If your takeaway from this video is "Theo said you should boost his engagement in order to get a job" - I am confident there is no advice that will fix your inability to get a job
People focused too much on the phrase "my channel": I do believe that Theo's comment about "watching videos on *my* channel" serves two purposes: 1) it exemplifies the point that people who are truly passionate about tech will voluntarily learn, experiment and search out similar people whereas many professional-only devs do the minimum effort for money only; 2) it promotes his own channel which is the complaint of many in the comments. But let's agree that it's not unfair for him to promote his channel and personal business like most UA-camrs do. He never mentioned watching *only* his channel so the logical points he's making are not invalidated
Frankly, it’s always been that way. Even when getting hired was far easier, those avenues were still being used. But now it seems that has become even more essential.
ya kinda true, i got my first job recently through a dude ive known since age 10, but also i grinded my face off during the internship to prove myself. But, I have a suspicion that he opened up a second internship slot just for me, idk.
Honestly such a reductive take. If you're in the position of hiring, your hires reflect strongly on your own competency. You need to be able to explain to your boss why the person you want to give an offer to will deliver more value than what they cost. If you can trust that the person is going to be competent, show up, and work hard at their job, that's a huge weight off of your shoulders. Its such a higher expected value on your hiring from the perspective of the hiring manager, which will put you at the front of the line.
This is like telling a chef who can't find a job, to start cooking in his free time, invite people over for dinner, showcase his food online etc. just so that when one of those people he/she has interacted with opens a restaurant or knows someone who did, they can recommend him/her for the job. Not that I'm saying it's a bad advice, everything you've said would help people find a job, but there is something fundamentally wrong if people start feeling compelled to spend their free time on their profession to get a job that already takes more than half of their awake time. Most people watching videos like this probably already do that to an extend, however if it's expected to be the norm, there is a problem there.
> if you're just here for the money Well, as someone who is truly interested in software development and has been doing it since he was 12, I have to say: - if you are not doing it for the money, companies will take advantage of you and your enthusiasm - you will burn yourself out Hanging out in tech communities, learning new things in your free time, writing blog posts can be fun and all in your 20s, but it will take a toll on you, and once you have a family you will have more important things to do in your life, and yes, your job will become something that you are doing "for the money". I agree that this hiring problem is real, but I don't think that this is the solution for it. This is just another form of competition, sacrificing your lifetime.
I agree. I am in my twenty's and love tech started with LTT and hardware, eventually found my footing in software and now looking for a jr job after collage. I love learning about tech and programming, but hearing people like Theo talk I start to wounder if I'm cut out for this industry. Loving tech is not going to put food in my belly and a roof over my head
that's true, i used to be enthusiastic until a person from Europe offered me a monthly pay of 250$ per month to revamp code on their java, just cause I'm from a third world country doesn't mean we get paid less than bare minimum, i also offered 5$ per hour alternative and they said it was "too expensive" , i have 5 years of experience btw and juniors get paid at least a min of 1000$ in my country.
That's what things like the blog are for. If you can find a way to express yourself, sometimes that can get the point across for you in a way that a conversation can't. You aren't the only person who has this issue and you will run into sympathetic people. Sometimes the hard part is getting them to read your blog or actually look through your github or explore your portfolio site though
My solution was just sufer through underpaid work untill I got expierenced enough that i could charge a fair amount, regardless of how weird clients found me. But ive only ever worked freelance.
the point of getting a higher education in CS or a related field was that you would not need to have "connections" and be "extroverted", now it's just too much competition so companies can filter out people based on personality traits or on "connections"
I graduated in june. Was a nightmare trying to get a job. But while applying i made an app and uploaded it to appstore. Once that happened a lot of companies started showing interest in me. And in January I'm starting as an app developer for one of the biggest companies in my country
Yeah, I get it. But I would rather spend my time out of work reading books I care about, watching movies, and having nice and funny conversations with my wife. Does this make me a bad "engineer"? So be it; I don't mind. I am 100% focused on my job for the period you are paying me, but that's it. God forbid, but I would prefer to be unemployed than to spend all my time with people who only care about "tech" (this is so sad; I don't even have words to describe it), just for the sake of "networking." I'm so much more than that, man. I've seen many people on Twitter proudly stating that they don't waste time answering "profiles" with less than a thousand followers or so. I mean... never mind.
If you are actually doing well at your job and building a decent reputation for getting things done…. You are networking. Most of the recommendations are for people with no experience to fall back on.
I feel the same way. I go to my job, do the best I am capable of, then go home and not look at code. I had several home projects, but after work I am too tired for them. If I work on them during the weekend/holidays, I am too tired so when I go back to my job it doesn't go well. I relax using games, books, movies, spending time with non-coders. I'm so happy I got my job when hiring was easy, I don't think I could launch my career in a time like this. But I am good at my job, so people I used to work with are liable to recommend me. Perhaps the same can be said about uni or boot camp - just putting in the effort and making a good impression helps. If you impress the teachers, they can recommend you to businesses. If any of the fellow students get a job - they may recommend you in their new team. So it's not hopeless, you don't have to put your life on hold and hustle in social media. But in the end, most work is in a team. You don't have to like the others, and drink beers after work. You have to get along with them during work hours, and push the project forward.
@@aualexstanfield yeah. i am in this game for almost 10 years now. i have no problem getting interviews. last time i was "laid off" i got a new job in less than a month, but it was not due to my network at all. I think i suck at this "networking" stuff. anyway, good luck to everybody out there getting in the business. just remember that getting a job sometimes is the easy part
@nikolatasev4948 Absolutely. If you are present and doing your best, people will notice. If you are a team member who helps the team finish what it is supposed to finish before 5 p.m., you will be seen. Learning other stuff, be it photography, sports, or whatever will make you a more interesting person. I think it is a mistake to focus 100% on one thing and forget the rest. Life is more than that.
What Theo is trying to say: focus on relationships. That's the key to getting a job in this competitive market. How it comes off (based on the comments): watch my stream and interact with my content to get a job. Bottom line is: focus on meaningful relationships and do not feel obligated to interact with Theo (though there is nothing wrong with that should you enjoy it). You can go to local meet ups, interfact with software bloggers, stay in touch with college buddies etc. Figure out what works for you.
I don't agree that you need to be living and breathing tech 24/7 to not be fucked in this space anymore. That's not a healthy way to approach it at all. Networking is the most powerful tool in your arsenal, unfortunately most SWE are not good at that.
I'm probably not gonna be doing CS anymore. I'm glad that I never had to pay tuition, but also angry that the hobby that I've had since I was 12 has become such a nightmare.
If you're passionnate, you shouldn't give up on it. The market is tough, but there will always be opportunities for those who are skilled and that know how to market themselves
@@aquilafasciata5781that sounds like good news to me. So what you're saying is, in order to stand out from the rest, I just need basic social skills? Lol good luck y'all
@@saidagadiri5262 That's such a generic advice. It may be true, but it also may not. And there's so many passionate people so that it is nothing special.
Uff, so I need to hang out in a bunch of discord severs, spend hours networking on social media and contribute to unpaid labor to projects. I'm splitting my time between working and doing a masters. I don't think I have the time for it. It also sounds unimaginably dreadful. My job isn't great, but looks like switching isn't an option right now.
Can we stop turning around the bush? I know it is politically incorrect to say it, but at this point someone have to say it. Honestly, the industry have made too much effort to bring people to tech. Consequences ? Now passionate foxes have to fight with the rest. Supply and demand baby, there is too many of us now, and we have to fight extra hard to get noticed. You can say "it is not okay to gatekeep" or "everyone should have a chance into becoming a programmer", that's fine. Just don't act surprised when everyone have to fight for the same job.
tech market in russia is amazing tho. i was able to find a job so easy during university and 2 years later I work at Yandex. one of the reasons for this is every tech company left us and opened up many fields for startups / big tech companies to evolve
One thing about having the perspective of an interviewer, or a hiring manager, is you skipped one whole interface the candidates go through, and that is ATS, HRs, or recruiters. As a recent job applicant, I say getting to the first interview is the hardest, and the rest is easy. Anything that helps you get through that first door is a tremendous help. In my country, that is having a LinkedIn. Almost always it's about connections and online-ish presence. Idk how it is wherever you are.
> if you're just here for the money, you wont make it I always had a problem with this. You see it a lot in the dev space and honestly find it toxic advice. You should contribute but should also unplug. Read books, watch movies, touch grass. You'll go back to coding with a clear head. I have a bad habit of burning myself out because I want to be the best I can be at what I do but doing it constantly can burn you out. Genuine interest is important but always doing the same thing can really hurt you in the long run
You can love computer science and software development without burning yourself out. Moderate how much you contribute and diversify your day with other hobbies. I like to read works of philosophy, politics, and history in my free time. I have also taken time to pick up Spanish, which I have been learning for over four years now.
> if you're just here for the money, you won't make it > You should contribute but should also unplug These two statements are not at all mutually exclusive, especially for a dev is who unemployed.
@@DatFarrixyou totally can do both. You work your day job. Do what you can during working hours and set a time to clock off. Burning out and do it 12 hours+ a day is only going to burn you out. I’m doing roughly 9-10 hours a day and it’s burnt me out. It isn’t good advice to just code all the time. It’s bad advice to spend all your time doing anything really
@@broadestsmilerI agree. But people seem to think I’m wrong and it’s all you should do. If you don’t read, especially the philosophy, you are living a black and white life
Back when I was in Uni we use to make fun of "art" students about how they going to end up unemployed. They use to say if you have a nice portfolio you still can find job. I think karma hit me hard because a good portfolio cant even save me from this market. And answer of the question is it worth it to get IT job in 2025 is what I told them years ago only if you are extremely ambitious about codding(willing to work for free and unable to live a life without codding)
I actually got a great IT job out of college with a creative writing art degree a couple years ago. I worked IT at the colleges I attended the entire time I was ins school, so workstudy was kind of like an internship. Attitude and experience you can spin properly goes a long way. So does strong communication. Potential employers don't know how qualified and skilled you are if you can't quickly get the picture across. They also often value things like a good attitude, good teamwork and articulation, and trustworthiness. If you can prove that to an employer, that's often more valuable than skills that you can easily learn. You can't usually teach someone to be charming and trustworthy. Impress employers and you'll find success.
I'm in my 50s and have been a professional developer for 26 years. I've been looking for a job for 15 months and I'm wondering if I'd be better off six feet under.
This feels like a big "join my discord" but yes definitely great to see someone talk about this, I have 4 years of exp with fullstack and was just getting ignored straight up with all roles I've been applying to. Guess I need to make friends.
I agree, it was kinda annoying but he's actually not wrong with any of the things about making ourselves more sociable. The reason is bc i know people who i would refer 100% if i had a job and i hope some will do the same for me bc they think I'm good. It's all trust based, it's a trust based society and it's definitely showing more and more in tech jobs
Reminder: - The community around Theo is not unique. There are thousands of online communities that you can be part of, which can help you find employment or become more employable. - Being friendly and willing to learn/adapt is by far the most trait when you're new in the field. If a company is hiring a junior, they know they'll have to mold/upskill you, and while having existing knowledge is definitely a plus, making a good first impression and showing a willingness to learn is nearly always more important. As Theo said, juniors are hired for their potential to grow, so show them that you've got that potential. - "The job market" doesn't exist. There are tens of thousands of job markets all over the world, and what is important in one place can be irrelevant in another. Silicon valley jobs have very different values from what you'll find in a medium-sized town in central Europe. If you want a job in your local area, the values of the FAANG companies are likely completely irrelevant to you.
08:10 There's an angle of this issue you're not mentioning... this whole thing with people using AI to apply for jobs happened because recruiters were using AI to filter candidates and doing a sloppy job at it, setting bad filters, not doing due diligence on the results to check if good candidates were left out, etc.
7:00 disagree. That's a really dumb way of looking at it. If you teach a junior how to do it, they retain it. And you don't need to teach them how to do it again NEXT time. With any AI, you'll have to teach them again and again the exact same thing every single time.
hs junior (17 year old) here, my programming teacher (who I'm helping build his classes) and some of my more tech savvy classmates in my 2 programming classes (web dev and ap csp) often use ChatGPT and other ai's to do all of their programs, I'm one of few that actually code. ChatGPT has taken over so much that in the first computer sci class the teacher has a unit completely for using ChatGPT, and in web dev we write school news articles using ChatGPT, we don't get them from journalism, its all ai. I'm one of few that use ChatGPT as a tool not a programmer. (I learned js/ts because even to generate a simple unix timestamp GPT couldn't, at least not well. This channel also helped push me to learning code as much as I have.)
i'm introvert , shy and a silent person , i joined a bootcamp and i worked hard after but i have no connections ..... when i learn new things i get excited and i talk about it to my 'non tech friends' , some just don't care and some listen but they can't engage ............ i want to try to post on linkedin or in twitter but i know i'm still noob and the stuff i share maybe wrong or silly ......... for now i built a portfolio and i'm working on a blog to document what i learnt ...... to be honest if i can land a job in the future or no, i will most likely complete coding and learning cause i enjoy this stuff
You can just share literally what you did. The fact you went to the bootcamp, what you learned in it, how you tried to build it, challenges you encountered, how you solved them, and what you learned from solving them. That is gold.
Making a good impression in bootcamp can build connections. You don't have to drink beers with the others. But make conversation, help out others who are struggling. Impressing the teacher or the other students can help you out a lot in the long run.
If you have a job, put every penny you can towards investments outside of tech and build up some fk you budget to weather this shit storm that is only getting worse.
I made an app that to this day gets 1,000 daily active users, and i can’t even get an interview, even with my networking that landed me one interview they wanted more experience for an intro position…
imagine telling a plummer the only way to find new jobs is to keep working 24h and talking to other plummers it's about time tech companies stop playing the victmim on hiring and work out those 1000s resumes they get
This is one of the realest videos out there. One addition is don’t engage for the sake of engaging, e.g. don’t engage cuz Theo said it will help u get a job but rather because u have that type of drive and love for CS/building as if u don’t this might not be the right field for you.
I'm wondering about senior engineers in a very shitty job that want to move on but can't as their entire life and hours get consumed by the job they hate forget applying or networking. How do people like that even move on other than somehow hope they get paid off... Can't get fired of you have a family
That's what unemployment is supposed to be for; weathering the transition between jobs. Sometimes you can request a lateral move in the company and work in a department that might be better. Sometimes you just have to live frugally for a while, build up savings, and then take a chance.
Its been tough for 2 years now, most money is going investing in new small companies, and these companies is hiring devs from outside US and EU. I even tried to apply in Finland, they told me they have enough devs in Finland, in Norway I had no luck to be invited to any meetings, so I'm back to apply in the country I live in, each company is getting around 150 applications as minimum.
I can't even imagine the struggle as a junior, seeing as I spent a year and a half unemployed with 30 years of broad experience. Hundreds of applications to get three first interviews in all that time.
It's wild. I also think DEI's been a huge contributor to this, because applicants are being prioritized for their immutable traits rather than experience. Companies receiving grants or tax cuts for checking those boxes is a better financial incentive than hiring top talent.
The hardest part of a dev career is starting one. After about 100 applications with a professionally drafted resume and CV, bombing 2 white-board interviews, and finally giving up and taking non-dev IT work for a while, a recruiter I connected with early called me back about a year later and put me in front of a couple of devs at a local startup. I had kept up some of my side projects and walked them through some of the challenges I was working with. I had an offer that week. 3 years later I am a senior dev. So if I can offer advice to job hunters, it is 1 - time box how much job-board hunting you do. Most of those are low quality or downright fake listings, and a poor use of your time. 2 - the recruiter connections can and will pay off over time. 3 - take side work if necessary because this industry goes through cycles and we are at the low end of the sine wave right now. 4 - keep learning and pushing yourself with challenging projects. Do these and time becomes your ally.
A few people in the comment section need to generalize a little more. Theo is talking about his community because _that's what he knows_. Obviously, you can take the lesson and be engaged in other communities. The key here is engaging with people. It's a roundabout way of doing what professionals in corporate have always done: networking. Except in tech we can network around stuff that we actually care about. Rant aside, I do have a few other considerations: 1) Something about AI that Theo didn't mention in the video is how, macroeconomically, the venture capital has shifted from engineering to AI. So that's a niche market inside tech that might have different results in 2024/2025 from, say, web dev. 2) I really liked the "other people care?" moment. I have felt like that many times. I've been trying to fight this feeling myself, had many ideas of blog posts of niche stuff that I never wrote because I never thought anybody would give a flying rat's ass about it (probably rightfully). But I guess writing them anyway is a way to build your personal brand. 3) I'm a living example of how having a friend inside can help tons... I have gotten my last two jobs through referrals of people who trusted me deeply. Once inside, though, don't lose that trust! Keep delivering the results that made you trustworthy in the first place.
Since the main point is contribute to communities to build trust, I wanted to share some other tech communities on youtube (besides Theo's) that I like in no particular order. Maybe you'll resonate with some of their stuff General CS: - www.youtube.com/@freecodecamp - www.youtube.com/@typecraft_dev - www.youtube.com/@Fireship - www.youtube.com/@TwoMinutePapers - www.youtube.com/@coderized Web Dev - ua-cam.com/users/alifeengineered - www.youtube.com/@DavidOndrej - www.youtube.com/@mattpocockuk - www.youtube.com/@awesome-coding - www.youtube.com/@Steve8708 - www.youtube.com/@WebDevCody Hacking: - www.youtube.com/@NetworkChuck Cool CS Projects: - www.youtube.com/@joshuabird333 Startups: - www.youtube.com/@ycombinator - www.youtube.com/@TheBrowserCompany - www.youtube.com/@convex-dev - www.youtube.com/@Supabase AI: - www.youtube.com/@code4AI - www.youtube.com/@aiexplained-official - www.youtube.com/@OpenAI - www.youtube.com/@ColeMedin - www.youtube.com/@LangChain - www.youtube.com/@matthew_berman - www.youtube.com/@AIJasonZ
Thanks Theo! I definitely needed to hear this. I have been out of a job for 3 months now and I honestly have no clue how I’m going to get my next role. I’m kind of scared to talk to people, coupled that with this weird thing I have where I don’t wanna take up space and not be seen, it’s probably the worst combination. Even writing this post kind of freaks me out. But I guess I’m writing it because I do feel inspired to be seen and to interact with people and as an acknowledgment that “I hear you” and I kinda know what I need to change in me. Thanks once again
One of my colleagues is a gret developer who also happens to spend all of his free time building apps and games. I admire him a lot, but at the same time would rather have a life outside of dev. He never travels, never hikes, has almost no friends. He's a great guy but his whole life is spent in his basement coding away at stuff. I think he's happy doing that, but I'd honestly unlive myself if that was my life.
pretty much, 7 years ago software developent had very little competition, now it's the opposite, there is a ton of competition and it's just not worth the efford anymore
If that's your attitude, then yes, you do lose to everyone trying harder than you. People who try, put themselves out there, and show initiative are the ones that get noticed by employers. They don't want to hire someone who has resigned to failure. You need to change your attitude and outlook if you want to succeed. Confidence and determination go a long way in making your goals happen.
Wow! This is the best video about getting a dev job. I am going to start blogging and writing down solutions. Also, will help persons online. thanks Theo!
My main consern lately that the hiring process was brought into tech by the humanities. They took all the theory on human open and extroverted interaction and brought it to most "sociopathic" people and most "alone" industry. Then the HR interviewer asks questions about "team dynamics" expecting coherent answers from guys who are introverted by nature and hyper-interested in tech. IMHO that is just counterproductive. Most of us just hack at the workbench until we hit the solution and are dismissed as "your skills are great, but we are advancing with more suitable candidates"
"The hiring process in the tech industry appears to be heavily influenced by frameworks rooted in the humanities, particularly those emphasizing extroverted interaction and social dynamics. This often creates a mismatch, as HR professionals may prioritize attributes such as verbal articulation of 'team dynamics' over technical expertise. Many tech professionals, who are naturally introverted and thrive through independent problem-solving, find this approach misaligned with their strengths. Despite demonstrating exceptional skills, they frequently encounter responses like, 'Your abilities are impressive, but we’ve decided to proceed with other candidates,' which suggests a systemic undervaluation of the diverse ways individuals contribute within the tech sector."
Have you worked in a major software company? The devs, QA staff, and UX engineers are constantly communicating to each other, working in teams, and using those soft, collaborative skills to forward projects. At least that's been my experience. It didn't matter if someone was really technically competent if they couldn't work with others, problem solve in coordination with others, or maintain trustworthy relationships with colleagues. People who were bad to work with rarely stayed. People who couldn't accept direction, compromise, or lead when necessary never stayed. I'm not saying it's not possible for introverted devs to be good at their job -- I know many who are! But they still posses enough collaborative and communicative skills to meet the challenges their teams and their apps face. They are still pleasant people to work with and their perspective isn't difficult to respect or adjust to. Some work environments are going to be more collaboration intensive than others and successful (and larger) employers know from experience what candidates work at their company. Training is a big investment. The sharing of company knowledge and data is a big risk. They have to minimize hiring people who fail to thrive in a strongly collaborative environment if that's how they work. If someone needs to be independent, they need to find an employer who is okay with that, do self-employment/solo dev work, or try something else.
@@watsonwrote "introverted" doesn't mean you can't communicate about anything at all (communicating about a specific subject/task is usually not hard), it means that someone has difficulties trying to meet, communicate and find common ground with complete strangers.
How do you deal with the fact that Sr Engineers will, at some point, retire or leave? Even with the seeming infinite number of Sr Engineers available, companies will eventually want to have Jrs who actually have knowledge of the codebase who they can promote or train a bit more.
@@naughtiousmaximus7853 Literally this. Ive seen this throughout my job search and in the companies Ive been to. They seem to be completely ignorant towards the possibility of their seniors leaving.
I've given up on finding internships while studying. I cannot junggle 8-12 hours (internships do not have defined hours, go figure) of work with university in a single day. Additionally, companies want to see your dedication, which I just can't give as a student. So for this winter, I decided to get a job at McDonald's. So far, I've learned quite a bit about teamwork - mostly because university group projects are all-round horrible. At the same time, I'm getting paid the full wage even during training, which is such an amazing experience compared to the free internships I've been to. We will have a mandatory internship during the summer at a company partnering with my university, so I'll just wait till then. The last semester has kinda killed my passion to code, so I'm just chilling. Maybe I'll finally work on that game I wanted to. And I know, people are going to say "it's a competitive market, you need to compete and show that you're passionate!" Do we require doctors to operate on themselves at home? Do we require mechanical engineers to spend half their free time designing machinery at home? Do we require naval engineers to build boats in their free time?
Really appreciate the insight given in this video. I've always been more of a lurker when doing anything online but I will begin to speak out more starting with this comment. Part of it is fear as I often feel unknowledgeable and always want to avoid spreading misinformation or avoid getting judged for making mistakes. I've always told myself I would start being more active once I finish my degree or land my first job but this made me realize that strategy is no longer viable.
I had a long and successful career in tech whilst NOT being very social .. more of a pushy loner. However I could ship reliable systems, on-time, every time. I didn't network - BUT - I appeared on executive search / headhunters radar from the age of around 25, so I never needed to respond to job adverts. Once inside a firm I would be promoted rapidly - and even could manage staff, albeit in a cold, technical way. My final tech role was in the CEO's 12-person team of a large high tech. The takeaway : maybe networking etc is not so vital if you are capable and productive, as long as you get noticed by headhunters and senior managers.
Most of this makes sense, but is also specific to the region and the web, maybe even only frontend jobs and startups and some bigtech departments. There's plenty of companies and departments where they prefer people who do the job just for the sake of the job then do photography, watch movies etc, because they work on and rely on bunch of legacy systems, and they don't want 'enthusiasts' who are not going to be happy/satisfied with the job and will leave the first chance they get. This is especially inconvenient because of the 'slowing down' part. They give you the opportunity and the education only so you would leave to work with the newest hyped tech, library, framework or whatever.
For all those saying you should be able to pursue other goals in life outside of work: it doesn't appear that Theo said you can't. It's a false dichotomy to believe you either spend all your free time writing code or you spend none of it. I think his point is that some people like to talk about computer stuff with friends or online when they have a chance and this shows passion. Passion can be the thing that makes one candidate stand out if the other skills are relatively equal. I personall yget disappointed when I mention something I found interesting, such as about functional programming or whatever, and another *professional developer* dismisses my enthusiasm because "leave work at work." It would be one thing if I asked someone to debug my code in their free time or something truly work related, but I'm talking about as a discussion topic while sharing a beer amidst joking and talking about life in general. I agree that if someone hates programming so much that they don't even want to discuss general concepts, their just-do-enough attitude will probable become apparent in their quality of work (just because it runs now doesn't mean it's not tech debt later). It doesn't mean you can't enjoy other things in life and focus on taking care of your family. But I find it's easy to see which devs are passionate and which would not practice the craft at all unless they received money for it, and I would feel safer hiring the passionate one to avoid the risk of someone putting in the minimal effort.
I just graduated University and I was really good friends with are career coordinator. She helps people get jobs still till this day, I think the main thing is you can’t be afraid to network and put yourself out their, you gotta build the apps the friendships the relationships all of that. You may not even end up in a technical role at the end of the day, you may be really good at something like product research or selling and explaining technical products don’t pigeon whole yourself in
I’ve got a fiancée, and a small family, and that’s a commitment and part of my life that I’m not willing to sacrifice any part of, and it feels like the bar to break into this industry keeps getting pushed higher and further away, and I spend my free time researching different languages, and building projects, be size I really do love doing it, but sometimes it feels like I need to be spending 30+ hours/week to make any real headway, which isn’t feasible for maintaining a healthy balance Meanwhile I’m doing school part time to get my degree, and working full time to pay bills Usually, I just end up feeling like Sisyphus AND the mountain somehow keeps getting taller
Two friends of mine managed to get a Middle+ jobs as second year bachelor students (not even CS degree) by lying in their CVs about their age, work experience but successfully getting through all tech interviews. If this is possible, there's something wrong with the hiring experience. Even a Junior position requires over a year of experience, I don't see how it is possible to get any position after college without lying to pass the very first filters.
I don't support the idea of employment through networking. It's too unpredictable and feels like nepotism. I have worked with people hired from networking. I am not sure if they deserved the job. But I can be wrong.
Hey Theo, can you make a video about how you became a guy, who was pulled into the lagging behind projects to save them with the examples/stories how you managed to turn those projects around? That would be very interesting video for me.
my tip: try to get into IT first, usually much easier to get into with no experince and try to leverge yourself up from there. tbh it also pays pretty good these days.
I was looking for work for nearly 4 years but instead decided to save whatever sanity was left and go do something else. Final exams are coming up and probably within 2 weeks, I'll be annoying people on the road in a lorry.
Also. If you guys need something that is dev adjacent and where getting jobs is slightly easier (to my knowledge) then check out chip design. The entry level is approachable with some gumption. Buing a hobby FPGA and playing around with Verilog is really fun too. The only issue is the synthesis tools. They are less than ergonomic. Getting a bunch of new devs on board would be lovely.
I think this video is great for understanding networking. In tech for a long while I always was confused on how to properly network. I tried LinkedIn and commenting there to build a network. I started in UX Design and I find the communities are so different to devs. Perhaps they mostly do it for the money but they don't talk enough about their projects. Work on open source projects and talk about their craft. This video half of it was a networking 101. Maybe its something simple but I gained insight on it and was really helpful
What really grinds my gears are those that don't care. When I was in school a few years ago, the amount of CS students who didn't care, didn't show up to class, tried cheating (which is now even worse from GPT models), disgusted me. Fortunately, for those that were the complete opposite, the nerds always asking and answering questions in class and going above and beyond on assignments gave me a handful of trustworthy CS friends
multiple people consistently placed higher than me and passed more assignments in engineering classes because they cheated and I didn't. now it appears that people who use LLMs to fabricate resumes and CVs will get jobs that I don't because I never lie on my resume.
So, what about someone wanting to transition into tech from a different field? Seems like we're talking about people who have been always in the tech space, but what about someone who hasn't yet held an explicit "dev" position? I've held the same position at a neuroscience software company for 8 years, and in that time, my role has changed from 100% support to 50% support and 50% dev. I've gained a TON of experience in sailing the unruly seas of big data storage and access, most of it from the perspective of "how do I actually use this 600GB image". Do I have any hope at all of getting a position where my role is mostly (if not entirely) dev work?
I am a senior Developer Without a degree and done a lot of good work and build a lot of hard core POC. last month I got laid of despite being the top contributor, Now facing ghosted after technical and HR rounds. The time is pretty bad for me while in the job I was getting a lot of recruter calls but now bairly someone calling me.
The downside of being useful/high profile on a tech sub is that you will attract lots of negative loser trolls attacking or down-voting your posts. After a few months of this, I usually leave the forum/sub to nurse my battle scars.
Thanks theo! I completed a FAANG internship in September and just haven’t been able to get a job since in UK. I am also an introvert and have tried to connect with people at meetups but always feel too shy to talk.
Not gonna lie as a creative designer, who only dabbled in CSS in HTML in the past, but using cline and these other tools is like having a personal developer in my back pocket. I kind of feel like a fake when I’m saying I made this product but at the same time I had to think through the process and figure out what I was making to begin with an AI code doesn’t look great the first time at least UI doesn’t.
Consider myself privileged, full time work from home developer along with my own growing business. I have never had to do an interview for a developer job, thank f@#%k for that, because I would never get hired.
19:03 I love this so much. I made a great connection with a whole community of devs from India just by following a video, and I love those guys. I also only made a few real connections at my last job because these were not things I thought about, and I didn't really leverage my connections to gain access to communities. Everyone is a potential key to a network of engineers and employers, and the best part is that you can really get that benefit just by not being a dick and thinking about these connections. Like, just be a pleasant person to work with and do your job well. Which is why I will say, one thing you didn't reinforce enough here was that when you DO get a job, be thinking about your next one constructively and *make connections with your team*, because you never know when your next opportunity will strike, or when the next round of changes make you unable or unwilling to keep working there. As many of them as you can, all the time. Keep doing that every day. It pays off many, many times over.
It's not a gamble for the company. It's a gamble to not pick me. If you don't pick me I'm gone from the market for 10 years. Just employ people for a month and see how it goes. Especially if your salary is not competitive.
What you're describing is temp-to-hire. There are some companies that hire temp workers through an agency and evaluate if they want to hire them permanently after the contract is up, usually a few weeks to a few months. I'm not sure what kind of jobs you've worked but I can't think of many that pay above minimum wage where someone can meaningfully wrap their heads around the position within a month. It's a big waste of resources to train someone for 4-6 months to see if they can potentially do a job well if the company doesn't have high confidence that the new hire can do the job. Onboarding requires a lot of upfront resources for most companies. Current employees have to take time to show them the ropes, training material and spaced will be utilized, IT and HR have to do a bunch of prep and follow up, and managers/team leads need to create projects or other more closely supervised work to transition the new hire to real work. Most companies just can't afford to give people a chance and see how it goes. And then guess what? When someone is fired that's still more work! Transitioning them off of projects, recouping the technology, removing all their security, other IT and HR things... how much work could your existing employees have done while they were getting this person trained, not getting good results, and then removing them? Hiring someone good would have been a better investment, but if there wasn't a nearly guaranteed good hire, the better option is to not bother hiring anyone at all.
Based on the storm on Twitter today, this take on jobs is way better than Elon's saying, "There aren't enough engineers; we should just import them on H1-Bs." I knew I would compete with the "AI" generated resumes and whatnot, and I am annoyed that employers do not take the time to at least look over my 100% none AI resume. I plan on public building a set of projects in 2025 partly to build some community, partly to get them off my stack of ideas, and partly because my SAS project isn't progressing as I hoped, so I want another outlet for building things.
Indeed it’s very brutal , I’m a SWE with 2 years of experience and it’s really tough to land another role. Low balls everywhere, if I won’t take the offer, hundreds more are willing to do it for lower pay. 😢
Managers play a key role, they should convey the expectation they want to see from junior devs. If managers don't care, even if junior devs become good, they might become unnoticed. Become good, make sure people around you know you are becoming good, but be careful if you fake it, people will know.
Great piece of content man. I wonder why you didn't add the clip where you talked to hujiro on your stream for getting him hired. I hope you're not worried about people getting the wrong message with that. It would've been nice validator for your words. Either way, gonna binge watch your vids and roam in your streams!
Not saying I’m a person who doesn’t care but a job is a job if only want to code at work I don’t think that should be a bad thing. You should be able to do your job and then go home and do something else that you like
Ive been looking for work as Senior Full-Stack, since company branch closure. 9 months, and nothing. All ive ever done is come in, and work with others, learn, teach, and effectively fix broken systems with key refactors for the increased load expected in the future. I revise and memorise stuff every day, work on my own projects, interview frequently, but soon there won't be money left for a roof over my family. Hopefully something in the new year, or within the next 6 months, or I'll be forced to go into some single accomodation and leave my partner so she can claim benefits to afford our baby.
same here, i have been unemployed for more than 1 year, i'm lucky because i don't have kids and i can still live with my parents, but i think the software dev market is done for me, it's better if i try another career path
Are you recieving any state unemployed or other assistance? There are a lot of programs available to help people navigate these temporary situations, especially if they're trying to return to work and are supporting families.
I don't know if it's my autism or what, but whenever I try to interact about software developing in different places, I end up feeling like no one cares. That's why lately I don't make networking (I have been unemployed for a year, after eleven years in field)
"The ones who only came in for money, that aren't spending their spare time watching videos on my channel, ..., they are absolutely fucked." That statement made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
The thing about trust is that even if you have it a ton no one today will risk recommending you. Also when you'll pour yourself into making company better you're getting in exchange loss of this reputation by destroying your mental. There is no solution until prople will respect themselves
If your takeaway from this video is "Theo said you should boost his engagement in order to get a job" - I am confident there is no advice that will fix your inability to get a job
yeah you can tell who in the comments is out there failing the soft skills check
Spot on lmao
People focused too much on the phrase "my channel": I do believe that Theo's comment about "watching videos on *my* channel" serves two purposes: 1) it exemplifies the point that people who are truly passionate about tech will voluntarily learn, experiment and search out similar people whereas many professional-only devs do the minimum effort for money only; 2) it promotes his own channel which is the complaint of many in the comments. But let's agree that it's not unfair for him to promote his channel and personal business like most UA-camrs do. He never mentioned watching *only* his channel so the logical points he's making are not invalidated
You are exactly right: all the people who gave you negative feedback have "inability to get a job", LOL.
@@proosee The "feedback" comes from a place of completely missing the point of the video
TLDR: nepotism and networking
It’s like before the internet
Frankly, it’s always been that way. Even when getting hired was far easier, those avenues were still being used. But now it seems that has become even more essential.
ya kinda true, i got my first job recently through a dude ive known since age 10, but also i grinded my face off during the internship to prove myself. But, I have a suspicion that he opened up a second internship slot just for me, idk.
@@hemiphillips786 no it wasn't, I literally got my first developer job just by walking through the doors and talking to complete strangers.
Honestly such a reductive take. If you're in the position of hiring, your hires reflect strongly on your own competency. You need to be able to explain to your boss why the person you want to give an offer to will deliver more value than what they cost. If you can trust that the person is going to be competent, show up, and work hard at their job, that's a huge weight off of your shoulders. Its such a higher expected value on your hiring from the perspective of the hiring manager, which will put you at the front of the line.
This is like telling a chef who can't find a job, to start cooking in his free time, invite people over for dinner, showcase his food online etc. just so that when one of those people he/she has interacted with opens a restaurant or knows someone who did, they can recommend him/her for the job. Not that I'm saying it's a bad advice, everything you've said would help people find a job, but there is something fundamentally wrong if people start feeling compelled to spend their free time on their profession to get a job that already takes more than half of their awake time. Most people watching videos like this probably already do that to an extend, however if it's expected to be the norm, there is a problem there.
> if you're just here for the money
Well, as someone who is truly interested in software development and has been doing it since he was 12, I have to say:
- if you are not doing it for the money, companies will take advantage of you and your enthusiasm
- you will burn yourself out
Hanging out in tech communities, learning new things in your free time, writing blog posts can be fun and all in your 20s, but it will take a toll on you, and once you have a family you will have more important things to do in your life, and yes, your job will become something that you are doing "for the money".
I agree that this hiring problem is real, but I don't think that this is the solution for it. This is just another form of competition, sacrificing your lifetime.
I agree. I am in my twenty's and love tech started with LTT and hardware, eventually found my footing in software and now looking for a jr job after collage. I love learning about tech and programming, but hearing people like Theo talk I start to wounder if I'm cut out for this industry. Loving tech is not going to put food in my belly and a roof over my head
but... but... Theo wants me to help him do research in ttv chat for his sponsored videos for free, how can I decline? 😅
bold of you to assume i want a family 😂😂😂 HELL NO
Amen brother 🙏 I’ve been i the industry for 25 years, and I feel this is pretty much spot on
that's true, i used to be enthusiastic until a person from Europe offered me a monthly pay of 250$ per month to revamp code on their java, just cause I'm from a third world country doesn't mean we get paid less than bare minimum, i also offered 5$ per hour alternative and they said it was "too expensive" , i have 5 years of experience btw and juniors get paid at least a min of 1000$ in my country.
As an autistic and really introverted person, I'm just fucked. I have no clue how to connect with people
That's what things like the blog are for. If you can find a way to express yourself, sometimes that can get the point across for you in a way that a conversation can't. You aren't the only person who has this issue and you will run into sympathetic people. Sometimes the hard part is getting them to read your blog or actually look through your github or explore your portfolio site though
My solution was just sufer through underpaid work untill I got expierenced enough that i could charge a fair amount, regardless of how weird clients found me. But ive only ever worked freelance.
Many of us in this industry are introverted or on the spectrum. What's holding you back though is that defeatist attitude
Correct you are.
the point of getting a higher education in CS or a related field was that you would not need to have "connections" and be "extroverted", now it's just too much competition so companies can filter out people based on personality traits or on "connections"
I graduated in june. Was a nightmare trying to get a job. But while applying i made an app and uploaded it to appstore. Once that happened a lot of companies started showing interest in me. And in January I'm starting as an app developer for one of the biggest companies in my country
So inspiring 🎉
Thank you for sharing your experience!
Did you make any announcements ? How did they know?
Good work, Master Skywalker, you are an inspiration to us.
I hope my life changes in the same way after my project launches too. fingers crossed🤞
Yeah, I get it. But I would rather spend my time out of work reading books I care about, watching movies, and having nice and funny conversations with my wife. Does this make me a bad "engineer"? So be it; I don't mind. I am 100% focused on my job for the period you are paying me, but that's it. God forbid, but I would prefer to be unemployed than to spend all my time with people who only care about "tech" (this is so sad; I don't even have words to describe it), just for the sake of "networking." I'm so much more than that, man. I've seen many people on Twitter proudly stating that they don't waste time answering "profiles" with less than a thousand followers or so. I mean... never mind.
If you are actually doing well at your job and building a decent reputation for getting things done…. You are networking.
Most of the recommendations are for people with no experience to fall back on.
I feel the same way.
I go to my job, do the best I am capable of, then go home and not look at code.
I had several home projects, but after work I am too tired for them. If I work on them during the weekend/holidays, I am too tired so when I go back to my job it doesn't go well.
I relax using games, books, movies, spending time with non-coders. I'm so happy I got my job when hiring was easy, I don't think I could launch my career in a time like this. But I am good at my job, so people I used to work with are liable to recommend me.
Perhaps the same can be said about uni or boot camp - just putting in the effort and making a good impression helps. If you impress the teachers, they can recommend you to businesses. If any of the fellow students get a job - they may recommend you in their new team. So it's not hopeless, you don't have to put your life on hold and hustle in social media.
But in the end, most work is in a team. You don't have to like the others, and drink beers after work. You have to get along with them during work hours, and push the project forward.
@@aualexstanfield yeah. i am in this game for almost 10 years now. i have no problem getting interviews. last time i was "laid off" i got a new job in less than a month, but it was not due to my network at all. I think i suck at this "networking" stuff. anyway, good luck to everybody out there getting in the business. just remember that getting a job sometimes is the easy part
@nikolatasev4948 Absolutely. If you are present and doing your best, people will notice. If you are a team member who helps the team finish what it is supposed to finish before 5 p.m., you will be seen. Learning other stuff, be it photography, sports, or whatever will make you a more interesting person. I think it is a mistake to focus 100% on one thing and forget the rest. Life is more than that.
What Theo is trying to say: focus on relationships. That's the key to getting a job in this competitive market.
How it comes off (based on the comments): watch my stream and interact with my content to get a job.
Bottom line is: focus on meaningful relationships and do not feel obligated to interact with Theo (though there is nothing wrong with that should you enjoy it).
You can go to local meet ups, interfact with software bloggers, stay in touch with college buddies etc. Figure out what works for you.
Focusing on brownnosing.
Gotcha.
I don't agree that you need to be living and breathing tech 24/7 to not be fucked in this space anymore. That's not a healthy way to approach it at all.
Networking is the most powerful tool in your arsenal, unfortunately most SWE are not good at that.
I still remember a day where Influencers go like: "oh! don't worry, it'll pass, you'll definitely find a job after 6 month of recession"
I'm probably not gonna be doing CS anymore. I'm glad that I never had to pay tuition, but also angry that the hobby that I've had since I was 12 has become such a nightmare.
If you're passionnate, you shouldn't give up on it. The market is tough, but there will always be opportunities for those who are skilled and that know how to market themselves
@@saidagadiri5262 Nerds aren’t known for their social skills are we?
Don't lose hope. You can always specialize in some niche technology and become a consultant making good money
@@aquilafasciata5781that sounds like good news to me. So what you're saying is, in order to stand out from the rest, I just need basic social skills? Lol good luck y'all
@@saidagadiri5262 That's such a generic advice. It may be true, but it also may not. And there's so many passionate people so that it is nothing special.
Uff, so I need to hang out in a bunch of discord severs, spend hours networking on social media and contribute to unpaid labor to projects. I'm splitting my time between working and doing a masters. I don't think I have the time for it. It also sounds unimaginably dreadful. My job isn't great, but looks like switching isn't an option right now.
Can we stop turning around the bush? I know it is politically incorrect to say it, but at this point someone have to say it.
Honestly, the industry have made too much effort to bring people to tech. Consequences ? Now passionate foxes have to fight with the rest. Supply and demand baby, there is too many of us now, and we have to fight extra hard to get noticed.
You can say "it is not okay to gatekeep" or "everyone should have a chance into becoming a programmer", that's fine. Just don't act surprised when everyone have to fight for the same job.
tech market in russia is amazing tho. i was able to find a job so easy during university and 2 years later I work at Yandex. one of the reasons for this is every tech company left us and opened up many fields for startups / big tech companies to evolve
One thing about having the perspective of an interviewer, or a hiring manager, is you skipped one whole interface the candidates go through, and that is ATS, HRs, or recruiters. As a recent job applicant, I say getting to the first interview is the hardest, and the rest is easy. Anything that helps you get through that first door is a tremendous help. In my country, that is having a LinkedIn. Almost always it's about connections and online-ish presence. Idk how it is wherever you are.
> if you're just here for the money, you wont make it
I always had a problem with this. You see it a lot in the dev space and honestly find it toxic advice. You should contribute but should also unplug. Read books, watch movies, touch grass. You'll go back to coding with a clear head. I have a bad habit of burning myself out because I want to be the best I can be at what I do but doing it constantly can burn you out. Genuine interest is important but always doing the same thing can really hurt you in the long run
You can love computer science and software development without burning yourself out. Moderate how much you contribute and diversify your day with other hobbies. I like to read works of philosophy, politics, and history in my free time. I have also taken time to pick up Spanish, which I have been learning for over four years now.
> if you're just here for the money, you won't make it
> You should contribute but should also unplug
These two statements are not at all mutually exclusive, especially for a dev is who unemployed.
@@DatFarrixyou totally can do both. You work your day job. Do what you can during working hours and set a time to clock off. Burning out and do it 12 hours+ a day is only going to burn you out. I’m doing roughly 9-10 hours a day and it’s burnt me out. It isn’t good advice to just code all the time. It’s bad advice to spend all your time doing anything really
@@broadestsmilerI agree. But people seem to think I’m wrong and it’s all you should do. If you don’t read, especially the philosophy, you are living a black and white life
Back when I was in Uni we use to make fun of "art" students about how they going to end up unemployed. They use to say if you have a nice portfolio you still can find job. I think karma hit me hard because a good portfolio cant even save me from this market.
And answer of the question is it worth it to get IT job in 2025 is what I told them years ago only if you are extremely ambitious about codding(willing to work for free and unable to live a life without codding)
I actually got a great IT job out of college with a creative writing art degree a couple years ago. I worked IT at the colleges I attended the entire time I was ins school, so workstudy was kind of like an internship. Attitude and experience you can spin properly goes a long way. So does strong communication.
Potential employers don't know how qualified and skilled you are if you can't quickly get the picture across. They also often value things like a good attitude, good teamwork and articulation, and trustworthiness.
If you can prove that to an employer, that's often more valuable than skills that you can easily learn. You can't usually teach someone to be charming and trustworthy. Impress employers and you'll find success.
Fight the loneliness… I though we are talking about dev work, why do you hit me with the feels.
After a year and over 700 applications, I finally got my first a remote full-stack job! Im soooooooooo relieved now 😃
Wow😮 Awesome Man, Could you please provide your Linkedin, I want yo connect!
So you keep counting?
I'm in my 50s and have been a professional developer for 26 years. I've been looking for a job for 15 months and I'm wondering if I'd be better off six feet under.
=( big bro, no.
This feels like a big "join my discord" but yes definitely great to see someone talk about this, I have 4 years of exp with fullstack and was just getting ignored straight up with all roles I've been applying to. Guess I need to make friends.
I agree, it was kinda annoying but he's actually not wrong with any of the things about making ourselves more sociable. The reason is bc i know people who i would refer 100% if i had a job and i hope some will do the same for me bc they think I'm good. It's all trust based, it's a trust based society and it's definitely showing more and more in tech jobs
Reminder:
- The community around Theo is not unique. There are thousands of online communities that you can be part of, which can help you find employment or become more employable.
- Being friendly and willing to learn/adapt is by far the most trait when you're new in the field. If a company is hiring a junior, they know they'll have to mold/upskill you, and while having existing knowledge is definitely a plus, making a good first impression and showing a willingness to learn is nearly always more important. As Theo said, juniors are hired for their potential to grow, so show them that you've got that potential.
- "The job market" doesn't exist. There are tens of thousands of job markets all over the world, and what is important in one place can be irrelevant in another. Silicon valley jobs have very different values from what you'll find in a medium-sized town in central Europe. If you want a job in your local area, the values of the FAANG companies are likely completely irrelevant to you.
Discord is another "fun Friday". If you don't participate, you don't get a promotion. So, in a way, an employee should "self-slave" after office.
Move to the developing world. Here in South Africa we are always looking for good software engineers.
08:10 There's an angle of this issue you're not mentioning... this whole thing with people using AI to apply for jobs happened because recruiters were using AI to filter candidates and doing a sloppy job at it, setting bad filters, not doing due diligence on the results to check if good candidates were left out, etc.
7:00 disagree. That's a really dumb way of looking at it. If you teach a junior how to do it, they retain it. And you don't need to teach them how to do it again NEXT time. With any AI, you'll have to teach them again and again the exact same thing every single time.
hs junior (17 year old) here, my programming teacher (who I'm helping build his classes) and some of my more tech savvy classmates in my 2 programming classes (web dev and ap csp) often use ChatGPT and other ai's to do all of their programs, I'm one of few that actually code. ChatGPT has taken over so much that in the first computer sci class the teacher has a unit completely for using ChatGPT, and in web dev we write school news articles using ChatGPT, we don't get them from journalism, its all ai. I'm one of few that use ChatGPT as a tool not a programmer. (I learned js/ts because even to generate a simple unix timestamp GPT couldn't, at least not well. This channel also helped push me to learning code as much as I have.)
I really can't relate to people using AI to do the work for them. I enjoy the learning process. Using AI robs a person of that enjoyment.
i'm introvert , shy and a silent person , i joined a bootcamp and i worked hard after but i have no connections ..... when i learn new things i get excited and i talk about it to my 'non tech friends' , some just don't care and some listen but they can't engage ............ i want to try to post on linkedin or in twitter but i know i'm still noob and the stuff i share maybe wrong or silly
.........
for now i built a portfolio and i'm working on a blog to document what i learnt ...... to be honest if i can land a job in the future or no, i will most likely complete coding and learning cause i enjoy this stuff
bootcampers are not real dev bro
You can just share literally what you did. The fact you went to the bootcamp, what you learned in it, how you tried to build it, challenges you encountered, how you solved them, and what you learned from solving them.
That is gold.
Making a good impression in bootcamp can build connections. You don't have to drink beers with the others. But make conversation, help out others who are struggling.
Impressing the teacher or the other students can help you out a lot in the long run.
If you have a job, put every penny you can towards investments outside of tech and build up some fk you budget to weather this shit storm that is only getting worse.
I made an app that to this day gets 1,000 daily active users, and i can’t even get an interview, even with my networking that landed me one interview they wanted more experience for an intro position…
what app man
Where are you located? Do you have a CS Degree?
imagine telling a plummer the only way to find new jobs is to keep working 24h and talking to other plummers
it's about time tech companies stop playing the victmim on hiring and work out those 1000s resumes they get
This is one of the realest videos out there. One addition is don’t engage for the sake of engaging, e.g. don’t engage cuz Theo said it will help u get a job but rather because u have that type of drive and love for CS/building as if u don’t this might not be the right field for you.
Fyi this is mostly only in USA.
In Europe as well Germany and Sweden
I'm wondering about senior engineers in a very shitty job that want to move on but can't as their entire life and hours get consumed by the job they hate forget applying or networking.
How do people like that even move on other than somehow hope they get paid off... Can't get fired of you have a family
That's what unemployment is supposed to be for; weathering the transition between jobs. Sometimes you can request a lateral move in the company and work in a department that might be better. Sometimes you just have to live frugally for a while, build up savings, and then take a chance.
Hilarious how it was AI that triggered the exodus back to human networking.
Monke together - strong
Its been tough for 2 years now, most money is going investing in new small companies, and these companies is hiring devs from outside US and EU. I even tried to apply in Finland, they told me they have enough devs in Finland, in Norway I had no luck to be invited to any meetings, so I'm back to apply in the country I live in, each company is getting around 150 applications as minimum.
I can't even imagine the struggle as a junior, seeing as I spent a year and a half unemployed with 30 years of broad experience. Hundreds of applications to get three first interviews in all that time.
It's wild. I also think DEI's been a huge contributor to this, because applicants are being prioritized for their immutable traits rather than experience. Companies receiving grants or tax cuts for checking those boxes is a better financial incentive than hiring top talent.
This is a very American way of looking at things. There is more to life then being a tech bro. 🙏
The hardest part of a dev career is starting one. After about 100 applications with a professionally drafted resume and CV, bombing 2 white-board interviews, and finally giving up and taking non-dev IT work for a while, a recruiter I connected with early called me back about a year later and put me in front of a couple of devs at a local startup. I had kept up some of my side projects and walked them through some of the challenges I was working with. I had an offer that week. 3 years later I am a senior dev. So if I can offer advice to job hunters, it is 1 - time box how much job-board hunting you do. Most of those are low quality or downright fake listings, and a poor use of your time. 2 - the recruiter connections can and will pay off over time. 3 - take side work if necessary because this industry goes through cycles and we are at the low end of the sine wave right now. 4 - keep learning and pushing yourself with challenging projects. Do these and time becomes your ally.
A few people in the comment section need to generalize a little more. Theo is talking about his community because _that's what he knows_. Obviously, you can take the lesson and be engaged in other communities. The key here is engaging with people. It's a roundabout way of doing what professionals in corporate have always done: networking. Except in tech we can network around stuff that we actually care about.
Rant aside, I do have a few other considerations:
1) Something about AI that Theo didn't mention in the video is how, macroeconomically, the venture capital has shifted from engineering to AI. So that's a niche market inside tech that might have different results in 2024/2025 from, say, web dev.
2) I really liked the "other people care?" moment. I have felt like that many times. I've been trying to fight this feeling myself, had many ideas of blog posts of niche stuff that I never wrote because I never thought anybody would give a flying rat's ass about it (probably rightfully). But I guess writing them anyway is a way to build your personal brand.
3) I'm a living example of how having a friend inside can help tons... I have gotten my last two jobs through referrals of people who trusted me deeply. Once inside, though, don't lose that trust! Keep delivering the results that made you trustworthy in the first place.
Since the main point is contribute to communities to build trust, I wanted to share some other tech communities on youtube (besides Theo's) that I like in no particular order. Maybe you'll resonate with some of their stuff
General CS:
- www.youtube.com/@freecodecamp
- www.youtube.com/@typecraft_dev
- www.youtube.com/@Fireship
- www.youtube.com/@TwoMinutePapers
- www.youtube.com/@coderized
Web Dev
- ua-cam.com/users/alifeengineered
- www.youtube.com/@DavidOndrej
- www.youtube.com/@mattpocockuk
- www.youtube.com/@awesome-coding
- www.youtube.com/@Steve8708
- www.youtube.com/@WebDevCody
Hacking:
- www.youtube.com/@NetworkChuck
Cool CS Projects:
- www.youtube.com/@joshuabird333
Startups:
- www.youtube.com/@ycombinator
- www.youtube.com/@TheBrowserCompany
- www.youtube.com/@convex-dev
- www.youtube.com/@Supabase
AI:
- www.youtube.com/@code4AI
- www.youtube.com/@aiexplained-official
- www.youtube.com/@OpenAI
- www.youtube.com/@ColeMedin
- www.youtube.com/@LangChain
- www.youtube.com/@matthew_berman
- www.youtube.com/@AIJasonZ
Thanks Theo! I definitely needed to hear this. I have been out of a job for 3 months now and I honestly have no clue how I’m going to get my next role. I’m kind of scared to talk to people, coupled that with this weird thing I have where I don’t wanna take up space and not be seen, it’s probably the worst combination. Even writing this post kind of freaks me out. But I guess I’m writing it because I do feel inspired to be seen and to interact with people and as an acknowledgment that “I hear you” and I kinda know what I need to change in me. Thanks once again
One of my colleagues is a gret developer who also happens to spend all of his free time building apps and games. I admire him a lot, but at the same time would rather have a life outside of dev. He never travels, never hikes, has almost no friends. He's a great guy but his whole life is spent in his basement coding away at stuff. I think he's happy doing that, but I'd honestly unlive myself if that was my life.
He is happy, this is only thing that matters.
I graduate in May. This news makes me very excited and doesn’t give me anxiety at all.
I don’t usually agree with everything that Theo says, but this video, he nailed it!
your thumbnail with the cardboard sign is literally where im at rn with 20 years of experience
😰😰😨
I just love programming, webdev at day and doing gamejams at night, throw in some music and creative hobbies and you are golden.
So basically, it's hopeless and I should give up.
pretty much, 7 years ago software developent had very little competition, now it's the opposite, there is a ton of competition and it's just not worth the efford anymore
Yeah. I’m out. Going into the trades instead, this shit is not worth it
@@igoralmeida9136 yeah well these companies worked hard on promoting it. "It's the future" etc.
If that's your attitude, then yes, you do lose to everyone trying harder than you.
People who try, put themselves out there, and show initiative are the ones that get noticed by employers. They don't want to hire someone who has resigned to failure. You need to change your attitude and outlook if you want to succeed. Confidence and determination go a long way in making your goals happen.
Get good or get out
How many your videos must I watch to get a job, daddy?
Wow! This is the best video about getting a dev job. I am going to start blogging and writing down solutions. Also, will help persons online. thanks Theo!
My main consern lately that the hiring process was brought into tech by the humanities. They took all the theory on human open and extroverted interaction and brought it to most "sociopathic" people and most "alone" industry. Then the HR interviewer asks questions about "team dynamics" expecting coherent answers from guys who are introverted by nature and hyper-interested in tech.
IMHO that is just counterproductive. Most of us just hack at the workbench until we hit the solution and are dismissed as "your skills are great, but we are advancing with more suitable candidates"
"The hiring process in the tech industry appears to be heavily influenced by frameworks rooted in the humanities, particularly those emphasizing extroverted interaction and social dynamics. This often creates a mismatch, as HR professionals may prioritize attributes such as verbal articulation of 'team dynamics' over technical expertise. Many tech professionals, who are naturally introverted and thrive through independent problem-solving, find this approach misaligned with their strengths. Despite demonstrating exceptional skills, they frequently encounter responses like, 'Your abilities are impressive, but we’ve decided to proceed with other candidates,' which suggests a systemic undervaluation of the diverse ways individuals contribute within the tech sector."
Have you worked in a major software company? The devs, QA staff, and UX engineers are constantly communicating to each other, working in teams, and using those soft, collaborative skills to forward projects. At least that's been my experience. It didn't matter if someone was really technically competent if they couldn't work with others, problem solve in coordination with others, or maintain trustworthy relationships with colleagues. People who were bad to work with rarely stayed. People who couldn't accept direction, compromise, or lead when necessary never stayed.
I'm not saying it's not possible for introverted devs to be good at their job -- I know many who are! But they still posses enough collaborative and communicative skills to meet the challenges their teams and their apps face. They are still pleasant people to work with and their perspective isn't difficult to respect or adjust to.
Some work environments are going to be more collaboration intensive than others and successful (and larger) employers know from experience what candidates work at their company. Training is a big investment. The sharing of company knowledge and data is a big risk. They have to minimize hiring people who fail to thrive in a strongly collaborative environment if that's how they work.
If someone needs to be independent, they need to find an employer who is okay with that, do self-employment/solo dev work, or try something else.
@@watsonwrote "introverted" doesn't mean you can't communicate about anything at all (communicating about a specific subject/task is usually not hard), it means that someone has difficulties trying to meet, communicate and find common ground with complete strangers.
How do you deal with the fact that Sr Engineers will, at some point, retire or leave? Even with the seeming infinite number of Sr Engineers available, companies will eventually want to have Jrs who actually have knowledge of the codebase who they can promote or train a bit more.
They dont care. Quarterly profits are all that matters.
They hire offshore devs, Elon and Vivek has said that's their goal, screwing you over
their hope is to replace the sr devs with AI
@@naughtiousmaximus7853 Literally this. Ive seen this throughout my job search and in the companies Ive been to. They seem to be completely ignorant towards the possibility of their seniors leaving.
@@igoralmeida9136well they're in for a rude awakening then
I've given up on finding internships while studying. I cannot junggle 8-12 hours (internships do not have defined hours, go figure) of work with university in a single day. Additionally, companies want to see your dedication, which I just can't give as a student.
So for this winter, I decided to get a job at McDonald's. So far, I've learned quite a bit about teamwork - mostly because university group projects are all-round horrible. At the same time, I'm getting paid the full wage even during training, which is such an amazing experience compared to the free internships I've been to.
We will have a mandatory internship during the summer at a company partnering with my university, so I'll just wait till then. The last semester has kinda killed my passion to code, so I'm just chilling. Maybe I'll finally work on that game I wanted to.
And I know, people are going to say "it's a competitive market, you need to compete and show that you're passionate!" Do we require doctors to operate on themselves at home? Do we require mechanical engineers to spend half their free time designing machinery at home? Do we require naval engineers to build boats in their free time?
Really appreciate the insight given in this video. I've always been more of a lurker when doing anything online but I will begin to speak out more starting with this comment. Part of it is fear as I often feel unknowledgeable and always want to avoid spreading misinformation or avoid getting judged for making mistakes. I've always told myself I would start being more active once I finish my degree or land my first job but this made me realize that strategy is no longer viable.
I had a long and successful career in tech whilst NOT being very social .. more of a pushy loner.
However I could ship reliable systems, on-time, every time.
I didn't network - BUT - I appeared on executive search / headhunters radar from the age of around 25, so I never needed to respond to job adverts.
Once inside a firm I would be promoted rapidly - and even could manage staff, albeit in a cold, technical way.
My final tech role was in the CEO's 12-person team of a large high tech.
The takeaway : maybe networking etc is not so vital if you are capable and productive, as long as you get noticed by headhunters and senior managers.
Most of this makes sense, but is also specific to the region and the web, maybe even only frontend jobs and startups and some bigtech departments. There's plenty of companies and departments where they prefer people who do the job just for the sake of the job then do photography, watch movies etc, because they work on and rely on bunch of legacy systems, and they don't want 'enthusiasts' who are not going to be happy/satisfied with the job and will leave the first chance they get. This is especially inconvenient because of the 'slowing down' part. They give you the opportunity and the education only so you would leave to work with the newest hyped tech, library, framework or whatever.
For all those saying you should be able to pursue other goals in life outside of work: it doesn't appear that Theo said you can't. It's a false dichotomy to believe you either spend all your free time writing code or you spend none of it. I think his point is that some people like to talk about computer stuff with friends or online when they have a chance and this shows passion. Passion can be the thing that makes one candidate stand out if the other skills are relatively equal.
I personall yget disappointed when I mention something I found interesting, such as about functional programming or whatever, and another *professional developer* dismisses my enthusiasm because "leave work at work." It would be one thing if I asked someone to debug my code in their free time or something truly work related, but I'm talking about as a discussion topic while sharing a beer amidst joking and talking about life in general. I agree that if someone hates programming so much that they don't even want to discuss general concepts, their just-do-enough attitude will probable become apparent in their quality of work (just because it runs now doesn't mean it's not tech debt later).
It doesn't mean you can't enjoy other things in life and focus on taking care of your family. But I find it's easy to see which devs are passionate and which would not practice the craft at all unless they received money for it, and I would feel safer hiring the passionate one to avoid the risk of someone putting in the minimal effort.
I have the job I have now clearly because I love what I do, and this channel helped me when flame was fading ❤
am I the only person who watches these videos but are slightly into tech as a hobby and have a completely different career path
I just graduated University and I was really good friends with are career coordinator. She helps people get jobs still till this day, I think the main thing is you can’t be afraid to network and put yourself out their, you gotta build the apps the friendships the relationships all of that. You may not even end up in a technical role at the end of the day, you may be really good at something like product research or selling and explaining technical products don’t pigeon whole yourself in
"People you have worked with" - what people if you are looking for junior role and just graduated college?
I’ve got a fiancée, and a small family, and that’s a commitment and part of my life that I’m not willing to sacrifice any part of, and it feels like the bar to break into this industry keeps getting pushed higher and further away, and I spend my free time researching different languages, and building projects, be size I really do love doing it, but sometimes it feels like I need to be spending 30+ hours/week to make any real headway, which isn’t feasible for maintaining a healthy balance
Meanwhile I’m doing school part time to get my degree, and working full time to pay bills
Usually, I just end up feeling like Sisyphus AND the mountain somehow keeps getting taller
Thank you for telling the truth unlike many other devs that are trying to sell another react course to help newbies make $100k
Hahaha, job in 2025... I'm turning 25 and joining army. So do not cry guys, always can be worse)))
Good luck
Two friends of mine managed to get a Middle+ jobs as second year bachelor students (not even CS degree) by lying in their CVs about their age, work experience but successfully getting through all tech interviews. If this is possible, there's something wrong with the hiring experience.
Even a Junior position requires over a year of experience, I don't see how it is possible to get any position after college without lying to pass the very first filters.
I don't support the idea of employment through networking. It's too unpredictable and feels like nepotism. I have worked with people hired from networking. I am not sure if they deserved the job. But I can be wrong.
it *is* nepotism
Hey Theo, can you make a video about how you became a guy, who was pulled into the lagging behind projects to save them with the examples/stories how you managed to turn those projects around? That would be very interesting video for me.
Bump
my tip: try to get into IT first, usually much easier to get into with no experince and try to leverge yourself up from there. tbh it also pays pretty good these days.
Melkey missed opportunity to be todays's sponsor with his Resume AI thing xD
I was looking for work for nearly 4 years but instead decided to save whatever sanity was left and go do something else.
Final exams are coming up and probably within 2 weeks, I'll be annoying people on the road in a lorry.
If H1B’s get ramped up like certain people have been suggesting you will see a lot more jobs slashed
THANK YOU!!! I needed to hear this because there were missing things I didn't get until you broke it down. Thanks.
"Be sincerely interested in others" Dale Carnegie
Hard to care when I simply don't like you.
Also. If you guys need something that is dev adjacent and where getting jobs is slightly easier (to my knowledge) then check out chip design.
The entry level is approachable with some gumption. Buing a hobby FPGA and playing around with Verilog is really fun too.
The only issue is the synthesis tools. They are less than ergonomic. Getting a bunch of new devs on board would be lovely.
I think this video is great for understanding networking. In tech for a long while I always was confused on how to properly network. I tried LinkedIn and commenting there to build a network. I started in UX Design and I find the communities are so different to devs. Perhaps they mostly do it for the money but they don't talk enough about their projects. Work on open source projects and talk about their craft. This video half of it was a networking 101. Maybe its something simple but I gained insight on it and was really helpful
This is the first and insightful video for junior dev, also I would advise junior dev to own some project "open source" and maintain it.
What really grinds my gears are those that don't care. When I was in school a few years ago, the amount of CS students who didn't care, didn't show up to class, tried cheating (which is now even worse from GPT models), disgusted me. Fortunately, for those that were the complete opposite, the nerds always asking and answering questions in class and going above and beyond on assignments gave me a handful of trustworthy CS friends
multiple people consistently placed higher than me and passed more assignments in engineering classes because they cheated and I didn't. now it appears that people who use LLMs to fabricate resumes and CVs will get jobs that I don't because I never lie on my resume.
At this point networking is going to help a lot, build trust, build meaningful connections with people.
Very very helpful brother
Thank you so much for all the tips and advices
So, what about someone wanting to transition into tech from a different field? Seems like we're talking about people who have been always in the tech space, but what about someone who hasn't yet held an explicit "dev" position? I've held the same position at a neuroscience software company for 8 years, and in that time, my role has changed from 100% support to 50% support and 50% dev. I've gained a TON of experience in sailing the unruly seas of big data storage and access, most of it from the perspective of "how do I actually use this 600GB image". Do I have any hope at all of getting a position where my role is mostly (if not entirely) dev work?
I've been watching since late 2022. It doesnt get better. Its not enough to "be around" you have to bug people about helping you get a job.
I am a senior Developer Without a degree and done a lot of good work and build a lot of hard core POC. last month I got laid of despite being the top contributor,
Now facing ghosted after technical and HR rounds. The time is pretty bad for me while in the job I was getting a lot of recruter calls but now bairly someone calling me.
The downside of being useful/high profile on a tech sub is that you will attract lots of negative loser trolls attacking or down-voting your posts.
After a few months of this, I usually leave the forum/sub to nurse my battle scars.
This vid is gonna be huge for me
Less than 30 seconds in so far
Thanks lil bro keep us posted
Honored to be called lil bro, I’m a big SST fan
Vid was great btw Theo :))
Thanks theo! I completed a FAANG internship in September and just haven’t been able to get a job since in UK. I am also an introvert and have tried to connect with people at meetups but always feel too shy to talk.
Not gonna lie as a creative designer, who only dabbled in CSS in HTML in the past, but using cline and these other tools is like having a personal developer in my back pocket. I kind of feel like a fake when I’m saying I made this product but at the same time I had to think through the process and figure out what I was making to begin with an AI code doesn’t look great the first time at least UI doesn’t.
Consider myself privileged, full time work from home developer along with my own growing business.
I have never had to do an interview for a developer job, thank f@#%k for that, because I would never get hired.
19:03 I love this so much. I made a great connection with a whole community of devs from India just by following a video, and I love those guys. I also only made a few real connections at my last job because these were not things I thought about, and I didn't really leverage my connections to gain access to communities. Everyone is a potential key to a network of engineers and employers, and the best part is that you can really get that benefit just by not being a dick and thinking about these connections. Like, just be a pleasant person to work with and do your job well.
Which is why I will say, one thing you didn't reinforce enough here was that when you DO get a job, be thinking about your next one constructively and *make connections with your team*, because you never know when your next opportunity will strike, or when the next round of changes make you unable or unwilling to keep working there. As many of them as you can, all the time. Keep doing that every day. It pays off many, many times over.
It's not a gamble for the company. It's a gamble to not pick me. If you don't pick me I'm gone from the market for 10 years. Just employ people for a month and see how it goes. Especially if your salary is not competitive.
What you're describing is temp-to-hire. There are some companies that hire temp workers through an agency and evaluate if they want to hire them permanently after the contract is up, usually a few weeks to a few months.
I'm not sure what kind of jobs you've worked but I can't think of many that pay above minimum wage where someone can meaningfully wrap their heads around the position within a month. It's a big waste of resources to train someone for 4-6 months to see if they can potentially do a job well if the company doesn't have high confidence that the new hire can do the job.
Onboarding requires a lot of upfront resources for most companies. Current employees have to take time to show them the ropes, training material and spaced will be utilized, IT and HR have to do a bunch of prep and follow up, and managers/team leads need to create projects or other more closely supervised work to transition the new hire to real work.
Most companies just can't afford to give people a chance and see how it goes.
And then guess what? When someone is fired that's still more work! Transitioning them off of projects, recouping the technology, removing all their security, other IT and HR things... how much work could your existing employees have done while they were getting this person trained, not getting good results, and then removing them? Hiring someone good would have been a better investment, but if there wasn't a nearly guaranteed good hire, the better option is to not bother hiring anyone at all.
Based on the storm on Twitter today, this take on jobs is way better than Elon's saying, "There aren't enough engineers; we should just import them on H1-Bs." I knew I would compete with the "AI" generated resumes and whatnot, and I am annoyed that employers do not take the time to at least look over my 100% none AI resume. I plan on public building a set of projects in 2025 partly to build some community, partly to get them off my stack of ideas, and partly because my SAS project isn't progressing as I hoped, so I want another outlet for building things.
Indeed it’s very brutal , I’m a SWE with 2 years of experience and it’s really tough to land another role. Low balls everywhere, if I won’t take the offer, hundreds more are willing to do it for lower pay. 😢
Managers play a key role, they should convey the expectation they want to see from junior devs. If managers don't care, even if junior devs become good, they might become unnoticed.
Become good, make sure people around you know you are becoming good, but be careful if you fake it, people will know.
Great piece of content man.
I wonder why you didn't add the clip where you talked to hujiro on your stream for getting him hired. I hope you're not worried about people getting the wrong message with that. It would've been nice validator for your words.
Either way, gonna binge watch your vids and roam in your streams!
That’s gonna be a different video :)
@t3dotgg pumped!
Not saying I’m a person who doesn’t care but a job is a job if only want to code at work I don’t think that should be a bad thing. You should be able to do your job and then go home and do something else that you like
Ive been looking for work as Senior Full-Stack, since company branch closure. 9 months, and nothing.
All ive ever done is come in, and work with others, learn, teach, and effectively fix broken systems with key refactors for the increased load expected in the future.
I revise and memorise stuff every day, work on my own projects, interview frequently, but soon there won't be money left for a roof over my family.
Hopefully something in the new year, or within the next 6 months, or I'll be forced to go into some single accomodation and leave my partner so she can claim benefits to afford our baby.
same here, i have been unemployed for more than 1 year, i'm lucky because i don't have kids and i can still live with my parents, but i think the software dev market is done for me, it's better if i try another career path
Are you recieving any state unemployed or other assistance? There are a lot of programs available to help people navigate these temporary situations, especially if they're trying to return to work and are supporting families.
Same here. Landed 6 interviews and 6 passed all stages but "oh now client isn't responding" I guess we wasted your time.
"is not easy anymore" like it was ever easy, kek.
I don't know if it's my autism or what, but whenever I try to interact about software developing in different places, I end up feeling like no one cares. That's why lately I don't make networking (I have been unemployed for a year, after eleven years in field)
"It's not what you know but whom you know"
Is Theos discord for patreon supporters only? I tried the link on his website and its an inavlid one
"The ones who only came in for money, that aren't spending their spare time watching videos on my channel, ..., they are absolutely fucked."
That statement made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
It should. It would be wise to foster that discomfort.
The thing about trust is that even if you have it a ton no one today will risk recommending you. Also when you'll pour yourself into making company better you're getting in exchange loss of this reputation by destroying your mental.
There is no solution until prople will respect themselves