[toastercat]

Was not given any meaningful work and felt I was not growing as a developer.

Been at my current job for 1.5 years, and feel the same way. I'm looking around, but after being a "Software Engineer" for 4 years, employers look for a particular set of skills and experience I simply have not gained during my track record. Feels like a catch-22.

[throw_this_one]

Same here man. What do you think the way out is?

I'm thinking that you study the big picture stuff by reading HackerNews, and get good at the "interview questions." Then you build something on the side with a full modern stack and devops practice. That part is tough.

Then I think you (we'd) have the confidence and the experiences to fall back on during an interview.

What kind of stuff have you done so far?

[toastercat]

The way out is as you've said. To fill the gaps, possibly attempt contributing to an open-source project you feel passionate about, just to demonstrate you can collaborate in a team and collectively solve problems.

I've done front-end & back-end on web applications, without ever specializing in either. These days, I mostly write single-page applications with a vdom JS library.

[spaceotter]

I feel like I'm in the same boat. I'm not learning more valuable skills at my current place but it's hard to find something above junior with my skillset even though I have 4 years experience.

[throw_this_one]

What kind of stuff are they having you do? I'm in the same boat at 3 years.