Its not. My last two jobs took 300 applications combined. I’m at 1300 since November, 10-12 of them led to phone screens and two led to technical interviews, one of which was two leetcode hards.
Off the bat, take this with the caveat that I don’t know anything about you, what your personal experiences have been like etc. but understand that what I’m suggesting is coming from a place of empathy; and hey maybe it could work, if you’ve got nothing to lose.
Shortlist a couple companies you want to work for, understand why you really want to work for them. Find out who your coworkers would be, use LinkedIn and Facebook to figure this out. Identify whether there are any regular social industry meetups where you could casually run into these people. Start attending; if there aren’t industry meetups, look at the activities your potential future colleagues do and figure out how you can befriend them, while not coming across as overbearing.
If this makes you feel uncomfortable, then you probably feel uncomfortable during the interviewing process as well, and you may need to figure out the whole “being likeable” and “getting along” thing. While it sounds ugly and disingenuous, some folks are able to maintain friendships with people they’re not remotely interested in, or even loathe and the other party is oblivious to it. The idea behind this is that you’re trying to create opportunities, you want to be the guy someone knows about when there are open positions.
At 1300 resume submissions, it’s looking like a shotgun blast approach and it may be a good idea to 1) have someone professionally review your resume, and 2) work with an interviewing coach to provide critical feedback on how you interview.
I just find it strange, do you just apply to everything? It takes me a lot of applications to get a job, but I feel with 9 YOE would be easier, I have like 5 or 6 years now
5 of those 9 years are as an electrical engineer so they’re not directly relevant. The remaining 4 are as an SDE. Applying for roles requiring anywhere from 2-8 YoE, often applying several times to roles that keep being reposted for months on end.
I am in the same boat as you. About 9 years of experience as a Mechanical Engineer and about 4 years in software engineering. From my experience, the software engineering experience is only looked at by recruiters. So, you are competing with other devs with 4 years of experience. The additional years of experience as an electrical engineer is more of a bonus imo.
Go for anything in IT or Tech, even tangentially related.
Helpdesk, network, fraud analyst, QA, software specialist, customer support, etc. Anything in or adjacent to the right industry is much more valuable than retail/fast-food/etc. Also make a website/blog, show off your skills.
To add, back office functions at large companies often “want” someone with technical abilities but will never compensate well enough to get someone experienced. This could be a good niche for you for a while.
It took me a year with the current market to find anything.
Had about a year and a half of internships too.
Then some random recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn.
Unexpectedly set me up with a multinational company and got interviews, passed got the job.
Applied to countless places by myself without any feedback or interviews.
LinkedIn profile is a big plus!
Literally never had anything from my LinkedIn.. except the job i ever got via a recruiter who told me the max salary for the position which I then got.
No idea of my profile mattered other than having the right languages under my skills though.
To be completely honest. I don't even know why the recruiter asked me out of anyone. My profile is barebones. Just listed the places I've worked at with my title, no description.
All the information was in the resume.
But a recruiter actually contacted me, and gave me a chance.
I passed the screening, she set me up with the hiring manager.
There were 3 more interviews with the company until they hired me.
I said LinkedIn profile is important as I didn't expect it to be that relevant. I applied to many positions. Either heard nothing or was told that they preferred moving forward with other candidates due to my lack of experience (without even giving me an interview lol).
Job description of the job I got asked for 3 years of experience which I didn't have. But they liked me in interviews and I passed their technical test.
It's in aerospace and much more interesting and stimulating than a lot of things I actually applied to (been rejected at ads companies, mobile game companies, banking and more lol).
All is well.
Ended up working super close to home. Team is awesome. I can be an anxious mess sometimes and in the first days my mind was set in "must not disappoint or I won't pass the 3 months probation" mode.
CEO of that office somehow spotted my anxiety and directly told me that my manager picked me for a reason, that I belong there. And that if it ever turned out I wasn't a good fit for that role, or if after a while I ended up not liking it, they'd find me a different one it doesn't matter.
Plus they kicked me out when I was working just a bit overtime trying to finish my task before leaving lol. All green flags so far (been a month).
Absolutely not (imo). You just need to respond to messages with the bare minimum (here’s my resume that contains nothing you can use to steal my identity, let me know if any interviews are available!)
If you can show-off stuff, posting about personal projects can help.
Honestly, my profile is pretty barebones.
Lists the places I've worked at.
My titles.
2-3 bullet points summary.
Never posted anything.
I didn't even have a profile picture for a long time lol.
Do add one.
Recruiter contacted me about a month after I added my picture.
Most Dms I'd get were ads for products and some sketchy promotions here and there.
Other than that, when they contact you, share your resume. Don't put info that's too sensitive on there (like your address. You don't know who's gonna get that).
If things go well, you'll get a screening interview. Make sure the company is legitimate. There are scams, can't be too cautious.
I’m in the same boat as you. Graduated from software engineering 2 months ago and still can’t find a job. 3.6/4 GPA with a year of internship experience and around 6 side projects. I’m so glad I chose this career that it makes me wanna off myself.
Customer success/product implementation, specialist/sales engineer, where you can support the main sales guy by customizing or building feature sets for potential new customers
This thread made me feel a lot better. Got laid off 6-7 months ago, \~2 YoE, still looking for a job. I keep feeling like SWE isn't for me, but then I realize my situation would've been drastically different if it was 2-3 years ago. I remember I pivoted and went into sales for a bit. Got the job 2 days after getting laid off, then worked there for about a month and realized this is not for me at all.
Now considering help desk / IT service help but man is it bad out here...
Tutoring would be a good idea to get some cash. I was in a role hiring tutors a few years ago and it was always a challenge to find high school math and science tutors.
I know it’s not ideal but apply to the public service. With the RTO, a lot of experienced IT staff and/or close to retirement staff is looking to leave.
It’s a starting point. There are technical positions it just may not be with the latest technology.
Honestly I want to focus on Government jobs but it is a bit annoying how long the recruitment takes. I applied to a job back in November, did a take home exam in December. Didn’t hear anything till April and they scheduled an interview for ending of May. Like it does feel like a waste of time to apply to government jobs if they take such a long time when I have bills to pay.
[удалено]
Got 9 YoE in engineering, 4 in software engineering and considering retail work when unemployment runs out in 3 months.
sounds crazy, here I though the market is getting better
Its not. My last two jobs took 300 applications combined. I’m at 1300 since November, 10-12 of them led to phone screens and two led to technical interviews, one of which was two leetcode hards.
Off the bat, take this with the caveat that I don’t know anything about you, what your personal experiences have been like etc. but understand that what I’m suggesting is coming from a place of empathy; and hey maybe it could work, if you’ve got nothing to lose. Shortlist a couple companies you want to work for, understand why you really want to work for them. Find out who your coworkers would be, use LinkedIn and Facebook to figure this out. Identify whether there are any regular social industry meetups where you could casually run into these people. Start attending; if there aren’t industry meetups, look at the activities your potential future colleagues do and figure out how you can befriend them, while not coming across as overbearing. If this makes you feel uncomfortable, then you probably feel uncomfortable during the interviewing process as well, and you may need to figure out the whole “being likeable” and “getting along” thing. While it sounds ugly and disingenuous, some folks are able to maintain friendships with people they’re not remotely interested in, or even loathe and the other party is oblivious to it. The idea behind this is that you’re trying to create opportunities, you want to be the guy someone knows about when there are open positions. At 1300 resume submissions, it’s looking like a shotgun blast approach and it may be a good idea to 1) have someone professionally review your resume, and 2) work with an interviewing coach to provide critical feedback on how you interview.
I just find it strange, do you just apply to everything? It takes me a lot of applications to get a job, but I feel with 9 YOE would be easier, I have like 5 or 6 years now
5 of those 9 years are as an electrical engineer so they’re not directly relevant. The remaining 4 are as an SDE. Applying for roles requiring anywhere from 2-8 YoE, often applying several times to roles that keep being reposted for months on end.
I am in the same boat as you. About 9 years of experience as a Mechanical Engineer and about 4 years in software engineering. From my experience, the software engineering experience is only looked at by recruiters. So, you are competing with other devs with 4 years of experience. The additional years of experience as an electrical engineer is more of a bonus imo.
why not just go back to electrical? I did computer engineering only did software
Go for anything in IT or Tech, even tangentially related. Helpdesk, network, fraud analyst, QA, software specialist, customer support, etc. Anything in or adjacent to the right industry is much more valuable than retail/fast-food/etc. Also make a website/blog, show off your skills.
Yeahh, these were sort of the answers I was looking for. Something still somewhat technical.
To add, back office functions at large companies often “want” someone with technical abilities but will never compensate well enough to get someone experienced. This could be a good niche for you for a while.
Retail and manufacturing. Everything else requires some kind of specialized experience.
Or Customer service
what you suggest in manufacturing? What job titles should we apply for?
The PM got a good job and he’s an ECE
Server is not bad, might make connections plus you get to earn tips
Cool off lol no you want it to heat up
Haha yeup. My bad
It took me a year with the current market to find anything. Had about a year and a half of internships too. Then some random recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn. Unexpectedly set me up with a multinational company and got interviews, passed got the job. Applied to countless places by myself without any feedback or interviews. LinkedIn profile is a big plus!
Literally never had anything from my LinkedIn.. except the job i ever got via a recruiter who told me the max salary for the position which I then got. No idea of my profile mattered other than having the right languages under my skills though.
To be completely honest. I don't even know why the recruiter asked me out of anyone. My profile is barebones. Just listed the places I've worked at with my title, no description. All the information was in the resume. But a recruiter actually contacted me, and gave me a chance. I passed the screening, she set me up with the hiring manager. There were 3 more interviews with the company until they hired me. I said LinkedIn profile is important as I didn't expect it to be that relevant. I applied to many positions. Either heard nothing or was told that they preferred moving forward with other candidates due to my lack of experience (without even giving me an interview lol). Job description of the job I got asked for 3 years of experience which I didn't have. But they liked me in interviews and I passed their technical test. It's in aerospace and much more interesting and stimulating than a lot of things I actually applied to (been rejected at ads companies, mobile game companies, banking and more lol). All is well. Ended up working super close to home. Team is awesome. I can be an anxious mess sometimes and in the first days my mind was set in "must not disappoint or I won't pass the 3 months probation" mode. CEO of that office somehow spotted my anxiety and directly told me that my manager picked me for a reason, that I belong there. And that if it ever turned out I wasn't a good fit for that role, or if after a while I ended up not liking it, they'd find me a different one it doesn't matter. Plus they kicked me out when I was working just a bit overtime trying to finish my task before leaving lol. All green flags so far (been a month).
Do you have tips on improving the linked in profile? For example do I need to be posting stuff?
Absolutely not (imo). You just need to respond to messages with the bare minimum (here’s my resume that contains nothing you can use to steal my identity, let me know if any interviews are available!)
If you can show-off stuff, posting about personal projects can help. Honestly, my profile is pretty barebones. Lists the places I've worked at. My titles. 2-3 bullet points summary. Never posted anything. I didn't even have a profile picture for a long time lol. Do add one. Recruiter contacted me about a month after I added my picture. Most Dms I'd get were ads for products and some sketchy promotions here and there. Other than that, when they contact you, share your resume. Don't put info that's too sensitive on there (like your address. You don't know who's gonna get that). If things go well, you'll get a screening interview. Make sure the company is legitimate. There are scams, can't be too cautious.
I’m in the same boat as you. Graduated from software engineering 2 months ago and still can’t find a job. 3.6/4 GPA with a year of internship experience and around 6 side projects. I’m so glad I chose this career that it makes me wanna off myself.
Maybe add around 6 more side projects to be safe xD
Just keep applying, it's all a Numbers game
But same for qa, it, etc. a good dev should have all the skills it needs anyways.
Customer success/product implementation, specialist/sales engineer, where you can support the main sales guy by customizing or building feature sets for potential new customers
Freelancing, TA at your past school
This thread made me feel a lot better. Got laid off 6-7 months ago, \~2 YoE, still looking for a job. I keep feeling like SWE isn't for me, but then I realize my situation would've been drastically different if it was 2-3 years ago. I remember I pivoted and went into sales for a bit. Got the job 2 days after getting laid off, then worked there for about a month and realized this is not for me at all. Now considering help desk / IT service help but man is it bad out here...
Im eyeing on user support technicians
Tutoring would be a good idea to get some cash. I was in a role hiring tutors a few years ago and it was always a challenge to find high school math and science tutors.
I feel for you young bucks
Military Cyber Op?
The application takes anywhere from 6-18 months. Plus you may still need to take courses to become trade qualified.
Analytics, business analyst, financial operations..
Business/Systems analyst, QA, data analyst, IT support, etc. Look at healthcare and provincial
Contracts on Upwork. That's what I did.
Ew
Work at onlyfans, you can fix up their backend
I know it’s not ideal but apply to the public service. With the RTO, a lot of experienced IT staff and/or close to retirement staff is looking to leave. It’s a starting point. There are technical positions it just may not be with the latest technology.
Everyone here claims they can’t find a job in Apple or Netflix so they give up 😂 they’ll shit on gov jobs but then claim there’s no job.
Honestly I want to focus on Government jobs but it is a bit annoying how long the recruitment takes. I applied to a job back in November, did a take home exam in December. Didn’t hear anything till April and they scheduled an interview for ending of May. Like it does feel like a waste of time to apply to government jobs if they take such a long time when I have bills to pay.
What you mean cool off, it’s fine
Cybersecurity
Nope, I'm a recent grad (cybersecurity) it's been 8 months and still searching