San Francisco Jonathan Kim, a would-be US software engineer, began his job search over 50 weeks ago, tracking his efforts on a spreadsheet.
He applied for more than 600 software engineering jobs. Six companies replied. Two gave him a technical screening. None have made him an offer.
That was not the plan when Kim paid nearly 20,000 in 2023 for an intensive part-time coding boot camp he thought would equip him to land a software engineering job.
They sold a fake dream of a great job market, said Kim, 29, who works at his uncles ice cream shop in Los Angeles while continuing his job search.
Without a college degree, he believes his chances are low, but boosts his rsum by contributing to open-source software projects. I see so much doom and gloom throughout everything, he said. Its hard to stay positive.