I’ve been looking for a job in tech for a while. the process feels broken.

- 50 interviews, 1000+ applications → 4 response -> 0 offers (just pure ghosting, even for unpaid work).

- multiple companies asking for “10+ years” in tools that are 5 years old.

- one role asking for frontend, backend, fullstack, and devops basically 4 engineers in a trench coat.

it feels like the system optimizes for keywords, not skills. sometimes i wonder if job posts exist just to harvest free take-home projects or bug bounties. (yes, that happened.)

curious: how are others navigating this market? does ghosting ever end, or is this just the new normal?