I found work in 2025 with almost every disadvantage other than having experience. The front door is broken unless you have:
* BigTech experience
* BigSchool degree
* Direct experience in a niche domain or interest area
* A degree, and good (5+ yrs) experience that looks modern
You will be passed over on most (not all) direct apps otherwise. The degree part is more important the more non-tech the company is.
Referrals mean a lot, especially for the best jobs that pay well have WLB or are remote. If you’re not pulling everyone you know who might vouch for you, you’re not doing it right.
Practice leetcode + hello interview, as almost every place will have some sort of leetcode round and system design round.
BigTech and BigSchool no longer works. I’ve interviewed and passed on two people that were laid off from BigTech because I felt they were incapable of working with high ambiguity and a place where they weren’t coddled by having a lot of processes.
Yes I worked at BigTech and saw that most people there couldn’t work in greenfield environments. I was also 46-49 at the time.
BigTech and BigSchool most certainly get you in the door.
You still have to leverage connections at BigSchool and your previous BigTech though, many ex-FANG fail to do this.
People without these obvious advantages should be looking into other industries outside of direct tech. Oil/gas/energy, Supply chain/logistics, Automotive (Ford etc), Retail tech (Walmart Global Tech), and so many other industries where they still need SWEs.
Many people overlook these options. Pay may not be big tech level but being jobless is worse.
I assume ppl aren’t looking for big tech money, there’s enough posts out there telling you exactly what to do to get in at those places.
I’m curious, was there anything you recall from those posts that differentiates the general experience with applying to those places versus big tech?