Here's the thing, I am well aware of the economic climate we are living in currently. I also understand that the job market is competitive, but that isn't anything new. Finding a job has always been a bit of a challenge. Whether it's my insistence on only working remotely (even before Covid), my preference for Vue front-ends, or my desire to remain free of student debt (no degree).

With that said, I have been building sites and applications since 2012. I am currently employed, full-time, by a publicly traded company with more employees than I can count. I am the Lead Frontend Engineer of one of the company's products and have been since 2021.

I do everything from working with really old Rails applications, ancient versions of React, to building a Web Component library with Vue 3. The line of code I just wrote is directly below a line added 8 years ago by someone I have never heard of. Its the nature of the beast, fine, no problem. I love writing code and building software, so I do what it takes to keep the wheels turning. I have been doing this for more than a decade. I'll jump on any problem and learn anything I need to. That desire, that genuine curiosity of it all, keeps me at it.

One moment... a fly has entered my office 🥴

With the fly out of here, back to it. Things change, teams change, people come and go. For me, it started by everyone on my team getting let go. Then they were replaced with offshore engineers. I have nothing against offshore people, my new team consists of amazingly talented individuals regardless of their locale, but considering costs of me versus somewhere cheaper I can only assume that I have to be next.

But hey, I could just be paranoid...right? Even if it is just plain old paranoia, I am on the western part of the US and the rest of my team is 11+ hours ahead of me. We have a few meetings at the beginning of my day and then I am alone for the rest of it. Don't get me wrong, I work remotely because I get more done, but even this gets weirdly quiet.

Sorry if the lead up was too long..., but I felt it necessary to explain why I am looking for a change in the first place.

Needless to say, I started searching for a new position the day my team was let go. It has been at least 6 months of applying every single day. I have applied to over 100 positions, easily and considering that I applied to 30 in just one day -- then number is more like 200. I have rewritten my resume so many times that my iCloud is nearly out of space.

I have worked with some of the biggest companies in the world, including multiple Fortune 500 companies, startups, and teams with just a couple people doing all the things. I'm not afraid of the challenge, I have a history of mentoring young devs, I am not beholden to my ego and I thrive by building up those around me. If you have a front-end, there is a high probability that I can work on it and likely make it better.

So why can't I get interviewed? I am likely too literal when it comes to applying. I typically only apply to positions I thoroughly meet the job description for. For example, am I full-stack? Absolutely. Do you want me to be the go-to person for your database? Probably not, but I can definitely write SQL queries.

Of the roughly 200 applications I have submitted I have gotten less than 5 interview requests.

Reach out if you would like a copy of my resumé 🤣.