other endeavors.
If working for the stupidest, most short sighted, group of humans that we have yet developed through decades of corporate nonsense is no longer the way to have steady employment then it's time to find something else.
I don't watch anime, and I'm not gonna do your market research for you, but here is what I know from existing on the internet and 2 seconds of "refresh my memory" searching.
1. the guy who started the studio hates AI
2. a lot of fans of the studio hate AI
3. a lot of the art community despises AI
4. there's a lot of free generator links, and your site doesn't appear on the first page of a search for "ghibli ai"
Take a look at every company currently. They're trading the short term illusion of economic gain for a stable and skilled talent pool of employees that are engaged and productive and a public that doesn't hate them and their products.
No, it didn't make sense in 2015 either. For all the reasons you correctly identified. But if someone tries to make me to use some AI "collaboration" crap to get a job I'm just gonna decline and go work in another field.
Right now you're competing with people that have years of actual experience writing code for companies and an army of new grads who know nothing but have the degree and are desperate/young enough to work for nothing or near enough to as makes no difference.
You're also doing this somewhere in the vicinity of the peak of the "AI will replace all the programmers" stupidity.
> Unfortunately, a portfolio is nowhere to be found, as while programming for pleasure, my ADHD-tendencies flit from cool thing to cool thing to cool thing and I never seem to get a project really presentable.
Long term I'd say that you should fix this. You need to produce something that is either real or real adjacent. Now maybe all your half finished projects are the most impressive Python ever written, I don't know you. But nobody is really going to crawl through the graveyard of half started , half baked, and half finished projects looking for a reason to hire you these days. If they are HR they might not even look at your GH at all.
It's also worth considering if you're even suited to a corporate job coding. Mostly you're going to maintain and/or write old boring crap a lot. If you can't stay excited about your own ideas for long enough to finish anything, will it destroy your "sensitive super-introvert" soul to write yet another CRUD app or go change the crusty old TPS report collection system to add the new field?
Short term, get a crap job (like you said you plan to do) and apply for all the crap coding jobs if you still really want to, maybe you get lucky.