I didn't mean to imply you tried to raise these red flags, but as you say, here you are. I wouldn't expect to get taught anything during onboarding. The days o

I didn't mean to imply you tried to raise these red flags, but as you say, here you are. I wouldn't expect to get taught anything during onboarding. The days of companies hiring juniors and trainees and mentoring them and building their skills seem long-gone. Now companies only want to hire people who exactly match their specs and can start contributing (or appearing to contribute) from the first day. The vast majority of programming jobs are with companies that don't produce software as their main product, so focusing only on software companies severely limits your options. Those jobs are the most likely to demand solid experience and demonstrated expertise. I prefer companies that make a profit and depend on technology but aren't in the technology business: logistics, law, finance, retail, education, etc. You will get a wider exposure to different languages and tools in that world, and more focus on business problems as opposed to technical problems. Software companies are often not profitable and volatile, and very focused around a small number of languages and tools. I've been there and done that too and got tired of the "pivots" and "runways" and layoffs. The companies that do make money in the software business have their choice of top experienced people so they're harder to get into. Try talking to a stranger every day, just something casual to start a conversation. I have done that for years and have met some great people that way, and got leads on freelance opportunities. People you know are always the best source of job leads.