I have been trying to find a new job for the past year and I have been struggling a great deal. I have managed to get a handful of interviews, but none of them resulted in an offer. In a couple cases the only feedback I received was "you seem great, but we need something different right now".
I don't have unreasonable salary expectations, but I expect the salary to cover my living expenses at a minimum. I don't live extravagantly, I'm in a 450sqft apartment in a bad neighbourhood, but I do live in Manhattan FWIW, so rents aren't cheap.
I am quite accomplished at 38 y/o: I have worked at several top tech companies, have done a variety of roles, founded my own companies (which didn't work out in the end), and I have multiple GitHub projects with over 1,000 stars and thousands of open source users. I have also published 2 books with great reviews, but the royalties only amount to a couple hundred dollars per quarter.
I can't for the life of me figure out what I'm doing wrong. I have tried a variety of different strategies with interviews, faking it extra hard with positivity and excitement for whichever company it is, and yet I only receive rejections.
I have applied to well-over 500 jobs/companies, many of which I applied to multiple times, and the vast majority of the time I receive an auto-rejection or no response. I've mostly exhausted my personal network at this point, so begging for people to refer me to jobs doesn't help and it stinks of desperation.
While I've made decent money in tech over the past 25 years of writing software professionally, I've also had my share of ups and downs, and the downs were very costly. My savings are dwindling, while my expenses keep rising. So I'd be much happier if I could get some income and health insurance.
I would appreciate any insights if anyone has them. Or perhaps others can vent and share their experiences as well.
Assuming your unemployment has run out, you need to find a survival job. Be open to moving, NYC might not be the best market for you.
Start applying for everything, everywhere.
First, I contact everyone in my professional network to tell them I'm looking for work and ask if they know of anything interesting that's available.
Second, I apply directly to companies that I think will be a decent fit. If they have listed openings, I'll apply for one of those. If they don't, I'll send in my CV and cover letter anyway. I do 10 of these per day.
Third, I work with a recruitment agency. I'm lucky here in that I've been working with a great one for decades. Finding a good one is hard, though, so YMMV.
75% of the jobs I've landed have been landed through that agency.
Stay positive and keep studying and preparing yourself for when the opportunity strikes. There are lots of people in similar situations.
I also would recommend not taking any job if you are able to be selective. You want something that won’t burn you out in 6 months.