Advice for software engineers trying to break into the job market

The software engineering industry has been tough to break into for a while, and it's recently gotten harder. I don't believe it's because of AI, because assisted coding has only really started being a significant force multiplier in the past ~6 months and the trend of diminishing first job opportunities has started a year or more prior. I think it's more about the number of companies chasing high trajectory headcount growth, which are the ones that usually hire engineers fresh out of university. Employers who are content with moderate growth usually prefer to hire people with some level of experience, but those who need to hire fast can afford this overlook the inexperienced talent.

Regardless, what can you do to improve your chances?

1. 

Learn Python. I personally think it's a cool language, but it's also in high demand currently (and probably for a while) and a great language for interviews because it's less verbose than most other languages that an employer is likely to know how to assess you on.

You should learn other things that excite you and that you see in many job descriptions as hard requirements, but also learn Python.

Don't worry about making your CV look like you know how to train your own LLM and command armies of AI agents. That's not going to make you stand out of the crowd right now :)

2. 

Try to build something useful in your spare time and see if you get any traction. Team up with friends on an app you're excited about, or create an open source project that others might find valuable. 

3. 

When you're applying for a role or reaching out to someone specific, spend 20 minutes reading up about the person and their current role and tailor the message in ways that makes it clear to the recipient that you did your homework. You should have at least three full sentences written especially for that person. It could be about the funding round they posted about 4 days ago, the colleague they congratulated on a new role, a customer they've bragged about, or their unusual career path. Anything below a full long sentence makes it look like you're copy pasting the same message to everyone you contact (which I'm sure you are) but at least with 3+ sentences you show some investment and you stand out from the crowd.

4. 

For interview practice, have someone who's willing to help role-play the interviewer, even if you don't have anyone who knows anything about software or interviewing. Give them the question to ask (that you found online or asked Claude for) and try to pretend they are a real interviewer. It will be 1000 times better than practicing in front of the computer screen.

Also, get some interviews. Don't waste employers' time that you're sure you won't want to work for, but take as many possibly relevant interviews as you can, even if you think your chances are slim and even if you'll only take the job if you ace it and get them to stretch the salary band for you. You only need one good match, and looking as actively as you can is the best way to get better at it.


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