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Comment by shawnfrompdx | Hacker News Reader

i have spent the last couple days responding to hundreds of comments on the substack piece. no new pieces of advice came up on this thread which were not already covered on the substack comments. advice which i have acknowledged. i was already about to do most of the pieces of advice anyways on my own as the next step, such as applying with a normie pseudonym. you don't know me. im not a victim and i don't have victim mindset. i am survivor.

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Try not to hold it against people for not also having read hundreds of comments. Most people are going to respond to the just the article, which is going to result in duplicate advice, and that's fine. If you've already taken action for all the advice you consider actionable, great! That doesn't change how much of the advice is actionable in the context of the article though.

I haven’t read most of the comments here and none on substack, but looking at your resume, I’d spend some time making it look slightly warmer, throw some color in there.

I’d also consider re-working your job history, it “looks like a lot of bouncing around” which shouldn’t be a bad thing, but it can be if framed poorly.

Finally, I’d spend a few weeks with c++/java and slap it on the resume as a competency. Can’t hurt, and you’re just learning some syntax at this point.

Best of luck to you. Market is tough, and there are a lot of sw folks looking around right now.

> im not a victim and i don't have victim mindset. i am survivor.

Anyone who uses the kind "labels" to describe themselves probably wouldn't even be considered for a job where I work. It's a massive red flag to most HR departments, especially in tech. Not trying to be offensive, but this has been my experience. You will probably have more success not trying to describe yourself in terms of politically-loaded labels.

Genuine question but since when is being a "survivor" a politically loaded label? Is this an American thing?

It's not political, it's just melodramatic. Some people choose to frame their life as a story about "overcoming adversity". Most of the time the struggles they describe, while genuinely difficult, are things that most people face at some point in their life. But these people seem to expect some sort of social credit for it, as if carrying on makes them a hero.

This is an irritating habit that makes them seem whiny and self-important, but it is unfortunately widespread. Having such a "story" to tell about yourself has become almost fashionable in our modern culture.

To me it suggests that this person might be a bit overly dramatic and ready and willing to compete in the Adversity Olympics at the drop of a hat.

For me, I want to work with people who are just going to get on with their job without harping on about how they've faced this adversity or that adversity and how they're a survivor - just do your job please, I'm genuinely not interested in your personal life. kthx.

I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he calls himself a survivor in response to accusations of having a 'victim mindset,' but not during SWE interviews...

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