I started realizing somethng - - maybe i just needed to get better. so i did. i practiced speaking, interviews, technical systems, and problem solving. i practiced in front of a monitor with a random picture up, like i was talking to a real person. i built projects every day, pushed code to github, learned new tools, and forced myself to adapt to ai even though i was still releuctant about it…
at first, i really thought the problem was me. but after getting better and doing stronger interveiws, i started realizing something else. this market is broken!! i know that sounds like an excuse, but i can take criticism. i was a marine corps infantryman. i know what hard things feel like, and i know what it means to improve…
but i also know i’m not the only one. i know 10 to 15 people, some with 10+ years of real experience, who still haven’t found work after months of searching. companies say they want thoughtful engineers, but right now a lot of them just want speed above everything else???
one company gave me a 3-hour full-stack assessment. they said it should be 50% manual coding and 50% ai-assisted. i followed every requirement, built the feature, deployed it live, and even went beyond the spec. they rejected me and said i “didn’t do enough.” then they showed me another candidate’s submission, and it was basically the same thing, except they had thrown in 30 more ai-generated features!!
that’s when it clicked. companies say they want engineers, but many of them want someone who leans fully into ai, ships fast, stays available, fixes whatever breaks, and does not slow down to think too much about security or long-term quality. i’ve asked multiple companies about security in this ai-heavy market, and the answer has basically been the same: features first, move fast, worry later…
that is a dangerous mindset, and it will probably backfire eventually. so if you’re a software engineer going through this, give yourself some grace. you may not be a bad engineer. you may not be a bad coder. you may just be trying to survive a market that is demanding unicorns???
take breaks. go outside. spend time with family, your dog, your cat, or whatever keeps you grounded. don’t let this job market destroy your health. you are skilled, and the market is just ugly right now!!
maybe one day this bubble pops, and we all get paid to fix the mess it created. until then, take care of yourself…