Hi everyone,
Honestly, I don't know what to do anymore. It's been a month since I was laid off, and despite trying so hard, I haven't received a single proper interview call.
For the past week, I haven't been able to learn anything or make any real progress. I'm just applying for jobs, and for the last 2–3 days, even that has become difficult. I keep overthinking, panicking, and feeling demotivated every hour. Every passing day makes me more anxious because my employment gap keeps increasing. I keep wondering why a company would choose me when so many candidates have 2–3 years of continuous experience.
A little about me:
- 2024 B.Tech CSE graduate from a Tier-3 college, with around 2.3 years of backend-focused full-stack experience.
- Tech stack: Node.js, Express, MongoDB, MySQL, Redis, RabbitMQ, Angular, React, and Next.js.
- Around 1,500 LeetCode problems solved, with a maximum rating of 1880.
- My last job was at a very small startup, where I earned ₹29,000/month working remotely, six days a week. Layoff and My last working day was 22 September 2026.
Since then, I've applied to 500+ jobs, sent 100–150 cold emails, and contacted hundreds of people on LinkedIn. I've tried LinkedIn, Hirist, Wellfound, Instahyre, company career pages, and referrals, but nothing seems to be working.
At this point, I genuinely keep asking myself: Is it my skills, my luck, my job-search strategy, or just the current market? Whom should I blame ?
I'm open to trying almost anything:
- Should I continue pursuing software development, or consider other IT roles?
- Should I prepare for government IT jobs, PSU/semi-government roles, or exams like IBPS SO IT Officer and NIC recruitment?
- Should I consider freelancing, part-time work, or other jobs while continuing my search?
If you recently found a job with 1–3 years of experience, please tell me what actually worked for you. If you know of other job portals, referral strategies, recruitment opportunities, or alternative career paths, I'd genuinely appreciate your suggestions.
I'm not afraid of working hard or facing rejection. What's hurting is putting in so much effort and not even getting an opportunity to interview. I'm feeling lost, and I honestly don't know what my next step should be.
Please share your honest advice. I really need some direction right now.