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Ask HN: Mid-career job assessment services?

10 pointsdirtybirdnj10 comments

Hello,

I am in the midst of a years long struggle to find appropriate work that actually uses my skills. I am in an administrative tech job and I absolutely hate it. I want to get back to writing code, queries, doing deploys, actually working on code but my "time between jobs" makes me too risky for employers. I don't fully understand my struggle but part of it is also discovering my neurodiversity struggles.

Are there any reputable services out there that will help evaluate my skills and use this information for job placement purposes.

Have you done something like this before? Was it worth it or a waste of time?

I'm not willing to do 100 different coding tests but if some recruiter or agency could give me a test and help me understand my value or what I could meaningfully put my research and education efforts to I'd be willing to put a hell of a lot more effort in.

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Sorry, this isn't how the employment market works.

* "help evaluate my skills and use this information for job placement purposes"

* "some recruiter or agency could give me a test and help me understand my value"

* "I'd be willing to put a hell of a lot more effort in"

Nobody cares about whatever unique snowflake combination of random skills you happen to have from previous jobs (and you shouldn't either). Employers care only about their own needs, which they more or less clearly communicate in their job ads, and they look for people who are minimally qualified for those roles.

You need to look at what the market wants, and provide that. Understanding your value, and putting effort in is on you, nobody can do that for you.

I have skills but I struggle to get past the interview process. My peers seem to be able to bounce back from job losses / layoffs but I'm just in a death spiral. I want to die. My next steps are medicating myself into compliance or inpatient / outpatient psychiatric care. I am at my breaking point after 5+ years of failure, struggle and pain.

When I end up in jobs I routinely hear "wow you can do all of that? why are you here?!"

The problem is a lack of social skills combined with bad luck in jobs. I cant control managers driving the car off the cliff and destroying projects I worked on / companies I worked for. I don't have the golden parachutes they did and all I am left with is the wreckage of a failed career.

> When I end up in jobs I routinely hear "wow you can do all of that? why are you here?!"

My guess is that this isn't reflected well on your resume. I've done a lot of interesting things and impressed a few people myself, but it's never anything that really fits on the resume. Then when I go job searching, all they see is the BS resume and are rightfully unimpressed.

I don't think there's a good way out. I'm trying to leave the industry entirely, but even that's more difficult than you'd expect.

I really appreciate this reply, it doesn't help either of us to know we aren't alone in this experience but I appreciate the effort it takes to be honest and open about struggles like this.

> I'm trying to leave the industry entirely, but even that's more difficult than you'd expect.

I still want to code, or at least part of me still thinks it can be an enjoyable thing whether I am paid to do it or not. Its not the work that's the problem, it's the people and how they treat me. You cannot convince someone to "fix" a problem when their salary depends on them being blissfully unaware.

Personally, I'm making fishing lures.

https://www.verticaltubejig.com

Weather has been shit lately so its been a while since I have been able to get out. Pictures and video of my adventures help me remember it wasn't all a dream. Im so bad at giving myself credit for things. In the depths of despair over my job hunt its been a literal liferaft to keep my head above water to do fishing stuff.

I'm in the same boat as you, thanks for asking the question in this manner because I don't even know how to describe the pickle I'm in. I know I have a lot to offer but I rarely fit a typical job description and my skills are all over the place.

We have valuable skills to offer, don't give up.

It's weird how I can give this advice but not take it myself.

As others said, companies only care about themselves. Nevertheless, it's not impossible to trick the "tech interview process" and get a decent job these days (I'm not talking about FAANG-style companies). IMHO, you could do the following:

1. You may need around 1-2 months of preparation, depending on how much time you are able to put (e.g., if your current administrative tech job doesn't demand too much from you, use your working hours to prepare for the tech interview)

2. What do you need to prepare? Based solely in the description you provided, it seems that you were doing some kind of backend engineering job, right? (Writing queries, code, dealing with deployments). If you have more than 5 years of experience (total) in the IT industry, I would call myself "Senior software engineer" and apply for such jobs. In this case, chances are you'll likely will have to deal with the so-called "design systems interview" (there are many good books out there like [1]. Read a few examples and get used to the way they are solved). If you need to prepare for coding tests, then google "cracking the coding interview". Don't go crazy, just learn the way these exercises are done.

3. Fake it till you make it. Watch a few YouTube videos about demoing tech interviews. Imitate the way people explain things and the like. One needs to gain some extra confidence in oneself when doing interviews.

4. Iterate, but don't go crazy. Find a company, investigate it a little bit (e.g., read their website, blog, social media, linkedin employees). Tailor your CV to what they are asking for in their job ads and apply. I cannot say anything about referrals because I never had one.

5. Relax. You have a job. It would be harder if you were jobless and trying to find a job (like many engineers are right now)

[1]: https://github.com/G33kzD3n/Catalogue/blob/master/System%20D...

Thank you for the reply and link.

The biggest thing I am up against is that I have effectively been iterating on 1-3 for the past five years and after reaching a pinnacle in my career (last good job, ~5yrs ago) things fell off the cliff and haven't been able to get back on track. It's enough time "out of my field" that its just such a red flag people can't fathom the idea that I've retained valuable skills. Clearly there must be SOMETHING wrong with this person if they are skilled but nobody can tolerate him?

The train metaphor is apt. I am in therapy trying to work on myself but there is ultimately something related to #2 that I am currently unable to overcome.

While staying at your job, can you create your own tech company and create a few websites or do any other random work you find?

This might have 2 benefits to you in your current situation.

1) Any little side jobs you pick up will allow you to brush up on your skills.

2) You can add this company's projects to your resume as recent experience that fills in the time gap, putting you in better position for future employment.

If you're an auto-didact my advice to myself would be: take a week to get a grip on the basics again (maybe read an algo and datastructure book or cracking the coding interview). Then grind leetcode. That's the service you're looking for : ) Or toptal.

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