Extremely hard even for a experienced engineers to find a job?
Extremely hard even for a experienced engineers to find a job?
I'm curious if it's just me or not. I'm an SE with 10+ years of experience, mostly in full-stack with a wide variety of languages and stacks, and my last title was at the "staff" level. I'm almost 40 years old; not sure if age discrimination is much of a thing (my interviewers have been mostly around my age or younger). I've been looking for a job for months. I've been applying to just about every job posting where my skills match on LinkedIn, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter (mostly just the Easy Apply option lately, so I can send more applications out). I've even been applying to positions that just require 2+ years of experience; I'd take any job (except defense or big tech). I've probably sent something like 400 applications out at this point. I've gotten a few interviews, and think I did OK, but I guess not good enough since I was still rejected. Is this normal?
The last time I was looking for a job (2021), I only sent 20 applications out, and landed a job on my first interview. I also tried Upwork for a couple weeks, but wasn't able to land any contracts. I think everyone there is either looking for very cheap devs in the developing world or rockstars with tons of contracting experience and large portfolios.
About 15 years experience. I normally have a new job within a month or 2 of looking.
This time it took me 6 months, a pay cut and applying to everything under the sun daily to get anywhere. It’s not just you the job market is ass right now.
Yeah; took me a full year (granted, half your experience but still); once the husband joined me in applying to jobs around the clock did I start to make any headway (and that was still another 4 months). It was brutal.
Job market has been kinda brutal since about 2022 when all the tech layoffs began. Now I think companies are jumpy about the economy. Recession is looming and most is the non-big tech companies are looking at increased costs, decreased sales, and IT is a cost center.
I was really fortunate 6 weeks ago and got hired by another team at the same company. Last year I was out of work for 5 months looking for that job.
I'm sure it's just a temporary rough spot in the market. Computers and internet aren't going anywhere. But how long it lasts is anyone's guess. Wouldn't shock me if it lasts until the end of Trump's term—assuming it ends.
It’s gotten really easy to slap together an AI cover letter specifically for the job. There’s a lot of uncertainty about the economy.
In 2023 I’d send out maybe 5-10 a day and it took me 9 months. It was tough.
I have done that a few times, but editing it so it doesn't sound like AI, and to remove characters AI likes to use that aren't on standard keyboards (like the em dash). Not sure if companies care about cover letters or not either.
I started doing it for all the jobs. Can’t say whether that got me the interview. Definitely need to edit it.
I’m 56 with decades of experience. At this stage if I were to lose my job I will just throw in the towel. I am fortunate enough to have put money away religiously on my 401K so if it comes to it I’ll just pair down spending and live off my savings.
I have no plans to ever write a resume in my life.
In my country the consultant company i work at shifted to only going for hiring experience / senior people once interest rates went up 2023-2024. The economy being worse reduces investments, and naturally consultants are less desired during those times. So we didn't even meet hiring goals for 2024, we barely grew. I think expectations are a bit better this year though, if that is a indication that also applies to your country/place.
It's a strong contrast to where I, with Master degree in non-tech areas, got a developer job shortly after university at this company. Things were pretty desperate "hire, hire, hire" back then. It also helps that my country is less bad on interviews and such compared to the US.
Is this the US talking? I still have recruiters contacting me, not as often as before but still getting messages on LinkedIn (European here).
The market here seems to be buzzing if you are willing to move. There are pages and pages of devops, sysadmin, software developer, software architect,... . On one website j searched "sysadmin" and it found 10k jobs across Europe! They also seemed up to date when I was checking them out.
Most well paying jobs are in West and North Europe, they also have quite interesting jobs, even in opensource companies. Italy and Greece can't seem to be desperate for people, but their wages are trash. They don't seem to be doing much interesting stuff either. Just run of the mill stuff.
But yeah, Europe looks busy busy busy at the moment and very acceptable for people willing to move.
US citizen here living in Spain. Any good tips on how to get a job in the EU if I don't have residency? (I'm here with my wife who is on a student visa) I have had a few recruiters reach out, and some good interest when I have pinged some companies on linkedin but no one is able to sponsor a work visa. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong country.
I got sponsored recently through the EU Blue Card program. It's generally targeted at what would be considered 'high-skilled individuals', which may or may not be applicable to your situation.
Although it's an EU program, each country gets to set their own requirements and these can vary quite a bit. Might be worth looking into, since if you qualify it is almost always much easier than other paths.
Sorry, I'm European myself, so it's not in the same situation and I have no experience with it. Most of my non-EU colleagues got here through student visas, then got a job, and just stayed. Others started out in large companies abroad and relocated with those companies. The only US American I know here was relocated by their company.
A quick search found https://relocate.me/ Maybe they can help you?
Good luck!
Spain seems to have a digital nomad visa option that seems pretty easy to obtain: https://movingtospain.com/spain-digital-nomad-visa/
However, it seems that you need to have a job for at least 3 months before applying from a company outside Spain. Maybe you would have to obtain a job for a short period outside Spain and then obtain the visa to move back in. Another potential difficulty is that your employer would have to be willing to keep you employed in another country and possibly pay you in a different currency. There are contracting firms that can help with this, but it's not guaranteed and ultimately your employer could just say no and let you go. Still, it's a possible avenue.
Also worth looking into whether your wife's student visa allows you to work, but I'm guessing that you probably looked into it already and it doesn't. But just mentioning it in case you haven't already thought about it.
Any US companies eager to hire new CS grads?
for CS ive been hearing for the last 10years, both in my school when i visited quite often after graduation, and from other extended family members. yea it has the same issue as biotech.
been unemployed almost 8 months and older so 25 years experience. bachelors and masters. This surpases 2013 for me but not 2010 but im only like two weeks a way from surpassing 2010.
I've given up. Will probably be homeless again 🤷♀️ such is life
Thought I'd chime with a similar background to say that after a year and a half of sabbatical and occasionally putting in great effort (4 hour projects and 3-6 technical interview rounds per opportunity of which there were a couple dozen), I have a job again. And all it took was a referral and a 30min phone conversation with the hiring manager. I'll make a little less than I did before, but have zero expectation of overtime or after hours or oncall bullshit, and I won't have a bunch of smartasses constantly tilting at windmills and bike shedding everything.
Don't worry about saying/writing whatever you need to get over hurdles. We're not playing in a field where bona fides matter anymore. LinkedIn is a cesspool of fake ads and fake applicants, indeed and monster are just openings for recruiters that will mostly waste your time. And remember to treat startups like the ancap throwaway experiences they are.
I will say I encountered a situation recently where an opportunity vaporized due to "economic uncertainty." I expect those will continue to increase in the next few months.
That's sounds very unusual. Presumably you've got some interviews? I would ask some of them for some honest feedback because it sounds like you're doing something wrong. Also try talking to recruiters...
Also maybe do some networking if you're that experienced? Ask old colleagues?