[MH15]

I've never spent close to an hour on a job application. In senior year of college I probably sent 200 out at 10? minutes each?

[ribosometronome]

10 minutes? To find the position, see if you fit, customize your cover letter and resume to well fit, and go through their portal? I could see maybe with aid of a GPT this being possible nowadays but still non-trivial.

[notahacker]

If you're sending 2500 applications, you're not doing custom resumes or cover letters, or even much seeing if you fit...

[wonderwonder]

I generally change jobs every 2 years for the last 15 years. I have never used a cover letter. Your mileage may vary but I think they are generally ignored.

[dymk]

What's a cover letter? I've never submitted one of those for a software engineering job.

Send in a resume, of which there are only a few categories of customization. Certainly no need to customize for each specific company for SWE.

[satvikpendem]

Who writes cover letters or modifies their resume per role? It's all spray and pray.

[JohnFen]

I spend a great deal of time on the cover letter, and I do modify my CV for the role (mainly to keep it to a reasonable length).

[JohnFen]

Dang!

I can't think of a position I applied for that I didn't spend at least an hour working on the initial application. And an hour would be fast-tracking it.