For the last 2 years I can't even get an interview despited having 14 years of experience and being up to date with development trends, libraries, languages, AI tooling, etc.
I don't think the market is flooded with new devs as many state, I think we are in a deep silent crisis
I've been able to get something like 25 interviews in 2 months despite having long gaps on my resume and nothing especially impressive to my name. So I suspect you might be going about this wrong. I haven't gotten an offer yet, that's another story, but getting the interviews hasn't been hard. Applying in NYC/SF, senior-only.
I think another big change is the offer rate. I've had plenty of interviews in recent years but almost no offers.
So what do you attribute your success in getting interviews to? What are you doing right, or better than other people?
I honestly have no idea. The last place I worked is pretty well-known. Not big tech, but a recognizable name to most people. I send out a lot of applications: those 25 interviews are the result of 150 applications in the last two months or so. And then I have my linkedin set to be discoverable and looking for a job. Basically just fiddle with the options under Visibility and Data Privacy in the linkedin settings and a bunch of people start reaching out to you immediately. I also think I have a nicely formatted resume, really readable.
So are the majority of these applications the result of recruiters finding you via LinkedIn, or have you been applying direct as well? What application path have most of the interviews come from?
Both equally. I apply to a lot of stuff on BuiltIn, mostly.
In my experience anyone who went to Ivy+ or worked at Big N never has any problem getting a job.
I did not go to an Ivy, but I did go to a recognizable engineering school in the northeast (not MIT.)
Senior level is doing the heavy lifting here.
Isn’t the person with 14 years experience at least senior? Or are you saying senior is low level enough to get interviews?
I don't know. The company I work at is inviting candidates for interviews, and we have to make compromises because we can't get the exact profiles we are looking for. Something about your comment does not add up to me.
Locality. People want to work close to where they live and not all places are bustling with all kind of activity. I suspect you're hybrid or on site only, right?
not GP, but we're hybrid but remote-first and 80% is remote and we have the same experience. Getting juniors is easy, getting seniors+ is very difficult.
IMO it’s just depression for tech. Back then 33% of total employment got gutted, which is probably better than tech today or in a few years when big techs start AI gut.
Sometimes it looks like the longer you're looking for a job, the harder it gets for some reason. That's unintuitive for me, as you should be getting more confident in interviews etc
Companies take your unemployment length as a negative signal
"He's been unemployed for 13 months? Why doesn't anyone want to hire him? Must be something wrong with him"
It's typically easiest to find a job when you have a job.
Maybe. Probably? But I also sense a fallacy here. I could get a new job tomorrow. Maybe it took me 8 years to find that job and I didn’t realize that because I was employed the whole time.
Does that make sense?
People wonder why something was picked over before committing to it, that's all it comes down to
Focus on what you can control, and you can control the perception of that. If you are interested in money, professional validation, and corporate structure, go that way.
You can try to alter the cultural fundamental assumptions when you're done.
To some recruiters, there's this sweet spot between 5 and 10 years experience where the applicant good / independent enough to hit the ground running, not too expensive, and still young enough to put up with company bullshit.
This right here is the answer. Also a big part of the reason for ageism, which is BS but so is corporate life in general.
A big problem we have is a the sheer volume of AI slop resumes, fake applicants and people trying to cheat on interviews. We had to close a req for SWE because we had so many “people” (read: automated applicants) clogging up the pipeline. You effectively need a referral
Referrals are also getting games. If your company has a referral bonus, then I promise you pretty much every single referral you have looked at, is from a guy who DIDNT know the guy. I applied to 20 Big Tech companies last month. All from "referrals". Check out teamblind.com if you don't know (Be careful. The site is like a tech version of 4 chan. Well maybe not THAT bad.) The whole game is messed up.
Most people are far more honest. I have never given a referral without knowing the person and what they can and can't do.
Sure, you can always find a website with someone shady on it. But that's always been the case.
Wow, that stinks. Are you just doing freelance in the meantime?
Silent?
You guys keep trying to put a pillow over our face.
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Are you based in the U.S.?
EU/UK
Have you considered roles in the EU countries that have been going gangbusters for US offshoring (Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia)?
The market in the EU is strange, it doesn't matter where you live. Every role is being advertised as a remote one, over 200+ applicants and it's virtually impossible to get noticed.
I blame this on people spamming fake AI CVs 24/7, no one is going to review hundreds of CVs.
I don't think it's very silent?
Maybe people just have their fingers in their ears but this has been a problem for years now