Ask HN: How to find job again after career break?

[hownow]

Around two years ago I found myself in a deep depression, burnt out, and I quit my job. Luckily, I was in a place financially and personally to be able to take a break from work. I didn’t really have a plan, I just knew that something needed to change.

I’m happy to report that I was able to find a way out of my depression, and I would like to resume my fulfilling career as a developer (which was mostly as a frontend developer). But I’m lost as to the best way to do so. I originally got my first job through self teaching and a boot camp. I feel as though I “sold” myself as a self motivated, smart guy who was ready to tackle whatever. That “sale” worked because that is what I was, I’m not a good salesman, I just told the truth. I quickly moved up in pay and responsibility over four and a half years.

Now, however, I struggle with the idea that I seem washed up, and out of practice. I’ve taken some online courses and done open source work. But my history looks like patchwork (ala Github graph), and I haven’t had a real job in two years.

I know the common strategies: build something, write a blog, work as a freelancer, etc. In order to get back into the game. I was able to get myself my first job with no experience, but now I feel like I’m less employable because of my hiatus.

I wasn’t sure how this post would come out. It turned out that I used “I feel” a lot. I know the practical steps to get back into my career. Maybe I’m looking for encouragement. For you kind souls who have read this far - if you have any practical advice or personal anecdotes, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you.

[PragmaticPulp]

> I know the common strategies: build something, write a blog, work as a freelancer, etc. In order to get back into the game. I was able to get myself my first job with no experience, but now I feel like I’m less employable because of my hiatus.

Have you been applying to jobs? Asking former coworkers for any job leads?

You’re overthinking it. Just start applying and interviewing everywhere. Don’t get hung up on rejection. Don’t wait until you have side projects or GitHub commits or blog posts. You can do those in parallel as a bonus if you really want to.

Get out there and apply for every single potentially interesting job that comes up. Practice LeetCode and HackerRank to refresh your knowledge and prep for any possible coding interviews in parallel with your job search. Start tonight. An hour a day of practice and applying goes a long way. No excuses to delay.

[hownow]

No I haven't been applying or asking for leads. This is the sort of kick in the ass advice I think I needed. Thank you. You are correct no excuses to delay.

[PragmaticPulp]

You’ve got this. Go get it. :)

[AnimalMuppet]

We hired a guy in your situation. (Worse, actually - he'd been out of coding for 10 years.)

We weren't sure if he could still do it. So we offered him a three-month contract at a low rate, with the understanding that, if he panned out, we would hire him at a normal salary. He panned out. So we hired him.

This approach meant that we didn't have to guess whether he could still do the work. He got to show us. And if he couldn't, well, we weren't out that much. And if he could, he wasn't out that much.

[hownow]

That is very encouraging to hear. Did he propose the 3 month trial contract or you guys? I thought of offering such a thing but not sure if it seems too desperate. Thank you for your comment.

[AnimalMuppet]

I think we did, but I have no direct knowledge.

In your shoes, I wouldn't be afraid to propose it - but only to a potential employer that you think is serious, but the work gap is a real issue for them.

[jklein11]

I disagree with this advice.

If I was on the fence about hiring someone because I wasn't sure they would do the job and they offered to drop the price it would make me think that person is also not confident that they could do the job.

As a hiring manager, there is more on the line than the employee's salary. Making a bad hire can hurt morale, reduce productivity, and hurt the hiring manager's reputation. Having that extra money in your budget won't outweigh the potential damage that could be done.

During a job search you need to make those risks seem as small as possible.

[EllipticCurve]

In addition to the advice given by the others, I would suggest to maybe participate in the Advent-of-code (https://adventofcode.com/). It started a few days ago but you should be able to quickly catch up.

You might do it to get back into coding, put it on a resume or just for fun (my reason to do it).

But the community around it (https://www.reddit.com/r/adventofcode/) is really great and it's a lot of fun!

It also provides as a specific daily purpose, in contrast to some random code test online.

Best of luck!

[hownow]

Thank you, I'll check that out.

[pizzaparty2]

As someone who recently quit your question sounds like you just returned from a re-education camp. I'm neither depressed nor have I found working on a development team to be fulfilling in years. Well, ever since I figured out the whole thing was about making myself an obedient tool for someone else.

I don't have any advice for you to get back into programming. I doubt sitting in a chair in a silent room doing what someone else tells you all day is going to help your depression.

[hownow]

Hey there. I'm sorry that whatever situation you find yourself in has you in such a negative state of mind. You too can make changes to turn around your perspective. Best of luck!