Pre Covid Tech Market 📈 

The tech world has changed dramatically in the last 5 years; before the COVID-19 pandemic, tech hiring was incredibly optimistic. Job projections between 2010 and 2019 projected that there would be a million-job gap between the number of available jobs and the number of developers in the market at some time. Learning how to code between 2010 and 2019 was hot stuff. I had a recruiter tell me once that I developer she was working with got a job offer on Monday, and because the CEO was out on vacation untill Wednesday, by the time he came back the developer had another offer; she quite litterally couldn't keep developers.

If you simply knew how to turn a computer on, companies were handing out six-figure starter salaries and remote job opportunities like it was candy. This article from ADP research highlights the insane growth and then smack-against-the-wall crash that was the tech market in 2020.

Post COVID Tech Market 📉 

After COVID we saw a wave of tech layoffs that lasted well into 2023 and even into 2024.

This was a perfect storm since, during the 2010s, you had massive campaigns telling students who were entering college that learning how to code was the way to go. Students by the thousands enrolled in computer science classes to enter a workforce that didn't want them by the time they graduated. Anyone who has tried to get an entry-level software engineering position since 2020 will tell you the horror stories of getting ghosted by recruiters or companies, applying to thousands of jobs just to be rejected; the rise of ghost jobs has made the market incredibly difficult for new developers just trying to get their foot in the door, and even for mid-level developers with decent experience.

The Big Problems And What You Should Do 🤔 

There is no easy way around it; the market is more challenging than before, but that doesn't mean that you can't succeed; you need to analyze and focus on the inputs that will align to getting you to your desired job in tech. Let's look at the primary obstacles you will face in the new economy and how to crush them.

The Cream Rises to the Top 🍺 

The first problem is supply and demand; since there was a shortage of software engineers and coding became mainstream, many more people learned how to code, so the supply of developers increased. This is why if you've ever tried to apply for a software job on LinkedIn, you can easily see hundreds or even thousands of applicants on a single job posting. Especially for remote positions, which went on the rise when everyone had to work from home during COVID, you're not just competing against developers in your city but against developers from all over the world.

The solution is simple but not easy. You have to make yourself so appealing that your employer would feel dumb not hiring you over everyone else. What does that look like practically?

You need to research the top technologies like your life depends on it, in your city where you are applying as a software engineer. Most people just pick a language and get started, but that's the wrong way to apprach it. Do you live in a city with many hot-tech startups that use full Javascript stacks and SPA technology like Angular or React.js on the front end? Are there many well-established e-commerce or financial institutions that might go with older tech stacks like Java? Is it a Microsoft shop with a full .NET tech suite? Do they want someone who has cloud computing experience? Or experience with serverless technology?

These are the questions you have to research and find out because then you can determine what most employers in your market are looking for. You shouldn't just pick randomly what technology you want to learn. Find out what employers in your target tech job market are looking for, and then learn that, and learn it exceptionally well. Spend inordinate amounts of time becoming better than your competition at this specified skill set. Don't try to be a jack of all trades because you'll end up being a master of none.

I guarantee that if you become legitimately skilled in the specific technologies that employers are looking for, it will be much easier for you to get interviews and land jobs.

Don’t sell yourself short. 🤏 

Once you've fixed the skills problem, you'll need to present those skills in a way that is attractive to potential employers. People like to feel like they got the better deal and also like to feel special, and employers and hiring managers are no different.

Imagine you are a college student living in San Diego who wants to shed a few pounds. Which of these programs sounds more attractive to you?

Program 1) We will help anyone lose weight join our program.

Program 2) I'm helping 10 college undergraduate students in San Diego who want to get shredded just in time to party for the spring break fitness program. Join now.

If you're like most people, you'd be more enticed by the second one, but why? Because it feels like it was made specifically for you. It makes you feel special. That's the power of marketing; it's also why social media companies are willing to pay millions of dollars to buy your personal information so that they can advertise in a more specialized way directly to you. Well, the same is true when you are applying for a job; employers want to feel like your set of skills specifically is designed to fix their problems. Convince them of that and getting a job will be easy.

This is why, if you've ever worked with a recruiter, they will often recommend that you tailor your resume directly to whatever job you're applying to and even write a cover letter. While it can be a lot of work, what they are really asking for is to be convinced that you are more suited to help them than your competition, and there are a few different ways to do this.

First, you need to make sure that you highlight your relevant keywords and relevant skill sets on the resume for each job. If you've worked with databases and they need someone with SQL experience, then say that, highlight it, and tailor it so it sounds like your experience aligns directly with what it is that they need. Obviously, you should only do this if you actually have the experience. Still, you'd be surprised how many people leave out information that could help them. Which leads to my next point

Small Fish in A Big 🐟️ 

The next thing you can do is include details about yourself that are unique or present them in a way that makes you stand out from everyone else. The average recruiter spends about 6-7 seconds looking at your resume, so you want to make the most of that small window of time. You need to make sure, first and foremost, that you have the technical skills to actually do the job, highlighting soft skills that are often lacking in tech companies or even leadership qualities like having helped manage others before on other projects or being an effective communicator with the ability to communicate technical knowledge to people that don't have tech expertise in a way that they can understand is going to get you very far.

Don't be afraid to put some personality into your presentation, either. Most resumes or portfolios are plain-looking, so seeing something that catches a recruiter's attention can help you stand out. Let's look at an example.

While browsing LinkedIn, I recently came across this portfolio from software engineer Daniel Mamuza - https://danielmamuza.com/

I rarely stop to look at portfolios, but this one caught my attention immediately. He includes animation on the home page to draw your attention to important information, information about his current internship and other side-projects, and even a section that shows the total hours on each video game and movies he has watched. I immediately thought he's got personality; this is awesome. I was looking at the portfolio of an actual human being, not just another page among the millions of others on the internet.

TLDR; 📕 

The tech market has shifted to become more competitive for entry-level software engineers looking to land a job. To give yourself the best odds of success, research skills that are in demand in your city, master those, and tailor your resume and cover letter to present those skills to the jobs you apply to in an appealing way that demonstrates competence.

Shameless Plug 🔌 

I'm also working on developing a SaaS product called Klesis to leverage my decade of expereince and industry knowledge in the tech to help you get hired as fast as possible, here is how it works.

You upload your resume, and it finds jobs for you, applies for you, connects you with hiring managers at the company, and automatically tailors your resume for each individual job and keeps track of them all in a nice dashboard. I'm letting the first 100 people that sign up use it for free, so if your interested, leave a comment down below with your email, or message me on LinkedIn and I’ll help you get hired in Tech.