Navigating the Changing Landscape of IT Careers in 2023

I have been fortunate to have found my passion and work on things that I love every day.

A lot has changed forever since I joined an IT company back in 2009.

Today, the market is weak. Finding a job is difficult.

Being happy in a job is another battle many face almost every day.

We, as a society, produce a large number of software engineers not fit to be hired. There is demand. But the supply is outrageous, and the quality is sub-par. This signal-to-noise ratio adversely affects the few good ones as well.

If you struggle to find a job in 2023, showcase your skills.

Show and tell. Show. And tell.

1. CVs have lost their relevance. Companies no longer trust your CV or the marks you scored, thanks to online exams that happened during COVID-19.
2. Showcase your code through Git repositories. Present code for every concept you learned/know.
3. Write blog posts. Tell the world the problems you chose, the solutions you implemented and how it made you feel – the experience. The blog posts tell the recruiter that you didn't fake your CV or the repositories.

If you recently started your first job and are not happy with the work or life, here's your escape plan.

If you are in a WITCH company, quit now.

I've rarely seen a software engineer becoming better there. However, I've seen the opposite quite a lot. Quit NOW, not tomorrow, next month or a year from now.

"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain".

Invest the first FIVE years of your career learning.

Have a clear goal of what you want to become. Get a job that'll help you become that. Say NO to everything else.

Compromises are NEVER short-term.

1. Choose a company with a work-from-office culture (at least for the first two or three years).
2. Do not stretch your working hours beyond 9 hours a day.
3. Self-review – Are you learning something new every week? If the answer is NO for too many weeks, find another workplace.

Apply for companies abroad.

Once you have enough repositories to showcase your skills and enough blog posts to establish authority, apply for companies abroad. Cut the middlemen with a slave labour mindset.

You don't have to relocate to a foreign country. You could stay where you are with friends and family and get paid in dollars or euros while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.