You know the saying “the world works in mysterious ways”? Well, I whole heartedly believe it. Just the other night, after spending all day working on my project, I was casually browsing job postings on LinkedIn when my sister called. Over the last several months I have been slowly starting my job search and while talking to my sister I was telling her how crazy the tech industry is in the Bay Area. We were both in shock as I was reading off the applicant stats to her.
“Software Engineer (New Grad/Early Career) posted 4 days ago. 146 applicants. 52% of the applicants have a bachelors degree. 44% of the applicants have a masters degree…”
I remember saying to her “I’m going to have to hit every key word they are looking for in order for anyone to even SEE my resume.” We both laughed, mine a lot more nervous than hers. I wasn’t necessarily feeling discouraged. I just knew that at that moment, I wasn’t prepared to put the effort into looking for a job that it’s likely going to require. I want to finish this last term strong and make a project that I am proud of. The job will hopefully come after.
Then this morning as I was skimming through my emails I saw an email for a company I had applied to a few weeks back and they wanted to set up an interview. It’s for an entry level job at a smaller company just outside the Bay Area. It’s exactly what I have been looking for. Somewhere that I can get some experience under my belt without all the pressures of a big company. I reread the email a few times just to be sure it wasn’t a weirdly specific spam email. Turns out it wasn’t and I’m set to chat with them about it next week. And even if it ends up just being an interview, I’ll still get to walk away with more experience than I have today. It feels like progress.
