Looking for a Job Is Tough

For context - I’ve made 4 personal projects that currently have over 1000+ daily active users (numbers are ~1500, ~6000, ~14,000, and ~430,000) all created within the span of the last year. I’ve also sold software.

On top of all that, I have an Engineering degree, 4 years experience, no breaks in employment, study on my afternoons and weekends (C, Go, C#) and take extra university courses, and have some other high level achievements/recognition.

I apply for Intermediate and Senior positions.

So far I have 3 interviews lined up out of ~30-40 applications. About 10 rejections so far. 1 of those jobs is actually decent, the other 2 are desperation applications.

It’s brutal. I’m trying my absolute best, I don’t see how people that have been coasting have any chance.

You should be able to coast a bit in life.

I’m sad at the state of things, and sad for people trying to stay in the industry or break into the industry.

Makes me want to become a gardener

Why not?

For better or worse, I might not showcase those that much.

Your side projects could give the impression that you are more dedicated to those than to your primary employer.

For the roles I review resumes for and interview I want a well rounded individual who seems like they would stay in the position for many years. Someone who is studying on weekends and taking extra university courses on coding does not necessarily give me that impression. Again, just a devil’s advocate position.

(Although, apparently it’s not likely you can you do it as a dev in today’s market so)

But if you step up to being a farmer then you'll be playing with way more interesting computers than you'll find on a typical desk.

> (Although, apparently it’s not likely you can you do it as a dev in today’s market so)

Farming isn't in good economic shape right now either, granted.

Looking for any intermediate /senior role in any stack.

I’m based in NZ so there’s barely any jobs

Had an interview with the rudest motherfucker I’ve ever met. Utter disdain for their existing employees (complaining that they can’t just fire them on the spot like in Ukraine or some other Eastern bloc country). Asked “why should we waste Engineers time interviewing someone who doesn’t have C# experience?” I should have ended the interview right then.

This is why people hate immigration. I should have told him to go back to his country if he wants that experience.

I’m so far tipped over the fucking edge I’m going to start a violent revolution.

You gotta spam alot since 'everybody' else does it too. You'll just drown in others' applications otherwise.

Anyone considering farming should take note of this. The industry is not in a place where farmers can make any meaningful profit, especially if you're just getting into it. At best the average farmer breaks even after depending heavily on federal subsidies and crop insurance.

There are likely technical roles in the age industry, though personally that runs into a moral problem for me as you will end up being paid well to turn the financial screws even harder on the average farmer or farm hand.

To be fair, there was Onlyfans kind of money in it in 2022. It ebbs and flows. Always has, always will.

It just might not be a good tech backup plan as the ebbs and flows have been perfectly aligned with tech's ebbs and flows for at least the past 20 years that I've been watching both. When tech is good, so is ag. When tech is bad, so is ag.

On the other hand, if you are going to become a farmer (or anything, really) you definitely want to start during the bad times. If you try to start when the going is good you're just going to overpay to get in, and then quickly land in a down market.

But for the sake of another perspective, here's how your description reads:

"I’ve made 4 personal projects that currently have over 1000+ daily active users (numbers are ~1500, ~6000, ~14,000, and ~430,000) all created within the span of the last year. I’ve also sold software." --> "I have made personal projects - in fact so many I'm always at it, with a bit too many to make you comfortable. These are so successful and so quickly created that I can clearly do these once I'm with you - and I have the skills to sell software, so I could monetize them. If and when I want to. This says nothing about my ability to follow requirements or work with others"

(my advice: focus on the most successful project, say it's non-profit, and try saying "listened to customer feedback" instead)

"On top of all that, I have an Engineering degree, 4 years experience, no breaks in employment, study on my afternoons and weekends (C, Go, C#) and take extra university courses, and have some other high level achievements/recognition."

That all sounds fine.

"You should be able to coast a bit in life." --> Honestly if you lead to employers with saying that you've sold software personally and have 4 side-projects, you haven't been searching for a job long enough to realize that's unwise in this market - you've potentially been coasting on your job search. Have you been studying C/Go/C# instead of applying to jobs because you prefer studying?

The bad news is that I'm mostly talking second-hand since I only know people who have gone that path, without having tried it myself

Are you thinking about some of the homestead influencer types here?

I have a homestead / small family farm and follow quite a few of the common ones. Those that make good money as influencers don't really farm, and those that do farm are getting by but not making any profits big enough to write home about.

We decided not to make our farm into a business pretty quick. The primary goal was to grow our own food anyway, including meat, but it doesn't take long to see how bad the business fundamentals are if you're unwilling to go into a crazy amount of debt to run what most would consider animal abuse and/or ecological destruction.

Not really. I was humorously comparing farm incomes to incomes of certain pornographic performers. Not quite up there with the 1920s (when the farmers all built mansions after harvest), or the 1970s (when a single crop paid for the entire farm), but it was probably the third best time in history to be a farmer. Of course, good times can't last forever.

> We decided not to make our farm into a business pretty quick.

My farm was a business from the get-go. Some years are great, others not so much, but on balance it's a pretty good gig.

> if you're unwilling to go into a crazy amount of debt

That's the beauty of coming from the high paying tech industry. You don't need to accumulate the debt, you can pay for it out of pocket. I agree that if you start giving bankers your profit, you won't have a good time. That is a trap a lot of farmers do fall into, and perhaps have no choice but to without a tech (or similar starting point) foundation. However, for the typical reader here...

> to run what most would consider animal abuse and/or ecological destruction.

Be the change you want to see. There is always more work to do, but my farm has come a long way in improving upon those things from how things were done before I arrived.

But then... you may end up demonstrating that you can take raw ideas and build an entire business out of them yourself, end to end, soup to nuts, and now you're threatening to others on the team who just want someone who codes, not a jack of all trades.