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Comment by Simon_O_Rourke | Hacker News Reader

> So far, every single company I applied for, rejected my job application. (Told me that they found a person better qualified than me.)

The problem isn't your qualifications, it's your resume and the roles you're applying for! Just look on the Who's Hiring threads here on HN, and filter on the ones that look interesting. Remember, first and foremost, you're applying for a job, it's not some academic tenure track or PhD program. It doesn't have to be that interesting if it pays.

Then, update your resume, and basically broadcast it widely, from maybe 100 applications, you might get 10-20 responses, and from those you might get a shortlist of 4 or 5. Then hit the interviews for these while preparing another "broadcast". It's simply a numbers game.

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Spamming out CVs to companies advertising on HN might be a rational strategy if you work in a popular field like web development and live in the US. It might get you nowhere fast if say you work in a more specialised programming field and live in Europe, where there are serious economic problems, we're asking genuine questions about whether we will have reliable power supplies for everyone throughout the coming winter, there is an actual shooting war happening, and some countries are dealing with big political changes and the accompanying uncertainty. Job markets in many parts of the world are not looking so hot right now, even in tech where we've had a very easy ride for a relatively long time, and being aware of that and having realistic expectations are important for anyone searching or thinking of jumping ship.

Without knowing more about OP's background than they've chosen to share in their submission you can't possibly know whether they would benefit from adopting a different style of resume, building a more widely sought skill set, or simply having more patience and better luck at finding work to pay the immediate bills so they can ride out the storms that hundreds of millions of people are facing over the next few months and give themselves some breathing room to find better opportunities later.

imo the situation in western europe is not that bad yet, companies still have demand for software devs, c++ / systems / automotive / medical is well in demand in west / north of europe.

This is not consistent with my experience in Germany at all. Companies everywhere are looking for educated people. The demand for people with programming skills borders on desperation! Do you have a degree and a pulse? Do you show up for work on time, communicate clearly and keep your promises? Somebody will gladly hire you! You just have to keep at it.

One thing the OP might try is to manage their expectations. My fear is that tech has been so hot for so long that people have forgotten what the normal world feels like.

That world is not horrible. There are many levels between the entry-level and top-paid positions. And there are thousands of companies outside the tech bubble with opportunities suitable for a programmer or developer. I believe that the best opportunities are in the intersection between programming and some other field.

(You are right that they will probably not be found on HN.)

Looking for a purple unicorn and not hiring anybody, keeping jobs posted for years.

> The demand for people with programming skills borders on desperation! Do you have a degree and a pulse? Do you show up for work on time, communicate clearly and keep your promises? Somebody will gladly hire you! You just have to keep at it.

Translation : "Are you from a top tier institute with several years of experience in FAAANG companies working on EXACTLY the same technologies that are listed in the JD? Great! Now do 5 rounds of leetcode hazing, then system design, then culture fit rounds, and then we'll ghost you"

You obviously don't know the german job market at all. First of all, nobody cares what University you went to because they're more or less all the same. Second, for a normal tech job, it is very uncommon to have more then one, maybe two interviews.

If you just want a job to pay the bills, it's really like that at the moment: You have a pulse and you can write code, you get hired.

> where there are serious economic problems, we're asking genuine questions about whether we will have reliable power supplies for everyone throughout the coming winter, there is an actual shooting war happening, and some countries are dealing with big political changes and the accompanying uncertainty.

I'll give you that, things look bad right now, but unless it's a near societal collapse then you still need to go out and put food on the table. There's no point curling up in a ball and declaring 'woe is me'.

Even in a bad economy it's still a numbers game to land a good job, except the odds get longer. Even then you can improve your odds somewhat, get some online certifications, learn a new language or framework, or build a portfolio of your with on GitHub. Even a personal website would help. And the main thing to realize is that the only one who can help your chances is yourself. Inaction is your worst enemy.

I'll give you that, things look bad right now, but unless it's a near societal collapse then you still need to go out and put food on the table.

Again, there is an actual shooting war going on in Europe, which OP alluded to in their submission. I have worked with people from Ukraine in previous tech jobs. I expect some or all those people are currently doing something very different.

Here in the UK and over a single weekend my company went from holding active discussions with a few prospective clients to almost every proposal being suspended for review because of the infamous "mini-budget" a few weeks ago. If we'd been a little further along and maybe setting up new hires for any of the other projects then those jobs would instantly have disappeared too. There must be many other companies here that have been dealing with the same uncertainty and its chilling effects.

Of course people still need to go out and earn a living unless there really are more urgent things they need to do. My point is that there are plenty of reasons other than OP's qualifications or resume why the job market where they are might be much tougher than one where you can expect a 10-20% response rate just from spamming out CVs.

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