Right vs Right Now

Hello friends,

I’m at a bit of a crossroads in my journey towards becoming a JS developer.

  • On the one hand, I’ve applied to a number of positions in the past, and even gotten a couple of phone interviews, and the feedback I’ve always received would boil down to “you’re not ready” or “you’re too green”. This makes me hesitate to apply for future positions until I get to a point where I have a better understanding of the concepts that I’m talking about in interviews.
  • On the other hand, I don’t exactly have an unlimited amount of time to move forward with this process. I’m 35, with a wife and two small kids, and the typical pile of debt and dependency that comes with a family. Lately, whenever I talk about moving forward, the response I always seem to get is “just do it” or “time to sh*t or get off”.

So, I’m feeling a bit stuck between a rock and a hard place. I know that spreading my resume/job search out as widely as possible is the best way to get somewhere, but I also have this gut feeling like I’m wasting my time trying to get into places that I’m just not qualified for, and making myself look foolish in the process.

How do you know when you’re actually ready to go for it? How many times do you keep trying for something before you realize it’s not going to happen? Is there ever a time when it’s better to wait before applying for a position rather than just put your head down and blindly charge ahead?

Lately I’ve been using Python to automate the major time-sinks in my job search. This leaves me plenty of energy and time to continue growing as a developer. In this way, I don’t need to worry about being “ready to go for it” since my job applications are on auto-pilot. As far as it never happening, it already has for me. I consider myself a web developer. I make web applications and services. I think it’s best to keep applying as early and often as possible, while continuing to grow and improve your skills.

May I ask what types of tasks are you automating with python? Scraping want ads that match a criteria? Just curious.

Yes, that’s right. So far what I’ve done is scraped Indeed and stored to Google Sheets, noting which ones are Apply on Indeed (no external application). Next I want to add auto-filling cover letters.

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I don’t know if there is a definitive answer to that. It depends on circumstance and personal drive. I have 2 kids to support and work part time in a non related field. I’m able to string it along but have set a goal of end of this year to land a developer job. If not I’ll look to move into full time in the field I’m working in right now. Developer suits my working style and personality better though (I’ve freelanced years ago but fell into motherhood).

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Yes,you are right,auto-filling cover letters really helps me