New ask Hacker News story: Is my job search situation doomed? I'm losing hope and getting desperate

Is my job search situation doomed? I'm losing hope and getting desperate
3 by 666b20753a29 | 2 comments on Hacker News.
I'm a 20 y/o bootcamp grad with no college degree and 6 months of professional experience. I've been out of employment since May this year, and since mid-September I've been applying for software engineering positions across the US. Also I'm from Europe and I'm currently living in SF on a tourist visa, meaning I would need sponsorship for an H-1b work visa. Let's assume for a moment that I'm job searching correctly; I'm applying to places that I would actually want to work at with a relevant resume and a well-written cover letter, I'm networking on Linkedin and setting up phone calls with engineers and recruiters, I'm leveraging my existing network and reaching out to almost everyone I know, etc. So far I've had zero responses, despite me having referrals to a bunch of companies. After getting speedily rejected from FB, even with a relatively strong recommendation, I managed to get feedback from the engineer that it's basically because companies aren't willing to sponsor for entry-level positions, especially if the candidate doesn't have a degree. Is this true? Is there a limiting factor of my situation here? Why am I being ignored? My resolve is starting to break because I have zero visibility on _what_ exactly is going wrong. If it's something about my situation that doubles the bar, then that's fine– I'll go work in Europe for a few years, and I'll be back in the US soon. No hard feelings. But because I know that I'm more than competent enough to hold down the positions I'm applying for, I wonder if it's something about my situation or something that I'm doing wrong. What are the conditions that companies offer sponsorship on? Is there a hard limit on the # of times a company can sponsor? Am I not being taken seriously because I'm too young? Or because my only experience was a 6 months? Is my job gap a problem? Fuck all these questions though, my single biggest fear is that I'm wasting my time. I don't care about comp or prestige, I just want to work and build things. But I've had to instead spend the last few months writing fucking cover letters, using all the businessy buzzwords. It's so cringe and debilitating to me. Am I doomed? Or am I being too fragile? Should I keep calm and carry on? I can do that, but I have a vauge sense of angst that I could be wasting my time without knowing it. What do?

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