Many of you are coming to Journey to Programming to figure out how to get a software development job in the industry of your choice or how to change jobs.

Maybe you’ve been down on luck and you haven’t had a single interview. Or, perhaps you’re thinking about throwing out some feelers because your current job has become stale. No matter the case, unless you’re well networked or already have made a name for yourself as a great developer, then the process of getting job interviews and landing a new job is going to be arduous.

In my upcoming book (Shameless plug: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S7LL1CH), I talk about the application and job hunting process in an effort to make it more transparent to everyone. When I started out in this industry, I lacked a solid network and the knowledge of the job hunting process for software development jobs. I went through dozens, no hundreds, of failed interviews before I landed a job offer. To be honest, I almost quit until one day, after finishing a series of interviews I received an offer letter via email a week later. It was shocking, to be honest, and I didn’t believe it until the HR representative for the company called me to explain the next steps to take if I wanted to accept the offer.

This was almost 8 years ago, and it’s funny to look back and realize that my lack of luck almost led me to believe that I wasn’t cut out for being a developer. You see, I had already been developing websites professionally (for small businesses) and after getting a computer science degree, I thought that I’d be set and land an immediate job placement. That wasn’t the case, and instead, I went on a job application cycle for over a year and ended up starting up a small media studio business. This whole time, I kept on applying and the few interviews I landed always resulted in denials.

So, I was getting beat down by denial and working overtime on my small business with a few co-founders. Around 2 years into our business, the small business fell apart and I was still failing interviews. Some of the cofounders landed development jobs, but I kept getting denied. This caused me to develop a strong case of Imposter Syndrome, which I talk about here Impostor Syndrome is a dream killer. Just as the media business was falling apart and I was beginning to do part-time work in a completely unrelated industry, I got the interview with the company that gave me my first job offer.

That, everyone, is over two years of getting my soul crushed by professional denial. And even though I had prior development experience, the constant denials almost beat me up enough to the point where I almost quit trying to work in technology. Luckily, it’s all in the past now.

So, where does this leave us? Well, I guess it just leads me to tell you that my story may not be the worst, it may or may not be worse than yours, but in the end it the truth of the matter is that you have some Grit and Drive to continue doing something after being denied over and over again. If you’re not landing interviews, then improve your development skills during your free time, adjust your resume, and keep on applying. Do more interviews and developer your communication and people skills so that you interview better the next time. And lastly, keep on driving yourself forward towards a goal. Everyone has ambition, but drive gets you there.

You may also watch our other videos on YouTube here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI9qr0cm58BwebS0lqXMnjw