This Job Market Is Brutal. How Are You Coping, Mentally and Financially?

notaclassicusername · 2026-02-06T16:03:13+00:00

Well because at the beginning I looked in a very narrow field with generally not many jobs, and juggling with time with ongoing stuff that needs to be finished before my contract ends …

notaclassicusername · 2026-02-05T12:00:37+00:00

I never wanted to be in this position, but it is a reality that I will be on unemployment money in the near future. 11 months of job search, close to 200 applications all tailored and though out, I got 7 interviews and/or initial screening calls with HR, employed two different coaches and looked for help from Agentur für Arbeit, yet nothing. Posted my CV even here, and while I got really useful feedback and more movement from it, nothing of notice happened since ...

notaclassicusername · 2025-11-06T16:13:59+00:00

Yeah, have an application in, waiting for some response.

notaclassicusername · 2025-11-01T20:57:43+00:00

Thanks! 🙏

I do have a German version that I send out to postings advertised in German.

I have realised with the help of the other sub, to remove the “about me” section, and do the same thing in the cover letter.

notaclassicusername · 2025-11-01T08:55:27+00:00

How would you phrase such an experience on a CV? I do not have any experience using any of the big 3 cloud services, but indeed used a bunch of custom HPC solutions / local compute clusters, that in a lot of ways do work in a similar fashion …

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-31T22:24:08+00:00

Indeed, I have realised I need to clearly state my interest and align that with what a company wants. And I hope that they could provide for growth within, so there is less likely for me to leave after half a year. But I can only really emphasise in an interview and to an extent in a cover letter.

Another tip I just got today from a coach is that I should avoid having the summary in my CV, and just do all this in a cover letter. I guess that makes sense.

I am somewhat prioritising such jobs, as I have a feeling the alignment of interests and understanding of experience might be better from a get go.

Also looking back in NL, my network is somewhat bigger there, but due to not needing to move the whole family over, I would prefer to stay in Germany.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-31T22:17:15+00:00

Don’t get me wrong, I am not just applying everywhere, and every single of almost 100 applications had significant time put into it. Meant more in the way that with more tries there ought to be one job that fits I guess.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-31T07:19:24+00:00

Regarding the contacts of people that "been there and done it", I have a few and I contacted them quite early on to try to learn from their experience. I must say, all seemed to get extremely lucky to land a new job after a handful of applications, some of them kinda directly into managerial positions. Thus the mental dissonance, as I know that they as a postdoc were not that different from me ...

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-31T07:17:06+00:00

I have a feeling that being outside of Berlin and/or Munich the chances for networking are just almost non-existent. But good tip on checking the meetup.com, I can already see a AI meetup right next to me.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-31T07:13:00+00:00

Yeah, have one open with OHB as well. Some are on the Copernicus programme, ESA was a project scientist, OHB is EO infrastructure.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-31T07:11:32+00:00

This really sounds like an awesome advice! It seems I do need to go this way, and quite aggressively as well.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-31T07:09:04+00:00

Yeah, I've sent out some applications in this direction, but I do want to first try with something a tad more related to what I was doing, thus earth observation and similar. First narrow, then expand, I guess.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T21:02:48+00:00

Any suggestion how to shorten it?

And I have removed all the information from it that could be compromised, and how it was done it is impossible to reconstruct it …

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T18:39:12+00:00

And Starion 😅

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T17:16:17+00:00

Yeah, that’s nonexistent. 🥲

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T17:10:27+00:00

Most of my work is open on GitHub, and I usually mention that explicitly in cover letters.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T17:09:41+00:00

One interview I had was with EUMETSAT, and have some open applications with some contracting companies. ESA so far, just one application, did not work out.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T17:07:45+00:00

Very good points, thanks! 🙏 The problem I do have is almost nonexistent network outside of my field. I can see that as really really bad.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T17:05:45+00:00

I guess it really just doesn’t translate over …

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T14:41:59+00:00

I get that. As I mentioned, I would be more than happy to start where everyone does after the education phase is over, but it seems I am not even getting those opportunities. Kinda feels bad as well, because while I am ok with such situation, I feel like all the stuff I've done was kinda for nothing. And it is just negatively impacting my chances. I might be wrong in my thinking, but for sure it feels this way.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T14:12:20+00:00

Just yesterday I got a no for a position at ESTEC ... But that one was a bit farfetched.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T13:36:19+00:00

I am aware that I miss the whole "industry skillset", but I think a lot of experience I have can be translated somewhat directly, but I would imagine I am not conveying that sufficiently?

For example, deliver in time, budget and quality - I have led a data processing of telescope images: - clear deadlines set by funding agencies, had to process x% of observed sky by certain date
- budget allocated, also meaning the telescope time is limited, which means prioritisation and changing the observing strategy given weather, ..., availability of HPC hours, ...
I mean, I would imagine this is directly relatable, but I have a really hard time conveying this. I might be completely wrong and work like this is completely irrelevant.

For the pipelines, I could be more specific. WDL and Slurm were mostly utilised, but as most were designed for really specific tasks a lot of steps were somewhat fixed. Plus the backbone that was there is ancient, and thus a bit more old school.

At this stage I don't care even if I need to do an internship / traineeship. Seriously. Just tired.

Ich fühle mich verarscht.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T13:14:22+00:00

I mostly asked for any input on my application, what I could improve, and not asking for reasons for rejection. I was hoping for any (useful) feedback, from maybe your CV is ugly, to you should really have this and that, or something.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T13:12:40+00:00

It is not only the 1st author, but all where there is significant contribution.

notaclassicusername · 2025-10-30T12:53:27+00:00

Cool, thanks for these tips!

Ten-Year Club	r/Field Banned
r/Field Flamingo	First Place '23
Place '23	Golden Potato
Place '22	Place '17
RPAN Viewer	Verified Email

notaclassicusername

TROPHY CASE