dapplicant

> nervous in interviews, or underlying general issues such as anxiety, or just being a very quiet person?

Yes, all three. The nervousness and anxiety are especially heightened during interviews, but I don't experience either on the job. Does that make me not a culture fit?

> Look for shorter term contract gigs

I initially applied for shorter contract gigs, but I found they had the same interview process as full-time salaried gigs. In the future I'll push back on some of the interview requirements for contract work.

I don't know for sure, but I bet it's a bit of both (not necessarily at the same time).

One time in particular I matched on every single technical requirement in the job post, only to be told that "experience with our tech stack isn't important as culture fit". I'm still not sure if he said that because he believed I didn't have the tech experience and wanted to make me feel good, or if he knew I had the experience but already knew he wasn't going to hire me.

First of all I appreciate what you've written in this thread. It sounds like we've had similar experiences.

> To repeat: the reason you don't hear more of this is people don't like to announce they're a failing at "getting a job".

This is reassuring to hear. It's really easy for me to feel crazy and depressed with the constant rejections. Crazy because I'm constantly being told that I'm not able to do the exact things I've been praised for doing again and again in the past.

> I think your issue is you're playing by their rules

I think you're right. I need to try something else.

> What do you fill your time with, while you're job searching? I don't think you said.

I've kept to my workday routine every day since becoming unemployed. Interviewing takes up a lot of the time. Aside from that I have some side projects that I work on occasionally. However my computer was stolen during the move, and I lost a lot of early prototypes that hadn't yet made it to Github. Sometimes when I try to work on one of those projects I just get caught in depression feedback loop. I released (and sold out!) a record last week, so I'll spend some time this week making a small app to help me fulfill those orders.

This describes my experiences perfectly.

The majority of the interviews came from responding to ads on startup focused job boards. I send a brief, personalized message which usually gets a conversation started.

Some of the companies were based in SF, but I was interviewing remotely.

California (not bay area), but primarily interviewing for remote roles.

That's a good point, but in my experience the founder interview usually takes place last, and only if you've been green lit by the previous interviewers.

Thanks for the advice, and good luck to you.

The most recent one was capped at two hours, but some can definitely grow to the 6-8 hour range. The worst part is, the submissions are rarely discussed. They're just a step to get to the next interview.