I can't believe you'll be unemployed. I'm pushing 40 and have recruiters calling me weekly and dont have Google tier experience. You sound depressed tbh this kind of feels negative..
Recruiters contacting you means nothing. Anyone who has put out their resumes on linkedin, job websites etc. will have recruiter spam. See if you can translate any of those into a better paid job than what you currently hold.
No. I assume you have never put a resume on linkedin with experience in a field that isn't in demand. In my previous career, while I was employed, i had zero messages from recruiters.
Exactly right, I created a linkedin profile with only one job experience with "devops programmer" in job title. I get tons of "recruiters calling me left and right" .
Agreed. I'm 47 and I get hit up every week for good positions. Today I make more than I ever have. When I was 27 I was working at a Big Corp that laid off a good portion of their 60+ year old COBOL programmers. The devs that couldn't retire were all snapped up by other companies as pretty highly paid contractors. The Valley isn't the whole industry. Ageism is a thing for sure, but I think it's much less prevalent outside of startups and will not keep you from earning a living after 40 or 50 or even 60.
Apply even if you think you're not qualified.
Let them make the decision not you.
You'd be surprised the inconsistency alot places have between the job posting and what they'll settle for,esp if you're passionate and willing to learn.
They may even create a new Junior developer position for you until you learn what you need to.
Tech talent is SO tight that alot of places will hire someone with passion and train them up.
If you get an interview sell them with your passion and excitement to learn. Maybe give yourself a week before the interview and research their tech stack and do a little project.
If they give you a tech assignment that you can do from home...just crush it. Dockerize it, make a fully functioning app out of it.etc etc. Make it wayyyy past their expectations.
Even if you don't get the position you have a project to add to your GitHub.
That's my best advice. Apply even if you're underqualified. And show extreme passion for the company and tech stack.
Also apply to tons and tons of jobs. Your new job if you're unemployed..is applying to jobs. Apply 8 hours a day using every resource you can. Be willing to move anywhere.
It may take a month or two but you'll get a position. The US economy is trillions of dollars. The number of tech companies and business that use tech is in the hundreds of thousands.
You're chances are way better than you realize.
