I'm not sure where the impression that it's easy to find a tech job comes from. Like the parent commenter, I started searching on day 2 of my current job and it's been over a year with around 200 applications/cover letters, dozens of interviews, some offers, but no good fits. I graduated 2 years ago with ~120 others in my class - not a single person is working in our domain (biomedical engineering), they're either in the same undergrad lab, in some corporate code monkey job they hate, or in grad school/med school and given up on the industry. Finding a decent job is possibly the hardest thing I've ever had to do and most days it feels like it will never happen.
> I'm not sure where the impression that it's easy to find a tech job comes from.
A lot of it is just the usual Internet bragging mixed with the “shortage of engineers” meme that just wont die. Everyone can get a new job in 7 days, just like they all make $250k, drive Porsche 911 GT3s, and have supermodel partners. It’s just part of the Hacker News zeitgeist.
Now back to the real world, my experience is close to yours. My last job took 1.5 years to find, with about 100 applications sent, 10 phone screens, 3 companies seriously interviewing, and 1 offer. So you’re not doing too bad, really.
I totally concur. It took me over a year, after being the lead developer for a decade with tons of technical and business experience. Thank goodness for digital resumes cuz I sent out at least 200. If it weren't for the fact that I had my current job down to a science, giving me a lot of free time to interview, it would have been impossible to find a new job.
Because it wasn't on the west coast of the US? Because the ancestor poster is older than 30? Because that company had some secret non-poaching agreements? Because companies were preemptively binning the resume for not staying at the previous company long enough?
> my usual 1-2 years
A genuine question...(I am not from USA.)
Is this 1-2 years period normal for many people/IT companies? Is it similar to contracting- benefits and tech/business exposure wise?
It's a nice balance between not having to run the job search gauntlet for a while, and not getting significant pay increases or advancement opportunities unless you get a new job at a different company.
I've found 1-2 years is also about the time it takes for me to become bored and want a new project, new responsibilities (promotion), etc (I've only asked for a raise once during my entire career, so it usually isn't about the money when I leave, though I do usually get a nice pay bump for switching companies).
I'll ask for what I want, invariably get told some version of "no", and start looking for a new job.
