From Laid Off to Hired: A Practical Guide for Software Engineers Navigating the Job Search

Introduction 

Every so often, I get pinged on LinkedIn by folks in dire straits. The messages are along the lines of “I have <X> years of experience as a <software engineer / software automation engineer / PM >. I never thought I’d be laid off, but this happened to me <Y> months ago. I’ve been applying to roles since then, but either getting no responses at all, or, in rare cases where I get an interview, I’m not selected. I’d appreciate any guidance on what I could do to better my chances of finding a job.” 

My heart breaks every time I read one of these messages. I want to help. I have things to say. This is why I founded Incredihire, along with like-minded colleagues. But it also feels callous to say, “Sorry you lost your job, how about you pay me for coaching so you might find another one?” 

This is why I’ve decided to start this article series. Originally, I thought I’d fit it all into one article but then… ha! A thousand words in, I’m just getting started. 

Think of this series as a roadmap taking you from 0 to Hired. I am assuming that you have prior development experience of at least a year or two but are nervous about interviewing, what to expect, etc.  

In previous Empathic Insights articles, I’ve taken deep dives into STAR for behavioral interviewing, preparation techniques for tech interviews, and so forth. You can find those here. This series takes a more structured approach and explains the process step by step, complete with resource links. Think of it as a braindump of everything I’ve learned about the job search process over my 28 years in the industry, both as a candidate and as a hiring manager. 

The Three Tracks – Plus One 

As a Software Development Engineer (SDE) candidate, you must have a good handle on the three main tracks of interviewing. Those are:  

• Coding – testing your problem solving
• System Design – testing dealing with ambiguity, communication skills, and problem solving
• Behavioral  – testing communication, thought organization, Leadership Principles

And then, of course, you need to get to the interview stage in the first place, which means you need to have a strong resume that can pass an ATS check, get to a human recruiter, and elicit a positive response.  

When you’re just starting out, you’re going to want to focus mostly on two things: your resume and your LinkedIn profile. Both need to be stellar, especially if you have less experience to lean on. I’d devote around 2 hours a day to working with a tool like TealHQ or ResumeWorded, or perhaps even working with a paid resume writer to help you whip your resume into shape. More on Resumes and LinkedIn coming in the first deep-dive article of this series. 

What else should you do while you send out those job applications? Well, if you’re a developer, develop! Contribute to an open-source project. Start a mobile app. Start a SaaS service and deploy it on AWS. Github links play very nicely on job applications, especially if you have a couple of beefy repos you can impress people with. Sometimes they’ll even compensate for relative lack of professional experience. And, if you contribute to OSS, you’re making friends with key influencers in the community… people who have jobs and who can help you get your foot in the door.  

Look, one of the most valuable attributes in a software developer is curiosity, and there’s so much in IT right now to be curious about! Get involved in agentic AI. Practice AI-assisted coding and prompting techniques to quickly get TabNine or Cursor or SurfWind to do what you want. Learn a new language. Code, code, code. All that work will translate into stories you can tell at an interview, stories that show you as passionate about your chosen field, and eager to grow. And, speaking as a hiring manager, those are gold qualities for a candidate. 

Your Daily Tasks 

To get more specific, let’s talk about a rough breakdown of your day while job searching. This assumes you don’t currently have a job but want to devote all your energy toward getting one. I would suggest a schedule along the following lines:  

• 9-11am. Coding. (See above.) 
• 11-12am. Job Search / Application (more on this in the following article) 
• 1-3pm. Coding Interview practice. (Grind75/Blind75. More on this later in this series.) 
• 3-4pm. Job Search / Application 
• 4-5pm. System Design practice. (More on this later in the series.) 

There’s your 9-5 job right there. Customize your schedule such that you’re coding in your most productive time window, followed by coding interview practice, followed by system design, followed by sending out resumes. That last one shouldn’t require much mental horsepower, and I would save that activity for your least productive/engaged time. 

 And there you have your rough blueprint. 

Coaching 

Let’s talk for a bit about paid coaching. First, let me say that you can most definitely get by without that, provided you’re sufficiently motivated and have friends who can give you mock interviews and meaningful feedback. You can also leverage Youtube videos, sites like AlgoExpert, and free webinars (Incredihire runs them on a regular basis) to get by without needing to shell out hundreds or thousands for a paid coach. 

Like I said in the beginning of this article, I get it. You just lost your job. The last thing you want is to sink money into some random weirdo from LinkedIn who promises stellar results but can’t actually guarantee them. (Because who can, really?) 

I think of a paid coach as a shortcut. They’re sharing their experience and doing what they can to organize and motivate your job search. This may be worth it for you if you benefit from that sort of external organization. You may hear something you haven’t found in those Youtube videos you’ve watched or articles (like this one) you’ve read. Maybe it will even help you get to that job faster. At Incredihire Academy we’ve certainly had some notable successes, like landing a candidate into Amazon. 

Naturally not all coaches are going to be equally good or equally effective in helping you. Do your research. Look at articles they’ve written, videos they’ve recorded, etc. Don’t simply throw money at a coach. Get an SOW (Statement of Work) with specific deliverables you can expect. 

Do you need a coach to succeed, though? Heck no. All you need is structure, motivation, and curiosity.  

Conclusion  

I hope this first article in the Job Search series has been helpful. The next one will focus more on resumes and how to structure them for success. Then we’ll talk about Behavioral, System Design, and Coding interviews. By the time this series ends you should have a pretty comprehensive blueprint for your search. 

In the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions. And if you feel like you could benefit from some additional help, we’re always there for you at www.incredihire.com

Good luck!