Unemployed almost a year after graduating MIT – a rant

Yeah this is what 2008 was like. It is not your fault.

Here's what you do:

1. Quit doomscrolling. Quit all social media. It's like anti-therapy where it just makes everything worse. Timebox your job-hunting every day, there's diminishing marginal returns on time spent here.

2. Your instincts are good! Volunteering and side projects are great. I did a ton of side projects and freelance work. This means you'll be able to account for your time unemployed and gives you something cool to show in interviews. I had a nice little portfolio to run with.

3. Go outside. Read a book in a park. Clear your head. Shit like "the longer I go without work, the worse it gets in the eyes of employers" isn't useful. You will solve that by having a good story to tell via #2, and everyone knows this is a terrible market.

4. Apply to weird stuff involving technology but not "in tech." IT for schools, web stuff for nonprofits, museums, tiny businesses that can't afford market rate. A lot of these are really fun.

I can tell you from 2008-2011, this era passed. Even my most desperate, lost-seeming friends, some of which had prestigious degrees etc etc, found something to do. Many of them wound up quite well off in the end. The hard part isn't even interviewing, its keeping yourself sane in the meantime.

You are not a failure. You are being dealt a bad hand, and that has happened to entire generations before you.

When external structure disappears, you must replace it with internal structure. Keep a fixed daily routine. Get up at the same time every day and go to bed at the same time every night, regardless of mood or circumstances. Plan for eight hours of sleep. Treat this as non-negotiable.

Take care of your body. Exercise regularly, even if it feels pointless at first. Eat properly. These are not self-help platitudes; they are basic maintenance requirements for keeping your mind functional under prolonged stress.

Be very strict with digital consumption. Doomscrolling and sulking are forms of digital procrastination and they actively worsen the situation. Before switching on the TV, unlocking your smartphone, or engaging with any social media, do 20 push-ups. Every time. If you cannot do push-ups, replace them with squats or another short physical exercise. The goal is to insert friction and break the automatic habit loop.

Do not lie to your friends about your situation. That usually makes things worse over time, not better. People talk, and they already know more than you think anyway.

If you cannot find a job in tech right now, apply to other jobs you can realistically get. Any job. Then become very good at it. Be dependable, knowledgeable, and reliable.

At the same time, actively look for better opportunities. Treat this as an ongoing process, not something that passively happens to you. Apply, network, learn, and reposition yourself continuously. Your loyalty is first to yourself, second to your family, and then to the people you care about, never to an employer. When you find a better opportunity, take it. Change jobs if needed. Repeat.

This is not a judgment on your abilities. It is a rational response to current conditions.

I graduated right after the 2008 crisis, took 3 years and many temp jobs to get one where I would be paid to write software. Those 3 years were terrible and I estimate it set me back by around 5-6 real years.

Looking back, what would I have done differently ?

(0) mental health is the most important at this stage. Stay close to people who are with you in this difficult time. Never forget their contributions. For me it was my grandma.

(1) have unshakable belief in myself and my worth, never letting my employability be a measure of my worth and identity. Deep down you would question yourself and think its a lie. It isn't.

(2) I should have absolutely used that extra time to master the interview stuff (algorithms, data structures, OS and networking concepts, etc). Sooner or later I would interview at a FAANG which measure solely on these factors, so could have used that extra time to master interview skills. I wasted time on side projects, resume padding and niche upcoming tech stuff.

(3) tech surfing. Ride the latest wave with some side projects. Don't go deep. Just surf.

(4) All things, good and bad, will end. "This too shall pass"

Sorry to hear that you're going through this. I work with other students/recent grads going through the same thing. A few suggestions:

1) To echo some of the other comments here, getting a regular routine will help you get into better habits. Good sleep, regular exercise, and limited social media etc will help with your mood.

2) The setbacks are situational, not dispositional. It really is a shit job market and you likely don't know how to properly signal yet (ie. sell yourself to others). And to make things even worse, brute force ATS grinding is now even less effective since everyone can now game the systems and generate a plausibly good-looking coherent resume using AI.

3) IMO, one mistake I see often is that students think jobs are the only way to gain experience. This is not true. You really have to be constantly learning new things on your own. Your university education is not enough. This means working on projects specifically for learning purposes. I'd suggest you alternate between learning-mode and applying-mode, where you spend 2-3 months just working on shipping a complete project, then focusing on applying to jobs for another 2-3 months, get feedback and rinse and repeat. You can use the learn-mode time to adapt to feedback. I think this will yield better results than applying over and over again hoping for different results.

Anyways, feel free to reach out. As others have said, you're beating yourself up too much. You'll figure it out and find a way through these setbacks. The important thing atm is not to spiral into a vicious cycle. I applaud you even airing this on HN, as it's much much better than sulking alone.

I've been there and struggled with depression. You know what has been amazing for my mental health? Lifting weights and getting some movement in. Try taking a long walk and see if that helps clear your head. You're far from a failure, Op. Much love.

Here's some actionable ideas: 1. try tech positions at non-tech companies, 2. be more flexible with location, maybe consider also overseas/across the border, 3. consider tech-adjacent positions that play to your strengths, 4. leverage your MIT prestige by applying to lower-ranked postgrad programs (assuming your profile isn't good enough for a top-tier program), 5. irrespective of what you did at MIT, maybe strengthen your tech fundamentals, especially if you feel insecure about your abilities

You have a resume or website I could take a look at?

My suggestion is to look at networking events and see if you can get involved in startups. You will be talking to people on the team and it's a good way to make connections.

I'd also look into the Education sector (i.e. colleges, universities, school districts) It's how I managed to get my start in tech. https://www.higheredjobs.com

And don't feel bad about it taking a while to find a job. I graduated a few years ago and it took me 6 months to get something lined up. The market is weird right now.

You are not a failure. Don’t blame yourself for the circumstances in the industry. You accomplished a lot by completing your degree. Perhaps you could consider looking for work outside the US. Have you tried searching for a job in Europe?

Might be worth getting a service job at e.g. a coffee shop just to keep you sane until the economy crashes and the tech job market becomes a bit more normal

don’t feel bad. working sucks and it isn’t the purpose of your life

this is all too common from friends I know who graduated in 23,24,25 trying to work in tech.

honestly a shame companies are bag holding tens of millions of dollars in the bank and not taking a bet on young, hungry talent.

this will definitely backfire.

a good time to be an entrepreneur though

Software engineering is a great skill to have and can help you in your own business. But it is a terrible career in its own.

Look into a trade. Technically-inclined like electricity, industrial automation, and so on.

Just build a startup.

EDIT: Building a startup gets you experience, connections and the grit that comes with actually building something. Being employee #440,670 does not; the end game is promotion or getting laid off. Just telling you how it is.

Unless you want to be in research (which the school does matter) instead of applying for jobs, just build a startup instead which gets you the experience you are looking for.

Look, sadly this is not gonna be an easy problem (not only for you but for anybody losing a job this days). Our industry has decided the productivity can be increased with less human force an it creates a bottleneck to join a company. Also, creating something by yourself to live from will be hard because SaaS is quickly dying. I have no solution for this problem, this is something new for all of us. You'll dedicate your time watching youtube videos about people surfing your same situation but no one has a real answer. Do not try to solve your own problems applying the same solutions than others, get out of your home look at your local community find a problem and find a solution that requires some real hands-on work (other colleague in this conversation talked about searching a trade, it's a good idea) Eveybody will tell you to not abandon your dreams but lets be practical, a dream without a way to take some food to the plate is just a nice idea in your mind. Be real, crude and honest with the world that we're all living. This is the new reality and sadly it's not your fault. Keep learning, training your technical skills (obviously) but be realistic about the chances. You can do it, do not lose your faith.