I founded Upfront Software in 1998. After 22 years in business, the survival of my company seems doubtful and I suddenly have to re-enter the job market. If you are a senior engineer or technical lead suddenly looking for a job, you might benefit from this thread.

The moment I realised that I had to look for a job, I was filled with panic and anxiety. 22 years of experience doesn't mean much if you can't showcase it clearly to a future employer. I have neglected my public profile as a developer over the last decade.

Before 2010, I was very active in the open-source community, specifically in the Python community. I was a contributor to the Plone core, attended and spoke at many international Plone conferences and wrote blog posts regularly.

Over the last decade, most projects I worked on were in private GitHub repos. The ones I am most proud of are not public. I partially remedied this by preparing a portfolio, but I could have saved myself a lot of anxiety if I continued to maintain a public profile.

Take away #1: Continue to maintain your public profile as you advance through your career. All your blog posts, commits to open source repositories, Stack Overflow questions answered and tutorials are invaluable breadcrumbs that you might need to get out of the woods one day.

If you don't end up in the witch's oven, your public profile will always be a record of your own history preserved and celebrated. After I rushed to compile a portfolio and updated my CV, I applied to eight jobs. Don't rush to apply, no matter how anxious you feel.

I can highly recommend @RandallKanna's new book, The Standout Developer, for a wealth of tips on how to make sure you are prepared on all levels. Her book inspired me to set aside my pride and share my experience, even though it makes me feel very vulnerable.

Luckily I was noticed by one startup. I passed an initial survey, had a positive first interview with the CEO, passed a coding challenge and moved on to a technical interview. I totally messed up this interview and after 30 minutes I was told that it was not going to work out.

I had enough composure to ask where I had failed and my interviewer was nice enough to explain. I was deeply disappointed and properly depressed after this interview. I realized that my progress to step nr 3 in this company's recruitment process, filled me with false hope.

Take away #2: Don’t set your hopes on a single job application that seems to be moving forward nicely.

Take away #3: Don't be afraid to ask why you didn't make the cut at the end of the interview.

Take away #4: Be prepared to learn from your failures. It's a cliché for a reason, but its darn hard in practice when you are feeling miserable. Dig deep, you can get through it! In my defence, I haven't been interviewed in more than 22 years.

As an employer, I was on the other side of the table doing the interviewing. So what went wrong?

When I was asked to describe a particular technology, let's use REST API as an example, my interviewer expected more than just a technical description for a tech lead position.

They wanted to hear my opinions, the pros and cons, the shortcomings and limitations. Additionally, one should mention alternatives, eg GraphQL, and explain what problems the alternative might solve.

Take away #5: Don't just describe a technology, give a critical review of it.

My interviewer also pointed out that a technical lead cannot choose the technology in isolation. You have to consider whether the team that you are leading has the skills to use that particular technology.

If you have a team that is experienced with a NoSQL database, you can't suddenly move them over to work on a relational database without carefully considering the impact.

Take away #6: Always consider the impact on the team of people you work with.

I was asked questions about React and even though I have used it in two projects before, it wasn't recent. I mostly use TypeScript in Angular on the frontend. Even though I indicated that I'm not up to speed with React, I got these questions wrong and just looked stupid.

Take away #7: Pick jobs that match your recent expertise as closely as possible. Don't assume that you will be able to skill up in a week or two.

After feeling miserable for two days, I sent the company an email and thanked them for the opportunity to apply for the position

and for the feedback at the end of the interview. I offered some feedback of my own to them. In my opinion, a good interviewer should try to surface the strengths, weaknesses and experience of the candidate. Past performance is one of the best indicators of future performance.

I felt that the interview failed to surface any of my strengths because it hinged only on my responses to technical questions. I never had an opportunity to give a narrative of my achievements over the past 22 years.

I was never asked to talk about my successful projects, the technologies used and how it empowered my clients.

Take away #8: The outcome of the interview is not always a true reflection of your abilities. Some interviews are one dimensional and designed badly.

Take away #9: Take stock after a failed interview. Write down your thoughts, start a positive internal dialogue and don't let the outcome cause self-doubt. Figure out how you can improve your responses if you get similar questions in your next interview.

I'm still looking for a job and I have a lot of work to do before my next interview. I'm not alone and many people have a similar crisis. Even though I'm scared and worried, I believe I have to continue to share my knowledge and give something of value to those that need it.

Take away #10: It's ok to be scared, vulnerable and worried and it's ok to admit it. Stay authentic, even while you are in a crisis.

I look forward to sharing a lot more of my insights and experience in the weeks to come. I've been quiet for far too long.

Good luck in finding your next job!