Is it harder to get a job now compared to 5yrs ago? Or is it ageism?
I’m 37 and I’m noticing it seems harder to land a job offer than I remember it being 5+ years ago. In previous searches I had a ~50% offer rate for in person interviews. I never studied at all and didn’t even know what leetcode was back then. My offer rate is much lower right now which is surprising since the job market is supposed to be hot, right? I’ve prepped leetcode with 220+ problems solved. I’ve got lots of relevant experience in tons of areas. But I’m getting rejected a lot which is strange. I recently had a interview with salesforce where I felt I totally kicked ass on the coding questions. They were all LC easy with a few mediums. Was sure I’d get an offer but got rejected citing lack of experience with Jenkins (wtf?) Recruiter went out of her way to tell me they were very impressed with my coding skills and suggested interviewing with other teams. Is the market becoming more saturated or is ageism starting to kick in? It could also be that I have to tone my personality down for interviews that could be hurting me as well.
You’re too old. That’s the problem
Study Jenkins lmao They’ve probably made their choice before you came onsite
Ageism is true and happens. If you think you need to tone your personality down, perhaps you need to. In interviews you need to act like someone who even younger people would want to work with (if you are applying to a place which is on the younger side) I don’t mean you should act all young. Just that you need to display an amicable and friendly personality
Perhaps Salesforce has a Rooney rule which is why you got the interview at your age... I'm kidding... Market is competitve but companies are also getting smarter at assessing talent as well. Lots of factors already mentioned above as well
Jenkins??? Lmao you don't need experience with Jenkins. Sorry that happened to you, Gramps. They probably already had someone else in mind
What’s your technical background?
I wonder if you are short selling yourself. Maybe aiming for more junior roles at given years of experience?
Same here despite top schools on resume and actually doing decently on interviews. Did they ask you if you’ve used Jenkins before? What did you use for CICD?
I’ve been using Jenkins for ci/cd for years now. I told the hiring manager that too.
I was in a similar boat a few months ago and also got way fewer offers than before. However I don't think it's ageism, but a widespread cluelessness about how to tell who is a good enginer + Leetcode and the cult to algorithms that become harder as people spend more and more time preparing. Don't discount the Jenkins bit. If you have two candidates that nail a set of easy/medium questions, I can totally see "who knows jenkins" as the bit that decided it. Keep at it and you'll find your place.
Sometimes when you are interviewing, they’ve already made up their minds with a previous candidate. Don’t be too hard on yourself and keep leetcoding.
+1, all too often I've seen HMs prefer sub-optimal candidate due to personal fit preferences - don't take interviews as a sign of technical competence