For those looking to disambiguate the title, the post talks about being unable to find a new position as a software engineer. So "bad at interviewing" or "bad

For those looking to disambiguate the title, the post talks about being unable to find a new position as a software engineer. So "bad at interviewing" or "bad on paper". Many in this thread probably came here to understand what one should do when they realize they are in the lower quartile of competency within their organization or even the profession broadly. I don't mean juniors who don't know anything, their competency will change, rapidly. I mean mid-levels who are accepting that they "just don't have it". Lots of good advice in here about not defining your identity in terms of your profession. On the day-to-day level, just ask for help. Your peers probably don't care about your performance as much as you think. They will care more if you make more work for them (and yourself). There is plenty of respect to be had in being a low throughput SE who isn't a mess-maker.