Ask HN: Can't get hired – what's next?

Re:Ask HN: Can't get hired – what's next? by platevoltage on Wednesday October 15, 2025 @07:31PM (#45599616)

Man, I feel like my "Ask HN" post from a few years ago isn't too different from your's besides me being 15 years older than you. The result I got from it was a HN user contacting me, where we got coffee and he explained to me how to be successful on Upwork.

Being a freelancer was never my intention, but it's where I ended up, and right now I'm very thankful for it. I don't make much money, but I can say that I make my living as a software developer. I have clients who think I'm their golden goose, and I ended up landing an internship at Akamai, yet I still feel completely un-hirable in the traditional sense, but I also feel like once the tide does turn, I'm in a much better position to market myself, and get a real job if I desire.

I know this sucks, but man, what I'd give to be in that position in my 20's instead of my late 30's.

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Re:Ask HN: Can't get hired – what's next? by silvercymbals on Wednesday October 15, 2025 @07:37PM (#45599672)

thanks, this means a lot

I'm in my early 30s, but I generally find it really discouraging here when people on HN try to "be nice" by claiming $150k isn't effectively minimum wage even working at startups in the bay.

Fortunately I've had some success with consulting - the world just seems really bleak right now in terms of my employment prospects.

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Re:Ask HN: Can't get hired – what's next? by platevoltage on Wednesday October 15, 2025 @09:50PM (#45600628)

You're not wrong about the bleak part. My team at Akamai was routing for me, but at that time, they were worried about layoffs. Their stock dropped from 110 to around 75 dollars since then. Sucks for me, but it was a Cloud Support job. Very technical, but not really what I wanted to be doing long term. I figured it would be a good foot in the door at a good company.

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