Finding a new job

magoo84

Hi there

I'm a software developer on the lookout for a new job at the moment as the company I'm in isn't doing so well lately, and there's a general consensus amongst staff that the doors will be shutting within the next 6 months. The work environment itself has deteriorated as well, with staff morale at an all time low, company management is aloof and distant and not really showing any leadership, so it seems the company is well truly in a death spiral, and I want to get out on my own terms while I still can.

However, I'm finding the job hunting process a bit more problematic for a few reasons which I'll explain below, and I'm looking for some advice as to how to handle them.


I have about five and a half years experience, and I've worn a lot of different hats over the course of that time, dabbling in lots of platforms, languages and frameworks in sort of month or two month long blocks, then moving to something else, then maybe moving back for another while etc., but never really having focused on any one stack or toolchain in particular.

I thought this approach would be advantageous, but now I feel like I'm stuck in a "jack of all trades but master of none" scenario, and it's causing me a few headaches when looking for a new job, as most job specs require several years day-to-day experience in one or two specific technologies. I know employers and agencies tend to over-spec jobs to filter out messers, but it's making me less confident about applying for positions when I don't meet their requirements exactly.

Another, more general problem I'm having is that as I'm looking, nothing is really blowing me away in terms of exciting me, and I'm worrying if I'm experiencing some kind of burnout or if I'm just fed up with development overall. However, this could just be the stress and uncertainty of the past few months taking its toll, and the fact that most jobs listed are posted by recruitment agencies doesn't make job hunting easy, as my experience has shown me that they make the jobseeking process much more draining and time-consuming by withholding information, not following up on applications and generally just being a pain in the backside.

I'd really like to get into the mobile side of things, and I have published apps on both Android and Apple app stores, but I don't have the requisite 3-4 years experience in mobile development that employers seem to be asking for, and there doesn't seem to be a huge number of positions out there anyway. This makes me hesitant in applying for any mobile roles, as it probably means employers will be very choosy and it will probably limit my prospects if I get a role and then leave a few years later. The vast majority of openings seem to be for .NET or Enterprise Java positions which sound like you'll just be churning out internal corporate applications for niche markets, which doesn't sound very interesting to me personally.

The final issue I have relates to pay. The position I'm in is quite well-paid, and I've factored in that I may have to take a pay cut of ~10%. A company I applied to said that they really liked my CV but the job would require me taking a 10K pay cut which is a bit too severe, and I'd have no guarantees that I would progress sufficiently within the new company to get back to where I was within a reasonable period of time.

Maybe I'm just fussy or entitled, I don't know, but I also know that there's no point applying for a job I won't find interesting, as I'll just end up leaving it anyway. I basically just feel like I'm having a mini career-crisis, as I know I need to leave, but I'm very uncertain as to where to go or what to do next.

Any advice would be much appreciated on any of the points I mentioned above, cheers!

youcancallmeal

Java enterprise and .net development roles are quite abundant at the moment but I think getting into mobile development isn't very easy unless you are willing to take a significant pay cut. I took voluntary redundancy from my well paid software developer job last year. I had been building Android apps in my spare time and had some uploaded to github. I naively thought I would easily pick up a decent role developing Android apps for similar money. I found most places looking for Android developers were either looking for someone with extensive industry experience or a junior level person. The pay for experienced mobile developer still wasn't even close to what a Java enterprise developer would get for the same level of experience. It seemed to me that there are so many comp science grads coming out of college having done their final year projects as an Android or iOS app that employers are happier to hire them at low levels of pay than an experienced developer who is trying to transition into mobile development while maintaining their salary expectations.

Have you considered contracting, that seems to be very popular right now too?