The saga of my second job search as a second-career software developer, amid waves of layoffs and a tough job market. Included: tips on getting int...
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Thank you for sharing your story. It's heartbreaking how much as changed so quickly, and how difficult is these days to find a new position. I'm so glad it turned out well for you in the end and that you were also able to reflect on what you'd like to do differently going forward :)
Congrats for finally finding a job : that is great.
I totally agree with your suggestion to reach out to people on LinkedIn. Unfortunately people don’t realise that software engineers have referral bonuses so there is an incentive to recommend someone (provided they have chances to get the job!)
That's a great point, and something I should've highlighted in the article!
For posterity, I've updated the text under the point "LinkedIn messaging" to mention the incentive of a referral bonus. Thanks again for the input!
Thanks for sharing your story! It's really brave of you. Your honesty about tough times is super encouraging. I think you're helping a lot of folks who might be going through something similar. Your positive attitude about learning from challenges is really cool.
I'm really glad to hear your story mate and that your efforts payed off at the end. I'm experiencing something similar, I have 9 years of professional experience as a Software Developer, never had problems searching for jobs and most of my transitions I already had an offer before resigning. Last year I was laid off 3 days after Christmas and have been looking for jobs since. Have been experiencing most of what you said, ghosting, crazy tests, fierce competition. Hope I get out of this one soon.
Congrats on the bounce back
Last year wasn't great. But I'm seeing indications that the market is warming up. Our company is getting more requests than in a long time.
Congrats for the new job.
I wish the low points wouldn't have existed because they not, in fact, necessary.
They sounds things I have written about
Job Hunting: Just Submit Your CV and Hope for the Best?
Jean-Michel 🕵🏻♂️ Fayard ・ Apr 17 '23
That makes sense given that candidates focus their efforts on the least effective way of applying for a job, namely submitting a CV.
That's because companies don't know how to hire
Take home assignments are bad and we shouldn't accept doing them unless very good reasons.
Keep Calm And Just Say No To Coding Challenges
Jean-Michel 🕵🏻♂️ Fayard ・ Apr 19 '23
That doesn't work.
"I am open to everything" only makes the competition more brutal, lowers your self esteem and your motivation.
It's like on Google, the more precise your job search, the more likely you are to have good results.
In summary, hiring is not working well and we shall improve it somewhat.
We Shall Improve Hiring Somewhat
Jean-Michel 🕵🏻♂️ Fayard ・ Nov 27 '23
Thanks for the feedback! I'm not saying I took the best approach to job searching, only that I did what I felt I needed to do in my circumstances, such as my low amount of savings and my few years of experience. I agree that it's important to influence the hiring culture for good where we can, but my goals of paying the bills and then getting a good job were more urgent considering my circumstances. In a future job search when I'm not at such a disadvantage I'll be more cautious, for sure.
I was not saying you did something wrong, not at all!
We are told that the way to get a job is to submit a CV and wait that the hiring triage does his job.
In fact anyone who works in recruitment knows that this is a very ineffective way to look for a job.
You discovered it by yourself and started networking and found a job.
I just wish this knowledge was more widespread because the whole situation is absurd.
100%, it's absurd and came as quite a shock to me when I realized that the advertised method of applying for a job doesn't work, and the right way to apply (referrals) is nowhere stated by the employer. I don't know why they make it into an elaborate game.
Because they are bad at hiring !
That's my whole point with my Hiring is Broken serie
I see you started writing about it in 2020, back before the problems were so glaringly obvious that even I noticed them. I'll be sure to check out your series!
I wonder also if employers don't want to advertise referrals because then they would once again have too many applicants, and filtering down applicants to a manageable number (not necessarily to the best applicants) is kind of the point of referrals.
There's is no big strategy, I wish so.
The sad truth is that it's mostly that hiring managers see hiring as a chore, want to delegate it "just guess what I want and send need the CVs i take care of the rest@
Hiring managers don't know that they don't know how to do it, therefore they logically conclude that there is nothing valuable to learn about the art and science of interviewing
I got almost 4 months unemployed now, thanks for your sharing
Great write-up. Thanks for sharing.
This was a very interesting analysis of your job search. Thanks for posting it!
Oh hey I originally saw this on Reddit and it's nice to see it posted here too. This was a great read.
I really enjoyed reading your story. Thank you for the transparency! Bravo for all your hard work and switching to SWE - this is not easy. 👏
Regarding your LinkedIn recommendations, do you ask for them, or do your peers naturally give them to you? I'm wondering this as I'd like to get a few under my belt 😄
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I asked for recommendations. In my case, the "layoff goodwill" helped in that people were more eager to give recommendations, but I imagine that in the future when I voluntarily leave a job, I'll ask for recommendations from everyone that I think can speak to my good qualities.
Interesting and thank you for sharing that with me! I guess I always feel a little shy to ask for something like this. My biggest fear is that the person in question does not feel like I did "enough" to deserve it. Idk, I guess a little more courage is needed from me on that end 👉👈.