do y’all think there’s any chance of me getting a tech job in 2026? like should I even be spending energy considering that, or should I figure something else out?

ideally I want something remote so that I can use the money to escape my transphobic-ass state, but I don’t know what that would be other than tech work, and the American tech industry is imploding right now

@kasdeya there seem to be plenty of places hiring to my eyes. You've just also got a lot of out of work tech workers, too. And so so so so many 100% fake applicants.

Cribl is one I just interviewed at: they're doing a big push moving from AWS to multi-cloud right now. Like a 4x expansion of nodes from what I've heard.

What kind of tech work are you looking for? Programming, testing, infra, etc?

@kasdeya I don't think tech jobs are going anywhere though, no. Hiring landscape and specific skills might change but it's still valuable.

I found I had a much better callback rate when I did a bunch of research and wrote a good cover letter. It is demoralizing pitching all this effort, but it does seem to translate to more interviews in they long run?

Is this helpful? I feel like I'm lecturing. I've just been looking for a tech job for over a year now so I've gotten really good at getting interviews. 😭

@hwll nono this is really really helpful! especially the part about doing research and writing a cover letter. in the past I tended to go for a “quantity over quality” approach but if quality is what works then I might try that instead!

and I’m glad that there are still tech jobs out there, even though I imagine there’s a ton of competition for them right now

I’ve actually never had a job before - I’ve been trying on-and-off for a long time. I’m really good at programming in scripting languages though (JavaScript, Python, and Lua especially) so I was thinking of being a programmer who does that type of stuff

I can learn really fast though so I could probably do other types of tech work too - though I probably wouldn’t find it as satisfying as programming, depending on what it is (testing might be fun)

anyway thank you for the info! this is great to know. where do you go to find jobs to apply for? do Monster and Indeed still work?

@hwll also I really hope you’re able to find a job soon! it’s got to be so demoralizing having to apply to jobs for an entire year without any luck

@kasdeya @hwll I do not work in tech but I have a (small amount of) experience as a hiring manager. Quality is definitely better than quantity. There are so many applicants, especially with LLMs. We have actual written questions for our applicants that we use as part of our scoring, which isn't exactly standard, but when you have 10 interview slots and 100+ applicants, you take everything into account trying to find the best candidates. Stuff like that also helps a lot with less experience, like if you see that someone cared and tried, and is capable of good work, then you are more likely to want to invest and train them.

The job market absolutely sucks and I spent like 2 years applying to different places before I got to my current position. I actually had a folder where I sorted my letters into ones with that got me an interview, and ones that didn't, and as I got better at writing I started getting more interviews. But even then it was really low and discouraging. So hopefully that helps a little bit, good luck in the job hunt!

(Also happy to provide resume/letter feedback.)

@Shivaekul @hwll that helps a lot - thank you! I love the idea of saving my cover letters and keeping track of which ones get me interviews, and I also really appreciate the offer to read my cover letters and give me feedback - especially since you have so much experience with this

@kasdeya oh in glad it's useful!

I look all over for jobs, subscribing to newsletters and alerts so that I have jobs to check out each week: LinkedIn, Indeed, welcometothejungle, ziprecruiter, wellfound, government job boards, off the top of my head. LinkedIn is good for DMing recruiters and hiring managers and starting to build a network. So even if you don't get a job the first time interviewing, you can come back in a couple months to see if things there are any new positions then DM your contact at the company for info. They might even refer you!

Since you haven't had a job, you can say that you're freelance, and maybe even do free work for your portfolio, like maybe for friends. If an interviewer asks you about it you can also just say you suck at finding clients. Just a little trick to explain gaps in experience, but if you're junior (?) expectations are much more realistic at most places.

Looking for work is a hard job and really draining. Use every support and help you can find!

@Shivaekul @kasdeya Speaking of tracking stats, I found a spreadsheet pretty helpful for seeing what's actually been happening, how you felt about an interview, or just circling back in a few months to refresh your memory. This is something I'm definitely going to keep up forever now.

It also helps you feel somewhat accomplished. So like even if you haven't got an interview, you can look at your sheet and be like *I applied for 5 jobs today!*

Here's a sample from back in the year:

Hover to show content

@kasdeya Thanks! As luck would have it I'm in the final stages of interviewing with a local uni, so I think I might finally be done interviewing for now!

Take heart, though. We're entering the worst months of the year for getting interviews. Everything kind of shuts down in NA and EU. It'll pick up again by end of January or February, though.