Hey readers!
I have a special annoucement!
I got married yesterday!!!
So it probably goes without saying, but I’ve been pretty busy this week. On top of the chaos that was this week, my new bride and I are actually heading to the Bahamas tomorrow for two weeks for our honeymoon.
Honestly, this blog is kind of the least of my concerns at this point, but it is what it is. Next week I’ll be writing this on the beach so that’s worth something I suppose.
Now begs the question of what am I even going to discuss today. Well for the sake of my sanity, I’m going to keep it real simple today.
I’m going to talk about the experience I’ve had so far with my time as a Flatiron Alumni.
I officially started my Job Search on March 1st, 2021. I’ve put in probably 50 applications at this point and I’ve had a grand total of exactly ZERO interviews. Super encouraging right?
I live in a small rural town of about 17,000 people with the nearest metropolitans areas being St. Louis, MO and Nashville, TN. I’ve been prioritizing remote positions due to my location. I’ve never been utterly opposed to moving, but my roots are here — family, friends, memories, experiences. That makes things much more difficult. There are a plethora of job posting for software engineering across the country, but local job opportunities are few and far between. It’s pretty much remote or bust if I want to continue living here.
Being in the thoes of a global pandemic has changed the career landscape. Remote is certainly more accessible, attainable, and acceptable more than it’s ever been. However, making real personal connections is significantly harder at the moment. I’m at a disadvantage as well having no professional experience to show employers.
I haven’t lost hope yet. It’s very apparent to me that getting a foot in the door somewhere is absolutely the hardest part of this process. Once I manage to land a position somewhere, career moves will become much easier. Most ‘entry’ level jobs are kind of anything but. 2+ years of experience isn’t entry level. There are an average of 2000 work hours in a year. 2 years is 4000 hours. The old adage is 10,000 hours make an expert. 2+ years of experience has you 2/5’s of the way (nearly halfway) to being an expert… for an entry level job. Makes a lot of sense right?
I know something will eventually come along. I know I am capable of performing in a developer role once I’m immersed in the role, especially will coworker mentorship. I’ll search awhile for the perfect gig, continue to apply places, build connections with people in the industry, and hone my skills.
Regardless, I have honeymoon to embark on. See ya from the beach.