[Uzmanali]

I was laid off from a startup last year and sent out 187 applications over two months. Zero interviews. It was demoralizing until I changed how I approached job hunting. I started sharing small projects, coding tips, and lessons on LinkedIn and GitHub, and people started reaching out. Then I started talking to old coworkers, joined tech groups, and helped with open source. Most interviews came from these chats, not job boards. I moved from being just another resume to being a known and helpful human, even if only to 5–10 people. That was enough.

The system may be broken, but you can still stand out by being real, relevant, and visible. It worked for me; I hope it helps someone else, too.