A little background: I decided to go back to college 10+ years ago when I was pregnant with my first. I started with accounting but quickly grew bored of that and randomly decided to try coding and switched to a CS degree… I completely fell in love with it and got within a year of graduating, but the school I was at kept adding “required courses” I needed despite my 4.0 gpa so I dropped out, feeling like I would never graduate. That was 2017 I think, so I took a several year break and just recently, after having my 4th I decided to go back to pursuing my dream. This time I found this, which has been a great resource and I didn’t even know things like this existed back then. I’m back in school and have just over a year until I graduate (some of my credits expired). But I am sooooooo discouraged. I feel like I’ve learned enough to start applying to junior dev jobs, between my school and this and other resources I’ve used to refresh my skills. But I can’t even get an interview. I’ve applied to hundreds of jobs and the only responses I’m getting turn out to be scams. So I guess I’m just wondering, how are we navigating this job market? How do I stay motivated and not give up? Is there even a chance to get into tech in 2024? Is it worth it to even finish my degree? At this point, it all seems pointless. “Junior” jobs are expecting like senior level experience. I’m honestly feeling like this is just a pipe dream. Just another failure to add to my long list of failures.
Hi!
I understand your frustration. The job market right now is very competitive and the employer expects one to go that extra mile, even after doing the additional, it’s not guaranteed that you will get the job.
I do not want to lie to you that there are criteria you can use in your job search, apart from improving your skills and applying more. Most developers have had it rough before they land their first roles, you are competing with hundreds if not thousands of developers for that role, so a lot of persistence and determination is required.
Giving up and letting all this go is hard and so is the job search. It’s up to you to choose your hard.
However, I see unpaid roles as a great way to start, volunteer opportunities and internships.
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