Uh, dude's LinkedIn shows that he actually had a Frontend job throughout 2022. He's not an entry-level developer, nor is he aspiring for his first job.

Good stuff. I'm a self-taught dev and have been fulltime for 12 years now (10 in current position) but am always interested in the process new devs are going through. Good advice here. Also wanted to add - granted my experience was 10 yrs ago - but I always had great results by connecting with a technical placement agency. Applying direct is great but in my experience HR departments are often overwhelmed (and under staffed) and I think many applications can get lost in the shuffle. Working with an agency really helped me because they had a direct channel to HR and could call them directly to get my application in front of them and get the interview process rolling. During the time I was searching (and had little professional experience) I went through tons of interviews... bombed some, did well in others but ultimately wound up in the ideal position for me. Just don't give up!

It's funny. I was applying earlier this year, too, and I noticed that I got increasingly frustrated, because I would spend the majority of my time writing a good cover letter just to get "desk rejected" with a generic email. Eventually, I decided to do a 2-week experiment and just send out "bulk applications" with either a generic cover letter or none at all, just to see how my odds of getting to the first stage would change. In the end, I got as many first-round interviews back as I got from my previous 3 months of applying with cover letters (2 in both cases) of which both lead to an offer. I know it's not exactly hard evidence and at best anecdotal, but I wonder if there is more to it.

This is good stuff Don, very solid advice. Almost all my jobs have come from networking. I am also self taught going on 10+ years. Started as a graphic designer doing freelance to Sr engineer in a very large company in Silicon Valley. To my guy being interviewed, hang in there bud and don't get discouraged. Find a good mentor in the area you're interested in whether it be UI/UX, devops, data, etc. There are many types of SWE so I would caution against being a jack of all trades. Focus on one and get really good at it. Most importantly, dont be afraid to fail...instead see it as an opportunity to level up. Find other hobbies to balance your time with coding. Mental health is no joke. Youre brain is your primary asset in this field, treat it well and hopefully you wont burn out. Good like brother. Clicked on this video expecting to disagree with something and agreed with everything lol.

I just discovered you, and I really like your content, Don. I have a developer job personally, but what you have to say really resonates with me. I really like what you have to say about finding passion projects that are personally meaningful to you and solve a problem. The job I am at is very stable, but this is a beginner-level job with no experts to consult with. I recognize that I am moreso an amateur, but I am the only one here that can work with the technologies we use, which I learned with OJT. Getting the kind of results here really brought back my confidence and passion for working in SWE. I want to work on more side projects Don, you've motivated me to try to find something that I can work on with my spare time. Instead of looking for a team to work with, I can begin the project myself.

Awesome content guys, thank you for putting this out into the community.

This was awesome Don. I'm in a similar spot as Mitchell after graduating Hack Reactor in September, and you really helped me adjust my outlook on the application process.

I could relate, I’m looking as well for my first junior role, it is really discouraging, but keep your head up and trust the process, your time will come, I don’t know if you have a website portfolio, that really helps too

I recently hit my 250th application, and have had exactly 1 interview. I'm really at the point where I feel like I'm going to be working in construction for the rest of my life. It's almost not worth the heartache anymore.

I’ve just hired an Angular developer for my team. The 2 most important things for me to see in candidates was having a portfolio site (of which about 80% of those applied didn’t have) and just general a ‘can do’ attitude as clique as that sounds. You have to bear in mind when we hire a jr we’re taking a risk so we at least want to see someone with a great attitude

Bro, i feel your pain in this one. I was laid off just last week and im going through this pain right now. This video will help me a lot. Thank you!

super insightful content. thanks don!

This is very insightful, i have already applied to over 800 job applications on LinkedIn, and gotten less than 20 interviews. Finally landed a job on September last year but lost the job after just a month 😢 It really feels discouraging to keep applying, at this moment am just a bit confused on what to do next. This actually sparks another kind of perspective to follow, thanks again!

I admire his spirit and guts, when I got rejected twice, I was really discourage, my first one, they only interview once and then ghost me like nothing, my second one, I made it in round 2 and being told me that they like me and I'm the no.1 candidate but then shoo their way out and says that they will promote their own people for my position, luckily my 3rd one hired me, but I can really attribute it with my soft skills, my technical skills are not that much I even tend to forget to answer question but I can really communicate well with people, so make sure you work in your soft skills and also learn plenty of interview skills.

Thank you both a lot for this, I'm having a very similar problem. I think template applications, and lack of networking are a huge part of the problem...

What I find interesting and perhaps even incredible is he was working as a construction manager and so has insights into the scope details and workflows of that vertical but has not thought about applying programmatic workflows efficiencies etc to what he was working on for a couple of years if you ask me that's what the projects should be centering on. Real practical applications based on the verticle he had hands on experience with. Demonstrating the technologies he has been studying and architecting solutions that include them.

This video is extremely educational, especially when you thrown in the real world.

Very real discussion. That's the real downside of being a young developer no one talks about. It's tough to get a stable job.

Thanks for the good interview and always for the really good content Don. I checked Mitchell's resume. The portfolio page is really good but some project links are either broken or the page is under construction. Personally, I would recommend removing an unfinished or even unavailable project instead of showing it. A hiring manager might infer that this person has an attitude of leaving things unfinished, or perhaps even hoping that someone else will take over for them. Please don't get me wrong and don't take it personally, but the fact is that hiring managers only check the resume and links for a few minutes (or even seconds) and if they immediately see that something isn't working, they'll sort it out. It is better to have fewer projects, but high quality ones. And frankly, the CV needs a new design. You cannot apply to an UX / frontend position with a resume that almost looks like it was made with an old typewriter machine. Here is a success story to get your hopes up: I started learning web development almost 1.5 years ago. In between, I also attended a coding boot camp and started building projects. After lots of struggles, writing applications, rejection, too high expectations, watching hundreds of tutorials, drinking away the sorrow while watching Don's videos, I've finally landed an entry-level job in front-end engineering. I applied with a nicely designed CV (which I made in HTML/CSS) and a github with some projects that always have a link to look at the project (I changed the status of unfinished ones to private). On my resume I directly linked my 2 best projects: a frontend only site where you can find and filter games and a full MERN social media like site where you create an account and can post pics and stuff. They both have a nice design and no bugs that would pop up easily. It's a tough road, but never forget to put yourself in the hiring manager's shoes and craft your application in a way that they'll like you within the first few seconds.

For me I always spam applied to like 500+. Kept the same resume. Usually didn’t write a cover letter. I’m on my third job now. I’ve noticed with this strategy even when I first started out it would take about 3 months to land something. I would only ever get interviews with like 3 companies at a time that were serious. Rejected sometimes. And then suddenly a few offers at once. Hang in there man. I’m sure you’ll get some offers soon. I would def say if you don’t have experience have something you can show on a portfolio. That’s what I did for my first job. I just showed them my fortnite stats website I was making back in 2018 lol. It was just the frontend part of the app only. I was able to talk on it and show my experience that way

All my jobs have come organically from taking some sort of action. I've never actually applied to a job and have been gainfully employed since 2008. My advice has always been to do something cool and show people. People love people who do cool stuff unprompted esp when you show an interest in their company or project. But at the same time, don't do it with the intention of getting a job b cause then it's not the right cool thing, I guarantee it.

i've gone through almost 100 applications, and only got hired or even got the opportunity for interview only when i was dealing with a hiring agency

I would say most people need to start with their resume. Listening to this guy’s story, it sounds like his resume needs work because if you aren’t getting interviews that’s the problem. Also having a resume on one page for technical jobs is not as recommended as it is for other fields. I think it’s totally fine maybe even better to have two pages. One thing I didn’t hear in this is that spacing is HUGE for your resume. If your indents and spacing is inconsistent, it looks absolutely terrible because programming is all about attention to detail like that. I also think the cover letter for specific jobs is really important. But anyway big shoutout to this guy for coming on and sharing his story!!! Good luck!! I hope he gets hired and anyone else trying to get hired :)

If you'd like to come on the show and ask me a question, just fill out this short form: forms.gle/esQMbaRjQt9SkD1XA

Until you reach a certain level of experience, closer to senior than junior, when recruiters start reaching out to you, networking is the BEST way to find a new job. And don't stop when you do land. Keep networking.

I'd just like to confirm that componies really actively do ask existing staff if they know anybody who they would recommend for the job, I've been asked this many times. The last person who got a programming job with our team was a direct recommendation from an existing programmer (someone they used to work with ) .

Went to his LinkedIn profile to see that he got a work as a lead frontend software engineer. Congratulations to this man.

Its rediculous that companies expect people to care about the company at all beyond a paycheck - do yall really think 99% of devs would ever apply to a full time job for any reason other than money? Its a JOB.

Damn, watching these videos really makes me feel better about my situation. I can not image going through this much struggle and staying motivated. I went from 0 knowledge to hired in 12 months after 13 applications, self thought. Knowing somebody in the industry can get you a headstart (not my case though) but its true!

This makes me feel better, I probably have the same application to interview rate as him, its hard.

The problem is people think that they can just take a coursera or something and become a jack of all trades. I think unfortunately people who have free certifications get looked down upon. Especially when everyone and their mom took the same Odin project course… I would probably leave those sort of projects off my resume and just show some solid, technically challenging projects that show you really know your stuff. The fact you are applying for that many jobs further shows you are just kind of trying to generalize. I think not having a comp sci degree will really require you to know your stuff and know a specific skill set, maybe even a unique one like rxjs, will be key. Again everyone and their mom now considers themselves a full stack engineer because they can write a crud using express. I don’t think that will fly.

hearing this sort of thing makes me glad I've chosen to do a CS degree. nothing is guaranteed but I think it puts you at the top of the pile, especially if you're also self-studying and creating projects simultaneously.

Is it recommended to attend hackathons even for web developers?

This is really awesome. Question for the general population of viewers: How much do you guys rely on intangibles outside of hard coding skills? I’ve been doing entrepreneur and military related endeavors since I graduated high school for the most part, and I’m going through a boot camp. Obviously, you need to know your stuff, but I’m curious how to leverage my other experience for success.

Great advice

I applied more than 200 jobs and got 5 interviews in 2019. Things go worse in 2023. Everyone has FrontEnd/BackEnd/AI in resume nowadays.

This is good information 📝

He is certainly capable enough to get the job he is looking for. Working on his people skills and charisma has a much higher return on investment at this point.

In my expierience, its hard to get a job throgh linkedin if u are a jr dev,

Five hundred is not nearly enough applications. I have years of experience and the last job I accepted took well over 1000. I would estimate about 1400. You really have got to put those number out to find people serious about hiring a good candidate for a reasonable wage. If you're not doing 100 a day you're doing too few.

Create your own job (own a biz). If not, skill up until you can.

500 job interviews with no luck! Damn, had no clue the job market for developers was so saturated.

as someone who is a recently laid off senior developer and going through the same struggles... just curious what your thoughts are on the "nobody wants to work" trend?

What bootcamp did he go to?

Does this advice even hold up since this guy got into the industry when it was easier?

The resume: Developers are professional developers. Not professional resume writers or job seekers. A professional appearing resume should not disqualify a dev. Even though it can.

Wow 500! How long has he been doing it?

So what kind of dev job does he want ?

If you don’t have a background in development, you should probably start in support or QA and move to development. It is hard as it is with experience to get a job in development.

bro are you samwell tarly?

This guy is kind of sketchy... You can just tell after watching this and then checking out his online profiles. Nothing he's saying here is lining up with his resume after diving into his Linkedin. For example, "Propafly" wasn't even a registered domain until November 2022, although he's "worked" there a year and a half. I have found quite a few other inconsistencies as well. Very elaborate stuff, but not fooling anyone who peels a few layers back. His current company Munibilling, has some sketchy gray areas, but seems to be real enough. Not quite sure what to think about him... seems like with all of this work around effort he's put in, he could have built some amazing things.

Ahh, the old CBT approach.

I applied to over 500 jobs before my first role

From his answers to the question about his passion and how many hours he programs, you can clearly tell that he is not passionate about it.. he is just in the honeymoon phase... and hiring managers/recruiters can easily tell by just looking at his so called ''small passion projects''

So it's been 2 months since, has he found a job since this talk?

Not bad at all. For me already third year for trying to even get decline back. 😂😂😂 I already give up to be fear. Will gonna stay in my minimum salary job rest of my time.

In Europe he'd have a chance... I have the feeling that the US is very competetive.

I did this 2 years ago, I applied for more than 500 submits, I had only 3 interviews... software jobs are the worst: extremely competition, ultra hard interviews where the job is easy af, very low pay at the beginning; very unstable-not even one friend was disposed of in any other domain as 3 of my friends was kicked out of Microsoft and other IT jobs. I regret a lot that I lost 2 years of my life trying to get in this shitwhole domain.

Networking Networking Networking

I do not get it. He says he is unemployed yet on linkedin he says he is front end lead for 3 months, and this talk was like a month ago.

500? Rookie numbers. After a thousand I can't get through the recruiter interviews

When there is a massive shortage of devs, and you can't pass an interview - that means your skill is too low. Companies are looking for Software Engineers, not DIY cowboy coders.

When trying to sell his chicken recipe, Colonel Sanders received 1009 rejections, before he got his first yes. Be steadfast!

I have heard so many other places that cover letter is just a bs

I'm like that guy but not 500 Applis it's the same I don't have the exp of 1 or 2 years sorry but we need someone with 1 or 2 years but the job on linkin says is jr

I bet he got a job by now

Ask God to give you a software engineering job. Faith is dead without works. So keep applying and keep practicing your craft. Eventually, you will land your first programming job I'm sure of it.

Initially hearing his answers I find him very suspicious. 500 jobs? That's a lie. Looked him up and he seems employed while in this interview. Claims he is a mentor and career coach? No college education? This was a waste of time. He just wanted some attention. Something is just really off.

Wow, tinder vibes…

If you cannot get a job interview = Something wrong with your resume If you get interviews but cannot get a job offer = Something wrong with You

Dude looks like he has been tortured 💀 do projects and network in person. You are in US / Europe, it is easy