I'm a tech lead developer. But the past couple of years I've been looking high and low for sustainable work. The most I've gotten is projects people pulled from their back pocket because they felt sorry for me.
I've been at this opportunity search for years now...not just months. I can't pay for my health insurance anymore and my diet is 90% peanut butter sandwiches.
What hasn't worked: following the "formula" everyone tells you to follow. Reach out to the recruiter, talk to the hiring manager, get a take-home assessment (I always decline these), then maybe get hired. Perhaps it's because my mind tends to work more like a business owner--the closer I can get to taking ownership of projects the happier I am.
For the longest time I didn't talk to recruiters. They'd be the first step in a company wasting my time. I realized this is because the employer is paying for the recruiter. The recruiter is getting paid by the employer and could be completely blind to how much of a jerk the employer is.
So I decided, you know what? Tech pays a boat load of money. Even if half my paycheck were spent on someone I'd still have a heck of a lot left for savings. What if I worked with a reverse recruiter.
Better yet, several!
So I've started the rounds. I am hiring recruiters to work for me. I was very transparent with the fact that I'm talking with others, and said whoever gets me a position first wins and gets the royalty.
I'll even generate more competition further down the line. Once I'm financially stable I'll continue to work with the recruiters and offer to pay them again for yet another position. Generate competition with my current employer.
I'm sick of being looked over. It's about time I took the reigns.
Thanks. I already know my mental health is in the tank. Has been since I started my career. I've lost count the number of times I've been fired (and learned from each one), but that has trained my brain to constantly be in a state of "I have to do a 1,000% percent job at this new position so I don't get fired." But then I end up getting fired anyway because I burn out. Add in the fact that I often spend months or years without payable work the stress just keeps stacking. It's not like it's a sudden stressor like the death of a loved one. It's an "undefineable" stresser that you can't quite get across to people who have been able to steadily work with a company for years without a fear of losing it.
The only way to break the cycle is the shout out the noise and aim for exactly the position I'll thrive in, to where my flaws won't be grounds for firing but will instead be what makes me "me." I've been told all my life I'm flaky, I don't listen (more of a processing disorder thing instead of a moral thing), I'm too creative...I've heard it all, and I'm sick of it. Since nobody is telling me I'm valuable, I'll say it myself.
My aim is to be an inspiration to people in my boat. That you can be labeled a "failure" by society but come out of it a winner.
I will not quit until I've made other people around me successful (with me joining along with them, of course).