The advice for breaking into tech is consistent.
Get a degree or take a bootcamp. Build projects. Earn certifications. Get an internship. Make a portfolio. Use GitHub. Network. Apply broadly. Try support roles, not just developer positions. Write tailored resumes. Write cover letters. Follow up. Keep learning.
I followed that checklist.
Full Sail Web Development degree with a 3.8 GPA. AWS Cloud Support Associate internship. AWS Solutions Architect Associate and AWS AI Practitioner certifications. Portfolio site with public GitHub projects and a technical blog. LinkedIn network of about 206 connections, mostly developers, engineers, and recruiters. Tailored resumes and cover letters. Applications across software development, cloud engineering, DevOps, infrastructure, QA, technical support, Oracle/ERP analyst work, AI automation, and local IT fallback roles. Direct outreach to local employers. Recruiter contacts. Freelance attempts.
What mattered to me at the time was this: I had the degree. I had the AWS internship. I had the certs. I had the portfolio, GitHub, technical blog, LinkedIn network, tailored resumes, cover letters, direct outreach, recruiter contacts, freelance attempts, and applications across multiple lanes.
The outcome was not stable employment.
This is not a post about companies being unfair or the tech industry being impossible to enter. What I want to talk about is the gap between the advice given to career changers and the reality of the current entry-level market—at least the one I encountered from mid-2024 through mid-2026.
I kept thinking maybe the next resume version would be the one. Maybe the next project would make the difference. Maybe support roles would be more realistic. Maybe local companies would be different. After enough cycles of that, I started tracking it because I needed to know if I was imagining the pattern.
The Standard Advice I Kept Hearing
"Have you tried applying to more jobs?"
"Are you networking?"
"Maybe your resume needs work."
"Did you build projects?"
"Have you considered support roles instead of just developer positions?"
"Try local companies, not just remote roles."
"Get certifications."
"Do an internship if you can."
None of this advice was wrong. It just assumed that following it would eventually work if I kept adjusting and applying.
What I Actually Did
I am not claiming I did everything perfectly. I am claiming I did the work.
Graduated from Full Sail University's Web Development program in October 2025 with a 3.8 GPA. Completed an AWS Cloud Support Associate internship. Earned AWS Solutions Architect Associate and AWS AI Practitioner certifications. Built a portfolio site, maintained public GitHub repositories, and kept a technical blog. Networked through LinkedIn, stayed connected with my AWS internship cohort, and participated in a regular Friday night tech discussion group with Full Sail peers that often ran around six hours talking through projects, job searching, and software engineering.
Eventually, I started tracking it. Not because I wanted a spreadsheet for its own sake, but because I needed to know whether I was imagining the pattern. My Gmail searches show 364 application confirmations, 320 sent job-search emails, and 187 rejections over roughly two years. LinkedIn shows 87 tracked applications. Epic Systems alone shows 16 applications from July 2024 through June 2026. I applied across software development, cloud engineering, DevOps, infrastructure, QA, technical support, Oracle and ERP analyst work, AI automation, data roles, and local IT fallback positions. I reached out directly to local employers, contacted recruiters and staffing agencies, and attempted freelance work and paid writing collaborations.
I had followed the checklist as honestly as I knew how. The outcome was not stable employment.
I Was Building While Applying
"Build projects" is one of the main pieces of advice given to juniors. I did build projects, and I tried to document them in the way people say hiring teams want: problem, solution, role, stack, repo, live demo, and lessons learned.
My portfolio was not a one-page resume site. It became a working public hub for my job search and technical proof. The portfolio itself became one of the projects. It had a frontend, backend functionality, GitHub-backed iteration, deployment workflow, role pages, project case studies, a blog, contributions, and store/Stripe-related work. I kept thinking maybe this would be the proof that made the difference—that the site itself showed I could build, deploy, maintain, and iterate on a public web presence while applying.
The blog acted as field notes and project retrospectives—35 articles covering web development, career, DevOps, AWS, AI, Docker, APIs, testing, and debugging. The Projects page organized entries by problem, solution, role, tech stack, and proof. Car-Match showed full-stack work with React, Express, MongoDB, and JWT. The Interactive Pokédex demonstrated Next.js static generation with PokéAPI integration. Convo-AI was a local voice assistant built with Python, FastAPI, Whisper, and Ollama. CheeseMath showed testing patterns with Jest. CIRIS AI contributions showed open-source documentation and Docker Compose work. EthicsFrontEndDemo was a secrets-management tutorial.
The Roles page was intentionally transparent. I labeled the pages as aspirational student case studies and said directly that I had not been paid in those roles yet, that I used AI and tutor support, and that I still needed mentorship in areas like algorithms and large-scale operations. The Contributions page documented unpaid student-level work: README updates, contributor forms, volunteer runbooks, and Tech Talk Club involvement at Full Sail.
What mattered was this: I was not only applying. I was building, documenting, learning publicly, and trying to make the work verifiable.
What I Noticed in the Tracker
Once I stopped looking at each rejection as a separate event, the pattern became harder to ignore.
At first, I thought each rejection was just one rejection. After enough of them, I started looking at the pattern instead of the individual emails.
The tracker does not just show volume. It shows a pattern: applying, getting rejected, retargeting, following up, trying local options, and widening the search.
The rejections included phrasing like "not moving forward," "other candidates," or "position filled." Allstate rejected me for an entry-level full-stack role. DailyPay declined a junior web developer application. FORM moved forward with other candidates for a software support analyst position. I was not locked into one job title—I was trying developer roles, junior roles, and support-adjacent roles.
It was not only job boards either. Slitherine, Rockford IT, Shady Oak Dental, DoIT Illinois, and TreeTop Staffing show direct outreach beyond portals. They also show I tried developer roles, local IT, state IT, staffing channels, and non-tech fallback work. "Apply directly" and "try local companies" were part of the standard advice, and I was doing it.
The tracker spanned software engineering, cloud, DevOps, support, QA, AI, data, and customer success roles across multiple platforms. What frustrated me was not one rejection. It was that "just apply more" does not explain what happened. I was already applying, adjusting, following up, and widening the search.
Epic Systems: A Case Study
Epic is the strongest single-company example because it shows repeated, targeted effort over time. My Epic portal shows 16 applications submitted between July 2024 and June 2026 across infrastructure, systems administration, software development, technical support, UX design, and Windows engineering. Four separate applications went to Infrastructure Engineer roles. Five went to Technical Solutions Engineer. Two targeted Junior Systems Administrator positions. Two aimed at Software Developer roles. The rest spread across Infrastructure as Code Engineer, User Experience Designer, and Windows Engineer.
All Verona, Wisconsin. All onsite or hybrid. My Epic profile showed multiple uploaded resume versions tailored to cloud, infrastructure, software, and technical support paths. This was not one application and one rejection. This was sustained retargeting with one employer who was actively hiring in my region.
This is not me saying Epic did anything wrong. I am using Epic as the clearest example because their portal made the pattern visible.
The Career Lanes I Tried
People always say "don't just apply to one type of job." I did not. I tried seven lanes: software development, cloud and infrastructure, support engineering, QA and testing, analyst and ERP work, AI and data roles, and local fallback positions. Each lane had actual applications or tailored materials behind it.
Backend roles at WTS Paradigm. Full-stack roles at Yahara Software. Developer tooling at Netflix. Cloud engineering using my AWS internship experience with applications to Epic Infrastructure Engineer and Canonical Cloud Support Engineer. Support roles because the advice said support is a good entry point. QA roles at Collins Aerospace. Oracle and ERP analyst positions as a potential entry point. AI roles because I had experience with local AI hosting and LLM workflows. Local employers where I emphasized onsite availability.
Networking and Direct Outreach
People always say "network more" and "don't just rely on job boards." I was doing both. My LinkedIn network included approximately 206 connections, mostly developers, engineers, recruiters, and tech workers. I stayed in contact with people from my AWS internship cohort. Since around August 2024, I participated in a regular Friday night tech discussion group with Full Sail peers that often lasted around six hours talking through projects, job searching, and software engineering topics.
Those nights were not formal networking events. They were usually a few of us talking for hours about projects, job searching, software engineering, tools, and whatever we were stuck on that week.
Beyond that, I reached out directly to local employers. I emailed Rockford IT for entry-level IT work, followed up with Shady Oak Dental for a non-tech fallback role, contacted DoIT Illinois after a virtual job fair, sent materials to Slitherine for junior developer opportunities, and reached out to TreeTop Staffing. I attempted freelance work on Upwork and explored paid technical writing collaborations. Looking back, I was not just applying cold through portals. I was networking, reaching out directly, and trying multiple income paths.
What I Think This Does and Does Not Prove
This is not a benchmark. This is one person's experience over roughly two years of active job searching while completing a degree, internship, certifications, and projects. I cannot claim this represents everyone's experience, that the job market was uniquely hostile to me, that I did everything perfectly, or that every rejected application was flawless.
What I can claim is this: I followed the advice as best as I could, tracked what happened, and the result made me question whether the path was ever as reliable as people made it sound. The tracker shows repeated applications, rejections, retargeting, role-specific materials, public proof of work, education, certifications, networking, and continued effort after rejection.
Around that point, I started wondering: was the self-directed education and portfolio path enough for the entry-level market I was actually applying into? Maybe I am wrong, but after two years of sustained effort, I do not think lack of effort explains what happened.
What I Would Tell Someone Starting This Path Now
I would not tell someone to give up. I would tell them to be more careful than I was at the beginning.
Verify the local job market for entry-level roles before starting. Identify realistic entry points beyond "junior developer." Plan for the possibility that a hundred applications may not be enough. Consider whether you can sustain this effort financially for one to three years. Build relationships with people already employed in the roles you want. Ask whether formal programs with employer pipelines are available. Test your materials and approach with people who have hired successfully. Prepare for the psychological cost of sustained rejection.
The portfolio matters. The projects matter. The certifications matter. The education matters. The networking matters. They were not sufficient by themselves.
My Takeaway
This post documents my job search from mid-2024 through mid-2026. Evidence includes Gmail application confirmations, rejection emails, sent outreach messages, LinkedIn application tracker screenshots, ZipRecruiter application history, Epic Systems portal screenshots, Google Drive cover letter documents, uploaded resume versions, and project repositories. Numbers are based on search queries and visible records. I am not claiming these numbers are perfect. I am claiming they are real.
I proved I could learn. I proved I could build. I proved I could document. I proved I could troubleshoot. I did not prove I could turn that into stable employment.
That is the actual result.
I did not start tracking this because I wanted to prove everyone wrong. I started tracking it because I was starting to wonder if I was the problem, and I needed something more real than feelings to look at. After two years of applications, projects, certifications, an internship, networking, direct outreach, and retargeting, I do not think the honest answer is "just try harder." I did try harder.
Maybe the better question is whether career changers and juniors need more than the standard checklist. Maybe they need employer pipelines, realistic labor-market guidance, mentorship, and a clearer route to companies that actually hire from self-directed portfolios.
I am not completely comfortable saying the path was the whole problem, but after looking at the tracker, I do not think "try harder" explains it either.
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