New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: Been job searching for 3 years. Do I need speech therapy?

Ask HN: Been job searching for 3 years. Do I need speech therapy?
4 by ccajas | 2 comments on Hacker News.
I brought it up mostly since my mom and her cousin suggested that I go with a speech therapist to help me get job offers. I am a software engineer with experience, having worked in 4 past jobs as a SWE. But I have never had to look for jobs for so long before. In the past, I usually get an offer within a few months. But after 2014 it's been different. I was laid off from a full-time job and I haven't been able to get anything full-time since. I am a self-taught programmer. have entered the industry 11 years ago but I don't believe ageism is playing a part here. Still getting no adverse feedback on that as I look young for my age. I have a few projects on Github and more recently I'm too burned out to do another programming project. But I continue to read articles and posts on the software industry, chat with others to stay abreast of local events. My greatest bottleneck would be with the interviewing process. My resume is not the main problem, as I've gotten into many interviews with it. I have been able to get several phone interviews, but hard to pass them. My last on-site was in 2017. Despite that, I have landed three contracts for freelance work, one from a former employer who already is familiar with me and my work, and the other two from Redditors who were seeking game developers. They were convinced by my projects and was able to deliver a good job to them. So while I'm able to get some freelance work through unconventional means, what I am really looking for in the long run is a steady full-time job. Jobs applied through Indeed, StackOverflow, LinkedIn, etc. net me no offers. A few family members have said that I show traits that might put me on the autism spectrum. I don't have unemployed insurance. But my family wants me to go through a service that treats people with social disabilities in order to start working again. So is three years long enoug reason for doing so? Or is it approaching the norm for programmers?