Overwhelmed and struggling without support

Career Advice
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Hey all,

I have been facing alot of personal problems on the side and have been feeling overburdened with job searching and trying to get over past rejections from companies that havent interviewed me for a job despite my credentials. I just have been doing this without any support group and nothing and i cant take it. The one interview i had I fudged up and i have been reviewing what i messed up on in my own time and havent had an interview ever since. I have been feeling overwhelmed trying to get interviews and resuming job search. I had to take a break since I was not happy emotionally and needed to take care of myself. I have been super shy the past weeks of asking for help from anyone or feeling like I am not cut out despite my schooling outside of FCC and my credentials.

I have just been burned out with everything happening and felt like this was the place. I didnt know whether to put this in Getting a Developer Job or project feedback. I am a noob at using forums please forgive me. I might repost in the category later as I get myself together and recover.

Can anyone look over my LinkedIn (its almost like my resume) and GitHub or even give it a quick peak and constructive criticism?
Github
LinkedIn profile

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Getting a job is hard. It takes a while. And don’t feel bad if you weren’t perfect on the interview - on the job I landed, I certainly wasn’t “perfect”. And even if you did everything right you can still not get the job. Yes, it is very frustrating. If you need to take a little time off, then do it. Get a new perspective.

I also recommend a doc I wrote up on my tips on finding a job, here.

And learning on your own can be lonely. Try to find meetups or Facebook groups in your area. It was very encouraging to talk with other people struggling like I was. And I even got a few job leads.

Best of luck. Take care of yourself, and don’t give up.

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Get on twitter the dev community is very helpful and encouraging. You will see a lot of job opportunities posted on twitter from devs letting you know their company is hiring, it’s a good way to connect with the job poster and at-least get your resume looked at.

Trust me Kevin is right jobs are hard but if you hang in there you will get a job. It took me a year to get my first dev job. And I have messed up at more interviews than I can count but it only takes 1.

A few months ago I made it to the final in-person interview for a React job in SF they flew me out and I completely bombed the Whiteboard and in person part. So don’t worry about one job just keep practicing and you will land a job.

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Hi ChrisJabb21,

My two cents on your LinkedIn profile:

Try to look at it from the perspective of the employer not knowing anything about you: They are looking for a nice and decent person with enough skills to start the job. And they spent less than a minute, sometimes even far less, at looking at your profile.

I recommend you to choose another photo, one with just you and no other people and with more contrast between you and the background.

And maybe you should also consider to change the image on top. This one gives me the impression that you really dislike Internet Explorer.

But as a web developer you will write software for all browsers. IE is still an important part of that job.

What if an employer can choose between a developer who seems to dislike that task and another one who looks forward to the challenge?

To me it’s not clear what you’re looking for in a job. It looks like a general interest in IT and software development. Which programming languages do you really like? What are you really good at?

Narrow it down a bit in the description and take a critical look at the long lists in the skills section. Are all of them important to mention in those first few seconds when an employer scans this page? Which ones can wait until they’re brought up in an interview?

And I agree with @kevinSmith and @sunnyday90210, it might take time to get a job and there will be employers/people who are not interested in you, as it also happens in all other areas in life. That’s nothing to worry about.

But you also describe studying without support and being alone. I studied without support, that was oké for me. But I really enjoy the meetup groups, Slack groups I joined and forums like this one. People here will help you and you can help others.

I’ve met all kinds of nice and interesting people, both online and in real life and from all over the world.

And the more people get to know you, chances grow that one day someone will mention your name when their company starts looking for a new developer.

Also, as sunnyday90210 mentioned above there are jobs posted in those places, so you might be the first applicant.

And last but not least, get some rest, let it all go for a while, enjoy life and use time to play (real play, or sports, gardening, going to the movies, or whatever you really like to do).

That will help you to relax, to look from a different perspective and to rebuild some self confidence.

Good luck with your study, don’t give up, you’ll be fine, even if the road is a bit long and bumpy.
You’ll get there in the end and you might tell us all about it, so others will learn from you and your journey!

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Based on your GitHub & LinkedIn, it looks like you’re casting a net that’s way too wide—you mention a variety of programming languages on your GitHub, and on your LinkedIn, you mention infosec, cybersecurity, and data science? You need to pick one of these and specialize, there’s no way you’re going to be able to do all of them. Most of the languages you mention can be used for web development, but is web development even something you want to do? I’d recommend picking your field/application first whether that’s web development, infosec, cybersecurity, or data science, and then going from there.

“FSW” isn’t a common acronym and I’d suggest to not use it on your LinkedIn profile—stick to acronyms that are extremely well-used.

My advice to someone in your position would be to attend meetups and other networking events. A quick Google turned up a lot of tech meetup groups in Pittsburgh: https://www.meetup.com/cities/us/pa/pittsburgh/tech/. Start going to some of these, and find other developers to network with, and talk to any recruiters too. Get to know some people and ask for help—if you say that you’re a student and looking for your first developer job, I’m sure some people would be likely to offer help. The best way to land a job is by forming a network, which is easy to do by going to meetups regularly.

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I see what you mean astv. Especially with the field. I would say web development is what I am trying to get into. I would Java and Python be good languages to stick with? I always fear the technology is going to be out of date.

Where I live is about 1 hour and 1 hour 30 mins from Pittsburgh so I can try to make the commute. the commute is just tiring and really gives me very bad anxiety so I am working on it. I have been asking two different recuriters for help but I havent heard from them at all in months and weeks so I am moving on to find other people to help me out. Most people in my network are not the most social so I try to meet new people. I did start my own meetup for my area since there were no tech meetups and I get anxiety from big events.

I have just been going through alot of personal things going on in my life at the moment that lead me to mental break downs and getting therapy. I am also trying to work through projects and tutorials i started with java and python as well.

Hey thanks for the feedback astv, I really appreciate it, its super hard asking for help and I just figured I give it a shot.

Sincerely,
Chris

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Hey Kevin thanks for responding. Yes, the frustration has gotten to me over the past couple months to a point I had to reach out. I review the document you wrote up for sure.

For real, I cannot imagine how frustrating it is if someone did everything right but were not considered a fit.
It definitely is encouraging and helpful to talk it out and help out.

My current plan has been to take some time off but still practice and review coding and the advanced concepts with my own projects and take in as much advice as I can get from people. I am definitely working on taking care of myself for the time being and trying to take baby steps with it. Especially working on prespective as well.

Thanks Kevin, I really appreciate it.
I won’t give up and appreciate the support it means alot.
-Chris J.

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Ok Joke i made some edits. let me know how it is. I know my photo isnt the best but I dont have any friends and the only person I can ask to take a picture of me is my dad and he is busy and do not like talking to him.

I actually like that background but i will remove it.
I personally think it is not going to make a difference but I will try.

Is it wrong to be versatile in a lot of fields? I am good at programming and try to be. most of the others are interests and hobbies. I narrowed it down to programming and software development. I just made some edits now. I might need more. I am horrible at this.

I respect that you did this without support, I need help and pointers from people like you who have done it alone as I tackle my own battles as I start out of college and bootcamp.

The programming languages I like are Java and Python. I also know C# and C++.

I will definitely get some rest and practice. The job search has been super and very stressful for me that I almost gave up. but took a break from it due to mental well being and medical reasons. i really like what I do, just not the pressure and competitiveness since I am very competitive in everything I growing up.

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I will give it a shot Sunny,

I just updated my twitter and working on finding accounts and hashtags to follow. What would you recommend? I just don’t like using social media when I am not in the right headspace or overwhelmed or frustrated after a long day.

I feel you, its been 4 to 5 months for me. I just been using the time to just learn and relax. I have been burned out beyond belief and I am trying to get better with that and stick it out. I just hope dealing with the stress now makes it easier to deal with it in the future.

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They sometimes have hundreds of applicants. Out of those dozens might be “perfect”. Right there, your odds have dropped into the low single digits. And of course, hiring people can be capricious - sometimes it doesn’t makes sense. I remember someone I knew from a meetup and I both applied for the job. He got it. But he wasn’t a particularly good coder. For whatever reason, he got the job. It doesn’t always make sense. That’s just life.

This is a numbers game. It’s not about having a perfect interview that gets you the job. It’s about having lots of interviews and you keep getting better at them and learning code and building things until it all comes together with some luck and you land a job.

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I know Kevin, I will definitely keep that in mind about things not making sense. My problem is I have not been having alot of interviews or hear back from places I apply for but the insight from my post is helping me alot more then a career services manager from my bootcamp.

I haven’t given up on coding or wanting to learn it since it started as a passion and something I found of interest. I still plan on trying on again I just have to take care of myself. I am trying to come to terms with the numbers game and understand it as I hear it alot. I couldn’t even tell you about all the frustration, stress, and anger I have been feeling from it. It was so bad I needed different perspectives and short term break from it.

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Hi @ChrisJabb21,

Your LinkedIn page looks better with the new photo and without that background image. And about that image: it’s not about liking it or not. It’s not just an image but a statement against a certain browser as well. You should be very careful with making statements in your resume or on sites where you present yourself to employers like on LinkedIn.

And if you like Java, Python, C#, C++, you sound more like back-end developer to me, or just a software developer in general.
Maybe you shouldn’t concentrate on front-end development and just make sure you know the basics. Go for the other languages and security.

There is nothing wrong with being versatile in a lot of fields, but showing such a broad spectrum to employers makes it more difficult for them to decide if you’re the specialist they are looking for or just someone who tries everything. They don’t know you, remember?

Have you considered learning app development? (Xamarin, Xcode, Swift?) or game development? And to apply for jobs in those fields?

And how about remote jobs? You’ll find some on this site: https://weworkremotely.com/#job-listings

Just google on remote jobs to find more of them.

Good luck with learning and finding a job. And remember to be patient. It might take a lot of time, like others also mentioned. That’s completely normal. :grinning:

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Hello friend!
I have been lurking on the forum for a long time and your post made me to think about your, mine and journey of everyone thats not always easy as someones who got job after xx months after fcc or coding camp.
It’s not easy, especially if you are at certain age and have tons of responsibilities but i love to think that it makes things more challenging.
My point here is, keep pushing and try to look at your goals as challenge to yourself to be who you wanna be in the end of it. I am sure that you can ask anyone to help you polish your resume, but you need yourself to strive for better, building things, connect with people(i have problem with this, too, but hey…we WILL get to the finish point, i guarantee).
I hope that i helped. Stay strong!

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Chris, you might be interested in this I would follow her and DM her for more info ASAP. BTW The job sends you a take-home test.

https://twitter.com/nighthawk69/status/1148239757849313280

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I see what you mean. I am definitely narrowing it down for sure. I have app development as one of my goals and I have written ideas for what kind of apps to make. I know I want to make a hybrid one and I have dabbled with Xamarin a couple weeks ago. I have started working with the Spring framework for Java and trying to work with that.

I have been doing technical interview preparation challenges and trying to do advanced algorithms and refresh on concepts like encapsulation and inheritance. I have one interview coming up in a few days for Java Developer for a consulting company. I have been nervous but just trying to do my best with improving and trying. Thanks Joke, I appreciate it.

I will definitely look on remote jobs if my interviews and places I applied to haven’t fell through. I am feeling sort of better now that I reached out about it and slowly. That is very true about being patient I started alot of projects on my own to focus on to hold myself accountable.

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Hey Sunny, I just say this, I just followed her and DM’d asap. Its worth a shot. I have an skype interview coming up for one developer position in a couple days and I have been trying to study for that as well in the next upcoming days.

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@Gavrilow84

I agree with you 100 percent for sure. I have been pushing as well as focusing on taking care of myself. I tend to put a lot of unnecessary stress on myself and try to rush things. I am working on powering through some programming goals I set for myself and looking at frameworks. I even started a meetup to meet more software developers and I have met people in my area with that and I have been getting alot of response, interest, and a good number of people showing up. One people was thankful I started the meetup and I have been trying to make it to other ones as I work on learning on my own and career development and working on my developer skills. My journey has been a long one and I know there is always more I can do. I always roll my eyes when someone tells me they are bored or have nothing to do, I will get there eventually.

Thanks, it helped alot. I hope you stay strong as well. Any response helps me out alot and I am glad I reached out for sure.

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How things going for now?

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