#unemployment #jobsearch #techjobs #interviewprep #motivation
🔍 Is your partner struggling with unemployment for over a year with no end in sight? It can be a challenging and stressful time for both of you, but there are ways to navigate through this difficult situation together. Here are some tips and suggestions to help support your partner and motivate them to keep trying in their job search:
## Understanding the Challenges
Being unemployed for an extended period can take a toll on your partner’s mental and emotional well-being. It can be demoralizing to face rejection after rejection in job interviews, especially if they feel unprepared or lacking in certain skills. Here are some common challenges your partner may be facing:
– Lack of confidence in technical interviews/live coding assessments
– Feeling burnt out from multiple unsuccessful interviews
– Difficulty in finding suitable job opportunities due to limited experience and network
– Inability to stay motivated and engage in side projects
## Exploring Tech Adjacent Careers
If your partner is struggling to find success in their current job search, it may be worth considering alternative career paths that are closely related to their skills and interests. Here are some tech adjacent careers/positions they could explore:
1. Technical Support Specialist: Providing technical assistance and troubleshooting for software or hardware issues.
2. Quality Assurance Analyst: Testing software applications for bugs and ensuring they meet quality standards.
3. Technical Writer: Creating user manuals, guides, and documentation for technical products.
4. IT Project Coordinator: Assisting in the planning, execution, and monitoring of IT projects.
5. Data Analyst: Analyzing data to help businesses make informed decisions and strategies.
## Ways to Support and Motivate
As a supportive partner, there are several things you can do to help your partner during this challenging time and keep them motivated in their job search. Here are some suggestions:
– Encourage them to seek professional help or career counseling if they are struggling with confidence or burnout.
– Help them update their resume and LinkedIn profile to highlight their skills and achievements.
– Encourage them to participate in online courses or workshops to improve their technical skills and prepare for interviews.
– Network with your own contacts to see if there are any job opportunities within your circle.
– Provide emotional support and reassurance that you believe in their abilities and potential.
Remember, it’s important to communicate openly with your partner and let them know that you are there for them every step of the way. Encourage them to stay positive, keep trying, and explore new opportunities in their job search. With your support and motivation, your partner can overcome this challenging period of unemployment and eventually find a fulfilling career opportunity.
There are a lot of ways to prepare for technical interviews. I had a lot of success just speaking things out and trying to sound more coherent and confident when answering questions or whiteboarding.
Tell him to quit goofing off and grind some leetcode
> He keeps saying there’s no way to really prepare for them
Lmao, I assume what he meant to say was “I’ve tried the plethora of online prepping resources but I still can’t do it”
https://youtu.be/GPIuPRqDGG8?si=UxLui4S_tyOj8sWi I tried this method for solving Leetcode only for 1 month and I am already solving many medium level questions quite easily.
There are still some questions that will get me, even a few easy ones because some questions aren’t categorized correctly (Some hard questions labeled easy and vice versa).
I’m not even looking for a job. I have been working for years but just doing it in case I need to find jobs in the near future.
Seems like you know the weakness. I think that is empowering in a way Because you know where to improve. It’s all interviews
Or maybe you can change up his applying style and try to network with some people
A year is too long..
He needs to find anything temporary even if it is a factory job or temp agency.
Not finding a job in your field isn’t an excuse to not make some kind of money…
As someone who’s been in the same situation he has to do something or that one year could turn into a couple of years very quickly. Look for easier companies that has a bunch of Glassdoor reviews so that the interview is pretty clear. Worst case get a job outside of software engineer then pivot back in.
Edit: Also while it is important to be understanding, don’t give into his excuses of the market for not doing anything.
Why don’t you ask your partner to whiteboard technical questions with you?
Doesnt have to be whiteboard, could be him on a computer going through a leetcode question.
You could do a few things:
1 just ask the question, watch him do it, and that’s it, just let him finish, no judgement, and just try again the next day
2 prepare how am interviewer would react and react accordingly to your partner working through the question
Just do a few a week, give him practice
You absolutely can prepare but if he’s not interested in coding anymore there are other technical related jobs like sys admin, IT support, devops, etc, that he could transition into
He’s wrong, there’s 100% a way to prepare for it. Aim for interviews with leetcode interviews, and then you can prepare for all them at once: neetcode/blind75.
The issue is not the career, it’s him not trying. BTW 12 interviews in over a year? He should ask for feedback on his CV
It’s hard to tell without more information, but there are tons of things that can be done.
What was his BS in? A BS is usually going to be good enough with 3 years of experience already. BA is harder.
Where do you live? You got to be honest and decide if your location even has a market for SWE, remote is harder and harder to get and should not be the goal of a career that is still starting.
FE only engineer is a hard sell, it only worked the last few years because companies had money to throw at people. Does he have a portfolio? GitHub? FE engineers kind of need one to stand out.
Has he gone to any Meetups or networking events for techies in the area? It’s good to meeting people in the industry and create those relationships.
In the last year what new skill has he learned? Java, Python, Go, Rust, AWS, Azure, GCP, etc….? Even a AWS cert can help open doors.
Has he applied to Devs or QA roles?
Lastly, if someone is not very good in the technical interview, often that means they are not very good in the technical role and maybe it’s time to look at different roles.
Tell him get screened for ADHD
Everyone’s saying to leetcode more, but he could also totally be botching behaviorals. This is something only he can solve. He needs to be capable of determining his weaknesses and resolving them.
The idea you can’t prep for either technicals or behavioral is laughable. It’s either ignorance or laziness
Just wanted to say props to you for staying with them and supporting them
90 % of interviews questions I got I had already done. I got laid off twice last year btw and sucked at interviews prior. Tell him to do neetcode and up to 500 questions.
One thing to consider with the Leetcode suggestions is in most jobs multiple candidates will all pass those questions perfectly. So even if he passes the Leetcode, he’s still got to compete with everyone else who passed the Leetcode. Don’t forget just normal interviewing skills. And don’t forget at this point it’s still basically luck of the draw because employers have their pick from multiple perfect candidates.
Point is – your partner may not be doing anything wrong. There are just too many people applying for jobs. I did some interviews (as an interviewer) a few months back and the number of applicants was insane. Leetcode will improve their chances but nothing will fix the problems of hundreds of qualified people applying for one job. There may be nothing to really fix.
If your partner was in CS work for a while before they were unemployed it might be worth staying in. Otherwise – it might be worth looking at other jobs, even non IT jobs, that aren’t having the same issues.
“There’s no way to really prepare for them”
I study like a psychopath when I have interviews. You definitely can prepare…
Took me 11 months to get a job. I feel for him
> What can I do to support him and motivate him to keep trying?
He should prepare for interviews. There’s a ton of information online for how to prepare. Leetcode is one obvious answer.
Automation and IT for industrial manufacturers. Start as an IT professional and learn the automation when you’re in. I’m as computer illiterate as my boomer parents and I learned industrial automation.
If you were open to relocation, a lot of rural communities have large manufacturing facilities but very few tech professionals.
Sounds like he is depressed and maybe has some social anxiety which has compounded after failed interviews – IMHO he needs a reset. First he should start working (anywhere) and bringing home income so he can have confidence in himself for something at least – this can go a long way.
Then maybe accept the reality that the field is not what it once was and might not be for him “anymore” and I mean that with respect. Machine Learning & AGI training is a different gig and much easier at the lower levels.. maybe have him look into that but not until he reassimilates with WORKING –> GETTING PAID –> PAYING BILLS. He needs to reprogram himself in more ways than one before this issue finds resolution.
I worked 3rd shift in the trenches while learning to day trade and other skills to generate income the way I desired. The point is I wanted it more because of the work I endured as well as accepting reality and that was that I wasn’t as smart as I thought, at that point in time and more than ever the times are rapidly changing to the point you have to stay ahead as well as suck it up and work – even if that means humbling yourself and working a job that is unglamorous.
What is his specific education & certs? Small chance I could help (albeit temporarily).
I’ve coached and mentored several people, and lately the trick has been for interview preps is to let ChatGPT ask you interview questions, especially for SQL, leetcode, etc.
The answers could be modified and improved with the help of ChatGPT again and your candidate can go through this process easier than doing it by himself.
The market is really tough right now, especially for those with less experience and a smaller network.
I have been working as a software engineer in the USA since 1993. This is the worst job market I’ve experienced.
One thing to consider… Even if your partner is doing well in the interviews, the hiring managers might just be hiring a candidate they like more. They now have a lot more candidates to pick from. I have worked with many hiring managers who have hired people who didn’t have the skills for the job and didn’t do well in the interviews just because they liked them, thought they’d be fun to work with, etc. This is probably happening even more now.
If your partner wants to keep doing this work, he should continue to prepare for interviews and apply for jobs. He could also attend more tech meetups to expand his network, work on some open source projects, etc. It does help to have people who know you and like you recommending you for jobs.
He could also work for himself. Create some apps? Try to freelance?
Nobody can really predict what the market will do. It seems like companies will start ramping up hiring again once certain managers realize AI can’t do all programming jobs right now. But, AI will only get better at coding.
Does he want this line of work? If he’s more of a people person then sales engineering or technical product management or a program manager could be other career options in tech while still being close to the technical side without the grind of an SWE.
With the AI madness even getting down to the data science or business intelligence side of the house might be an option.
Tech PM or product manager
> wants nothing more than to be employed
> can’t motivate to do
Sounds like depression. Therapy might help.
It’s hard to have any motivation for anything when you’re depressed. It’s also hard sometimes for people to recognize when they’re depressed.
“there’s no way to really prepare for them” that’s just not true.
In my experience helping recruiters select and test candidates. The first, and I think foremost, thing that the recruiters would pay attention to is the skills and experience that is relevant to the position. If your partner actually have skills and experience that match the requirement of the job, then there’s really nothing much to worry about. If your partner doesn’t, well, he would be better learn them.
The fact that you’re partner feel that he couldn’t prepare for test probably is caused by lack of focus of which part of CS/IT field that he wants to apply to. CS/IT field is just too large to go in without any ficus.
there will be some seemingly random questions/test just to cross-check and validate their skill assessments. For example, I know this is old but just for example, someone is tested for a position that needs Laravel, the tester might also throw in tests about PHP without any framework, or HTML and JS.
also there might be tests that the recruiters don’t really expect the candidate to solve because they’re just testing to see the candidate’s thought process in trying to solve the problem.
Has he been diagnosed for depression?
You can definitely prepare hes just flat-out wrong about that.
The whole culture of side projects and portfolio’s are insane.
Oh so you want to work here as a doctor ? Ok! How many patients do you operate on in your basement at home ?
So you want to be a car sales man ? Great! Do you sell any cars from home? You need to show us that you practiced selling a car to you wife.
Here is a good catalog of interview questions (and answers) for them to practice before interviews: https://devinterview.io
It has both general data structures and algorithms questions as well as language specific questions.