Getting a job in tech is difficult — but not impossible, says senior Microsoft engineer

Getting a job in tech is hard right now — but not out of the question, said Will Kencel, a senior engineer for Microsoft Xbox.

“When people are saying it’s impossible to get a job — it’s not impossible,” Kencel said in an interview with “Codesmith.” “You can do different avenues for how you can get to your career.”

Though the opportunities are fewer and the competition fiercer, Kencel, who first got a role at Microsoft in 2021, believes the strategy required to land a tech job in today’s market is relatively similar to when he was seeking one in the past.

“My goal was to get a job, just like everybody,” he said. “It was easier back then. It’s harder now, but it’s similar tools and determination.”

Concerns have escalated about a collapsing career ladder for younger workers as well as job losses to automation. Yet Kencel doesn’t believe that AI will soon be taking the place of software engineers. That trend is “overhyped,” he added, and job seekers should avoid allowing it to torpedo their morale.

“I would say, ‘remain optimistic,'” Kencel said. “Because if you’re optimistic about an outcome, it’s far more likely that the outcome will actually happen, than if you offer a pessimistic attitude — ‘I can’t do it, these interviews are too hard.’ Every time I failed, I didn’t even see it like that. This thing didn’t work — you retool.”

The job search is proving grueling for out-of-work engineers, with relevant openings in the US on Indeed down by more than a third, compared to five years ago. With the gap between positions lengthening for many, Kencel acknowledged that being out of a job can be “hard on the brain” and can start to grate at a person’s sense of worth. Unemployment, he added, is never a reflection of your value.

“Don’t let where you’re at determine your self-worth as a software engineer, and don’t let it get you down,” he said.

There’s not a sure-fire way to guarantee success in the course of the search, Kencel said. Instead, it’s a “lot of little things that add up.” By approaching the hunt from different angles, seekers better their overall chances of success, he said.

“It’s not going to be like a great project you made, or you have a great website for yourself, or one connection you made,” Kencel said. “It’s a lot of those little things.”

Kencel suggested treating failure as an opportunity to switch approaches. If something isn’t working out, it could be time to try a new tack rather than continuing to apply the same way.

“Don’t give up. ‘Cause it’s hard and it can be discouraging at times, but if you experience some sort of failure, just rework your strategy,” he said.

As for more actionable advice on how to stand out in a crowded market, Kencel suggests getting out from behind the computer screen and attending relevant local events as often as possible. Broadening the search to include in-person jobs could also prove beneficial, he said.

“I feel like going to actual in-person events and lining up roles like that in your pipeline is important,” he said. “Remote gets so many applicants. In your city, you can really stand out more to people actually there.”

Despite any temptation to quit out of frustration, sticking with the search is paramount, Kencel told Business Insider.

“Don’t get discouraged and just stop trying,” he said. “That’s like taking something that you’ve worked and built up and saying, ‘All right, this is as far as it’s going to get,’ when you can always take something further and build it up bigger.”

There’s always a next step to be taken to improve your chances, he added, be it building a “website, adding blog posts,” or “going to conferences.”

“That mountain of work you have to do just starts with one step,” Kencel said. “And that’s a clichéd saying, but it is true. As long as you take that step and build up more each time, you get there.”

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