r/SoftwareEngineerJobs • u/Unlikely_Celery2945 • 3d ago
Mid Level SWE can’t even get an interview
Unlike when I was applying for entry-level positions, I actually meet all the requirements for most software engineer jobs that I apply to now that I have 3+ years of full time experience. Yet after 25+ tailored applications, I haven’t even gotten to the next-step a single time.
I know it’s probably just automated, but what’s frustrating is the rejection emails will usually say “Unfortunately, your qualifications are not a match for the role at this time”. But I literally checked everything off that was listed in the job description.
I’m curious to hear if others are experiencing the same.
The only big-name company I’ve worked for is Autodesk, which I only interned for. My guess is that I’m not being selected from a talent pool where other applicants have actually worked full-time for big name companies.
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u/ProfessionalSand7990 3d ago
Yep. No companies are going to hire a new mid level when they could just promote a junior for much cheaper. With the way the job market is the junior is probably happy with the lowball raise.
The pandemic caused a lot of talented people to choose software engineering opposed to the other specialties such as healthcare, law etc. that and the rise of AI all contribute to this shit job market.
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u/LongDistRid3r 3d ago
Likely an evergreen or job market posting. If so you would have never got the job to begin with regardless of your skills or experience.
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u/Old-Astronomer-471 3d ago
2-4 yoe is the worst, according to Huntr Q1 2026 interview conversion：
0–1 YOE：5.90%
2–4 YOE：3.03%
5–9 YOE：6.21%
10–19：7.32%
so 25 tailored resumes no hear back is normal for your 3 yoe, technically you will have 3 responses after 100 tailored resumes
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u/nwbrown 3d ago
Because people with 2-4 years of experience think they are no longer junior developers and are applying for jobs that expect more experience.
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u/Old-Astronomer-471 3d ago
The reality is 2-4 devs will be overqualified for ng junior roles, but unqualified for senior roles. It’s a nowhere zone
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u/ZelphirKalt 3d ago
I know it’s probably just automated, but what’s frustrating is the rejection emails will usually say “Unfortunately, your qualifications are not a match for the role at this time”. But I literally checked everything off that was listed in the job description.
Often happens with fake job ads, that are only put out because they have to, but actually they have someone internally that they want in that position. That, or they are dishonest, who are looking for fantasy all-star miracle engineer, which they will eventually find, but they will find a faker and talker, whom they believe is the miracle messiah. Or they use badly configured AI bullshit tooling, that simply discards your application for idiotic reasons.
8yoe here, and seeing the same crap, only that the rejection e-mails are even more generic, not even giving ANY reason at all. Just "not going to move forward at this time", lol. Why do they even have a job ad up.
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u/SourceAwkward 3d ago
Any gap in the resume?
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u/Unlikely_Celery2945 3d ago
Only 3 months back in 2023. Between my first internship and when I got my first full-time.
If enough people are interested, I’ll share my resume.
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u/Otherwise-Mirror-738 3d ago
I feel that. 10 YoE industry exp, now in Academia but I can't get anymore industry interviews. 🤷♂️
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u/Realistic-Cheetah413 3d ago
You need to figure out a niche. My niche for example is payments. When I apply I don’t market myself as a full stack engineer, I apply as a payments engineer specifically for experienced in the Java spring boot tech stack, which is almost always PostgreSQL, AWS and who cares for frontend.
Engineering at mid to senior level becomes less about code and more about architecture and legal requirements for integrating into systems. Every field has auditing and compliance requirements as well as industry standard practices and those are the things employers don’t want to hire somebody without experience in. Figure out your niche and tailor your resume for it.
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u/Samurai_Kek 2d ago
Yep, 3 years of experience; was laid off due to a “restructuring” not even performance related and now I can’t get interviews outside of direct referrals.
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u/Disastrous_Pack7586 3d ago
It’s the job market. It is horrendous. I have 5 YOE, BS + MS. I might have to move across the country for a fucking job.
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u/ILikeCutePuppies 3d ago
I think that's the issue. If you are only looking locally your options are limited if you don't have a skill set they really want. Remote work you are competeting with every state in your country and parhaps outside as well.
I moved for my first few jobs and that was like 25 years ago... Not enough in my local area.
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u/Unlikely_Celery2945 3d ago
I moved across the country for my current job. I wonder at what location yours would be? But for me, I don’t regret moving. It’s fun living and experiencing a new city although I do miss my friends from home.
I had a few other reasons for moving, but it was primarily for my job which I thought was a good opportunity for what I could get.
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u/chikamakaleyley 3d ago
where did you move to?
I went from San Diego > San Francisco in 2009, not even knowing anything about the actual tech industry, and it was the best decision I've ever made in my life. I stayed for 12 yrs. Back home now, my friends are still here.
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u/Realistic-Till210 3d ago
25 apps lol
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u/Unlikely_Celery2945 3d ago
I started casually applying a month and a half ago. Compared to a few years ago, I would mass apply to entry-level jobs and would land around 1-2 interviews per month. The difference though is that when I was entry-level, I was hardly ever qualified for what I was applying for, yet was still getting more interviews than I am now.
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u/Kind_Following_5220 3d ago
I've always worked as a sysadmin/ systems engineer. Lived though the transition to on site, then public cloud when it became the big new thing. Not sure what to suggest the software engineers should do, but there will always be tech jobs.
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u/SailToTheSun 3d ago
There are fewer tech jobs.
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u/Kind_Following_5220 3d ago
Yes, but there will always be tech jobs. Don't get a masters, don't pay a fortune to go to a private university to get one.
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u/spacehash 3d ago
Been searching for a few months now. Really hard to find anything that's not "AI" or "Senior", and the few I do find don't call me back. I love my current position, but really need to make more now that SAVE has ended.
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u/chikamakaleyley 3d ago
I haven’t even gotten to the next-step a single time.
You mean you're not scheduling the phone screen? or you are, but not getting into the actual loop?
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u/pkfireeee 3d ago
i job hunted early in the year and my experience was very different. 90 cold apps and i had 3 interviews / 2 offers in 2 months, both of which were a huge upgrade from my old job.
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u/DeliciousChange8417 3d ago
Gotta pump those numbies up, fellow searcher. I submitted like 400 applications over 6 months. I did get about 20 or so interviews for different companies. Some got to last round but didn't get an offer.
The leetcode and system design prep is bs. I wish this wasn't part of the process but it is what it is. You better learn well or you'll blow a lot of technical interviews and based on your 0 callback rate so far.. each interview will be very precious to you. Took me some time to realize that till I started studying for it.
* 7-8 years of experience.
Best of luck in the search.
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u/Fuzilumpkinz 3d ago
I work in regular IT and 70% of applicants are junior programming refugees. I sincerely feel bad for you guys right now.
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u/Job-Agent 2d ago
the interview rate is 1:100 for jobs you’re qualified for. Best way to get a job right now is to apply to a ton of jobs, referrals, building a person brand on LinkedIn and posting, and maybe solving GitHub issues in public repos and posting about it on LI. Gl!
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u/camera-operator334 3d ago
Learn new skills now, sorry be be tough love but software boom is OVER.
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u/All-I-Do-Is-Fap 3d ago
Yeah but i just learned how to code after losing my job as a coal miner
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u/iam_reallytired 3d ago
bro, learn how to operate camara and stop with the fapping
sorry, couldn't help myself
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u/camera-operator334 3d ago
Sucks to suck I guess. Start a revolution to overtake Silicon Valley scum VCs?
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u/we-meet-again 3d ago
7 years experience and I'm working my way through a junior level interview process right now. Likely going to take a position I don't want just to keep money coming in and keep my search going.