Miffed after five years of study, product gone to market, can't get even a response to job apps

Career Advice
1

I don’t know what to do. I have read stories of people getting jobs in development that admit they cheated on assessments and have no clue what they’re doing. Then there’s me, who can’t even get a response to a job application (in fact, mostly get auto-rejects) when I’ve spent five years studying and have built web apps on the market (solo).

I still consider myself mostly a frontend dev, as I don’t have as much experience with the back, but I’ve built several full-stack projects. I can do okay with auth and postgres db now. A few weeks ago I launched a full product as a SaaS, and built out the landing page and demo for it, along with having Stripe integration for payment. I’d say I’ve progressed A LOT.

I also have a rather optimized LinkedIn, have posted about some of my projects on various sites, and have a decent portfolio site. Everything has been shared on LinkedIn and on my CV.

Yet, when I apply for even entry-level frontend jobs paying less than market rates, I can’t get a response. I don’t get it. A few years ago, I could understand that there were people who knew a lot more than me about development, and had done interesting projects on their own (I was still in “tutorial hell” back then). But now that I’ve put in several more years, have developed entire products on my own I’ve brought to market, the fact that I cannot even get a response to a single job application has me wondering how anyone gets a job!

Seriously, I am in dire need of income right now, have put so much time and energy into web development and trying to make a viable career with it, it just doesn’t sit well with me that ATS auto-rejects my applications (truly don’t know why, I’m relatively familiar with how they work, and my CV is optimized for them). I don’t know how else to go about finding a job. Most of the roles I see on LinkedIn aren’t even jobs (I’m sure most of you are aware, by now, of this trend for capturing personal information), so there’s that, but I also notice that within three hours of a job posting going up, there are already 100+ applications submitted. It’s a broken system. I suppose I could pull an “Angelina Lee,” but I prefer to be honest.

Are there even jobs to be had right now? Are there other “techniques” I should be using to get in front of the right people? I used to do sales for tech, and so my network (not large, but viable) is aware of my shift and what I’ve accomplished, yet has yielded nothing (maybe I could start picking off people to personally message, but it’s a little weird to ask someone you briefly worked with years ago to recommend you for a job doing something different).

I have a strong background in business growth and training, as well, you’d think I’d make a rather well-rounded candidate. Any help is appreciated, I’m afraid I may be homeless if I can’t figure something out soon, as freelancing has been rather dried up for a while.

2

A few things stand out to me, that maybe aren’t mentioned but worth pointing out:

If you have a network leverage it. Applying to jobs where you see 100+ or even 1000+ candidates applying is a raw numbers game. You have sub percentage chance at these jobs, simply because a lot of people apply to them. Sure you can say you have X, Y, Z skills, but so can possibly a ton of other applicants. You seem aware of this, but you are also aware of ATS auto-rejecting your application, then you must know continuing this approach is probably not going to net much alone. Hence you must leverage your network.

Something as simple as a referral can your resume to the top of a pile somewhere.

Its odd to start this post off saying “you’re a front-end dev” and then ending it on how you’re a well rounded candidate. You should try to distinguish yourself any way possible, not blend in with everyone with a “front-end developer” title/approach. Heck find a startup that needs a business role and apply as a business role/tech founder to split the difference.

The name of the game is to find your angle, and the job that fits your angle. Don’t play the numbers game, or if you do realize the numbers are bad.

Practically, even when tech was “hot” you could send out hundreds or even thousands of resumes a month and get no-where. If you don’t get callbacks, the good news is you only have your resume and approach to tweak. Today the job market is not as how as it once was, but it was never super forgiving to begin with (never mind what you hear online, job hunting is and always has been hard)

The last thing I’d wanted to bring up is actually the title. Spending 5 years of (solo?) study means you’ve spent more time than the 4 year college grad, which does get past those ATS flags out of the gate, simply because they grinded through college. You are in an interesting spot with spending so much time solo-studying, as if you were working this whole time you’d be at least level-2 or even “senior” level. In some regards you are a senior developer if your shipping SaaS projects to production, but “selling those skills” is not easy nor is it common.

Find your angle, leverage your network and standout in your approach as much as possible. Good luck, keep building keep learning!

3

Thanks for the thoughts! I really don’t have much of a network for this - I was trying to convey this while being honest. It’s not like I have no one relevant in my network, but I generally dislike social media, and I’ve spent so much time working solo (or in completely unrelated roles), I don’t have a lot of people I can go to (and most have probably seen my posts on LinkedIn).

I guess I may need some help in ‘finding my angle.’ By saying I’m a well-rounded candidate, I mean I have more experience than someone who has solely been in tech. I have soft skills many coders may not have, I know how to talk to the C-Suite at small and midsize companies, and I have a LOT of client-facing experience.

Cofounder isn’t really what I’m looking for. I’m not strong enough with coding to be a technical cofounder, and I’m really trying to get away from the growth stuff, I’m burnt out on it. I’ve also spent so many years in the freelance and startup space, now, I’d prefer something more stable (I’m very much okay with being a “coding monkey” for a solid paycheck).

So, any other thoughts about ‘my angle’ are welcome. I appreciate insights.

4

How can you convince someone that you would be good on a team?

5

any other thoughts about ‘my angle’ are welcome. I appreciate insights.

I mean I have more experience than someone who has solely been in tech. I have soft skills many coders may not have, I know how to talk to the C-Suite at small and midsize companies, and I have a LOT of client-facing experience.

This isn’t the only route you could go, but you gave yourself one right here. Now of course this sort of skill set is entirely glossed over if your applying to a “front-end developer” position, but if that is your “angle” you just need to find the right position/company role and apply as this “angle”, to at least stand out from the crowd.

I’ve also spent so many years in the freelance and startup space, now, I’d prefer something more stable (I’m very much okay with being a “coding monkey” for a solid paycheck).

If you’ve spent years in this space, then you should have some sort of network to leverage, and some pre-existing experience you should be a little beyond “coding monkey” stage? That stage is ultimately taken up by AI today, so if you only deem yourself “coding monkey level” that job is essentially “gone” as a job description unless your working as some contractor pushing code and getting paid peanuts for it. For example, if you freelanced and got jobs, use those as references, or possibly reach out to see if they know someone else who might have a role.

However, its possible your just “in the space”, but weren’t that deep. If you just worked on a startup SaaS by yourself for years, and never networked or made deeper than “add me on LinkedIn” connections your net work might be more surface level, and vastly harder to leverage.

It’s not like I have no one relevant in my network, but I generally dislike social media, and I’ve spent so much time working solo (or in completely unrelated roles), I don’t have a lot of people I can go to (and most have probably seen my posts on LinkedIn).

A useful network isn’t really “social media” based, IE screaming out into LinkedIn isn’t very effective, that’s what basically everyone is doing. Now using the connections from past jobs/work and reaching out thru LinkedIn as a way to just “stay in touch” is more inclined to what I’m talking about. However if you somehow worked for years in the space, but spent the entire time solo I’m not really clear on what you actually have before you.