It's rough right now, we've been in a funding lull for years. A lot of the more experienced developers (mid-millennial age) entered their careers riding the wa

It's rough right now, we've been in a funding lull for years. A lot of the more experienced developers (mid-millennial age) entered their careers riding the wave of the invention of smartphones and social media not to mention modern web, games, advertising, etc. There was so much work and funding to do the work. The world changed after the Obama years, funding was largely yanked out of tech, except for self-funded types and hype cycles like crypto and AI. Most of tech sort of merged with "status quo" work - it's not special anymore. Most companies don't budget that much for engineers, or any staff. There's a chance it will bounce back - I can't imagine Netflix is going to just let us have something like: output a Tarantino film set in a cyberpunk future starring Bruce Willis and Uma Thurman in their prime with a cameo from Ariana Grande who plays the crime lord's daughter Without putting up a fight. So I believe it's worth holding out hope that there will be another "boom" very soon where companies are scrambling and hiring engineers like crazy again - that is, I think AI models show some promise disruption-wise. For now, it's self-funded egomaniac founders and boring work for low pay. There's no advice I can give you on interviewing other than it's a numbers game. Every company gets like 1000+ applicants right now, it's ridiculous. You have to know somebody.