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How can I get hired when I am now tired of being competitive? The mass layoffs weren't even the tipping point for me. I've been applying to jobs non-stop since 2021 and interviewed at many places, and getting no offers. I faced the burnout sometime early last year.

Even in the more "chill" jobs you are expected to pass multiple rounds, be among the best among the candidates.

I just want to be average in the candidate standings, for an average dev job.

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This is a real difficulty of being competitive in SWE. The general industry moves so fast that one must often hustle so much to remain competitive as to risk burnout. This is particularly bad for those with competing life priorities (e.g., families, health, etc.)

My suggestion would be to find some niche that allows to you not face that constant hustle. Look for the Venn diagram where you can add a lot of value, but the competition isn't as fierce. For example, if you are both good at coding and understand, say, physical systems like HVAC, you can focus on an industry like building automation that doesn't iterate as fast. Or maybe you really like aviation and can develop CFD models. Point being, it's much less competitive when your field requires two complementary, but distinct, knowledge bases.

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