in the past 4 years, i've spent far more time doing tech interviews than I have actually doing work. I'm all for resiliency and not giving up, but am I barking up the wrong tree at this point? I'm not hearing any feedback when I get rejection notices except that they went with someone else - getting hard to know if its me or them at this point!
Any advice would be awesome.
1. Age factor (above 40 might have some challenge finding new job)
2. One and only one skill in quiver and if that's antiquated, even more challenging to get job.
3. Resume doesn't match experience. E.g. in industry for 7 years and have nothing significant to put on resume. You wont get contacted at all, probably.
4. Interviewing for position/group/company which do not align with your skill sets or experience.
5. Lack of interviewing skill.
6. Lack of depth in domain of interview.
7. Some personality trait which is becoming hindrance.
I think all of above can be tackled in some way, one just needs to identify the problem. My advise for interviews in general is -
a. Pick one generic domain and try to learn a lot in that domain instead of glossing through tonnes of terms.
b. Pick one language and stick to it for practicing interviews, you can always learn new language on job once hired.
c. Pick companies to apply for carefully. See if their product or requisition matches with some of your skill set. If they invited you for interview, focus on those match and try to project them. Even if you dont do well on certain things, your grasp on some other area might sway the interview.
d. Be enthusiastic, even if you are tanking the interview. It's not end of road.
e. Treat each interview as preparation for next one, instead of do-or-die situation. Be mindful of your shortcomings and mistakes and then practice on correcting them before next interview.
f. Apply to companies where you know someone. See if they can help get some feedback for you.
As others said, interviews are not valid measure of skill. There is no way interviews can find if a person is in wrong business, so spend some time on job before coming to that conclusion.
* edited for formatting.