Everyday on LinkedIn we see someone starting a new job. There is always some beautiful story about how excited they are to start their new journey. We only see the end result, the success story and sometimes a perfectly inspirational summary of how they got there. I wish I could add to the list but I think I owe my past self a good venting . There are plenty of resources that can help you get motivated , this is not one of them. This is the dose of wallowing you need , just to say you are not the only miserable one and there is definitely someone out there hating it as much as you are.
My biggest unsolved mystery is how people job hop so often, I hated so much about it. It’s time consuming, it’s emotionally draining and it’s just overall exhausting. What makes job hunting such an extreme sport is that all your efforts don’t always yield results. You can put in your absolute best and still have nothing to show for it. From recruiters ghosting you, to falling off the final stage of a 5 step interview process, 10/10 would not recommend. Unfortunately, in order to progress in your career, it has to be done. There are a few things that make job hunting a different kind of hell, here are some of mine.
Recruiters
Where do I even start , I can’t summarise recruiters in a paragraph. Between not responding at all ,to trying too hard to convince you take a role that doesn’t benefit you, we could be here all day. I have met a hand full of recruiters that I felt have been on my side. It feels like they are more concerned about “making the sale” than finding a good fit. How are you reaching out to me about an Android project when I don’t have a single mobile dev technology on my profile? I wanted a greenfield project but I mean if they’re looking for someone to maintain their legacy system that sounds like a great match.
Its almost as if getting to know you or what you want is a big ask. I once received the following message on LinkedIn :
There’s so much to unpack here. The only information I have is the company name . Not the technologies they’re using , the domain or even the skills I’d need . I don’t have enough information to know if I want to know more. I can get past all of that but, really my biggest concern is who on earth is Martha? My name is literally right there while you’re typing the message. How can I trust you with my next career move if you can’t even get my name right?
Assessments
Just kill me now . Was chewing glass not an option?
That might have been an over-reaction, but in my defence, I really hate them. I’d prefer a technical panel interview any day over an assessment. While I can appreciate that the company needs a way to filter for and find the best candidates, it might be filtering them out. It’s okay to go back to the drawing board sometimes .
There’s usually two types of assessments, the first one is a take home assessments which ranges anything from odd occurrence to building a full end to end project with responsive screens, 100% unit test, mutation test ,acceptance test coverage, cure for world hunger and a fix for the country’s electricity crisis. It’s an entire feature that needs to be done in 2 days all while still having to do your actual job. I’ve had some of these that aren’t that bad, some companies can be reasonable. But then there’s the monsters that give you an 8 story point ticket and then not reply after you submit. Surely that’s the makings of anyone’s villain origin story .
The other type of assessments are a time machine to your varsity days with exam like rules. It’s a timed closed book assessment, no help from the internet or friends. My main issue with this is that it gives the idea that to be the best developer, all the answers must live inside of you at that specific moment in time . When really that’s not accurate at all. The answers are on StackOverflow/Udemy/YouTube, they’re with your team mates , they’re in a conversation with an experienced architect in the company . Development isn’t an all or nothing in that one moment. It’s people working together over years to continuously do what’s best for the problem. Someone you’ve never met is one day going to have to change your code because it’s no longer the best fit. All of that to say, exam like assessments are far from what you’re actually going to be doing day to day . If you’re really about a team focussed company, dare I say agile, why are we simulating a stressful scenario that will never actually happened on the job . Production issues are less stressful than these assessments, that’s a lie but you get the point.
Bad Interviews
A part of me wants to skip this section because I’ve had so many embarrassing moments that I’d really rather forget, but surely we all have ?Are you even job hunting if you don’t have bad interview stories that you look back and cringe at ? The ones where you struggled to answer a good 60% of the questions. I’ve had some really bad ones before. Bad doesn’t mean I just didn’t get it , bad means I was racking my brain trying to remember the word “request”. Bad means I couldn’t answer what language the computer “speaks”. I blacked out on the word binary… BINARY! I once had an interview go so horribly, the interviewer implied that someone did the assessment for me. He couldn’t possibly reconcile the person they were interviewing to the the code that had been submitted. Now while this very rude, I could understand the disconnect, it was really bad .
It’s very important to take these kinds of experiences with a pinch of salt . They’re not at all an indication of your actual skills . They’re just off days, we all have them and you’re allowed to have them . They’ll just tell a funny story one day. More than anything, they teach you what not to do .
I wouldn’t be doing this list justice if I didn’t mention LinkedIn and how painful it can be there. Don’t get me wrong it’s a good place to find a job , or at least get you in touch with the right people . But, seeing “so and so started a new position” everyday after reading “we regret to inform you” is a special kind of hell. Especially if you follow the company and they’re congratulating everyone. Sometimes this can serve as motivation but on bad days, it’s torture . You need to find a healthy balance for it or it can really leave you feeling defeated. This might sound like you are a hater that can’t celebrate other people’s accomplishments but I think you can be simultaneously happy for people and sad for yourself at the same time. You can still be happy that they’re thriving but still be sad that you’re still in the same place.
Almost but Not Quite
For every successful interview, there’s probably a few “We regret to inform you” emails . These interview experiences are probably the most deflating of them all . It’s the ones you’re most excited about because it feels like this might actually be the one. You did everything “right”, you put in hours on Leetcode/HackerRank, you’ve checked with Glassdoor and you’ve done a couple of practice interviews , you even did your affirmations that morning. You’re so deep in interview prep even your YouTube algorithm is stuck on a “Why should we hire you best answer ” loop . The interviews went great; you loved meeting the team, you probably even had a few rounds , they’ve told you everything about the company and sounds just like what you want. I think you get the picture ,you put in the work and if you’re anything like me, you’re cautiously optimistic, without the caution.
You can tell within the first 5 seconds of the conversation/ email if it’s gonna be a rejection. There’s a tone or certain amount of waffling that happens, almost like filler sentences before they break the news. They sort of recap the process to tell you how well you’ve done only to tell you to kick rocks. I think it’s worse over the phone because you still have to listen to the whole speech and respond with a tone that doesn’t make it awkward for everyone involved. It’s basically the professional version of “it’s not you , it’s me” . I can appreciate that this is probably uncomfortable for the recruiter too, but they can write their own article. Surely they could just send an email saying “Nah sis, this ain’t it” . Obviously I’m joking… Maybe.
Aside from having to tell your family and friends after all the excitement you had that you got rejected and listen to all the cliches about rejections being redirections . The worst part is having to pick yourself up again , it’s having to somehow find it in yourself to put yourself through all of that again. It’s easier after a bad interview, or helpful feedback because you know what to tackle. But I can’t tackle “The team really loved you, but they’re looking for someone with a bit more experience, please try again in a year or so” . How do I tackle that ? How do I make sure I don’t repeat that same mistake? It’s vague and unhelpful, I could literally just repeat the same year and try again and still fail. I had been very specific about the companies I wanted to apply to and at this point it felt like I was aiming way too high. Somehow with all that doubt, you have to try again with a clear positive mind . It’s the absolute pits.
Now that I’m done venting, all of these are just a bump in the road. As lame as it sounds, your friends are right about rejection being redirection. Each of them are lessons that will hopefully get you closer to where you want to go. Being kind to yourself throughout this process can go a long way, hard as it is, you shouldn’t take the rejections personally. There is a light at the end of this painful tunnel, I promise. Good Luck :)
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