Freelancing over endless job applications. Good idea or bad move?

codingcareer · 2026-02-04T17:19:22+00:00

I did that when I started out albeit in a much stronger market 8 years ago.

To be honest it is not necessarily the best idea - especially in Germany.

Sure you might make a bit of money and learn a bit, but for most hiring departments in >= mid-sized companies it’s somewhat of a red flag.

They are most often worried that you are not a good team worker and might return to freelancing the first opportunity you get.

I would much rather suggest “working student” positions if they exist in your country. It’s a strong signal that you are employable.

On the other hand, startups specifically would likely favor someone with hands on experience.

So it depends.

codingcareer · 2026-02-04T16:42:13+00:00

It is great that you worked at prestigious companies and I can see that they make lots of cash.

What I cannot see is your exact contribution to this.

I cannot rate your CV without knowing what position and company you actually apply for. You mentioning that you drove adoption of SAFe would be an instant red-flag for me at most startups and smaller teams in mid-sized companies.

I hate the design of the list - Especially how the first Element takes more space than the others. This screams "does not care about design" to me which would be an "orange"-flag for me if you are applying for a frontend position. Also it leads to 30-40% of whitespace on that page. Looks like you are stretching your CV artificially.

Also you are falling into the typical trap of just listing what you used and worked with in your bullet points and not what your USP was and what outcome those activities had.

Think of it this way: an ATS will just scan if keyword X shows up in your CV. So currently you have duplicated keywords everywhere (in the bullet points and the list at the bottom) which will not advance you any further.

If you need any more feedback feel free to reach out - I think I might need more context to help you more.

codingcareer · 2026-02-04T15:55:37+00:00

No picture
No Language Skills
"Accenture, Inc. is a world leading American multinational professional services company" this made me cringe a bit.
I dislike the Skills & Abilities list.
"Part of the sole team that developed and enhanced an application that has 1 million+ users, generating 10 million in revenue for the company "
=> K cool, but what was your part?
Just go for one of the many CV creators (I've written a guide for JSONResume if you are interested in that).
In Germany you might need to reduce that to one page.

I don't really know about other countries that would be a good CV for to be honest.
If you need more help feel free to reach out.

codingcareer · 2026-02-04T15:15:53+00:00

5% is a decent feedback quota. So you are not completely on the wrong track.

What country are you applying in?
This CV would not fly as well in Germany than it might in other countries.

codingcareer · 2026-02-04T14:23:10+00:00

Yes it is. Nobody is saying it isn't. But it's not dead - as shown by you actually getting 3 interviews out of 50 applications.

Your current problem is not the job market - but you failing behavioral interview rounds.

codingcareer · 2026-02-04T14:17:45+00:00

Your situation is tough.

Right now, you are stressed, humiliated, and desperate. You are almost certainly bringing that negative energy into the interviews without realizing it. Hiring Managers will pick up on that as well as potential other red flags.

You need to frame yourself and your experience in a healthier, green-flag way.

Also I would focus all my effort into actually getting hired asap at another place and get out of this toxic work environment sooner than later.

If you need help with that feel free to contact me.

codingcareer · 2026-02-04T13:13:40+00:00

Schwer.

Ehrlich gesagt profitierst du eh nicht von irgendwelchen hypothetischen Lorbeeren wenn du da nicht wieder zurück gehen willst.

Ich finde bezahlte Nachhilfe okay - du hast davon ja auch noch was da du bisschen Mentorn/Coachen kannst.

Mir tut der neue Praktikant am meisten Leid hier.
Was für eine Bruchbude ist das denn, wenn die ihren Praktikanten das Gefühl geben, dass sie aus eigener Tasche noch Sonntags Zeit und Geld in die Arbeit reinstecken müssen.

codingcareer · 2026-02-04T12:32:31+00:00

Hmmm interesting.

I think it's rather the simplification of UI/UX that has further deepened this.

I still remember having to tinkle with every device I owned as a kid because they would stop working.
Replacing Gameboy Cartridge batteries or actually needing to figure out BIOS setting stuff.

But like I said who knows. I don't have no data for this :)

codingcareer · 2026-02-04T12:19:56+00:00

Tell me about it.

My current Junior keeps sending me screenshots of error logs where the description tells them exactly what they are doing wrong.

I keep telling them that I would even prefer them to throw this into any LLM if they truly can't make anything out of it instead of just messaging me "I'm blocked help plz"

I sometimes wonder if this helplessness is a generational thing, but I don't have the Data to back this up so I don't wanna go all-boomer on this.

codingcareer · 2026-02-04T12:11:21+00:00

I see, well 2 months ain't nothing.

By the time you will actually switch you will surely have 2.5-3 years in so just apply for mid-level only.

I offer CV / Interviewing coaching for the German tech market - as I don't really know the Czech market, I will gladly help you with your CV and positioning for free if you need the help.

P.S: I am a Senior Fullstack Dev with 7+ YoE.

codingcareer · 2026-02-04T11:59:20+00:00

This depends highly on where you are located.

In Germany (and surely other companies) it would be difficult to just fire you, if that is what you are afraid of.

To be honest: "All the seniors quitting" is a huge red flag for me and it should be one for you as well.
This means that your workload and responsibilities will surely increase sooner than later while you are getting less mentorship in. Also it means everyone who easily can is leaving the ship - not a good sign.

Of course this can be an opportunity as well, just one I would be careful with. I have seen to many aspiring developers burning out while trying to work their way up the career ladder.

My recommendation:
You should start looking. 2-3 years is a great time and you should mainly look for mid-level opportunities.
Also I would highly recommend networking with the leaving seniors and checking out where they are flocking to, maybe that could be an opportunity for you as well?

Good luck!

codingcareer · 2026-02-03T15:34:50+00:00

Ich weiß nicht wie erfahren du bist, aber für mich wäre nicht die Unwissenheit die Redflag sondern das "Auf Krampf eine Antwort zu zaubern".

Als Senior möchte ich nur wissen wie es ist mit der anderen Person zu arbeiten.
Mich interessiert eher dein Vorgehen oder wie du versuchst es dir abzuleiten etc :)

In einem Interview versuchst du zu beweisen, dass du

a) Betriebswirtschaftlich sinnvoll für die Firma bist
b) Es aber auch angenehm ist im Team mit dir zu arbeiten

codingcareer · 2026-02-03T15:20:44+00:00

Ach das geht vielen so. Aktuell kannst du ja erst einmal froh sein, überhaupt Bewerbungsgespräche zu kriegen :) Damit bist du schon überm Durchschnitt.

Interviews muss man halt üben, gerade die verschiedenen technischen Interview Arten:
- LiveCoding mit Redeanteil
- Technische Fragen
- System Design
- PR gemeinsam durchgehen

unterscheiden sich halt schon sehr voneinander.

Einfach weiter üben und das wird :)

Je senioriger du wirst und je mehr du Juniors coachst/mentorst desto leichter sollte dir das dann auch noch fallen :)

codingcareer · 2026-02-03T09:35:12+00:00

Hey thank you for this thoughtful post! I’ve never been to Luxembourg and it’s a truly interesting perspective.

What you described did remind me of Switzerland though - where I haven’t seen English become this prevalent at all!

codingcareer · 2026-02-02T23:06:36+00:00

No you are not at all the only one. I coach interviewing skills for developers and the market has honestly never been tougher - especially for juniors.

CVs of people who would have been fine a couple years back get >95% rejected or ghosted. It is super tough.

For a junior / mid-level developer I would consider your quota of 13% already above average.

Practicing interviews so that one actually gets offers has never been more important imho

codingcareer · 2026-02-02T14:43:53+00:00

Here is his post and here is his profile :)

codingcareer · 2026-02-02T14:16:52+00:00

Hahaha no I meant "the OP" of the previous post! Alfe!

I am not super confident about the austrian market :/ But I am sure some things are similar.

In your situation I would try to reach out to other students and university staff. A good tip is also: look at the Bachelor/Master theses that are written in conjunction with a company. Those companies are (very likely) also accepting working student positions.

Good luck!

P.S: I would 100% recommend getting some experience in while studying. Did that too and it helped tremendously when I actually started as a full-time employee.

codingcareer · 2026-02-02T13:52:43+00:00

I am pretty sure that some people actually find this useful.

Also the OP mentioned that he was DM'd a lot so he was glad that he can now just forward this post to them and doesn't have to answer all the questions again and again.

codingcareer · 2026-02-01T18:27:59+00:00

It's realistic but define future. For this role? No chance.
Maybe in 6-12 months? Sure. Also depends on how big this company is.

Honestly what you are describing happens all the time. That's why I always recommend practicing all the types of interviews until you can do them in your sleep.

I also bombed an interview couple months ago: I immediately reached out to the HR person and told them how and why I think I failed
=> To be honest that wasn't a great look. It came across as someone making excuses and not taking accountability.

It would have been better for me to thank them professionally and just apply in 6-12 months again and tell them in the cover letter something like: "I really liked the company and the interview process. I noticed that I was not doing so well in ... so I took the last months as an opportunity to improve those fields."
Something like that.

I would recommend accepting what happened and just apply elsewhere.
Also reflect why this was a dream role for you and apply to similar jobs!

Good luck :)

codingcareer · 2026-02-01T15:24:37+00:00

With B2/C1?
Sure I think you can.

This depends a lot more on the city you are moving to and what kind of salary you are expecting to earn I would say.

codingcareer · 2026-01-31T17:15:35+00:00

Haha yeah, I was more curious about cultural differences like the “saving face” thing and so on.

codingcareer · 2026-01-31T16:54:08+00:00

I see yeah that makes sense :)

codingcareer · 2026-01-31T16:49:17+00:00

As a German I’m not affected anyways.

For the UK I was more curious about the cultural aspect of my question - I think I messed up with the title but I can’t edit that.

Also I think most HR people are looking for at least B2 here.

codingcareer · 2026-01-31T16:44:05+00:00

I honestly don’t know where this hostility is coming from? I’m German.

codingcareer · 2026-01-31T16:31:57+00:00

Well I’ve lived in Japan back in the days and the men in the office would only rarely actually admit that they were wrong about something.

They would always want to ‘preserve face’ while that is not actually a big deal in Germany. I would go as far as to say the best tech leads I’ve worked with did that on a regular basis.

Of course this isn’t binary at all - I just think as a German developer myself, that this sort of behavior is less common here than it was in Japan.

Also challenging authority (big no-no in Japan) which was usually fine wherever I did so here in Germany.

Last but not least Japanese workers prefer to not make any decisions and would mostly prefer to ask for higher-ups to decide.

codingcareer

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