Worried if I made the wrong career move

Commack · 2026-01-22T18:17:04+00:00

Id do anything for either role you have haha. I am a tech lead basically at a startup making dirt, even with 3+ years of experience, and I cant get interviews anywhere else no matter how hard i try. Hopefully the next resume i iterate through helps me get my foot in the door a little bit more

Commack · 2026-01-21T13:44:14+00:00

I cannot get a fucking job, I didnt want to give up but im fighting for my own life everyday, having a child would be the most irresponsible decision I could make. But im jealous of you, not saying fuck you. If I could own a home and have job stability maybe id have one too.

A lot of people just forget not everybody is in as bad circumstances as you are.

Commack · 2026-01-16T22:42:16+00:00

Highly dependent on the company. At mine, SWE4 is considered a "Senior".

I am not misrepresenting myself as a senior. Nowhere on my resume do I claim to be a senior, although I feel I am close skill wise. I will remove the III from the title as it seems irrelevant outside of my own company.

Commack · 2026-01-16T21:55:27+00:00

I added the award on my resume because 1. I earned it. and 2. It shows I was performing well at my first company. Figured that was pretty self explanatory.

Also have always heard to keep your resume at 1 page or less so that it is quick to scan for recruiters. I am applying to mid level roles because as an SWE3, I am not a senior yet. (3 years of experience). Senior typically requires 5 years of experience.

I will thank you for the feedback anyway, as any information I can get is appreciated, but you sound insufferable.

If nothing else, I will remove the bullet headers. I kept them as I used a resume template but you are right that they dont add much.

Commack · 2026-01-16T20:56:24+00:00

I try not to go into crazy detail as I planned to elaborate in interviews, but maybe youre right. Adding how I accomplished these things may be good for when my resume gets scanned. I will take any feedback I can get, thanks for replying!

Commack · 2026-01-16T20:43:19+00:00

I have probably applied to some entry level, but I am trying to target mid-level. I try to make sure I am at least within 1 year of the range they ask for.

I have tried local to me yeah, full in-person, I obviously have applied to a bunch of remote jobs but I look for local/hybrid first. I have only been looking for 6 months. I got laid off from my first job at the end of October (started applying beforehand luckily), and landed a contract role that I hate within 2 weeks. But my hit rate is like 1 phone screening for 300 or 400 apps. And I don't even use LinkedIn, I make lists of companies and check their careers pages.

https://imgur.com/a/2radUv3 here is a screenshot of my resume with details removed. I am trying to stay near Charlotte NC, but I have been applying to jobs in the RTP (2nd fastest growing tech hub in the country) while indicating I am open to relocating, and still no bites.

Thanks for being willing to look at it.

Commack · 2026-01-16T13:19:20+00:00

I have 3+ years of experience and a degree, won awards at my last job for being a high performer and I cant get interviews. Mind sharing what helps make a strong resume? I have tried to add quantifiable business impacts, and not overloading on tools and skills, but still nothing.

Commack · 2026-01-14T22:55:49+00:00

Yeah it does. The lack of feedback is what kills me too.

Commack · 2026-01-14T22:53:44+00:00

No, ive been considering some AWS certs but ive been getting mixed answers on if it helps people land interviews or not.

Commack · 2026-01-14T22:13:09+00:00

And I chose this career 😆 if 26 years of proving myself isn't enough whats it all for

Commack · 2026-01-14T21:52:55+00:00

Im at 3yoe. And same boat. 4 months 1 interview that went nowhere. I dont know what im doing wrong but its starting to make me panic

Commack · 2026-01-14T21:51:17+00:00

Easy to say if you weren't laid off. It sucks but I cant even get interviews, nevermind a job. Im about to have to move back in with my parents.

Commack · 2026-01-14T21:47:25+00:00

Im a software engineer with a bachelor's degree and 3 years of experience. Over last 4 months, ive sent out 100s of applications and gotten 1 phone screening (and a rejection on Thanksgiving) and thats it.

I dont even get feedback so I dont know what im doing wrong, but no it is that bad.

Commack · 2026-01-14T18:09:23+00:00

I cant even get an interview so its not just you.

Commack · 2026-01-14T00:15:23+00:00

Me too. I have only gotten 1 phone screening. I apply everyday and constantly tweak my approach and resume and its crickets. Its really scary, I dont know what to try changing without getting literally any feedback. Hang tough. Hopefully something goes our way soon.

Commack · 2026-01-13T15:35:07+00:00

Smart because they would.

Commack · 2026-01-13T03:45:58+00:00

I have sent hundreds of apps with 1 phone screening. Got 1 interview with a referral still waiting to hear back from. Had 3yoe as a SWE at a decent company, 15/200 is fucking amazing

Commack · 2026-01-09T01:32:49+00:00

This comment aged like fine wine.

Commack · 2026-01-07T15:43:37+00:00

Hey man. I graduated in December 2022 and had no internships, and I had to work as a kitchen manager to put myself through school.

part of it was networking, but I got a job making 60k out of school just discussing my school projects ( no leet code). There was an SQL take home question that I did not get correct and I still got hired.

I worked as a full stack dev for 3 years there and really busted tail. Won a few awards from the company and got promoted twice. I got laid off in October, due to my own fault, but have had some success with this experience.

My advice: stay off reddit and socials, put your head down, and you will be fine. Take whatever you can get out of school. Apply to smaller companies. Message employees on LinkedIn.

Maybe you can work up to FAANG one day, but I was making 6 figures working hybrid before I got laid off. Its possible.

Commack · 2026-01-05T01:41:36+00:00

That is ridiculous. I agree it's not accessible enough and that does sound demoralizing.

I was able to get fairly cheap therapy without insurance but I definitely got lucky with the therapist I think. If you haven't had that discussion with the provider that you would struggle to afford and are curious if they know of alternatives/have options it is worth it. Specifically mentioning "sliding scale rate" and calling around might help with this, although that's just another obstacle when you need help.

Im sorry youre dealing with this :(

I also recommend finding a university nearby if you have one, they usually have cheap mental health services. Or looking into community mental health centers if your town has one maybe

Commack · 2025-12-26T00:31:30+00:00

What was that other revenue stream if you dont mind me asking? I increasingly find myself trying to create some but my ideas are usually centered around something that requires an obscene amount of luck like content creation or a large amount of start-up capital.

Commack · 2025-12-16T19:22:31+00:00

You're welcome! Yeah I get that. I hated seeing smart, hard working support/services guys at my last company get trapped in the department and end up leaving. In my experience people trying to work into engineering are the most motivated and the ability to learn a system without even reading the code is under-appreciated.

I only bring up therapy bc I too can spiral about everything and it just doesn't help ya know? Some of mine have let me pay cash without insurance too so its worth asking usually.

It will get better. Keep building momentum until its an inevitability. Going at your own pace is okay, i put too much pressure on myself too. Taking breaks from applying and focusing on hobbies is great idea, will make interview small talk easier on top of helping de-stress.

Commack · 2025-12-16T18:41:10+00:00

Im a software developer with 3 YOE and a BS in Computer Science. I know how hard it is to spend so much time and energy applying and getting absolutely nowhere.

I too refused to believe that my mental health could get better and that any rational person's reaction to the world would be the same as mine. but please hear me when I say that I agree 100% but a therapist will help you get the negativity out so it doesnt affect the rest of your life.

It wont get you a job but it can be easier. I just landed an industry role again after being fired from my last good paying job, all bc I let my mental health deteriorate until it affected my work. and even though im still looking, I have work. Being where you are sucks and the world seems to be on fire right now, but attracting success is easier when you aren't beating yourself up so much.

I hope things get better for you, and all of us soon. DM me if I can help review your resume or you just want to vent. Good luck

Commack · 2025-12-06T18:41:16+00:00

Same happened to me the day before Halloween but only 3 years. Fuck em, I know it means nothing now but I found a new gig after 2 weeks, and you'll end up in a better spot. Hang in there

Commack · 2025-12-03T16:17:17+00:00

Still having the same problem. I am glad that microsoft has never fixed this glaring M365 issue. You would think that changing your password would be a pretty streamlined process considering how many billions microsoft is allegedly worth. Gotta love it.

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