On the contrary, as a fresh grad with (presumably) lower COL requirements, you can be more flexible on the salary front than a lot of recently-laid-off senior S

On the contrary, as a fresh grad with (presumably) lower COL requirements, you can be more flexible on the salary front than a lot of recently-laid-off senior SWE who may have homes + kids that need to be paid for. Take it from a millennial who graduated into the recession in 2011, even when everyone is saying the job market sucks, there are always opportunities for younger/fresher people out there, you just might have to be willing to take a "worse" position to get started - but in this industry you can always level up later once things calm down. Don't get distracted by all the people you see on here or Blind talking about their $500k TC in their mid-20s, those people are far, far outliers. I've never worked in FAANG, self-taught my way into webdev in my early 30s after two other half-careers in my 20s, and I managed to find a job with 0 experience during COVID because I adjusted my expectations down to "normal" salary ranges (sub-$100k), as long as it paid my bills and gave room to grow professionally. As a young person you have both lower salary requirements (requirements in the sense of "I need at least $XYZ per month to keep the lights on) and a lot of time, both of which are massive advantages when taking the long view of your career.