It's not like I haven't been applying to jobs. At this point, it's actually part of my daily routine to log on to various job sites every morning and go on an application spree. But, usually, I never hear back from any jobs I apply to, or if I do hear back, it's a rejection email 3 months later.
In total, I've had 1 interview through traditional job applications in the past year, and 2 interviews from talking to people on HN. (thanks HN!)
This is just crazy to me. Back when I properly got into the industry (circa 2022) I could land an interview every couple of weeks. But now, there's nothing. As far as I can tell, my resume and CV are both good (I've received feedback from several different people), and I think I'm OK at writing cover letters. It sort of feels like nobody is looking at my applications or anything. I'm curious if anyone has some insight into this beyond "there's a recession"?
It's getting pretty bad out here y'all, I'm running out of instant ramen and my wife's boyfriend says I have to stop asking him for money.
Here is a list of things not to do:
* Don't waste time using employer online career portals. These only continue to exist to satisfy EEO legal requirements. Most employers don't respond to these.
* Don't pad your resume. Make every line of your resume count as if it were being read by a human. With AI tools now filtering resumes they are getting better at bullshit detection.
Things to do:
* Upload your resume to places like Indeed, Zip Recruiter, Dice.
* Be very specific on your resume. Yes, you should state something about your tech stack in the fewest possible words, but anything related to competences should be expressed in quantifiable terms only. For example you saved the company billions of dollars, or shipped 200 features to production, or reduced execution speed by 50%
* Be clear about your experience and what you are looking for.
* Have external credentials like PMP, CISSP, security clearance, and more. These open doors for you that you currently don't realize are closed to you and likely pay more.
I'm long-time unemployed, had my last interview in Dec 2025. But what I can tell you is that during my interviews I get a lot of questions regarding numbers like: "how did you get to $X mio ARR, saved Y% on the data ingestion pipeline, or decreased processing algorithm speed by Z mins?"
Don't do that!
Everybody is trying to "quantify" their resume but hiring managers are calling the bluff. It's straight out lying, they smell your BS.
Speaking of lying: I get a lot of input from my peers how to actually make it to the next round of an interview process. Across the board they advised me to inflate my expertise of skill XYZ, if asked. Speaking humbly about yourself is not recommended - quite the contrary: brag, but keep it vague and very brief. I never had to do this in the past but now it's almost required.
Shameless plug: If you have any leads that help me secure a full-time position as Solutions Architect (or the like) you won't be disappointed - I'm a fast learner, taking on the toughest challenges! Now that all my savings are gone, I finally need find some work - maybe with your help? Thank you!
Some people genuinely have increased revenue by 40% in a department, on their own. I know, because they were my direct reports, and I was more than happy to clear away roadblocks for them to continue doing the same thing at higher and higher levels.
The issue is that no one wants to say their part was only 0.02%, so they take credit for the job the team as a whole did.
Hopefully that's "reduced execution time" :)
Are you going for junior dev roles? If you're not getting them, maybe consider applying to tech adjacent roles (IT, customer support at tech companies, etc)?
> Networked with clients to expand potential clientele to over 7+ people
... so 8?
Your résumé shows that your first tech job started in January 2022. If you’ve been unemployed for 1.5 years as of January 2026, then your max amount of professional experience (which is most employers really care about) can really only be ~2.5 years.
Technical skills:
> Git
> Software Development
Listing Git is like listing VS Code - it’s too basic to be worth mentioning. Use that space to highlight more valuable skills. The same goes for listing “software development” as a skill; it’s assumed if you’re applying in the IT industry.
Good luck on your search~
For the max professional exp: does freelancing not count? I was making bank in high school, so I figured if I'm doing contract work for employers and making money, then it's professional, no? (naturally freelance isn't going so well now, otherwise I wouldn't be looking for a job)
Otherwise that all makes sense, thanks for the feedback! :)
> I'm struggling to figure out what you're good at
Can it not be all of them? :p
That's one of my big challenges with resumes. People assume I can only be good at one thing and/or assume that I'm lying about my work experience.
I can get _really good_ references from all of my previous employers (because I am legitimately good at everything on my resume), but I never seem to get to that point.
Historically, if I get a technical interview, I get the job every time. The challenge is getting the technical interview.
It's the same for products. Products with very narrow niche value props are immediately attractive to the few people with those specific needs. When you sound like everything to everyone, people are naturally less likely to believe you and the only way around that is a strong recommendation/referral. (Not a name you list on resume, but someone the hiring person trusts saying "you should really consider hiring this person, they are exceptional").
The more specifically relevant you can be to their needs, the more you will stand out.
This is as true for products as it is for resumes, especially when considering that people "hire" products.
A person should be able to look at your resume and visualise what you have done and what you could do for them. What game(s) did you work on? What PHP frameworks did you work with? What were the internal tools you built?
“We need someone to do x, is this the resume of someone who can do x?”
The job market is tough and fixing your resume might not be a silver bullet but it is at least something actionable :)
But your real issue is that you have a generic experience that really doesn’t stand out and the software development field is saturated. Yes I know everyone has to start somewhere. The market just really sucks right now and there really isn’t any reason for companies to hire junior developers when they can find their perfect match.
If you're a designer, redesign all 100 company landing pages. If you're a product manager, interview users and create a new product that those companies should make. If you're in sales, become an affiliate and start selling what they sell. If you're a developer, find a bug and tell them how to fix it. If you're a writer, find spelling mistakes and tell them about it.
You can tweak your CV here and there but if it was landing you gigs before and it stopped now, it's probably not your resume.
But hey, keep on paddling! We'll get there.
Interviewing is a skill and unfortunately the best way to practice that skill is real interviews.
If a month goes by without a single interview, that is all the feedback you need that you need to try something different.
It's good that you have made it a routine to apply, I would just try to fine tune your application towards specific roles.
Also consider how AI is changing what employer's are looking for. The job posting you're seeing likely exists because underneath is something that AI can't do. i.e Perhaps that simply means knowing how best to leverage AI or there's some communication / ownership element to the role that they want a human to be in charge of, etc.
If you look at things in this way you'll apply for fewer jobs. Some days you may not apply to any because none meet your criteria.
So the TLDR here is to remember it's more about focused quality instead of playing the numbers and aiming for quantity.
