I'm just a little over thirty, and I've done mostly early-stage startups. In most cases, I was able to get a job pretty quickly. In my first and last firing/lay-off, and I got a job in two to three months. The longest I've been job searching was half a year, and that was because I very badly wanted a particular role.

Over the years, I noticed some trends that really bothered me a little.

1. People don't actually want to see real ambition, most of the time. If you really want a particular role, they will test you harder. It is better to get good at what you want to do, and then act as if it were nice to get to do it.

2. "Age" seems to matter. Just by doing my appearances differently to affect that variable, I got much more positive interaction in interviews. It was embarrassing. Whatever you have or look like, you have to back up. If you are older, you have to act the part, or really denigrate yourself.