[DamnInteresting]

The tech job market is indeed brutal right now. Until recently I was in the same boat as you, applying for lots of jobs and hearing nothing back. For context, I am an early graybeard, I've been coding since the late 1990s. Until ~2020 I never had trouble finding a job--then it suddenly went from falling off a log to nigh impossible.

Rather than repeat some of the advice already given, I suggest you cultivate at least one uncommon niche skill. Doing so adds keywords to your resume that don't appear on all of the others, and demonstrates the ability and willingness to learn new things. It's also possible that there is some employer out there who really needs work in that niche, and they're struggling to find matching applicants.

One potential niche is legacy code. I landed my current position because I know Perl, and this employer has a lot of legacy code. I also found some traction with ColdFusion. If you can't stomach learning old-timey stuff like that, maybe learn how to build browser extensions, or Wordpress plugins. Those aren't super rare skills, but they're not as common these days as React or Angular. You don't have to master anything, just offer a running start.

Also: Don't be afraid to be slightly silly on your resume. The people who have to review those things see a lot of very boring stuff, and something with a little personality can stand out.

Good luck.

[collyw]

Where do you find Perl jobs? Is there a market rewriting them to something more modern like Python?