Ask HN: How can I effectively restart my dev career?

Hi, HN. I wanted to share my unique experience with you all and hopefully get some good advice on what I should do next in my career.

I was laid off from my most recent position in 2022. I had originally been hired in 2018 as a software dev but quickly transitioned into more of a leadership role, and then finally into digital transformation. I knew the transition was a risk and I was counting on being in that role for several years, or even the rest of my career. Sadly, things didn't work out that way. I haven't written code for a business in several years now, although I do have more recent contributions to open-source, especially my hobby game engine, and I have many years of experience in programming, architecture, DevSecOps, and leadership. After being laid off, I went through some personal life issues that prevented me from working, including taking care of a parent with dementia.

Through this unique set of circumstances I am finding it difficult to find work. Even though I have 20+ years of software development experience and am completely self-taught, employers only seem to take a "what have you done lately?" approach during hiring. I've found it difficult to communicate my unique experiences to them in interviews, which I've found to be heavily scripted and impersonal to a fault. Essentially, there doesn't seem to be much empathy in hiring. I feel like I'm being "Pareto principled," so-to-speak.

Does someone with my experience really have to grind leetcode and memorize algorithms to prove his capability? Is it realistic for me to expect to be able to work on a software team again after having transitioned away from software development? I'd be interested in management, but in my experience managers and directors either already have experience or transition into those roles from within a company rather than between jobs. Basically, I know I'm fully capable but I've found it difficult to prove that to ornery employers employing what I see as broken hiring practices. I've been involved myself in hiring for several years and I always made an effort to take an empathetic approach with people I interviewed. Sadly, I seem to be one of few who take that approach. I've considered interviewing for more junior positions but I'm concerned that I'll be seen as overqualified.

I'm frustrated and, to be quite honest, worried that I've lost my career after this confluence of unfortunate events. What does HN think I should do in my position? There is a lot more to the story than I feel comfortable posting here, so anyone who wants to reach out to me directly can find my contact information in my HN profile. My LinkedIn profile URL is also available in my HN profile.

So far, in my experience with interviews, it hasn't mattered much whether the position was full-time or contract. Perhaps I've simply gotten unlucky with the companies I've interviewed with; it's hard for me to say. I'd love to find a short-term contract, especially if it were something like .NET, in which I have nearly 20 years of experience.

1. resumeraiders.com

2. bear labor market means it can take 50+ applications (easy apply doesn’t count)

3. get a coach, they can help optimize your answers for nontechnical interviews while you work on your technical strategy

4. try crufty industries - government, defense, healthcare

Have you reached out to everyone you have ever worked under, worked over, and worked beside?

With twenty years experience, “why isn’t this person working with someone they know?” is a reasonable question an interviewer might ask themselves. Even if only subconsciously.

It makes sense to assume that’s the case. And it makes sense to ask yourself why that isn’t the case. As a person becomes more senior, what it is like to work with them is more constant and how it would be to work with them is a bigger factor. Good luck.

Good luck, I'm sympathetic as I've gone through some rough patches, and once thought my career was over.

Looking at my career, it tanked at age 44, in 2007 due to the financial crisis, and has never truly recovered. Part of this is the reality of getting old. Age discrimination is real.

I am now 60, and still employed, but mainly with contracts, and even those have been difficult to get, in part because I am not a good interviewer.

My approach has been to focus on senior software engineering roles, even though that could be considered "junior" given my decades of experience.

All I can suggest is that you cram for interviews for whatever roles you are hoping to get. Read Cracking the Coding Interview, practice solving problems on Hacker Rank, cram for design and behavioral interviews, etc.

Yes, I had to practice doing l33t code bullshit. It is part of how we have to play the game.