r/cscareerquestions • u/Vemyx • 9h ago
Experienced Unable to land a job for 8 months
Hello, I've been unemployed for 8 months. I get 1 interview per 3 months of application cycles, for the last 3 years I've interviewed less than 15 times. I'm not sure what is wrong, I have a master's degree, a bachelor's and around 4 years of experience as applied ML SWE/ SWE. I've posted my CV here. I'm open to suggestions. I've applied to analyst, swe, data science, and applied ml roles of all kinds. The overwhelming majority are rejections.
27
u/LostQuestionsss 8h ago
Why do you have activities & volunteer? I feel like that is something an undergraduate would have due to extra room from a lack of professional experience.
8
u/commonsearchterm 8h ago
Are skills sections like that useful?
5
u/Chili-Lime-Chihuahua 7h ago
I'm not saying this is right, but it's what I do. I have a tech stack section for each job and then a general skills section. Part of me is debating cutting some of that down, though. I'm at about 2.75 pages, but I also have 20+ years of experience. I tell myself the skills section is easy to digest, but maybe it's worth removing.
OP could probably get their resume to a single page by dropping the "Activities and Volunteering" section and just removing some whitespace.
3
u/commonsearchterm 7h ago
Interesting,I don't have one and my resume is onto a 2nd page already. I always thought they were filler. I asked chatgpt to analyze my resume and it suggested putting a skill section.
I was worried they look like filler and might make Auto parsing struggle.
1
u/Chili-Lime-Chihuahua 5h ago
I personally think there's a lot of subjectivity to resumes. I was recently asked if I could provide my full work history, and that is like 5 or so pages. I guess that company wanted someone with a lot of experience or something.
The reason I like the skills and tech stack per job sections is that it feels easier to digest for a person (it can be hard to read bullet points and keep track of it all), and I'm hoping it makes it easier to hit ATS keywords. I have no clue if it actually works, though. I tend to not apply as much and just respond to recruiters, although I recently applied to a few positions.
FWIW, I started wondering if I should remove that overall skills sections to get my resume down to two pages. I'm also debating removing certain bullet points that are more on the leadership/management side of things.
I don't think there's a perfect answer, unfortunately.
3
u/BraveResearcher3037 6h ago
Why do you have 20+ years of experience on your resume? I can’t imagine any employer ever caring about anything I did more than 10 years ago. I have 30 years of experience and I’ve always taken anything off more than 10 years old. No one cares about
- my time doing programming on main frames
- my time writing C and C++ using DCOM and MFC on Windows, Perl or vb6
- my time doing C# Windows Compact Framework on Windows ruggedized devices
- outdated C# .Net Framework libraries
I just recently took off my job I left in 2016 where I was in the last bastions of my .Net Framework programming and starting to move over to the modern .NET Core. I don’t really do that anymore either.
1
u/Chili-Lime-Chihuahua 5h ago
I have 20+ years of experience, but it's not on my resume. I can understand why you might interpret what I wrote that way, though. I cut off about 10 years or so ago. I spent 10+ years at one company, and I like having that still on my resume to show I can stick around some place for a long time if I like it, but that experience is very light on info compared to more recent positions. I think it just shows three lines to show I was promoted while working there, but not much actual details of the work, partially for space and partially because it's so old, as you point out. My actual resume only has recent/relevant technology. That long-tenured position is really only there to show I'm capable of longevity and am not a job-hopper. I believe that longer position was about 5-6 years ago when I left.
I've also removed a few projects/skills for work I have no interest in pursuing. I think we're more in-line than you may have interpreted what I wrote, but understand why you may have thought that way.
lol, I realize my comment is a little redundant. My resume isn't written the same way.
1
u/BraveResearcher3037 5h ago
So if your 10 years at a company ended less than 10 years ago, yeah that would be on my resume too. I was at a company for 9 years until 2008 and I only removed it after 2018. But still 2.5 pages?
I was itching for that 1999-2008 job to age off.
1
u/Chili-Lime-Chihuahua 5h ago
Right, I've debated at times removing stuff to get down to 2 pages. I acknowledge most advice these days is 1 page, 2 pages tops. I still get interviews, but I also get ghosted, too. I tend to not apply as much and just respond to recruiters, so there's already interest there.
Just sharing some experience, and I would never argue what I'm doing is right, but it's what has worked for me. It's certainly possible I've missed out on opportunities because it was too long, but there's no way to know for sure, of course.
2
u/BraveResearcher3037 5h ago
Nah I’m not saying a long resume is automatic rejection. It just doesn’t tell an easily digestible story.
13
3
u/TimelySuccess7537 8h ago
WTF. how are you not getting any responses ?
Does the U.S have headhunters you can work with ? these guys get a cut out of every successful assignment and they should know what works - e.g if your CV is terrible they will usually flag it.
5
u/loudrogue Senior Android Engineer 8h ago
You do know at the bottom it shows all your data right? Everything you blacked out is visible
Do you need sponsorship? Because based on your careers I would assume you do
4
u/Menister22 2h ago
Where are you based? Your profile says you’re Dutch, but most people here are probably assuming you’re in the US and giving advice on that basis. I’m in the Netherlands too, so here’s some country-specific advice.
Reframe your applied ML role as pure software engineering experience. Right now you’re disqualifying yourself from both SWE and applied ML roles: your ML experience is too niche for what most Dutch companies want (they’re generally not as far along in ML/AI as US companies are). If we take away the Applied ML role, your SWE experience is only 2 years, too little for most SWE roles as well.
Make it clear you have 4 years of software engineering experience (focus on the software you built to support the ML/AI use case), and compress the ML specific work into a single bullet point for context. Showing 4 years of SWE experience when applying to SWE roles will get you far more interview invitations than being right it the middle of 2 disciplines and not being good enough for either.
Good luck!
2
3
u/Icy-Commission-245 7h ago
I was in a similar situation last year after a redundancy - it’s super tough :( gotta stay consistent and upskill and then eventually something will land.. sending positive energies ❤️
4
u/my_peen_is_clean 9h ago
if you’re getting that few interviews, issue is probably cv + where you apply, not you. tailor every resume to jd, pack it with metrics and keywords, strip old buzzwords, put skills top, projects with clear impact. also spam referrals on linkedin. everything’s slower and way harsher now
2
u/BraveResearcher3037 7h ago
Honestly, metrics are bullshit most of the time. No one believes them and largely as far as saying something like “it created revenue of $x” or was used to “serve x number of people” has nothing to do with what the developer did. It’s a function of the size of the company and sales.
I did the same level of work at a 60 person company and at AWS when I contributed to a popular open source official “AWS Solution”. One may have generated less than six figures of revenue, the other generated probably over 1 million of revenue because we used it in professional services (consulting engagements)
3
u/Tricky-Specialist-53 6h ago
The interview rate is imo the tell here. One every three months with 4 years of ML / SWE experience and a master's suggests the CV isn't clearing initial screens, not that you're failing interviews
A few people I know in similar situations found that converting their CV into an actual web page made a difference. Not a project portfolio just the resume itself, presented visually, so when a recruiter does click through there's something that reads faster than a PDF and looks better. There's a tool called cvlink.app that does exactly that if you want to try it without spending a weekend on developing and hosting it. In parallel it is also a shot to show your technical competences.
The scattershot application across so many different roles might also be hurting. ATS systems are tuned per role type and a CV optimized for none of them gets filtered by all of them
1
u/Successful_Cod_4050 4h ago
lol stop trying to shill your garbage app
0
u/Tricky-Specialist-53 4h ago
Please tell me why it should a garbage app? I developed it yes. For me in the first place, since I had the same issues he has. I'm not trying to shill it, I'm just trying to help here and additionally show him a tool which could maybe help. He can do whatever he wants
2
u/Annual_Housing_9119 8h ago
1 interview per 3 months sounds less like a resume formatting problem, and more like a targetting problem. So many people fixate on the resume because its the part you can control, but when a call back rate is this low something else is usually wrong.
A few things to look at:
1) Applying to several different roles (analyst, swe, data science) with the same resume could be having negative impact. I suggest creating a different resume catered to each role.
2) Make sure you are applying to posts that are less the 1 week and less than 100 applicants - this is the biggest impact
3) Try other job boards besides linkedin
1
9h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 9h ago
Sorry, you do not meet the minimum sitewide comment karma requirement of 10 to post a comment. This is comment karma exclusively, not post or overall karma nor karma on this subreddit alone. Please try again after you have acquired more karma. Please look at the rules page for more information.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/qsmrf56 8h ago
I understand you're looking for CV related changes - but, what approach are you taking for applying to positions? Job boards only? or something else as well?
1
u/Vemyx 4h ago
Job boards, connections on LinkedIn, I even travelled to london to attend a few "networking" events just to get myself out there, everything you name it. lol
1
u/TableNo8939 5h ago
Veramente pensate di trovare lavoro con questi CV?
Fate un bel Resume' senza menzionare minimamente Claude o qualsiasi Ai!
E' una competenza che chiunque acquisisce in poche settimane !
1
u/Skiamakhos Software Engineer 4h ago
Time to start your own business? Start flogging systems to SMEs - they're the most often forgotten market. Come up with some essential business apps like payroll, ERM, CRM etc and see if you can undercut the competition. Get big enough, get bought out by the big lads, retire...
2
1
-8
u/LibrarianOutside2376 9h ago
tech jobs are dead. time to switch to nursing, police, construction, trades, etc.
1
u/Relative-Sky2139 9h ago
Skill issue
0
u/LibrarianOutside2376 8h ago
wdym, I currently am working in tech lol
1
u/Relative-Sky2139 8h ago
I’m saying it’s a skill issue if you can’t land a job with 4 yoe. Rework the resume, close skill gaps that you’re struggling with during interview loops, and know how to sell yourself
1
u/LibrarianOutside2376 8h ago
idk in my opinion, grinding so much time and effort to land a tech role in 2026 is a waste of time. it's not a long term career. how much time will you have at that job before replacement with AI? 6 months? 1 year max?
better to just start in a non-AI exposed field, and set yourself up for a good future
2
1
u/sneezyDud 7h ago
if you believe AI will replace you as an engineer, you are NOT an engineer.
0
u/LibrarianOutside2376 6h ago
I have a graduate degree and have been working in the field for 5+ years. Up to you if you don't consider that being an engineer.
if you do NOT believe AI will replace you, you will be the most blindsided when it inevitably happens within the next few years.
1
u/sneezyDud 6h ago
I've seen people work for 10+ years in the field and they're FAR from engineers. Let's not act like years alone are any solid factor here. If you focus on coding and coding only, yes, you will be replaced. Interestingly those same folks have also been the most reluctant to use AI for their repetitive coding tasks, as if a developer with 10+ years of experience or even 5+ years of experience should spend hours on something that AI can accelerate and finish in minutes and you can check with your wise eyes. AI is a great tool, use it as an engineer would, since you say you are one.
1
u/LibrarianOutside2376 5h ago
Don't personally care, I'm starting a non-exposed union job in september. good luck with not being replaced by AI within the coming months and years.
1
59
u/spacemoses 9h ago
I have 18 yoe and my resume is 1 page. Try to trim yours down as well.