I Got My First Dev Job After 6 Months of Rejections - Here's What Actually Worked
Hey,
Just accepted my first junior dev position and wanted to share what actually got me there, because it wasn't what everyone on Reddit tells you.
My "Perfect" Resume That Nobody Wanted
CS degree, internships, active GitHub, LeetCode grind. Had all the boxes checked. Still got ghosted by 95% of companies for months.
The breaking point was people telling me "AI will replace you anyway" while I'm literally shipping code every day. Felt insane.
What Actually Changed
Honestly, I didn't suddenly get better at coding. Three things shifted:
Stopped spray-and-pray applications. Used to send 20+ apps/week with the same resume. Started doing 5/week but actually researched each company - matched my resume to their tech stack, referenced their products in cover letters. Quality over desperation.
This is why I built Woberry initially - needed something to help me track applications and auto-generate tailored cover letters without losing the personal touch. It's at ~$2K MRR now.
Built stuff I actually needed. Everyone says "do side projects" but here's what matters - solve your own problems. In interviews, I wasn't talking about tutorial apps. I was explaining real users, revenue, bugs I'd fixed. That hits different.
Right now I'm building a fitness app because every tracking app out there feels bloated or has a terrible UX. Just want something simple that works. In interviews, employers loved hearing about this kind of thinking - spotting gaps and just building the solution.
Gave up trying to impress people. The interview I got hired from? Went in expecting nothing, just talked normal. No rehearsed answers, just honest conversation. Apparently juniors who can communicate clearly are rarer than you'd think.
The Weird Part
Starting in November but keeping Woberry running. Part of me wonders if I should've gone full indie, but honestly the stability means I can build without financial panic. Plus I'll get Spring Boot production experience which I can't replicate solo.
If You're Still In It
Market's brutal and it's not your fault. But volume won't save you - quality and being real will.
Build something, even if small. Your side project might become your backup plan. Mine did.
If you're drowning in tracking applications and writing cover letters, that's literally why Woberry exists - built it because I needed it. Also made ResumeFast when I just needed a quick resume without all the extra features.
You're probably closer than you think.
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https://www.woberry.com/ and https://www.resumefast.io/ if you want to check them out
Top comments (1)
One of the best pieces of advice on this topic I've seen in a while - nailed it, and at the same time you proved there is still demand for people with common sense & passion - it's what companies want, even when at the moment they think they don't (because "AI") ...