Developing software solutions for too many years. The majority of my time has been either Managing Software Development efforts or as a Software Quality Engineer.
Sorry to hear about your troubles landing that first tech job. It is definitely a challenge and can be demoralizing when the process takes a long time. But fear not, your first job isn't far away. If you are getting interviews, then you are on the right track. Also, in my years of experience it takes a good 2+ months of flooding the job pipeline before something truly tangible comes up.
Here is some advice I gave a job candidate in a similar situation as yourself
Change your routine. (ie when you go to the gym, when you're looking for jobs, etc)
Constantly review your resume to see if you are being clear about your knowledge & accomplishments
Reflect on how you responded to questions during your interviews to see if you can make your answers more clear & direct
As you apply to positions you like, consider creating a side projects around the technology the job reqs is asking for so you can become familiar with it
Work with a recruiter, attend job fairs and go to meet ups around the technologies you like
Look at jobs outside of your geographic area, but include a note to the hiring manager for why you're looking to move there.
You have to be like an athlete that trains their body everyday. Meaning, you have to be coding or involving yourself in the practices of software development every day. You have to show you're putting in the time honing & improving your skills (a la GitHub projects or a live site or blogging). You can't expect to hit the ground running without being prepared. Plus if you are solving problems everyday, then you'll have more to speak about in your interviews.
Here is what I mean by software development practices
For passion/side project, put the time into planning out the features & functions you are trying to create.
Use a project/development management tools to organize your work.
Scope the effort it will take to create the features or functions
Research the tech you think you'll want to use.
Write functional code, write unit tests, write infrastructure deployment scripts, figure out how to do it all
Once you start doing this, you'll look at job reqs differently and come into interviews more prepared.
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Hi Anthony,
Sorry to hear about your troubles landing that first tech job. It is definitely a challenge and can be demoralizing when the process takes a long time. But fear not, your first job isn't far away. If you are getting interviews, then you are on the right track. Also, in my years of experience it takes a good 2+ months of flooding the job pipeline before something truly tangible comes up.
Here is some advice I gave a job candidate in a similar situation as yourself
Change your routine. (ie when you go to the gym, when you're looking for jobs, etc)
Constantly review your resume to see if you are being clear about your knowledge & accomplishments
Reflect on how you responded to questions during your interviews to see if you can make your answers more clear & direct
As you apply to positions you like, consider creating a side projects around the technology the job reqs is asking for so you can become familiar with it
Work with a recruiter, attend job fairs and go to meet ups around the technologies you like
Look at jobs outside of your geographic area, but include a note to the hiring manager for why you're looking to move there.
You have to be like an athlete that trains their body everyday. Meaning, you have to be coding or involving yourself in the practices of software development every day. You have to show you're putting in the time honing & improving your skills (a la GitHub projects or a live site or blogging). You can't expect to hit the ground running without being prepared. Plus if you are solving problems everyday, then you'll have more to speak about in your interviews.
Here is what I mean by software development practices
Once you start doing this, you'll look at job reqs differently and come into interviews more prepared.