If you want to do your bit help Comp Sci unemployment in the USA, take a look at Jobs.Now
This website aggregates all the perm job postings for H1B visa holders. The application methods from companies are often deliberately difficult (apply by post, very specific requirements etc) so they can justify that nobody in the US can do the job.
However, if you genuinely fit the criteria and apply, this should prevent the job going to a non-US citizen.
Reading your advice, I think that explains why it took 450 applications. Nobody liked spray and pray, AI generated resumes.
In my experience it’s much better to spend much more time on a target application to a company you’ve researched and maybe reached out to people or met current employees.
One of my friends mentioned how on the hiring side it's not much better.
Here'a a recent case for a remote software engineering role for a US based company:
A position is posted publicly, in 2 days it gets 300 applicants. Out of those 300, 9 are selected for interviews. Of the 9, only 2 showed up for the interview. Both candidates weren't close to a good fit (skills didn't match resume, etc.).
It opened my eyes on the process. Imagine an engineering manager getting handed a few hundred resumes and now they need to hand select ones that move onto the next phase. This takes a huge amount of time and it also indicates if your resume isn't strong, you will probably get passed over in a few seconds.
With that said, he told me most of the applications were AI spam.
Other side of the coin: I have less YoE but I've been senior engineer in the past. Over past few years I sent 10x the number of applications pretty much the same way as OP and combed my entire network and ultimately never got past a second round interview. The daily job search was a huge opportunity cost I should have taken into account and now my job-hunt savings are exhausted. To avoid homelessness it felt I had little choice but to take up menial jobs. If I'd spent that time getting certified instead I might have been able to land a marginally better position in a different industry, but nowadays if I want a roof over my head I pretty much have to work multiple jobs doing stuff I dislike. I had to move my certification studying to the weekends since there's no other time for it anymore. Hoping I can get out of my current situation ASAP.
Your spray and pray technique is flooding HR departments with AI generated applications. This blocks out people who are actually qualified for the role as they get drowned out by the "shameless" who apply for anything that "vaguely fits".
This is horrible advice and exactly why the job market is so broken.
I don’t know in what world you live (or in what world I do live for that matter). I used to apply to one or two jobs in the past when I was looking for something new. I prepared each interview in advance for a couple of weeks. Nowadays it’s harder… but I apply to 3 or 4 job ads, not 450! It’s harder because obviously it takes two or 3 times what it used to take me. I have around 12 years of experience in a few different tech stacks, I read tech books regularly, I don’t have a good professional network, I do find jobs via linkedin, I’m based in western europe, and I have a masters degree in comp sci (but no one ever has asked me to show my degree).
In my cv I care a lot about the details: the typeface, margins, grammar (I use llms since i’m not a native speaker), bullet point order, succinctness, etc. Perhaps that counts for something. Then if I get an interview, that’s like already 50% of the job done. Im an easy guy imho. I have failed mainly systems design interviews, so that’s where I put some work nowadays.
I understand the spray and pray sentiment, but I cannot recommend enough hustling connections at the companies you’re targeting. Channel your inner SDR and stalk the company, the people you’d work with and the best guess at who would be your boss. Clearly don’t be creepy, but connecting on LinkedIn, mentioning you’ve applied, generally seeing what these people are up to is 100% free and you might even spot an event they’re attending that you could “bump in to them”. It’s so hard for someone not to do some sort of follow up if you’ve met them face to face and had a pleasant conversation such as recommending the hiring manager follow up with you etc. Having a direct connection means you can also prod someone every couple of weeks if you haven’t heard anything from your initial application. Most of the time people are embarrassed their company is being slow on processing good applicants. It’s hard but it really makes you stand out from the pure spray and prayers.
Considering it took 450 applications, perhaps this isn't the best advice. Perhaps in the future, employers will use a centralized system that tracks and limits the amount of applications a person can do to prevent this sort of AI spam
The code first before meeting someone should be illegal, with jail time.
Spray and pray is why it takes everyone longer to get hired. Companies have to sift through thousands of resumes of people that aren't qualified and shouldn't have applied in the first place.
Common advice on Reddit is also to lie about your experience.
The irony is that because of both of these, it takes longer to get a response and get through the interview process.
I disagree. If the market is stacked against you and it takes even 30 attempts to get a job through the usual job seeking process, then I question whether you're truly going to be happy and satisfied with whatever you happen to get offered after months of searching. If you're lucky, maybe. But the most probable reality for most people is that you'll be an expendable employee with zero leverage in a position that doesn't suit you. Not to mention the probability of getting serious burnout from getting rejected and ignored hundreds of times. A fair, healthy job market does not look like this.
If something is not working out, change up your approach. The first obvious step is to try networking instead of applying. Perhaps start something on your own, becoming a B2B service provider rather than an employee. Or try to out-compete the companies which have rejected you. Be a stalwart, not a pushover.
There is attaining employment and then there is attaining employment that doesn’t suck and those are very different beasts.
If you are competing with child like people for a low quality position targeting child like people it’s going to suck. Yes, there are many positions like that but I found it’s so much better to wait for positions that don’t suck.
Before my current job I was unemployed for 6 months, so there was a lot of pressure to land any job. The reality is that some jobs require far less time and energy to attain than others and that cost is completely irrespective to the quality of work. As a result it’s so much better to be patient and target a desirable job than just any job.
Moving forward I look at the tech stack qualifications of job postings and if I see a bunch of tools and frameworks listed, as opposed to expectations and responsibilities, I just discard that opening. It signals the employer wants a candidate to be a disposable tool monkey instead of a problem solver with ownership of responsibilities.
This is probably my approach (maybe minus the AI), I do think networking and reaching out to people can yield better results but I was never any good at that
Having been applying to a lot of roles I appreciate the post you made. I will hang in there. I started working on an Elixir application to grow my skills while applying. It is an exhausting process and I'm glad you got a job. Hopefully I will get one soon.
These are very bad advice, and it's clear why you needed to send 450 applications.
I've only once applied to a job I didn't get, and I've had more than 10 jobs.
It's called networking.
Here is one advice to rule them all:
Talk to people and build a network for yourself.
This type of thing is why I was essentially forced to start my own solo company. There isn’t a force on earth which could make me subject myself to all that.
Enjoy your jobs those who will. I’m choosing a different life, even if it doesn’t dump endless money into my bank account.
I don't get this. I have no education, no resume, no Linkedin and I've never applied for a job in my life. Employers/recruiters reach out to me, and I usually turn them down. I'm not humblebragging, I'm not better at my job than most people. What seemed to have worked for me was doing tons of FOSS work (unpaid, in my spare time). People started noticing me and it naturally picked up from there. I'd wager that actual, observable software engineering (FOSS) is simply a closer proxy for job performance than accreditation and past experience.
Did you try using a recruiter? Not one that works for a company but one that matchmakes between candidates and companies. My last three jobs I've used a recruiter and this worked great as a filter.
In 10 who interviewed me, only 1 or 2 knew about the job. All others recruiters did not have a single clue on they were talking about.
Job was about Linux admin and I told one about bash programming and that I like and know about it. At the end, he says "there are some things I did not hear like scripting in Linux..." and I just went ok, thanks for you time, bye.
Thank you very much for the insight. I also do have 15 years of IT QA Engineer Experience. Nice to know from a tech vet their journey to the path of job that will never be a permanent position. Good luck!
I also had a tough time finding a job this year. Ended up somewhere great but the process was a drag:
> Many of the job applicant expected me to answer asinine questions like "what excited you about this role?"
I don't see this as a asinine/foolish/stupid thing to ask. It's helpful for both sides:
- potential employee can provide an honest opinion on their motivation, in a targeted, specific way to highlight their talent. - offering company can use it for evaluating mutual fit, as well as filter out generic trash applications.
> 3) Don't do coding exercises before you interview with someone, be weary of asymmetrical time expenditures. see #2.
I hope no one outside of highly experienced individuals applies this rule when looking for a job in 2025.
The problem is there is no real way to validate. With AI, every person has a really good looking resume that matches the job description.
Real verifiable references, referrals and LinkedIn recommendations are more important than ever.
How did you handle recruiters from India? Sometimes I feel like I'm getting spammed
> ones that used AI for interviewing me
> Use AI to generate your resume
> Use AI to fill out [...] job application questions
The irony is strong on this one, and one person's "asinine" question is another person's "thoughtful" question. It's a bit hard to take this seriously.
What's your location?
thanks for sharing and congrats. solid stuff! I would add that expect tripple the amount of applying and ghosting if you are mid-level.
I would appreciate it if you could describe the interview process in more detail for the position you accepted.
"Many of the job applicant expected me to answer asinine questions like "what excited you about this role?""
Most job interviews involve this and many other similar type moronic questions. It's one of the many "joys" of the process.
Congratulations on landing the job! I have to ask though: Why do you think the "What excited you about this role?" question was asinine? IMHO questions like those are totally valid, even in a technical interview.
Congratulations on getting hired in this garbage market! I wish you well!
senior engineer for what?
Nice advice. How long did the process take? How many hours a day did you spend doing all this? You say, pace yourself, send a few hours, does that mean it took you months to find and apply to 450 jobs? Did you read company reviews on Glassdoor?
> 1) Spray and pray. If its vaguely a fit, apply. It's a numbers game. Be shameless.
I just skipped the rest of the steps after reading (1) and completely stopped reading after (6).
This is poor advice and it is no wonder you had to send 450+ applications and I think people reading this would want to do this with less steps and less than 450+ applications.
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>> 11) If they use workday for their job applications, bounce. It's the worst.
I don't disagree that Workday is appalling, but this will filter out most large corporate employers.