Solidarity! I was unemployed for much of 2017 myself. It's not that you (or I) don't have skills. It's that employers now seem to have such precise preferenc

Solidarity! I was unemployed for much of 2017 myself. It's not that you (or I) don't have skills. It's that employers now seem to have such precise preferences that everyone is the "spiky kid" instead of the "broad fit". I've been turned down for jobs because, "While you definitely have the skills and you're smart, you just don't seem to be moving your career in that Ruby on Rails direction." In the same job search, I was told that I didn't have enough Rails experience even though I passed all the interview tasks just fine. These were for junior engineering positions! Well, self-fulfilling prophecy: now I'm following my more heartfelt interests and doing a PhD in neuroscience. Turns out finding a lab that fit my interests perfectly worked great. Which is to say: being the "spiky fit" actually sucks, but it seems to be what the labor market is targeting right now.