I spent 8 years doing Java development, layoffs are coming soon (my second time this year! 😊), I know how hard it is to get a job out there, and I’m tired of Java. So I was wondering if anyone had any advice for pointing my career in a new direction. I’d like there to be some technical aspect to it still, which is why I am posting here instead of elsewhere.
Right now I’m really into Lua, Vue.js, and am considering picking up CompTIA and AWS certifications just to make myself more marketable.
I have good people skills too, so if a career involves talking more than coding I’ll be okay with that. I spent part of this year teaching programming and loved it (but due to the state of the industry many academic businesses are closing down).
Or you know, should I sell my home and just go live in the woods until I die of malnutrition because at this rate we’ll all end up there anyways?
I wish I had more advice, but I’m in a similar boat, just got laid off earlier this month after being with the same company from Series A in 2018 all the way until today. I’m sending job applications and trying to get interviews, but it’s hard to get past the resume screening stage, even with 8+ years of experience. I’ve mainly been working in DevOps/SRE/Platform Infrastructure, but I am also an accomplished developer with a pretty thick portfolio of widely used open source projects, but it doesn’t seem to matter.
There are so many applicants for every single job now that it feels hopeless, and of course every single opening wants you to waste your time on multiple asinine LeetCode gotcha questions.
If I lived somewhere with a public health system I’d love to take what money I have saved up and open a traditional middle eastern bakery, but I need to do something that will bring health coverage for myself and my family. Who knows, I might just end up working at Trader Joe’s. 🤷♀
Wow, I’m so sorry for what you’re going through, yeah we’re pretty similar, when the industry was doing ok I’d be drowning in interviews, now it feels like I’m not even being seen. It is rather weird. I’m hoping for the best for you and your family!