| American, not well connected, graduated right after the housing market crash, so I suppose it could be the last one. I don’t quite believe it myself (with people proffering 500 applications just to get one position) but I had a similar experience with online dating where my success rate was probably about 50% getting a positive response (and everyone seemed to bemoan their inability to get anyone to even talk to them). Maybe this is just luck but I’ve also never been trying to work for google/microsoft/amazon. I don’t consider myself particularly bright so I’m definitely not Carmack, and I’ve never seen the fabled 300-500k engineering positions, so my salary has been pretty modest for the duration of my career (always been comfortable but, well-maintained Honda civic money not Mercedes money). I just kind of try to make myself useful wherever I go. When I apply for a job it has either been because a recruiter or former coworker asked me to, or because I was interested in what the company was working on, or both. I don’t go for jobs where I’m expected to performatively solve leetcode problems. I get nervous around new people but I can get through a technical interview by knowing my stuff. I’m not particularly charismatic or anything. Maybe I’m just lucky with target selection? I’ve always been about quality over quantity. I’m reasonably good at writing but nothing special. It could be a sample size issue, my number of applications is not statistically significant compared to the overall market during the last 20 years or whatever. |
Maybe timing? Because your experience is roughly what I also remember in 2010/2011. Only applied to like 5 jobs and got one.