What advice would you give to an unemployed software developer?

Getting that next job is not a walk in the park, what advice would you give someone in this situation?

Comments

[Glenn Stovall]

• Freshen up your Resume, LinkedIn, Github, and personal site.
• Do a sweep of social media, make sure you don't have anything that could disqualify you.
• Start reaching out to my network, asking them if they know of anyone who is hiring.
• Start Applying to dream companies. Use LinkedIn to see if I have any connections there.
• Spend the rest of my time practicing interviews, and working on writing & building things to improve authority in the interim.

[Brian Welch]

Am I the only one...

Both self educated and a few university courses under their belt...
who's received positive feedback about their skills from actual developers... who only get's rejections - day in, day out...
who's been applying to every stinking job that I come upon...
who's been getting rejected for years...

whose blood boils whenever I read posts with tips about where to land a job?

If I weren't depressed, this comment would be funny

[Andrew Brown 🇨🇦]

I started in 2006 and prior to that I already had been building websites since 2000 for paid with considerable technical knowledge since the family business was computer repair.

It took me 3 years before I broke into the web-development industry, and nothing short of building a web-application with 100K users and working for free for 2 weeks on an open-source project and having to move to out of the country to secure that job helped me "break-in".

I talk to bootcamp grads all the time Only 60% get a job in the industry and 70% of that 60% are being hired as in-house technical recruiters. Basically a minimum wage job to identify better programming candidates then themselves.

So to answer your question, no you're not the only one. In fact, its quite normal and you have yet to experience the worst of it.

I glanced at your LinkedIn and your Personal Website and I certainly can give you tips but I don't want to make your blood boil and more than already.

[Dustin King]

1. Hopefully this won't be true for you, but: you will probably get a lot of rejection, a lot of just never hearing back, and more rejection from opportunities that you were feeling optimistic about. This, especially the last one, can make you feel like you're garbage. Your feelings are natural in this situation, but you're not garbage. Processing these emotions is just as much a part of the process as applying, interviewing, etc.
2. Motivating yourself in a job search is completely different from motivating yourself in a job. In a job, you have a boss, deadlines, customers and coworkers that help set expectations and define objectives (and consequences for missing them!). In a job search you're on your own. You may find yourself struggling to move forward. There's no easy answer for this, but it doesn't matter that you couldn't move forward last month (or whatever the time period), it matters what you do this month. When you fall, it may take time to get back up; but when you can, dust yourself off and take the next step, even though you can't see the whole path in front of you.
3. It's tempting to settle; for example, to apply for or accept opportunities you're less interested in but more qualified for. This may not be a good idea. For one thing, your lack of enthusiasm can show through, so you might not even get it, and if you do you might resent not holding out for something better. On the other hand, there probably needs to be some overlap between your qualifications and the position requirements. My heuristic is: can I see myself succeeding at and being happy in this job for 3 years? You might need your own heuristic.

There are no guarantees and no universals, so the usefulness of this advice may vary, but I wish you the best of luck.

[Tony Pellicccio]

Keep coding. Seriously I mean that. It's what has helped my Python skills stay current.

[Dana Ottaviani]

Keep going. I quit my previous software job because it's not where I wanted to stay. I took the opportunity to take on coding projects and build my first portfolio site during that time. I was very worried that I wasn't going to find a job soon, let alone reach the interview stage during my job search. I ended up finding a new job within the same year at an awesome company and I am very happy. ❤️

[Nhlanhla Hasane]

I would tell him/her/them that get as much coding practice as you can, also contribute on open source as much as you can. Try to keep up with the new technologies cause as we all know our industry is always evolving.

[Yaser Adel Mehraban]

Learn as much as you can while you have all the time you need on your hands 🙃

[Jeremy Forsythe]

Contribute to open source and show that on your resume. As a hiring manager, if I can see you are involved in the community and I can see some code before an interview, you get moved to the top of the list.

[Andrew Brown 🇨🇦]

If you want a job somewhere, especially a startup, start doing the work and then apply.

So, for example, let's say I wanted to work at DEV.to. What I would do is spend 2 weeks contributing as much as I can, the most impactful things that I can and then apply.

If DEV.to didn't want me I would leverage that 2 weeks of proof of work somewhere else.

Work for free and leverage, leverage, leverage.

[mellison]

That sounds nice in theory but it's like trying to contribute to an open source project. Without understanding some design patterns and design decisions they made it can be hard to jump in. With that said if you can do it you will definitely find a job much quicker.

[Andrew Brown 🇨🇦]

It works for me. The way I learned to program was to crack open open-source projects, but I've been at it before Stack Overflow or when video tutorials were readily available.

[Thorsten Hirsch]

Don't fall for the talks of recruiters! Some might indeed be able to find you the perfect job, but they are being paid for every candidate who signs a new contract. So they make money based on quantity instead of your job satisfaction.