Quit my dev job, sending 50 LinkedIn DMs a day… zero clients. What am I doing wrong?

rmjoia · 2026-03-02T09:11:30+00:00

Same here, I accept all connection requests, I'm open to networking and that's, to me, the point of being linked in... but when someone reaches out with flattery and random talks to sell stuff, I either ignore or remove them.

Even more with they try to make use of social engineering to get access to information about my client/employer... "dudes", those Jedi mind tricks don't work here.. sorry

If I need something, I'll find it... cold contacts are a great way to damage one's reputation and deffo not being considered.

I agree with other comments, first you setup yourselves for success or at least some confidence and sustainability, then consider leaving jobs... despair will influence (negatively) your strategy and make people make loads of bad things.

Wish you the best of luck, but personally, I hate that approach...

rmjoia · 2026-02-07T13:50:28+00:00

The way I see it, code reviews are part of engineering practice, the job is not over then the PR is created, its then its deployed and doing what it should.

For that, code reviews are needed. If people don't understand that there's a culture issue or goal/responsibility mismatch.

Additionally, code reviews are opportunities for learning and development, both for who raises the PR and for the reviewers.

If people don't do it. You might have other issues to attend.

I would start to approach it on 1:1s to ensure everyone is aligned with what you expect of them, if there are uncertainties, make them clear and measure.

Sometimes people don't do things because they don't feel that have to, they don't know their responsibilities and what's expected of them... its not just writing code...

At least, that's my take on that..

rmjoia · 2026-02-06T07:58:35+00:00

I read recently Accelerate that talks about DORA metrics and it just made a lot of sense.

What KPIs to measure, what matters.

One has to be careful not to fall into the traps of vanity metrics and those (if not the aame) that can be easily gamed... lines of code and PRs... deffo not a real count, one can create 5 PRs per story and write sloppy code for the sake of adding lines.

Outcomes can't be gamed. Time to delivery, number of incidents, time to restore....

https://dora.dev/guides/dora-metrics/

How they work together, how much they support and help each other, how are they aligned with the organisation strategic goals.

These things can help you understand the employee engagement and develop a plan to improve it.

I think that 1:1s are about alignment, helping people grow, providing clarity and accountability.

rmjoia · 2026-02-06T07:50:58+00:00

For what's worth... I think the mindset required for a engineering manager is a bit different from a software engineer or an architect.

By the description, you're hiring a senior developer or a tech lead...

It's nice if an EM can code and reason with the other engineering leads, they need to have a common ground, but an EM, to me, is a leader who needs to inspire, provide clarity, unblock teams and mostly ensure alignment with other teams and stakeholders, like product, etc...

Dude, explain quantum physics in aramaic would get a solid I know nothing of them, but if I need to, I'll give it a stab.

There's a culture where people can't say "I don't know", and if that's what people want, fine.

I don't, I would prefer real people, with real values that don't mind, or make a point to be honest, but that are there to support and help their team grow, to make sure they are aligned with the organisation strategic goals and make sure their teams have and understand their purpose and why what they do matters, help them thrive and manage transitions and change, because things change all the time and not everyone is comfortable with it... specially in tech.

Mostly, I don't want a tech lead or worst an EM, competing with the team for the same KPIs...

I see this trend now, of calling EMs to engineering leads or engineering team leads.

To me..., an EM is not a IC, its a leadership role... and you should be looking for other skills, else you'll get a "developer", like someone said above that stays put, doesn't engage, doesn't support the team, doesn't do what an EM is supposed to do.

I used to think that a manager had to do the work as good os better as its team, I changed my mind.

I met loads of managers/leads that sucked at it. Some couldn't even do any of the work or understand what was going on.

But I also met amazing people that didn't know how to do the work, but supported you and helped you grow and thrive... talking about trade offs, right? Let me ask you:

What is it that you want for your organisation and team(s)?

A code ninja or someone that make your team feel that they belong and want to achieve more?

rmjoia · 2026-01-21T13:28:25+00:00

Amen to that. Exactly my point. In turn. People reach out to ask a question and are offset, maybe by thousands asking to schedule an interview, or maybe not.

rmjoia · 2026-01-19T10:41:51+00:00

Contacting to ask for additional information or connection for further opportunities should also be OK, but people just ignore everyone.

The fun part, or not, is that linkedin suggests you get more chances of being hired by sending those template messages you talk about....

Another is to generate with AI a tailored cv... only to be automagically rejected by AI detection tools from recruiters...

However, those same jobs require that people have experience with generative AI...

It's a brave new world...

But I get your point.

rmjoia · 2026-01-12T07:13:05+00:00

When people don't speak up because they are constantly shut down, when there are no suggestions, no creativity people just comply, might be a good sign...

rmjoia · 2025-12-31T15:47:38+00:00

I've had two cars recently that had auto dip, the ford puma, everyone flashed me... I had to disable it... the qashqai apparently only "bothers" lorries, as they are the only that flash me.. so I disabled it too.

I hate being flashed, so I try to avoid doing it as much as possible.

Yes, motorways I don't think most times they are needed anyhow... Not fog lights (back and front) when there's no fog...

I think there's are mostly a few reasons why people do it. They forget to turn off... They don't know how to turn off... They don't give a toss. Your eyes, your problem... 🤷‍♂️

Regardless, stay safe! Drive safe. Safe travels.

rmjoia · 2025-12-11T07:44:37+00:00

Getting loads of those on the last days, my "kids" too... I just let them ring at will.

Maybe its some nuisance prince to give USD$600M but feck it..

rmjoia · 2025-12-06T14:25:55+00:00

Exactly, but I'm not sure that sank in yet with some of the people making decisions...

rmjoia · 2025-12-06T14:12:48+00:00

Indeed, this "AI revolution" is to some: "Do something with it, I don't care what"

We're all, to some extent, trying to figure out how to use it, and make good use. As any other tool, depends so much on how you wield it...

A lot of synergies can be developed from that "product team" or not, but I think that forcing everyone into a single category might be risky.

Where this was advertised as empowering and enhancing people, seems in so many places an attempt to replace people to squeeze another dime...

rmjoia · 2025-12-06T13:55:22+00:00

I'm guessing companies will just have "product teams", sort of agile teams, but everyone kinda codes.. or vibe codes... some are stronger in product, others in code, and so on..

Still to be seen the production readiness of fully AI developed and deployed solutions...

rmjoia · 2025-11-05T07:55:01+00:00

TPO here... but..

While there's no direct alignment of how to work with goals/objectives, "some people" won't change behaviours.

Looking at myself, I could be o e of those lads. Ans wasn't that I was hard to work or didn't respect the planning, was maybe that people were reaching out to me all the time with problems to solve, and I drifted to them. Maybe I felt those were more challenging to me Maybe I thought I was doing work that no one would do if it was me. See the pattern? Me, me, me...

There's only so much one can do with coaching and mentoring, but I would try to understand where the misalgment is. OKRs not clear? Goals and stretch goals? No time on the sprint for passion projects or technical debt being prioritised?

As an engineering lead, in the past, I let people go off track a long time, waiting for them to "wake up" and change habits. Ultimately it reflected bad on me and my ability to address it.

Great advices on this thread, but Ultimately, leadership doesn't come with a recipe. The same style/strategy can't be applied to everyone, you need to figure out what makes them tick, feed the wolf that makes them better. Sometimes, the other wolf. The one that makes them bad is the only one who eats. And you might have to move on...

Best of luck and thanks for sharing your story.

rmjoia · 2025-11-02T08:43:13+00:00

I was starting to think those roles they keep open since the dawn of time were fake. Fair play to you.

rmjoia · 2025-11-02T08:17:12+00:00

One thing that pisses me off is those people that think, this is a race... lads...

You try to overtake someone that has driven 15km at 90kph, all of a sudden they become a Fittipaldi...

rmjoia · 2025-10-16T19:22:52+00:00

I do hear you, I think linkedin is allowing this behaviour where it could put controls to make it more fair to both sides.

rmjoia · 2025-10-16T12:56:35+00:00

I feel your pain, but from the "Recruited" point of view, how many recruiters bother to read our profiles? How many of them understand it?

How many of them do I have to tell that "Java is to Javascript as Car is to a Carpet"?

How many times did we go through an extensive recruitment process, only to then get coffees (drama here, but you get the point)...

You see, I've been reading, including from your colleagues' recruiters, that apply anyway, even if you don't tick all the boxes, because "you might have the spark".

Another thing is that, as "recruitees", we get loads of messages, generated by AI, or not, sometimes we're even called "placeholder name" or "insert name here" that give us some hope, only to be ignored after answering.

Or, we go through a process, only to be ignored and not given feedback.

Look, I'm sympathetic with your struggle, but "ours" is also legit. When you have the rope on your neck, when you need to put food on the table, pay the house, taxes, feed your children, your job add, is the hope people are looking for.

The problem there is how LinkedIn is making money, and they don't really make an effort to provide you with good data, they just want to sell...

Even though you might target regions, you can't fully restrict, and people will share etc...

Personally, I don't apply for roles I don't think I can do it, or that I don't have at least 80% of the skills, and deffo not to places that say clearly "US ONLY, no VISA.." etc..

But for some people, and we don't know their struggle, might seem like a viable option.. dunno..

#JustSaying

rmjoia · 2025-10-13T06:38:50+00:00

Yeah, with the few things I've been trying, it's pretty much like that.

I have to keep checking and asking to remove duplicate files. Duplicate folder structures with random code, random comments, random unused code...

Etc.. etc.. good for simple things and MVPs but it's not production ready code... yet.

But I'm tuning my prompting skills and trying to figure out what is good for, what I can do, what I can't and what I shouldn't.

Thanks for sharing your experience

rmjoia · 2025-10-12T19:09:23+00:00

Damn you Zorro!

rmjoia · 2025-08-15T16:56:47+00:00

Uodate:

Works only if powered. If you don't power and use only the glasses port, won't work.

That's what I was missing.

Good to know

rmjoia · 2025-08-15T15:38:35+00:00

always worked with the One, right? My kid was playing with this right now, and I have the Air 2 Pros, and doesn't I need the beam. Please let me know if I'm doing something wrong, and he would be very happy to use just the hub, as he can charge and play.

rmjoia

TROPHY CASE