Out of interest, how did they manage to keep the determination to apply, after the 5th or 6th setback? When I was fresh out of university, I had a run of jobs where my skills where over-estimated by small local development firms who'd hadn't hired many/any grads before. After 5 setbacks in a row, I couldn't face applying to tech roles. The only way I could bring myself to carry on towards my career dream at that low point, was self-teaching - working on my own projects and focusing in on the techs I was best at. Then after a bit, doing basic Web design projects for small businesses and gradually working up from there - but still to this day (~6 years on from that run) only projects where I'm in complete control of the tech stack and coding practices. It took a tonne of effort (and some counselling) to get my self-confidence back