A tough job market is the best time to start something

Here's how to navigate a tough job market from someone dumb enough to have done it before. Me.

I started my career in 2007/08. Yep right before the financial crash. Didn't matter, Slovenia's market for developers was very early back then. The whole "tech scene" could fit in a room.

I started web development in 2002. Yep right after the dotcom crash. ~~People~~ Teachers told me the web was over and a waste of time. But I was a high school freshman and didn't care. You mean I can write code and show people what I built!? They don't even have to come visit!? THIS IS AMAZING 🤯

Before that all my programs had the huge huge audience of my friends and family.

Times are bad ... maybe

Ok so, here's a chart of new job openings going back 26 years.

Times are bad. They've been worse before. Honestly we're back to baseline from before the pandemic. It's fine.

Let's look at software engineering.

Graph doesn't go back as far and looks very scary. But look closely. It's only a little worse than during the pandemic stock crash.

We are fine.

Ok but times feel bad, what do I do?

Build something.

Yep that's the answer. Just do shit! Don't sit around spamming resumes to every inbox. Pick a problem that annoys you and start building. See if you can make a little business.

Nothing beats a body of work you can talk about.

Don't build portfolio projects. Do real work. It doesn't have to be fancy, but do have a goal other than "build something to show". The showing is secondary. Your score takes care of itself.

Delivering small results ladders you up to bigger opportunities.

There was a saying back in 2008 that "Startups come from people who feel undervalued by the market". If you're feeling underemployed or struggling to find something, that's the best time to start your own. What else are you gonna do?

Tough markets are a great time to join startups. You're already feeling underpaid, might as well get a huge lottery ticket and fun challenging work to go with that feeling.

And never forget that being exposed to fun challenging work is how you learn the valuable stuff people pay for.

Cheers,
~Swizec

PS: freelancing can be a good first business. When I was starting, almost nobody hired full-time. Freelance contracts only