I am considering software engineering as a career and my question is in regards to USA jobs and market.
With the job market being oversaturated and constantly hearing stories about people taking 9 months or over a year and putting out 500ish applications without receiving an offer, is it best to not pursue software engineering and perhaps pursue another career not as saturated
How difficult is it hold a job as a software engineer meaning to not be placed on PIP or being let go for a job because of poor performance.
The job market is oversaturated for juniors.
But it is not oversaturated for those with a good amount of work experience.
The hardest job to land is that first dev job.
But once you land that and have developed a couple of years of experience each new job becomes easier to get.
Once you get to senior level, then you become more valuable on the market and seniors will always be desired because they bring a lot to the table.
So I think 9 months to a year is completely reasonable to spend learning and growing your skills before landing a job.
For most self taught developers it will probably take longer.
But using that 1+ or longer time wisely will benefit you more in the long when you start working as a developer.
I am self taught developer and spent 1 year and half learning and building projects before applying and landing a full developer role.
Honestly, I am glad that I took that time to learn and do it right because when you start your first job, you are going to be introduced to so many new things.
If you don’t have a good starting foundation, then your first job will be tough to get through.
As to your point about 500+ applications, I always direct new comers to this space to Danny Thompson’s content and Leon Noel’s content.
They have some of the best advice on how to apply for jobs and stand out for all of the right reasons.
I encourage you to look at multiple of their videos so you can go through the job application process the right way and land a job.
No, because it is only saturated at the junior level.
The more work experience you have and the more you strengthen your skill set the more valuable you will become in the industry.
When companies hire a junior, they know they are still green in this industry.
They are not expecting the same amount of output from a mid or senior.
As long as you are learning and growing and are up for continuing to challenge yourself, then you can retain your job.
I think it is really important when you are selecting jobs, to seek companies that have support for juniors because is the time in your career where you will need it the most.
If a company doesn’t provide that support and expects you to do everything on your own without help, then that won’t be a good environment for you and they will probably be the ones to ditch you in a heart beat.
Overall, it is definitely possible to get a developer job being self taught.
It takes a lot of work and doesn’t happen quickly, but if that is something that you want to do, then go for it.
@jwilkins.oboe I am considering a bachelors in CS and want to use resources such as freecodecamp to supplement and do additional learning outside of bachelor’s program.
I might be wrong but to me it seems as if the majority of junior developers are getting jobs after like 6 months- to well over a year. Are there junior developers that do get jobs say within 3 months or do the majority of junior developers these days gets jobs after a year worth of applying.
If someone values job security meaning I do not want to deal with the stress of being laid off and want the feeling of knowing I won’t be laid off at a position would you advice against a career in software engineering as I am aware that lot of layoffs going.
For self taught developers or bootcamp grads, it is closer to the year mark.
There are some that do it in shorter time but most will take a year of learning and then applying for jobs before they land something.
Getting a job after 3 months is pretty rare now a days.
It is not impossible but it is definitely not the norm and still very rare.
Most of the time when you hear that it will be through social media influencers.
Well, the software industry goes through its ups and downs like any industry.
So at this time, companies hired to many and then when the market wasn’t as good they started laying people off.
When the market starts to improve, they will start to hire more developers and the cycle will continue.
Software developers are not immune to layoffs no matter what level they are at(senior, mid, junior)
But if you have the skills and bring a lot of value to companies, then you will be able to land on your feet pretty quickly.
I have had friends that have lost their jobs within the past few months but were able to land another job shortly after that because of their skills.
Personally, I don’t know if there is any industry that is immune to layoffs.
Layoffs do suck, but if you have been continually investing in your skills and growing as a developer, then you will be able to land on your feet again.
While the hiring rate of software engineers has significantly decreased, that has been in line with hiring trends overall. I don’t believe that the market is oversaturated, and I suspect that in many countries the unemployment rate is still negative. What I have observed is an abundance of under-skilled applicants trying to get their first jobs. Hiring the wrong developer is more expensive and potentially destructive than being understaffed, so a large portion of interviewed candidates are rejected due to lack of demonstrable skill or poor fit for the project.
I’ve very rarely seen engineers fired for performance in my career. I can only think of one or two colleagues I’ve seen leave this way in over a decade. You’re far more likely to be laid off due to your company being bought and sold and restructured. My main advice for staying on the right side of PIPs is to be proactive about getting the help and support that you need. When a developer says they don’t understand something, need help, or feel overwhelmed, they are considered to be doing their job. The people that I’ve seen fail in their roles are the ones who act like nothing is wrong.
Having a CS degree makes it a little bit easier to land interviews. So it is possible to land a job within a few months of applying
While in you are college, take advantage of the career services and alumni associations.
Also, make sure to do some sort of internship because every lit bit if experience helps.
