This week marks 13 weeks of unemployment.The optimist could call it 13 weeks of learning.
I now have been off site from Makers, more than I had been on site. Perhaps it felt more blunt due to the pandemic, I would have still liked to be onsite, working in an environment with others, but regardless I feel I am twice the develop since graduating.
I have had the chance to review many projects and key concepts of the curriculum, and explore new tech in my own post projects. However I have a nagging reminder in the back of my head that bills need paying, and my newly acquired coding muscles need flexing in a professional environment.
Today i sent off my 60th Job application. I am not one for an 'Easy apply' on linked in. These are 60 jobs that I genuinely would like to do, and companies I am interested in being part of. Writing about myself is something I have never been good at, so consequently, these took some time. As I have ranted about before, times are hard and I am not expecting to simply waltz into a job, but after assessing my Huntr board (a fantastic job tracking tool), I soon realised I had only received an email back from 9 of those applications. 7 were rejections due to no prior professional experience and 2 were due to the company ceasing to exist because of the struggles relating to the pandemic.
This was a pretty sobering realisation. I believe I am doing everything right. I am applying for roles I am realistically qualified for, I am continuing to code and learn new skills for at least 5 hours a day, and I am genuinely enjoying it. But the undeniable pang at the back of my head is that of....when?
Not that I should compare myself to others, but i am part of a 25 strong cohort graduating from the same class. The class had some simply fantastic coders, and some even more fantastic people, and currently only 3 people have ben hired. I have to say I am guilty of the whole "well if so so has not been hired, then times must be hard" however I wonder how long this will continue?
I genuinely wish every single one of my cohort to get hired by amazing companies. We shared a solid bond during our intense time at Makers, one that will last for a long time. Whilst it seems like a race or a competition to get these first steps on the career ladder, i know it will all be alright in the end, everyone is feeling the same.
Apologies for the slightly pointless rant/strange tones, positivity is key and I will continue to prepare for the day i get a friendly email.
Off to study more React it is - Redux here i come!
As always stay safe,
David
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