I can't find a job. What do I do?

You say you're from India but don't say where you're at now. Since you used term CV instead of resume, maybe still in India or maybe a European country? If the job market where you're at is largely expecting a University degree regardless of experience level then I would say at 27 go back and get your University degree. It is not a step backwards to get the University degree it will teach you valuable things that you will never learn from experience alone. The theory about why things are done the way they are is an important thing to develop future skills in future problem solving.

Your other option would be to change job markets to where they don't prioritize the University degree after you've had some job experience. That being said 3 years of job experience is not a replacement for a 4 University degree. Even in the United States where it is still possible to work your way into positions without the University degree that is simply not enough experience to be considered. At dropping out of college and 3 years of experience you would still be looking at a non-software engineer entry level position. You would be doing support or systems administration and from there you could demonstrate the skills to move into a software engineering position.

Some other red flags are you say this is your first job you've had and you got it 3 years after you dropped out of University. Health, family, life situations do come up that cause you to take this kind of break in these kind of gaps but employers don't care. As people they may understand these things happen but as an employer looking for an employee they don't care. That's why I really think overall your best option return to University complete the degree and then with the degree your prior experience will matter and that Gap will go away.

Lots of other advice here but just wanted to add one piece: when you do get interviews, beware of anything that sounds too negative about your current (or past) employer. Even though the fact that you're looking for work basically implies that you are unsatisfied, if your tone or language is negative it will give the impression that you are a negative person.

So, when you do get that interview, just say that the opportunities for learning new things are your current job are limited, or something else that is true but not too negative-sounding. I have seen candidates who trash talk their current or former employer in an interview get rejected for that reason, because immediately people wonder, "will they talk like that about us if they get this job?"

Also, keep in mind that the problem is not you, it's that the programmer job market is saturated with the Big Tech layoffs from earlier in the year, so keep your self-esteem up and your skills sharp and in time things will turn around.

If I'm hiring and you have no degree, no portfolio, and can't leetcode, I have zero evidence you are good at anything at all. That seems like your "blocker"... Anyone can make stuff up on paper as others have already said, and everyone knows this.

Leetcode is the Equalizer that makes having a degree less relevant in the field. Without a degree it is exactly the lever you're looking for for getting jobs. It might be a lot of effort, but it is a reasonable expectation for getting a job in SE.

The other two things that can really make a difference are either having good personal projects uploaded on GitHub, or contributing to relevant open source projects.

As a disclaimer, I'm not senior/experienced enough myself to be much involved in hiring.

I'm from the US and I also don't have a degree. I think it's true that does make it harder.

I have avoided applying for traditional jobs for the last 10-15 years and instead focused on "freelance" (mainly Upwork). For several reasons: because it was easier to get remote work that way, because I wanted to make sure I had time to work on my own startups, to try to avoid office politics, and because it was actually easier to get that type of work instead of "real" jobs.

Basically, I "outsourced myself".

The reality for me has been a pretty poor income. Although there have been a few times where I managed to get something like a business going for a short time. And I have not been without work for any significant amount of time.

Anyway, even though it also can be brutal to find work and you have to watch out for awful clients which are plentiful, Upwork (and relatively few other sites/apps) now has a virtual monopoly on online freelance work. At least for any project which has significant budget constraints.

You can go on there and find something that looks like a spec and just pretend they hired you. Build it out and put it in your GitHub and developer profile. Keep doing that for some months and eventually you can build up some projects in some areas and be confident that you can apply for them and they will see related work in your profile.

Another aspect of this is networking. That doesn't come naturally to me and I have had limited success. But about 1.5-2 years ago I did manage to get myself accepted into a particular community and niche where I had a web application that was popular with users in that niche.

From that web application and through referrals in that community, I managed to get away from Upwork for awhile and pick up contracts directly through Discord.

I think the key there was being embedded in that specific community with software that was used for that specific niche application inside of that community.

So you could try that. Literally find some activity or interest group that seems interesting to you and just get absorbed into it to the point where you are figuring out how to make tools that you know for sure will help people in that community do that specific task. Easier said than done. But doable.

> What can I do that would make you look past my lack of educational qualifications?

1. If you are in India, create profiles for yourself on job seeking websites such as AngelList, LinkedIn or Hirist. When I was part of a hiring team, I(and peers) used to go through profiles on these websites with filters for the skills we were looking for, and then ask the recruitment team to reach out to candidates we found interesting. If an engineer or a lead takes a look at your profile and feels that your skills meet what they are looking for, they are highly likely to overlook the lack of a degree.

2. Network. If your resume does not get your foot through the door, try to go to language specific meetups and socialize. The whole `need a degree to work here` is a HR thing and just a way for them to reduce the applications they receive. A referral from someone within the company would usually skip that barrier.

3. Apply to any and all openings that you feel that you are a suitable fit for. Do not let the `CV will not even be considered for even an entry level role at their companies because of that` thought stop you, and let the person looking at your resume decide if you are a fit or not.

> How do I make my skills visible?

Points 1 and 2 should help with this. Apply to one of the free courses on Udemy or Coursera and complete the courses to get a certificate. Have a colleague whom you work with leave a recommendation or endorse you for skills on LinkedIn. I used to receive offers for a IOS mobile dev roles even years after I stopped working with Swift just because of one single skill endorsement.

I believe you have not asked for this, but I would definitely recommend getting a degree, even if it were a distance learning course that you can do while you work.

Add the name of the institution you went to to your resume and add "dropped out due to health reasons" in tiny (but still readable) font underneath. This will get you past most automated HR filters without you having to be dishonest. Since you already have some experience, I do not think anyone will bring up your education in an actual interview unless you bring it up.

Context - I'm from India, and works at big tech. I do have a degree, but no employer has every asked to see it. They just want to know that I _went_ to a college, doesn't matter if I graduated or not.

> What can I do that would make you look past my lack of educational qualifications?

Your own one-person software-as-a-service business or relevant side projects. Hard to argue that you are not qualified when you can point them to github/website and say "I made this".

> I just need some advice from people who hire developers. What can I do that would make you look past my lack of educational qualifications?

The environment has changed since the zero interest rate era ended and now with AI quite frankly I'm afraid it will only get even worse which means less developers would need to be hired. Even if you get an interview, it is the Leetcode and algorithms pseudo IQ test bullshit that will be used to filter anyone out.

> How do I make my skills visible?

If I were you, I'd create a bunch personal side-projects and do some networking. As long as you have something to show, it is worth more than a 'degree'. Even better if it profitable and pays the bills.

You never know if you don't try. You might even spin it out into a business which you will be hiring developers yourself.

I’m not a manager, but I think attitude goes a long way. Demonstrate an enjoyment in the social interaction and problem solving which comprise your career.

In the interview, be able to both explain technical decisions you have made on the job and answer technical questions. If you don’t know the answer, say what you do know, so the interviewer can get your thought process.

Internally, try to let your anxiety, frustration, and fears dissipate (don’t hang onto them). Optimism is good for your mental health, and it is a visible and desirable trait in a prospective employee or colleague.

Be authentically enthusiastic, but try to avoid coming across as over-eager. Try to maintain a pleasant, neutral, but thoughtful demeanor in the interview.

Good luck!

I've got years of experience. Honestly don't blame yourself we are in a weird economic time. A lot of people went and got some 'formal' education. Maybe try to differentiate? Learn embedded systems? Learn AI (seems we're all going to have to sooner or later) Learn C++? Maybe learn soft skills like being a product owner? Roll up your sleeves and start your own business? (that's what i'm trying to do) but most of all it sounds like you want it easy - Don't become complacent. If you want jobs that do leet style interviews you're going to have to learn. At the very least binary trees, tree graph search, quicksort, those sort of things.

Build a portfolio. I’ve been in the industry 20+ years across eng/product/science and led orgs over from 10 people to 300+ people across FAANG and big tech and all I care about when I hire is do you: 1/work hard 2/deliver reasonably on time 3/have a good attitude 4/ leave your politics at home

I don’t care about your age / gender identity / if you are remote / have a degree / are disabled.. or really anything else. i will bend over backwards to get people who can provide evidence of the above..

Best of luck

I’ve been a professional programmer since the Reagan administration, and interviews have never changed. Think of them more like fraternity hazing during pledge week.

The reality is you have to be good at leetcode-style programming.

It’s hard to think of going back to college—after you have lived like an adult it’s hard, but it’s not a bad idea.

Most jobs still come from friends and recommendations so go to be as sociable as you can.

Not easy :-( but it’s only going to get harder from here, so the soooner you start the better.

Lots of certification for enterprise IT software might be a good way to get on the ladder. Look at the certification for SAP, Salesforce, Oracle, Azure, AWS, Cisco (on the other hand avoid most bootcamp "certifications").

Those entry jobs are not great in terms of salary and workload, but there is huge demand for analyst using these tools and having a certification might compensate for the lack of degree.

You mentioned applying to a hundred jobs over a six month period.

When I seriously needed a job as a less senior person, I targeted closer to 100 applications a week. Maybe only a few of these will be "high effort" dramatically recrafting a cover letter and resume, but you can also get responses from "there is a reasonable fit" opportunities and applying with one of a handful of stock resumes.

If your best tailored resume given who you are has a 1% chance of a response and a "good enough" resume has a 0.5% chance of response, you need to play the numbers game and apply a lot more, not hope wordsmithing will make "not having a education" dramatically more appealing and change minds.

Marketers like good messages for their direct mail campaigns, but what they need is to be able to cost effectively get their message in front of a lot of the right people, because most won't respond. As one of many junior people trying to land one of many (slightly less)junior jobs, you need to play this numbers game too.

I have a decade of experience and a masters degree.

Devoted the best parts of my life to 50-60 hour weeks in tech.

Im about to go work at an Amazon warehouse.

Tech is basically over now.

Have a portfolio presence online somewhere, or figure out a way to demo your side projects. Fill out your linkedin profile with as many details as possible. Try to get endorsements from your peers for the various skills you use at work. If your GPA was solid, then list that on your resume and say your degree is still in progress. Apply to smaller companies that may be more willing to overlook these requirements. Compare your resume to that of your peers or others you find online and look for anything you forgot to add. You should still have a plan for finishing your degree because it's still no too late. I didn't finish my degree until I was 26 and I'm currently in my 40s working as a Principal Engineer.

Have you considered contributing to open-source projects? Some like Firefox have mentoring programs (https://codetribute.mozilla.org/). Very good for the resume.

Put your part completed degree on your CV with a caveat like its pending or incomplete. It should get you passed the initial screening. Then it's on you to pass the tech test. Expect to fail many before you get good at them

> pinging me multiple times a day for updates

It tends to be part of the job, though in your case it might be that your manager isn’t technical because git and continuous integration do the same thing without your manager pestering you

> expecting me to be on call outside of work hours

Part of the job especially when there are either tight deadlines or bad bugs

You need a degree. Fortunately, there are now many reputable and inexpensive online options especially via public universities

The other riskier option is to learn a very niche programming language with a small talent pool like cobal.

The best option is to do both uni and learning the niche programming language

You may want to try going the self-employed/freelancer route. Just try to get at least one paying side job where you can charge a reasonable hourly rate and take it from there. If it doesn't work out you can fall back on what you have and if it does then you can try to expand it. Relatively little risk, and if it works you're free from the gatekeeping because in my experience for self-employed people credentials matter a lot less than work experience. Best of luck!

You don't need to get a degree from a top college or even a good one. Just get any easy degree through online / distance learning program to get past filters and dumb HR criteria. For online / distance learning degrees you wouldn't need to compete with million other students. As you get your online degree, you can keep looking for jobs and also work if you can find a job.

> How do I make my skills visible?

What skills do you have? Being in a company for 3 years makes you proficient at their systems, which makes you less hire-able.

> What can I do that would make you look past my lack of educational qualifications?

have lots of successful apps running and profitable, yours or developed for clients. You gotta be good to be hired now that the free money is over.

Every developer needs to be good a leetcode now to be able to get hired. This is especially true if you dont have a degree.

Personally, I'd get a degree, doesn't have to be from a top tier university.

Early in my career I managed to get development work without a technical degree (I had one in music), but found it hard to get interviews. I did a master's degree distance learning while I worked. That seemed to help me.

Get back to college. In coming recession around the corner 2024 to 2026 extremely likely. You go into college and get shielded. Study hard and score well. Get all the pro certs you can. Do master if possible. Specialize only on AI+Blockchain (using Java+Python+Rust+C). You will thank me later.

I would highly recommend going back to college. It seems you have the skills, but the credentials will unlock doors. In this economy where the upper hand has shifted back to employers over candidates, you need every bit of help you can.

Hey, if you are comfortable reaching out, can you email me? I will see how I can help and hopefully connect you to the right channels (either here in India or otherwise).

(I could not find any way to contact you.)

> The best I've gotten is a link to an online leetcode-style test and I suck at those too.

Practice more until you suck less

Drop me a message. Email on profile.

> The best I've gotten is a link to an online leetcode-style test and I suck at those too

Get better at it by practicing more.

Just say you have a degree, especially from India, nobody will validate.

Based on experience, I suggesting finding your local missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist) and ask them to put you in contact with your current local ward bishop, wherever you are now, who has access to resources (including an employment agency, depending on whether it is set up in your area), and good, practical advice for your specific situation. (Thoughtful comments appreciated with the downvotes; thank you.)