Ask HN: Is it time to give up? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is it time to give up?

2 pointsjamesmp985 comments

So, I've been trying to get a developer job for months now, but just can't do it. I lack a degree, but have about two years of freelance work behind me. I've been looking all over the U.S. and at first, got some leads, along with a few interviews. However, its been over a year since I've done any sort of work related to IT, and the number of job leads I'm getting is shrinking.

I currently have one job I interviewed at a month ago telling me they're working on the "SOW" still, and another one I interviewed at month ago telling me they are still deciding.

I don't see anyway out. Should I give up and pursue something else?

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It's not clear to me how this is answerable.

Whether or not the degree (or lack thereof) matters depends a lot on where you're applying, and who there is doing the hiring.

I don't really look at that, but it's important to some people, and there are things you'll tend to learn in a CS program that you'll tend not to learn if you're just doing relatively simple work (e.g., simple websites).

If you have decent work history, and demonstrable programming skills, it seems like there are enough jobs out there--but that depends a lot on location as well (e.g., I'm on the US east coast near NYC and there are more jobs than qualified applicants AFAICT).

Ask around your friends if any need some help in IT ? Start with helping out and getting back into the field, then cover ground.

> ... have about two years of freelance work ...

Doing what? Demonstrating what skills? In what domain? Front-end? Back-end? Big-iron? Embedded? Languages?

Also, why do you not have contact details in your profile page? Why is there no CV? No link to GitHub? No personal web site?

How are you trying to find leads?

Based on comment history and personal facebook page (won't link but not hard to find) "I work as a stocker at a grocery store." Previous freelance seems to have been PHP/wordpress plus some nodejs.

All you need is one door to open. Keep knocking.

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