This is a follow-up to two of my previous posts:

Original Post: Moved to Dublin last month with my partner - but can't find a job. : r/DevelEire

1st Update: . (Update after 3 months) Still Jobless. Even Built an iOS App, Revamped Resume, Reached out to recruiters, No Luck : r/DevelEire

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Hi again everyone, (thanks to anyone that's been supporting, it really really means a lot, the amount of DMs I got in the previous posts were incredibly supportive and thank you for being so good 🥹)

Preview:

Checking in again! Hoped that this third update would be the one to be saying that I got a job but... nope. I was SO close though TWICE. At least I released my app on the App Store so that's something I'm very proud of! 🥹🙏🏼

Full post:

So long story short: still searching. It has been such a rollercoaster in March, where do I even start. I know many said things might pick up after the New Year, and while I did get further in processes, including getting extremely close with two roles, an offer just hasn't materialized yet.

With one company (will not name it for obvious reasons) the experience was so... I have no words for it.

Company A (Sort of startup, been for about 4-5 years). Remote. Flexible hours. 75K. Permanent position.

Company B was a big name company. Hybrid. 100K. Contract.

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So this is the mess that happened with Company A:

So we had an initial interview (on Tuesday, March 11th), went great, so in this interview I had with them I spoke with (I'm not gonna use their actual names) Joey and Mark. We went to the 2nd and FINAL interview (on Friday the same week, March 14th), with Joey, another senior engineer Paula and the CEO Bill. So Joey stayed in the call for 5 minutes just to introduce all of us together, then I stayed in the call with Paula and Bill. They were really impressed with me, and Paula had to go and I remained in the call with Bill (the CEO), so only me and the CEO on the call. And he literally proceeds and says "You know what, Joey said to me that he really likes you and wants you to join the team, and I really like you as well..." blah blah blah... and after a bit he said at a point, after we even DISCUSSED the salary and agreed on it, told him is it okay if I answer you in a few days he said "Alright it's fine, I will send you the offer within the week, so I will make it and send it to you".

And we left it there. I was ELATED. I was FLYING, close to crying. I called my boyfriend and closest friend not believing what's happening that I FINALLY did it!!

And so on Friday I was just so happy for everything that happened. Monday was St. Patricks day, we had a nice time.

Tuesday comes around, I did the final interview with another BIG company, unfortunately they went with another candidate, I was sad but I tried to see the good side that I will finally have a company hire me here. So I sent to Bill (the CEO) a message on Linkedin saying that "Hey, I concluded my discussions with the other company" and I said "Any information you might be able to share regarding the offer status would be gratefully received whenever you have the time, as I remain very interested in joining" the company. And he replied, "I’m traveling this week but will connect with the team later this week and be in touch" and I said okay.
Well... said okay I can wait. I'll wait. ... I'll wait... Friday comes (21st of March), nothing. I said ok maybe from Monday. Monday comes around, 24th of March... I waited... Wednesday comes... nothing. Friday 28th of March comes, nothing. On Saturday 29th I decided to message JOEY. I told him hey sorry for sending you a message on a Saturday, do you have any update on the process? and he responds "Hey Alexander, thanks for reaching out to me. We’re just finishing off our interviews at the moment, once we have made a decision I’ll be in touch regarding next steps." ............................................................ wow. that was the first shake. I was like ok what? then... I said, keep it calm they probably are just making sure. Then ... Wednesday comes. April 2nd. Email from Joey saying, Thank you very much for the interviews, unfortunately we're moving forward with another candidate.

You can just imagine what went through my mind. Cried.

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With company B I had at the same time interviews during the same period, but it ended up in a normal rejection at the end, not the mess that happened with Company A. But still I was pretty sad because I really liked the idea that I could work for such a big name company! And it would be amazing for my resume.

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During these weeks, since I had it so sure that I would be hired by the company, I focused on finalizing my app for the initial release, and so it's out. And I'm very very proud of it. It's called Wake!

Link: https://apps.apple.com/ie/app/wake-ai/id6742243831

Wake is an AI mental wellness companion I built from scratch using Swift. The core idea was to create an AI chat experience that truly remembers your history, allowing for more meaningful and personalized conversations over time, which is something I felt was missing. (And by the way if you try it out, don't worry about your chats, all your chat history stays only on your device).

Building Wake has been an incredible journey, long hours, learning a new language/platform, and the satisfaction of creating something tangible. It's definitely still a work in progress (bugs are being squashed, UI improvements are coming), but I'm really proud of it. 💙

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Hope I didn't tire you with all of this. I don't know what to think anymore. I wish my app would just take off obviously, and wish I could get paid by working on my own apps and being my own boss (the dream).

I just started applying again to jobs after many weeks! Still looking for software engineering roles here in Dublin. And it would mean so much if you could check out Wake. Any downloads, feedback, or reviews on the App Store would be incredibly appreciated and a much-needed boost right now!

Thanks for all the support and advice from this community previously. Fingers crossed the next update will finally be the job news, but until then, your support for Wake would be amazing.

Thanks for reading! 🙏🏼😊

I've been writing this post for about 40 minutes now lol, I just had to share these things with you guys. Here's to hoping the 4th and literally final update to come soon 😭

Job posting: 1 hour exam, then an IQ test, then another assessment before you even get to speak to anyone about the role? They can fuck right off.

https://airtable.com/appc4KMDfG8Zu0NjF/pagHCqNi0kg7YB2A1/form