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Been a software developer for 15 years. I’ve applied for hundreds of positions this summer and all of them either never call me back or say they are interested in other candidates. I actually fucked up two coding tests this week and I dunno anymore. I’m just so disappointed and money is starting to get tight, and I have a surprise medical bill for a biologic. I’m thinking when I can’t afford rent, I’ll just kill myself.
What’s worse is I did have a job for two months but I fucked it up and botched a production instance. They let me go a couple weeks later, I wasn’t a good fit. I wanted to die then, and the sensation hasn’t gone away either. I lie about it because saying you are suicidal is a great way to be rubber roomed.
Some days posting on 196 isn’t even worth it.
Hey friend, I’m sorry that you’ve fucked up a bunch lately. I know the feeling. Just know that you are really valuable to your family and friends, and they’d be extremely hurt if you did do something like that.
Everyone is feeling so stretched right now, and you are not alone. But we will get through this, and things will get easier down the road.
I know it sounds stupid, but money is just… money. Yes we need it to survive in this day, but your life is worth so much more than a bit of cash or debt… and it sounds like you’re a smart person. So just know that those mistakes are a part of your journey, and a part of moulding you into the person you will be in a few years.
It gets better, King
Coding tests are the fucking worst.
Almost never representative of the actual work and usually far more restrictive than the actual work too. (In that you can’t search, might be watched, etc)
I agree. It pains me that I have to ask them. The ones my company does are very restrictive and high pressure. I personally try to choose reasonable problems with realistic scenarios (especially when interviewing entry level folks). I also have lots of follow up questions that I like to think are well grounded on realism.
I personally give a complete pass for stuff like standard library functions and will outright tell the candidate about an available function if they’re unsure what it’s called or how its used. I’m testing problem solving and an understanding of language , fundamentals not their ability to memorize a standard library. I mean, heck, I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve had to google “[language] sort list”.
Honestly, it sucks to have to watch a candidate struggle. It’s awkward and not fun. I want to see the candidate do well. And heck, if they can’t do well, I want them to at least be able to make progress, because I know it would feel bad to feel like you bombed the interview. Sadly, the environment of tech interviews isn’t conductive to that. They’re stressful and sometimes perfectly qualified candidates do poorly simply because of nerves.
I feel like for software, the big barrier is getting past HR/recruiters. Once you get to talk to someone technical, it’s a lot easier. But hell if I know how the heck the non technical staff decides how to progress people.
I’ve done tech interviews. They’re leetcode, which isn’t great, but at least it’s fair. There’s no magic words there. I just want to know if you can reasonably approach a problem (and I don’t pick anything I couldn’t get hired on), can show problem solving skills, and show an understanding of algorithms and data structures. You don’t even need to solve the problem if you can come close and your thinking out loud shows good skills. And most definitely don’t need to be an optimal solution (though it helps).
But getting to the tech screen, I don’t even know. I’ve made internal referrals that never even get assigned to anyone, despite a glowing referral. Maybe it’s just super competitive. Maybe there’s a scarcity of low level positions (though I know many teams that are top heavy and only need low level positions). I really know nothing about what it takes to get to the tech screen level. But once you’re there, I really do think it’s a lot more reasonable (not at all perfect, but better).
This has literally been my experience! I’ve submitted near 100 applications and NOTHING! I’m 20, living at home with my parents breathing down my neck and saying how lazy I am for not getting a job while NO ONE will fucken hire me! I’ve even done walk in interviews and STILL NOTHING! I don’t know what to do anymore and feel like I’m stuck in hell. Cant leave this house cuz I’m broke, can’t get a car cuz I’m broke, can’t pay my crazy medical bills cuz I’m broke. College for me is over after this semester if I can’t get at least minimum wage employment and what do ppl say to me when I complian? WHY DONT YOU JUST GET A JOB!!? I’m so tired, I’m so done, just end me now.
Protip: Fuck your medical bills. At least for now. Low, low, low priority. What qualifications do you have? What experience? What are your skills? If you don’t have answers to those questions, whats your game plan to answer them? For obvious reasons I’m biased, but IT is an amazing field to try and enter right now if you’re able to bear down and learn material for Comptia certifications.
I actually took the comptia cert test in 9th grade, only problem was I was not told before hand I couldn’t have anyone else walking infont of the camera while I was doing it, as I was using the family PC at the time it was smack dab in the midlle of a hallway that everyone used. So they failed me. But yea my major is cybersec, so I’ve got a good career if I can’t pay for it. As for the medical stuff, I have a rare ear tumor called cholestiatoma that needs to be operated on so there’s that. Sorry if it sounds like all I’m doing is removed but life seems pretty hopeless right now. On the bright side I am working on a game I plan to release in a couple of months!
Sorry if it sounds like all I’m doing is removed
I think the last word here was censored, what was it? Been thinking for a short while and couldn’t figure it out
Apparently swear words can’t be used lol! The b word lol, that’s what I ment to use.
The comment above you says fuck, so is it your instance that’s blocking swears?
Huh guess so. Time to move again.
I took and passed cmpTIA A+ and am also in his situation, mabe I need to layer on more certs.
Yeah, Network+ and ITIL 4 Foundations got my foot in the door
Just signed up for Net+ 🥳
It’s a lot of info, you got this!
I have probably sent out a good 100 resumés over the past few months and have only gotten responses within the past few weeks. A good chunk of them did not bother notifying me that I was not being considered and I would only find out if I logged into their shitty portal.
I am no longer applying to jobs that do not lost their salary range. I had an interview the other day that was a complete fucking waste of time because at the end there was my salary was nowhere near what they could afford. They have been looking for months. They definitely need a reality check if they think they can pay next to nothing in the locations they are hiring in which are all high cost of living areas.
This is exactly what I’ve encountered. I only opened Indeed to see what ppl in my profession are being offered in other places. Places with affordable houses. I’m worried my living situation will become a problem in the area I live, it’s only getting higher.
Like you, I find employers are completely unaware of this and aren’t offering enough.
They are also asking for more qualifications than they are willing to pay for, so far I’ll bide my time.
The other annoyance is I can’t ask for any feedback on why my application was passed over.
There’s so many other issues too, such as the fact that old job posts don’t really get removed, employers/recruiters also spam multiple websites with their job posts and forget to check them, and some of the job descriptions don’t even match what you go and sign up for.
No salaries mentioned on lots of posts, multi stage interviews that somehow demand your free time during work hours, so good luck interviewing for other roles while you have a job. Take home assignments that take multiple hours sometimes, sacrificing a whole evening.
Recruiters that will ask for all your information again, despite having found your phone number from your CV, and once you go through that, tell you they have nothing for you and that they’ll be in touch.
Questions that mean nothing in an interview, including acronyms I haven’t used or even heard of outside of interviewing for other jobs, because my job doesn’t need or use them, we just do the work.
Job is listed as remote
During interview they tell you they expect you to move to bumfuck north dakota within 6 months of starting
One of the additional things that sucks is here in Australia if you’re unemployed and/or disabled you can sign up for Centrelink and do Job searching there. But it is just terrible, because not only do you have to look for a certain number of jobs (I think abled-bodied people can do 20 jobs per month, whereas I got to apply for 12 due to disability), but every 2 weeks you have to go in and spend maybe 10minutes or more traveling to the jobseeker place and tell them “no I haven’t heard back from anyone, yes I’ve applied for jobs, etc”.
On top of that, if you’re disabled you’ll get fucked over because you can’t work, you know you can’t work, but Centrelink refuses to put you on the National Disability Scheme because you’re not disabled enough (people who have missing limbs have been told that their missing limb will grow back, or you’ll grow out of it. Some disabilities aren’t even on it, like ADHD isn’t considered a disability and only “high functioning autism” is allowed). But you can be a part of the Disability Employment Scheme (DES) where you still have to apply for jobs, but not as much, but you get some benefits over being a regular Jobseeker.
Generally, the whole thing fucking stinks and I’m so thankful that I’m finally out of it. That and the fact that those receiving Jobseeker payments are being paid below the poverty line because the government refuses to put it up.
I just, ugh. Job seeking sucks, especially when businesses ask for 50million years of experience but it’s entry level. Or the fact to get experience you need to work in this field but to get in this field you need experience. Ugh.
As someone who’s been on Jobseeker multiple times, it is absolutely a poverty trap, it’s designed that way. Much easier to exploit when you’re hungry.
While I do rant about jobseeking, I do appreciate the job provider I’m with (since I’m still in the probation period of this job). Like a previous one I was in honestly made me suicidal because of the things I had to do. And while my current provider still sucks (I am disabled and find walking tough, but they expected people to come back into the office, I couldn’t even do like one week phone call, one week go in like I was doing), but they make me less suicidal. That and they do offer things to me, like vouchers for ubers to work and they’re covering 3 driving lessons (haven’t had a lesson since way before the pandemic).
So yeah, being on Jobseeker is such a poverty trap. It’s made to feel like hell on Earth.
I’m sorry you’ve done it so tough, saddens me greatly that so many are reliant on such a poorly designed, implemented and enforced welfare system.
You wooly for 20 jobs on Indeed. The ones that respond want you to do a one-way interview so they can discriminate against you without facing you.
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yeah auto-correct…
I’m leaving it
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A tip for anyone in the situation: when looking for a job on any website, if it has a ridiculous pay range, like 30k-140k, stay away. Usually some pyramid scheme, or scammy commission only sales job that you’ll never make anything from.
I’m sure some of these work out for some people, it has to. But realistically it doesn’t ever work out.
I’ve found jobs with good hourly salaries after bonuses, but the catch was that those bonuses were nearly impossible to reach. Keep an eye out for those, too!
This is the world that boomers designed.
I am so glad I am a Union member. I would probably be homeless if i had to deal with this shit. I mean, I have almost been homeless with my union, but without it I’d be screwed.
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The meta for getting jobs rn is through networking. IIRC something like 70% of job positions are not posted. I have worked in the tech industry and food industry and found this to be true in both. For tech, building a strong network is more important than any degree/cert you could get imo. I wouldn’t even bother applying thru websites without a recommendation attached. I think ur time is better spent working on some sort of personal project and attending every conference/event in the area u can find for whatever ur tech domain is. Ideally if ur living in a tech “hub” or adjacent to one there usually is some sort of “area programming language/tech thing club” and joining is free. You can find them on facebook or meetup. Befriend some boomer nerds at them and eventually you’ll get access to their “network” and will have a lot easier time landing a job. U can be upfront too by saying shit like “I am looking to expand my network” and this is an OK way to signal “Let me know about job openings that ur friends have” / “please introduce me to important people”.
Image Transcription:
Tumblr post by user anotherchariotpulledbycats reading
"You apply for 20 jobs on Indeed. The silence is deafening.
"You apply for 20 jobs on Indeed. Half of them require you to create an account on the company website. You have a trail of ghost accounts that will be used once and never again. You never receive a response.
"You apply for 20 jobs on Indeed. One employer offers an interview, but it’s so rare for you to receive any response that you forget to check the website and you miss the time.
"You apply for 20 jobs on Indeed. One employer offers an interview, but you don’t know the magic words that signal to the esoteric mind of an interviewer that you’re fit for the job.
"You apply for 20 jobs on Indeed. One employer e-mails you saying that ‘unfortunately, you do not have the qualifications we are looking for’. You check the job again and see you applied to be a menial labourer.
"You apply for 20 jobs on Indeed. Half of them require a car a car. No one stops to ask how you’re supposed to afford one with no job.
"You apply for 20 jobs on Indeed. One employer offers a job. The commute makes you want to die in your sleep.
"You call the HR manager for the workplace in hopes of arranging an interview more directly. They don’t even have an answering machine.
“Employers complain that no one wants to work anymore.”
[I am a human, if I’ve made a mistake please let me know. Please consider providing alt-text for ease of use. Thank you. 💜]
Very similar to finding a new home.
Bonus challenge: Find a new home without a job.
I am on lifelong disability which means I get a guaranteed amount of money each month for life.
No landlords will touch me, a person with a GUARANTEED INCOME.
However, if you have a job, that you can get fired from or quit the next day, they’ll accept you. Blows my fucking mind.
Btw, for anyone wondering, if I lose my job, the government will step in and give me money for my disability. If I have a job, they don’t give me money. If I have a shit job where I make a couple hundred per month, they’ll cover the difference. I don’t mooch off the government, but my point is that I’m lucky enough to have a safety net, and landlords are so dumb they run away from it.
Years ago I rented to a section 8 tenant. She was a single mom, and my mom was a single mom, so I wanted to help her. The rent was guaranteed and I receive a check in the mail directly from the housing authority. However, the tenant never took care of the house. At times, it seems she was unemployed, but was still receiving the assistance, which was nice I guess. But I don’t know what she does with her time because you’d think she will at least try to make the place that she lives in as clean / nice as she can with her time. Unfortunately, I ended up having to pay over $10k to fix up my house after she left, and the home has a lot of random damages like broken window screens, big holes in the walls, etc. Never have those issues with other tenants.
Point is, many people who receive gov’t assistance never have their life together. And my experiences tell me to run away as fast as possible whenever I encounter them. As opposed to people who work hard for their money, they actually take care of the places.
You may be different, but again, once bitten, twice shy.
No landlords will touch me, a person with a GUARANTEED INCOME.
However, if you have a job, that you can get fired from or quit the next day, they’ll accept you. Blows my fucking mind.
Exactly, it’s crazy. Some even go further and require you to earn 3x as much as your rent.
While I understand it’s a good rule of thumb to not spend more than 1/3 on rent … a good rule of thumb for THE RENTING PERSON, that is. Why would any landlord care if I eat oats or drive a lambo? As long as I pay my rent, what do they even care how much I have left?
And since rents have been rising more than wages, satisfying this unecessary demand becomes increasingly difficult.
Maybe it is because they are not rational homo economicuses. They find someone to rent their place anyways, so they can use their power to punish or reward people based on their societal ideals. Or simply have a say in what kind of people are allowed to live in that hood.
Godspeed.
Oh man. I’m in my 40s, working full time in an office-based, professional role and renting is fucky even for someone who can prove a stable income. You go to look at a house, only to find 20 other people queued up waiting. You like the house, you offer to rent it, only to find that it’s been rented to someone offering £200 a month more than the list price.
It’s absolute shit.
Stop. Using. Indeed.
It’s a glorified resumé scraping service for corpos. It’s free to use for job seekers right? That means YOUR INFORMATION IS THE PRODUCT. All Indeed does is look at what’s on your resumé, and then delivers that insight to corporations for a fee.
Go handout resumés in person. If the company does not want you to do that, submit them through their career portal on their official website.
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“the silence is deafening” sums up my job searching experience. I can apply to as many jobs as you’d like but I can’t actually start working until the other side says yes. and they seem to not even register that my application has been sent. How am I supposed to work, if no employer ever even looks at my application?
yOu’Re SuPpOsEd To CaLl ThEm YoUrSeLf!
I fucking hate that. If they need the position filled, should they not be checking each and every applicant? Why do I ALSO need to call the place after I sent in my application/resume?
