Why your job search is failing as an engineer or a manager (and how to fix it)

183 candidates and counting - here’s what Taha learned about beating the hiring system.

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Let’s get back to this week’s thought.

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Intro

The current job market is quite challenging and without a proper plan, you are unfortunately planning to fail. It’s especially brutal for inexperienced people or people who don’t know how to present themselves in a good way.

You need a lot more than just skills in order to be successful and secure your next role. You need social proof, a good network and most importantly, a good strategy.

I am happy to team up with

Taha Hussain

, a former engineering executive at Microsoft, Yahoo, Walmart Labs, Startups and now a dedicated Engineering Career coach for Engineers and Leaders.

Taha is sharing with us his insights and overall strategy for being successful in the current market as an engineer or a manager.

Let’s get straight into it!

The current market for engineering positions is brutal

I’ve been in the trenches with engineers and managers since 2022, watching as they hit wall after wall in this brutal market.

How many times have you experienced this cycle?

• Spent hours tweaking my resume, yet no interviews lined up.

• Applied to dozens of positions, but only received generic rejection emails.

• Solved many leetcode problems yet didn’t get a single job offer.

But the ones who get through? They have something the others don’t: a strategy to beat the game.

Since then, I’ve helped 183 candidates land roles at top-tier companies through my coaching. Here’s the truth: everyone has their own challenges, but five traps stop everyone from getting the job.

Here’s how to avoid them.

1. Your resume reads like a boring obituary

If your resume starts with a "Professional Summary," congratulations, you've just put the recruiter to sleep.

Would you watch a movie if the summary was: "Hero dies in the end? Of course not.

You need a logline, just like a movie, something that grabs their attention and doesn’t let go. Start with three bragging bullets that scream “Look at me.”

Here’s mine:

Notice what I’m doing? I’m not listing what I did; I’m positioning myself as the exact leader they’re looking for while sneaking in keywords like "AI" and "Cloud Computing" that hit every recruiter’s radar.

The top section of your resume is your opening act. Make it a showstopper.

2. Your LinkedIn is a graveyard

You’ve probably let your LinkedIn rot for years - no updates, no personality, no life. And you think that’s fine because, hey, it’s just LinkedIn, right?

Wrong. You might as well be invisible. It’s time to resurrect that thing:

• Headline: Make it scream. Back in 2012, this would be mine: "Principal Software Engineer @ Yahoo | Carnegie Mellon | Polyglot Technologist"

• About Section: Take those top three bragging bullets from your resume and paste them here.

• Recommendations: Get them. They’re LinkedIn’s version of social proof.

LinkedIn is your trailer - a sneak peek into the blockbuster that is YOU. Make it so compelling that they’ll click ‘Connect’ before they even reach your resume.

3. Stop solving problems,start mastering patterns

You think bragging about 300+ problems makes you special? It doesn’t. It just makes you eligible.

The real winners? They understand patterns.

Every coding problem is just a variation of core patterns. Pros don’t memorize solutions—they recognize patterns and know how to adapt them on the fly.

For every problem:

• Solve it yourself.

• Compare it with the official solution.

• Study the top-rated solution.

Spend 3 hours/day over 3 weeks and you’ll master these patterns rapidly with this technique.

And here’s the twist: Get someone to mock interview you. Don’t just practice alone. Meta has a mock coding interview option. Use it.

When you master patterns, you stop being a problem-solver and start being a coding ninja.

4. System Design is your secret weapon (if you use it right)

You think you’ll wing it in system design? Good luck. The second you fumble, you’ve lost.

Most engineers talk about the basics—NoSQL, microservices, load balancers, consistent hashing.

But here’s the secret: It’s all about data.

When designing for Twitter, a search engine, or even a CRUD app, data drives everything. Redundancy, replication, staleness - that’s what sets you apart.

While the other candidates are drawing high-level boxes, you’ll be diving deep with Avro serialization and why you picked a columnar NoSQL database.

When you can speak data fluently, you're not just standing out. You’re in a league of your own.

I prepare my candidates with three key resources:

• Core components and practice problems: Grokking the Modern System Design Interview.

• Learning all things data: Designing Data-Intensive Applications.

• Weekly mock interviews.

5. Stop giving cringe-worthy behavioral answers

If you think behavioral interviews are softballs, you’ve already lost. These questions aren’t fluff, they’re landmines designed to expose your flaws.

The biggest mistake? Candidates focus on facts. They think they’re being logical. Nope.

What interviewers want to see is how you handle stress, ambiguity, and conflict. They’re looking for people who’ve been through the fire and learned something.

At Meta, the hiring manager asked my client:

"What would you do if your manager was micromanaging you? Like asking for status multiple times a day?"

Her response was a lightning bolt:

“If my manager is asking me the same thing again and again, I’d consider what I’m not communicating clearly. Maybe they’re finding it difficult to give feedback about my communication. Perhaps I’m not sharing potential risks or challenges I’m facing. I see it as a sign that I need to improve how I’m delivering updates, because no one enjoys chasing people for status.”

The hiring manager was floored. Why? Because she took ownership. She showed a growth mindset, self-awareness, and—most importantly—empathy.

The next day, the recruiter called with an offer.

The Brutal Truth:

• Your resume: It’s not a laundry list of past jobs, it’s your one shot to make them care.

• LinkedIn: Right now? It’s doing nothing for you. Time to make it work for you, not against you.

• Coding prep: Memorizing problems won’t save you. Master the patterns, and you’ll never need luck again.

• System Design: It’s not just architecture, data is your secret weapon.

• Behavioral answers: Don’t just answer the question. Show them how you think, how you grow, and why you’re different.

If you’re playing it safe, you’ve already lost. The ones who win are the ones who make themselves unforgettable.

Last words

Thanks to Taha for sharing his insights on this very important topic.

Make sure to check him out on LinkedIn where he regularly shares tips on optimizing your chances in the current market.

Also, check out his newsletter

The Conscious Leader

and his course The Resume Ghostbuster.

Note: Taha has also just opened up his next cohort for the Behavioral Interview BootCamp for Engineers. Seating is limited to only 15 spots.

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We are not over yet, 2 new things to announce!

1. Many people expense their paid subscription as part of their learning budget.

I’ve prepared an email template that you can send to your manager in order to expense the paid subscription.

2. If your company is looking to provide learning opportunities for its people, then making a group subscription would be a great way to do that.

For a larger number of seats, I am happy to give a discount. Reach out to me directly on info@gregorojstersek.com and I'll provide you a link with the discount that is relevant to the number of people you'll enroll.

You can read more about both 2 new things by clicking below:

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Career: Nailing the Behavioral Interview

My friends Ryan Murphy and Nick Cosentino have just launched their course on how to get better at behavioral interviews. If you are looking for a self-paced course, you can consider this one.

In all transparency: this is an affiliate link, so if you decide to buy the course, I’ll also get a portion of it.

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You are more than welcome to find whatever interests you here and try it out in your particular case. Let me know how it went! Topics are normally about all things engineering related, leadership, management, developing scalable products, building teams etc.