HACKER Q&A
📣 stayintechor

Tech job searching, should I continue?


Over the past year, I've applied primarily for Engineering Manager roles—along with several Senior/Lead engineer roles. Here are the numbers:

    Applications: >1030
    Rejection emails: >630
    Interviews: >160
    Interviewing Companies: 70 (mostly startups)
    Total Interview Time: 112 hours
Additional Interview Metrics:

    Interview Cycles (3+ interviews): 30 companies
    Advancing to 2nd Interviews (Hiring Manager): 54%
    Advancing to 3rd Interviews: 42% (I bombed most tech interviews)
    Advancing to 4th Round or Beyond: 30%
    Longest Wait for a Rejection: 46 days (~6 weeks or 32 business days)
After a Bachelor of Science in audio engineering, I spent two decades mastering front-of-the-front-end development, from my core expertise in HTML, CSS, JS, WordPress themes, and web fundamentals, to the last five years of working with mostly React (mid/senior abilities). My most recent role was as an engineering manager, a role that was eliminated after just over a year.

I'm honestly not sure this should continue, I need income and stability. However, it's unlikely a career switch will net me as much money as a tech job and music is just as bad or worse.

  👤 jarsin Accepted Answer ✓
Your numbers don't seem hopeless even though it probably feels that way. Factor in a large number of your apps probably never even got reviewed by a human. Then your app to interview ratio is not bad when a human reviews it given the market.

There are a lot fewer manager roles and they are being cut by big tech left and right. I would start applying to majority dev roles and practice your tech interviews to get that number up.

👤 austin-cheney
Forget applying for JavaScript related jobs. They are a race to the bottom where the name of the game is list of a bunch of comma separated tech debt nonsense to compete with a bunch of insecure beginners. I am saying this as a 15 year full time JavaScript developer that was laid off.

Seriously, did you really find that work fulfilling? Were you writing original software to solve real problems or were you thumping around some template nonsense to put text on screen? Quality and challenge of work also determines the quality of people you work with.

My saving grace was having a security clearance and security certifications that allowed me to pivot to something else. I was willing to go be a Wal-Mart cashier instead of going back to JavaScript nonsense, but my wife forced me to wait until something else near my level came along.