Ask HN: Why am I struggling to find a job?
15 comments
I see a lot of companies move away from fully remote to hybrid, 2-3 days a week at an office. have you considered that? it might bring more opportunities.
Also, if you are a decent engineer as you say, perhaps drop the match of 80% down to like 40-50% - as long as it sounds appealing to work there of course.
With your experience you can likely motivate easily that you can skill up on any new things quickly regarding the mismatches.
Other then that, the market is down for a lot of EU companies, not much good investments so a lot of layoffs at least in my country. EU is trying to work towards a bit better investments appearently if I have to beleive the news, but this will take a lot of time.
Where I'm at, a lot of the multi-tenant buildings which used to be bustling with devs and startups etc. are just empty now and rent prices through the roof (so harder to get up and running with new products/ideas etc. which is where often you can find a lot of job positions). Due to that, a lot of these devs now go to more established companies, filling all those jobs up.
I'm no expert on this, but just my observations looking around me at empty offices and jobless dev friends.
perhaps you can go for automation/integration type jobs, and skillup a bit outside of the dev domain so you can do dev-ish kind of work in another domain. cyber needs a lot of that kind of stuff (working a lot towards automating stuff / SOAR etc.) and devs often do well in analyst/engineering jobs there. not strictly dev jobs but having the skills is a big + there. it might match your profile less, but people will likely be happy with your profile anyway.
Also, if you are a decent engineer as you say, perhaps drop the match of 80% down to like 40-50% - as long as it sounds appealing to work there of course.
With your experience you can likely motivate easily that you can skill up on any new things quickly regarding the mismatches.
Other then that, the market is down for a lot of EU companies, not much good investments so a lot of layoffs at least in my country. EU is trying to work towards a bit better investments appearently if I have to beleive the news, but this will take a lot of time.
Where I'm at, a lot of the multi-tenant buildings which used to be bustling with devs and startups etc. are just empty now and rent prices through the roof (so harder to get up and running with new products/ideas etc. which is where often you can find a lot of job positions). Due to that, a lot of these devs now go to more established companies, filling all those jobs up.
I'm no expert on this, but just my observations looking around me at empty offices and jobless dev friends.
perhaps you can go for automation/integration type jobs, and skillup a bit outside of the dev domain so you can do dev-ish kind of work in another domain. cyber needs a lot of that kind of stuff (working a lot towards automating stuff / SOAR etc.) and devs often do well in analyst/engineering jobs there. not strictly dev jobs but having the skills is a big + there. it might match your profile less, but people will likely be happy with your profile anyway.
Hey there, I feel your struggle. As a remote software engineer in the JS stack, I went through something similar last year.
Keep trying for fully remote roles if that's your priority. It might take time, but they're out there.
Consider hybrid roles to expand your options, as more companies are asking for RTO (return to office) lately. e.g. Amazon
Create an online portfolio as your online resume, showcasing your work from the past 1.5 years. You can host it for free on GitHub - search for Web Developer Portfolio for examples, some are really great.
Update your LinkedIn profile, set your status to "looking for a job," and create remote job alerts. Recruiters will reach out directly, helping your resume get seen and get first interview. When you talk to recruiters or company's CEO in LinkedIn, online resume is really helpful. Passing coding tests with flying colors might mean your resume isn't even reaching the hiring teams. So LinkdedIn is a really good approach to have a cold message with target role.
Ask for referrals from your connections and keep an eye on remote job websites.Search keywords and you will found some useful remote list. Referrals significantly increase your chance to get the interview.
If you're worried about the time frame, consider freelancing on platforms like Upwork in the meantime. I was working as a contractor when looking for a remote full time job last year.
Good luck!
Keep trying for fully remote roles if that's your priority. It might take time, but they're out there.
Consider hybrid roles to expand your options, as more companies are asking for RTO (return to office) lately. e.g. Amazon
Create an online portfolio as your online resume, showcasing your work from the past 1.5 years. You can host it for free on GitHub - search for Web Developer Portfolio for examples, some are really great.
Update your LinkedIn profile, set your status to "looking for a job," and create remote job alerts. Recruiters will reach out directly, helping your resume get seen and get first interview. When you talk to recruiters or company's CEO in LinkedIn, online resume is really helpful. Passing coding tests with flying colors might mean your resume isn't even reaching the hiring teams. So LinkdedIn is a really good approach to have a cold message with target role.
Ask for referrals from your connections and keep an eye on remote job websites.Search keywords and you will found some useful remote list. Referrals significantly increase your chance to get the interview.
If you're worried about the time frame, consider freelancing on platforms like Upwork in the meantime. I was working as a contractor when looking for a remote full time job last year.
Good luck!
It's not you. It's the market. I posted a $50k job and I got 2500 applications. Mostly US but also from EU, IN, CN, CAN.
It's brutal out there. Survive on your saved money until 2025. Things will get better.
Also, ignore AI hype. Do not answer any question with LLMs.
It's brutal out there. Survive on your saved money until 2025. Things will get better.
Also, ignore AI hype. Do not answer any question with LLMs.
> Survive on your saved money until 2025.
> ignore AI hype.
Horrendous advice.
> ignore AI hype.
Horrendous advice.
> Working remotely in EU timezone.
Presumably you are a European citizen and not just working EU time?
It's always difficult to know exactly what's going on when people make these posts. Normally my red flags are people either not getting interviews or occasionally getting interviews but failing at the first stage.
If you're getting interviews and feel you're doing fairly well in them then honestly it sounds like you're just getting unlucky.
The job market for developers is really difficult right now. There's a lot of talent out there and there's very few companies hiring. I'm based in the UK so it's a slightly different market, but for some perspective a senior developer role we advertised for recently got over 200 applications and that was hybrid...
Remote is always more challenging because there's always far more people applying. My guess is that you're one of perhaps 500 people applying to some of these roles. Therefore the fact you're still getting interviews and making it to the final stages is probably a really good reflection on your ability if anything.
Also two months really isn't very long... From application to offer it's going to take about a month on average. The quickest I've ever gone from looking for work to an offer was probably a couple of weeks, and that was during hiring peaks. If you assume that you're competing against a few hundred applicants per role then you'll probably going need to apply for at least 30-50 roles before you have a realistic chance of getting anything... It's just going to take time unfortunately given this market.
From what you've said here, I think you'll be fine. It sounds like you're getting quite close to an offer and have just been a bit unlucky so far. Most people who have written these posts recently are struggling to even get interviews.
Anyway best of luck. I know how demotivating it can be to receive rejection after rejection. It's good to reflect on what you might be doing wrong, but I would be hesitant to take rejections too personally in a market like this.
Presumably you are a European citizen and not just working EU time?
It's always difficult to know exactly what's going on when people make these posts. Normally my red flags are people either not getting interviews or occasionally getting interviews but failing at the first stage.
If you're getting interviews and feel you're doing fairly well in them then honestly it sounds like you're just getting unlucky.
The job market for developers is really difficult right now. There's a lot of talent out there and there's very few companies hiring. I'm based in the UK so it's a slightly different market, but for some perspective a senior developer role we advertised for recently got over 200 applications and that was hybrid...
Remote is always more challenging because there's always far more people applying. My guess is that you're one of perhaps 500 people applying to some of these roles. Therefore the fact you're still getting interviews and making it to the final stages is probably a really good reflection on your ability if anything.
Also two months really isn't very long... From application to offer it's going to take about a month on average. The quickest I've ever gone from looking for work to an offer was probably a couple of weeks, and that was during hiring peaks. If you assume that you're competing against a few hundred applicants per role then you'll probably going need to apply for at least 30-50 roles before you have a realistic chance of getting anything... It's just going to take time unfortunately given this market.
From what you've said here, I think you'll be fine. It sounds like you're getting quite close to an offer and have just been a bit unlucky so far. Most people who have written these posts recently are struggling to even get interviews.
Anyway best of luck. I know how demotivating it can be to receive rejection after rejection. It's good to reflect on what you might be doing wrong, but I would be hesitant to take rejections too personally in a market like this.
I have one suggestion. Find the place where you want to work. Get the email of the hiring person. Record a video introduction and send it along with a description of why you are the best person for the work.
This will put you above everyone else! You are almost guaranteed to go through the door and then it is up to you to prove you are awesome, which I have no doubt you are!
Self-plug: I built a tool to help you find the perfect job for you (and you can filter on whether the job posting has an email) https://gettjalerts.com/jobs/
This will put you above everyone else! You are almost guaranteed to go through the door and then it is up to you to prove you are awesome, which I have no doubt you are!
Self-plug: I built a tool to help you find the perfect job for you (and you can filter on whether the job posting has an email) https://gettjalerts.com/jobs/
I’ve been looking since January and I still can’t find a job. I’ve made it to last interviews and I’ve been told they really wanted to hire me but at the end of the day I’m still on the market.
I’m in a tech hub(NYC) and willing to come 5 days to the office. Still nothing.
Context: AI PhD dropout with 5 years of ML part time experience in CV and software engineering.
I’m in a tech hub(NYC) and willing to come 5 days to the office. Still nothing.
Context: AI PhD dropout with 5 years of ML part time experience in CV and software engineering.
I believe the market in EU for remote dev jobs is quite bad. Plenty of good candidates chasing limited number of positions. It's probably way easier to get an in-office job, but I'm not interested in that.
> I put quite some effort in my applications
That's your mistake. It's a numbers game. Minimize the time you spend per application and apply to hundreds of positions. You just need to find only the one.
That's your mistake. It's a numbers game. Minimize the time you spend per application and apply to hundreds of positions. You just need to find only the one.
Skip the job applications entirely (really, put 0% effort there) and go to tech networking events. Especially if you have some social skills. Worked for me at least.
There are, in the simplest terms, two hurdles you have to overcome to get hired.
1. Get an interview 2. Interview well enough to get an offer
There’s various approaches to either, and it sounds like (1) isn’t a problem?
For (2), if you interview and test as well as you say you do, it’s likely the case that you are recognized as somebody who would be a good fit, but they have more viable candidates than open positions, and you’re basically losing a coin flip.
If this is happening a lot, it might mean that you come across as unlikeable. Given two equally competent candidates, they are choosing the more likeable person.
Key metrics, for sadists so inclined, might be— A) Number of applications B) application-to-callback ratio, C) Interview-to-offer ratio
You could make this more fine-grained, but that’s it.
I was part of a mass firing in April last year, and found work in August. I had a similar experience; I had enough on my resume to have several interviews per week, so I never put much effort into optimizing that.
I, in retrospect, was usually failing interviews that were open-ended, and the interviewer had a long list of questions to fit into a short time, and I believe we weren’t getting through all the questions. I was talking too much—I get excited about Software Development—and they were content to let me. Even if they really liked me, what were they supposed to do when they have half a blank form at the end of the call?
I was getting into late stages with many of the companies, definitely completing all stages before you would expect an offer. This happened a few times too. It happens. There are lots of good candidates, I guarantee that the reasons would seem very petty and capricious if you could see what was said when the hiring committee met. I’ve been on both sides. That’s life.
Two months is not a long time in a job search, unfortunately. Many companies you’ve applied to are barely organized enough to start screening candidates within 30 days.
As for myself, I eventually had a friend/colleague from my former company refer me for an interview at the company I ended up at. And after I got one offer I found myself with three the same week, after months of searching. And no income, pregnant wife, mortgage payments, etc. Fun times!
It’s nerve-wracking and frustrating to look for a job and constantly be interviewing. I often say that job hunting is the most humiliating thing someone can do. It’s exhausting and awful. It’s hard to be likeable when you do something that is exhausting and awful all day. I set some target for daily applications, and made sure I had free time for interviews, and was technically ready. I trusted my skills, so I actually spent far more time trying to stay sane and personable and energetic for the calls I was getting.
I think committing to the numbers game is sound advice. If 100 applications gets you ten interviews, and you need 10 interviews to get an offer, it’ll be somewhere between 0 and some hundreds of applications to get an offer.
The good news is that you only need one offer, and your search is done.
The bad news is that the only variable you can really affect without improvements to your applications or interviewing skills, is to increase application volume.
The worse news is that a lot of really terrible applicants and bots are flooding employers with not-good applications, which makes this whole thing more awful for everybody. Which increases the value of a referral.
I read this unironically before every interview I do, and recommend it to all the developers who ask me for interviewing tips: https://codeformore.com/can-you-pretend-to-be-normal-for-up-...
Good luck! Stay sane!
1. Get an interview 2. Interview well enough to get an offer
There’s various approaches to either, and it sounds like (1) isn’t a problem?
For (2), if you interview and test as well as you say you do, it’s likely the case that you are recognized as somebody who would be a good fit, but they have more viable candidates than open positions, and you’re basically losing a coin flip.
If this is happening a lot, it might mean that you come across as unlikeable. Given two equally competent candidates, they are choosing the more likeable person.
Key metrics, for sadists so inclined, might be— A) Number of applications B) application-to-callback ratio, C) Interview-to-offer ratio
You could make this more fine-grained, but that’s it.
I was part of a mass firing in April last year, and found work in August. I had a similar experience; I had enough on my resume to have several interviews per week, so I never put much effort into optimizing that.
I, in retrospect, was usually failing interviews that were open-ended, and the interviewer had a long list of questions to fit into a short time, and I believe we weren’t getting through all the questions. I was talking too much—I get excited about Software Development—and they were content to let me. Even if they really liked me, what were they supposed to do when they have half a blank form at the end of the call?
I was getting into late stages with many of the companies, definitely completing all stages before you would expect an offer. This happened a few times too. It happens. There are lots of good candidates, I guarantee that the reasons would seem very petty and capricious if you could see what was said when the hiring committee met. I’ve been on both sides. That’s life.
Two months is not a long time in a job search, unfortunately. Many companies you’ve applied to are barely organized enough to start screening candidates within 30 days.
As for myself, I eventually had a friend/colleague from my former company refer me for an interview at the company I ended up at. And after I got one offer I found myself with three the same week, after months of searching. And no income, pregnant wife, mortgage payments, etc. Fun times!
It’s nerve-wracking and frustrating to look for a job and constantly be interviewing. I often say that job hunting is the most humiliating thing someone can do. It’s exhausting and awful. It’s hard to be likeable when you do something that is exhausting and awful all day. I set some target for daily applications, and made sure I had free time for interviews, and was technically ready. I trusted my skills, so I actually spent far more time trying to stay sane and personable and energetic for the calls I was getting.
I think committing to the numbers game is sound advice. If 100 applications gets you ten interviews, and you need 10 interviews to get an offer, it’ll be somewhere between 0 and some hundreds of applications to get an offer.
The good news is that you only need one offer, and your search is done.
The bad news is that the only variable you can really affect without improvements to your applications or interviewing skills, is to increase application volume.
The worse news is that a lot of really terrible applicants and bots are flooding employers with not-good applications, which makes this whole thing more awful for everybody. Which increases the value of a referral.
I read this unironically before every interview I do, and recommend it to all the developers who ask me for interviewing tips: https://codeformore.com/can-you-pretend-to-be-normal-for-up-...
Good luck! Stay sane!
Are you getting internationally blocked and sabotaged by some enormously powerful entity with ulterior purposes of framing you into a narrative they are designing so they can portray you in the future as something you are not, incarcerating you, all of this with the cooperation of your naive friends, co-workers, even some relatives! While keeping you from landing another job?!!!
Jokes aside, well... It seems you have diagnosed your own issue. Be straightforward with the interviewer, maybe saying something like: These scenarios stress me like a lot, I am unable to articulate my ideas, so let me pull this piece of code so I can explain to you what polymorphism is. Have your text editor handy and be prepared to share your screen (Or at least imagine you are sharing your screen).
If it helps, think of the interviewer as a jr. Software Developer to whom you have to explain something, I am positive you have dealt with this in your +12 years career. You are describing yourself as a Software Architect, be confident.
I have been unemployed for more than two years now, at the beginning I was getting interviews but most of the time I was failing the technical coding challenge because it always took more time than the time provided, if they say I need to complete the code challenge in 30 min, it took me 45 min. I got the Tic-Tac-Toe question, they gave me two hours and a half, it took me for hours! Jehehe. I didn't feel bad, I ended implementing it as a web application (See my website).
At some point I stopped getting interviews, I was discarded only on the basis of not knowing Spring (I am a Java developer), or any other tech stack, even when I have a proven track record on grasping technologies on the fly (Like any other software developer). Since I am not the smartest person in the world, instead of studying Spring, React, etc, I was installing OpenIndiana on an old laptop, I was taking a look at the Vulkan documentation imagining I shall come with a very good library to abstract the low details so people can concentrate in their app ideas. Refreshing my knowledge on elementary Mathematics, like Algebra. Here I am unemployed, after all this time, but this week I decided to revisit the Spring web framework, because at the end of the day I am a curious person and I want to take another glance on how things are implemented using Spring. It is not my first time this tech stack by the way.
I wasn't hardwired to be an entrepreneur (Nobody's fault but mine as Led Zeppelin says) so the whole time I have been in the mood of "preparing" myself to be "good enough" for the market. But in the back of my head I have been always asking myself: How people like Dennis Ritchie were able to deliver good pieces of Software without participating into all of this seniority levels, tech stacks, etc?
A job is an opportunity someone gives you, if everybody will turn their backs on you, perhaps it is time for you to come up with something on your own and enable a market out of it. There are people making good money by selling promises, you know, "Get AI-career ready in X months for X1 money", "X2 Tech in X3 hours", etc. Are you missing the party?
How late is now, it is time for me to go back and continue studying today's most demanded technology with the hope someone take a chance on me. Should I instead code something quickly? Should I fill some gaps in my education? Quitting is not an option for me, I love Computer Science, even when in the last days I have been wondering if there is some resource out there on learning linear algebra with a heavy focus on geometric interpretation. You know, I don't care about matrix multiplication, it is a mechanical procedure, but what does it mean geometrically, why do we invent it? stuff like that, if I just said something naive, please don't mind me.
Have a good one!!! And don't dismay!!! "Programming is (Should be) fun"
If you liked the intro of this text make sure to visit my website, it is part of Verita's world, an ongoing unfinished project.
Jokes aside, well... It seems you have diagnosed your own issue. Be straightforward with the interviewer, maybe saying something like: These scenarios stress me like a lot, I am unable to articulate my ideas, so let me pull this piece of code so I can explain to you what polymorphism is. Have your text editor handy and be prepared to share your screen (Or at least imagine you are sharing your screen).
If it helps, think of the interviewer as a jr. Software Developer to whom you have to explain something, I am positive you have dealt with this in your +12 years career. You are describing yourself as a Software Architect, be confident.
I have been unemployed for more than two years now, at the beginning I was getting interviews but most of the time I was failing the technical coding challenge because it always took more time than the time provided, if they say I need to complete the code challenge in 30 min, it took me 45 min. I got the Tic-Tac-Toe question, they gave me two hours and a half, it took me for hours! Jehehe. I didn't feel bad, I ended implementing it as a web application (See my website).
At some point I stopped getting interviews, I was discarded only on the basis of not knowing Spring (I am a Java developer), or any other tech stack, even when I have a proven track record on grasping technologies on the fly (Like any other software developer). Since I am not the smartest person in the world, instead of studying Spring, React, etc, I was installing OpenIndiana on an old laptop, I was taking a look at the Vulkan documentation imagining I shall come with a very good library to abstract the low details so people can concentrate in their app ideas. Refreshing my knowledge on elementary Mathematics, like Algebra. Here I am unemployed, after all this time, but this week I decided to revisit the Spring web framework, because at the end of the day I am a curious person and I want to take another glance on how things are implemented using Spring. It is not my first time this tech stack by the way.
I wasn't hardwired to be an entrepreneur (Nobody's fault but mine as Led Zeppelin says) so the whole time I have been in the mood of "preparing" myself to be "good enough" for the market. But in the back of my head I have been always asking myself: How people like Dennis Ritchie were able to deliver good pieces of Software without participating into all of this seniority levels, tech stacks, etc?
A job is an opportunity someone gives you, if everybody will turn their backs on you, perhaps it is time for you to come up with something on your own and enable a market out of it. There are people making good money by selling promises, you know, "Get AI-career ready in X months for X1 money", "X2 Tech in X3 hours", etc. Are you missing the party?
How late is now, it is time for me to go back and continue studying today's most demanded technology with the hope someone take a chance on me. Should I instead code something quickly? Should I fill some gaps in my education? Quitting is not an option for me, I love Computer Science, even when in the last days I have been wondering if there is some resource out there on learning linear algebra with a heavy focus on geometric interpretation. You know, I don't care about matrix multiplication, it is a mechanical procedure, but what does it mean geometrically, why do we invent it? stuff like that, if I just said something naive, please don't mind me.
Have a good one!!! And don't dismay!!! "Programming is (Should be) fun"
If you liked the intro of this text make sure to visit my website, it is part of Verita's world, an ongoing unfinished project.
[deleted]
- Full Stack with 12+ years of experience, good generalist/architect with a some strong points.
- Working remotely in EU timezone.
- Got a nice CV with big names and projects I significantly contributed on.
- Last full time job was 1.5 years ago but I have done plenty of one-off client and personal projects in the meantime I can show off.
I only apply to positions that are fully remote in my timezone and where the profile is at least an 80% match or more. I often tick multiple of the "nice to have" boxes. I put quite some effort in my applications, writing cover letters or filling all boxes in the form with relevant and personalized information, Despite that, most companies reject me right away.
When I make it further, I usually pass coding tests with flying colors. It does happen that I bomb the technical questions due to stress, I can't find the right words to explain how I would solve something but in code it's not an issue. The non-technical calls usually go very well, I'm a likable guy and can hold a good conversation.
So far, I got zero offers. I'm even ready to take a 50% pay cut compared to my previous position. Is the market really that bad or is my profile just undesirable? Or am I doing something wrong? I'm really starting to feel desperate. Any advice or ideas would greatly help.
Ps: This is not self promotion (thus the throwaway/anonymous account), not asking for a job just advice.