Not to be dismissive of people in this position, but speaking as someone with a regular ass boring job outside of the bay area, saying you're "terrified" sounds like you're far more worried than you need to be. The standards at jobs around the country are so low, and people in general are so bad at their jobs.
You might not LIKE the other work that's out there, but you could always find a software dev gig, or IT analyst work, or whatever weird name orgs will come up with for the only thing that matters: A Job You're Qualified To Do.
I've never had a mentor either, and all I've done in my career in the last decade is just cast a very wide net over a major metropolitan area and showed up to whatever got back to me, and it's worked out very well for me despite the fact that I'm frankly very mediocre and dysfunctional in comparison to our country's top talent.
Please describe how to 'always find a software dev gig'.
I'm sending multiple applications a day, to dev and dev-related jobs, and I get mostly no response at all.
The freelance sites (I don't have a track record on any of them) are possibly even worse, it's clear most proposals aren't even looked at.
I live in a major metropolitan hub, have a degree, and spend time tailoring applications proportionally to my interest in the position. I look mostly at large companies and government agencies, especially if I get word they’re currently hiring a lot.
Maybe but if you are in the Bay area you have to get paid a Bay area salary. They could move out of SF but that's hard too. You have to change job but also get a new place, change doctors, your kids school, your partner might need a new job etc.
You know, this probably also describes me and my strategy (I’ve only ever lived in the city I was born in and I’ve just found work here as needed). Maybe I shouldn’t worry so much, but for various reasons I really need my health insurance, so layoffs are pretty nerve-wracking for me as well.
Yeah there is this parallel universe where you draw in connections and work the room etc. to hustle your way to great jobs. I am sure it is good and all but every job hunt for me starts with a job board or search engine and a fresh cv.docx and off we go.
You might not LIKE the other work that's out there, but you could always find a software dev gig, or IT analyst work, or whatever weird name orgs will come up with for the only thing that matters: A Job You're Qualified To Do.
I've never had a mentor either, and all I've done in my career in the last decade is just cast a very wide net over a major metropolitan area and showed up to whatever got back to me, and it's worked out very well for me despite the fact that I'm frankly very mediocre and dysfunctional in comparison to our country's top talent.