4 ms·

Seeing that this is from 2016, it does not really apply to the current market, which is BRUTAL. I have 20 years of experience, I just built my own SaaS service,

Seeing that this is from 2016, it does not really apply to the current market, which is BRUTAL. I have 20 years of experience, I just built my own SaaS service, and I have a pretty eclectic experience with languages and frameworks. Forget interviews - I don't even get phone screens. Recruiters will ghost you, which is new. Usually you would not be able to get rid of them. I think when an interview does come along, I will approach my salary demands gingerly.

zerr 3y ago
Suggestion to counter the ageism: remove the first ~8 years of experience from your CV.
- renegade-otter 3y ago
  Thank you - I just did that!
- electroly 3y ago
  Surely they'll still get it from your college graduation year? Do you remove that as well?
  - ParetoOptimal 3y ago
    I didn't graduate and frequently don't even list education on my resume. I don't get asked about it very often either.
  - zerr 3y ago
    No need to specify years.
malfist 3y ago
Recruiters ghosting is far from new
- renegade-otter 3y ago
  That has not been my experience. It literally never happened to me. I actually proactively avoided recruiters back in the day because I found dealing with them exhausting. Now, I would probably buy them dinner.
- nfriedly 3y ago
  Sadly, this is true. However, I get the impression that it's more common now than it used to be.
btbuildem 3y ago
What does your career path look like, and what kind of role are you looking for now?
- renegade-otter 3y ago
  I blog at https://renegadeotter.com https://renegadeotter.com - you can get an idea from there, and from my LinkedIn.
  - btbuildem 3y ago
    It's a little hard to tell from there - I get the impression of a one-man shop where you perform multiple roles, with heavy emphasis on the technical? This might be a little hard to digest for your average recruiter, I feel they're rarely looking to hire entrepreneurs.
elzbardico 3y ago
The market is though, but you should be getting at least phone screens. I suspect that maybe there's something that could be improved in your market positioning. I have a similar amount of experience as you, and generally, ageism hasn't been a problem. Start with the basics, have someone review your resume, no need for a professional, you probably can find a few people amongst your friend able to take a look and give a few suggestions. Ex-manager, ex-colleagues, even a former recruiter that was particularly cool and you really liked. Recruiters sometimes get confused with resumes from people who can work in multiple languages and frameworks because they are not programmers. They won't understand that someone who worked with node will have an easier time understanding asyncio in python, that the way packages work in Go kind of remember the way you can write partial classes in different files in C#. They scan your resume trying to fill up a map where the keys are technologies and the values are years of experience, so, either you tailor your resume for each kind of opportunity or (better) send a cover letter expanding on your experience with the tech stack from the requirements. Also, remember that now it is a buyer's market. You need to pro-actively apply for positions to keep your pipeline full. Long are the times where you just went to sleep, to wake up in the next morning and having 6 or 7 contact requests from recruiters in your linked-in.

zerr 3y ago

Suggestion to counter the ageism: remove the first ~8 years of experience from your CV.

renegade-otter 3y ago
Thank you - I just did that!
electroly 3y ago
Surely they'll still get it from your college graduation year? Do you remove that as well?
- ParetoOptimal 3y ago
  I didn't graduate and frequently don't even list education on my resume. I don't get asked about it very often either.
- zerr 3y ago
  No need to specify years.

malfist 3y ago

Recruiters ghosting is far from new

renegade-otter 3y ago
That has not been my experience. It literally never happened to me. I actually proactively avoided recruiters back in the day because I found dealing with them exhausting. Now, I would probably buy them dinner.
nfriedly 3y ago
Sadly, this is true. However, I get the impression that it's more common now than it used to be.

btbuildem 3y ago

What does your career path look like, and what kind of role are you looking for now?

renegade-otter 3y ago
I blog at https://renegadeotter.com https://renegadeotter.com - you can get an idea from there, and from my LinkedIn.
- btbuildem 3y ago
  It's a little hard to tell from there - I get the impression of a one-man shop where you perform multiple roles, with heavy emphasis on the technical? This might be a little hard to digest for your average recruiter, I feel they're rarely looking to hire entrepreneurs.

elzbardico 3y ago

The market is though, but you should be getting at least phone screens. I suspect that maybe there's something that could be improved in your market positioning. I have a similar amount of experience as you, and generally, ageism hasn't been a problem. Start with the basics, have someone review your resume, no need for a professional, you probably can find a few people amongst your friend able to take a look and give a few suggestions. Ex-manager, ex-colleagues, even a former recruiter that was particularly cool and you really liked. Recruiters sometimes get confused with resumes from people who can work in multiple languages and frameworks because they are not programmers. They won't understand that someone who worked with node will have an easier time understanding asyncio in python, that the way packages work in Go kind of remember the way you can write partial classes in different files in C#. They scan your resume trying to fill up a map where the keys are technologies and the values are years of experience, so, either you tailor your resume for each kind of opportunity or (better) send a cover letter expanding on your experience with the tech stack from the requirements. Also, remember that now it is a buyer's market. You need to pro-actively apply for positions to keep your pipeline full. Long are the times where you just went to sleep, to wake up in the next morning and having 6 or 7 contact requests from recruiters in your linked-in.