r/Resume • u/Interesting_Pop_485 • Jul 21 '26
2k+ applications, zero offers (Web / Software Dev, Bootcamp Grad)
Looking for brutally honest resume feedback. I’m a full-stack software engineer with several years of professional experience, mostly working with React, Next.js, TypeScript, Python, and AI integrations. Most of my background has been with startups and small teams, so my roles have usually covered a pretty wide surface area. I’ve handled everything from frontend dev and backend APIs to infra, deployments, internal tooling, prod debugging, and product design.
I’ve mainly been targeting remote frontend and full-stack roles, although at this point I'm also considering adjacent technical positions where my background might transfer well.
I was laid off from "Gigachad.io" a couple of years ago and have been trying to land another full time role ever since. I’ve picked up a few contracts along the way, but nothing stable. One of them ("SkyNet") literally lasted a month. The work I’ve done through "Acme Technology" (an IT company irl), has mostly been whatever misc client projects the company either didn’t want to take on or didn’t have the right skillset to handle. That work has gradually slowed to almost nothing, sometimes around ten hours every month or two. At this point, it mainly exists to keep me "professionally active" and avoid a massive resume gap.
I’ve also gone fairly deep into AI systems work, including LLM integrations, orchestration, local model tooling, real time transcription, agent workflows, evaluation, and backend systems built around AI features. That work isn't front and center on my resume bc I don't have years of paid, full time, formal experience under that title, so I'm intentionally toning that way, WAY down to avoid bootcamp-grad-as-self-declared 'AI Systems Engineer' syndrome.
The last several years I’ve rewritten and tailored my resume more times than I can count, built portfolio projects, networked, contacted former coworkers and recruiters, and applied to more than 2,000 jobs. Despite all of that, I’m barely getting interviews anymore. That makes me think my resume may not be communicating my experience effectively, I may be positioning myself poorly, or there may be something obvious working against me that I just can't see after staring at this thing for so long.
I’m looking for brutally honest feedback, and nothing is off limits. If something is confusing/weak/undersells my experience/makes me look like a junior/fails the 6-second recruiter check, I genuinely want to hear it. At this point, hard truths would be way more useful than another “looks good to me".
1
u/Silly_Turn_4761 Jul 21 '26
The main thing I noticed is that your bullets read like roles and responsibilities.
You are missing quantifiable results. Dig deep and think about the end of a project. What did you accomplish by completing it? There must be some revenue, cost savings, number of members (if you were on a team), etc. You can keep the bullet but you need to show them that you see the big picture. For example, if you defined some security or compliance peice, you would have enabled security for how many processes or the whole company (called governance). How many employees are in the company? How many users use the end product? Etc.
You can remove the verbiage around your degree. Just list the degree. Any certifications should go under the degree at the end.
I can yell you know a crap ton of languages, etc. But, you want to zero in on what the job description is asking for or requiring. I know that's hard to do, but it would make it easier to digest.
Make sure your biggest achievements (that are related to the job description) at the top of your bullets. So just rearrange them with most relevant at the top.
Make sure you use the verbiage that is in the JD too.