I've had a longer career in tech than I expected. I finished college in 1992 with an English degree, but the desktop publishing skills I acquired as editor-in-chief of the school magazine are what got me my first print design jobs. In 1995 I transitioned to the newly forming World Wide Web and have never escaped. Since then my roles ranged from the old-timey "Web Designer" to the sleek "Principal UX Software Engineer." Recruiters remark on the breadth of my resume -- which doesn't even go back past 2008.

Yet I've had trouble getting roles, in particular since covid. I was five years into a stint at T-Mobile as a Senior UX Software Engineer working on custom BI solutions when covid eliminated our department. After a year of wondering if we'd all be dead, I took the Principal UX job at Providence Health System. You'd think a hospital job would be rock solid job security during a plague, but no, opposite day, they were losing millions keeping folks alive. I can't fault them for laying off non-medical staff, but my pain level went to an 8.

Lately the best I've been able to get are contract gigs on shaky ground. Both ended early with budget cuts or internal transfers. I worry that I'm encountering ageism and senior-level salary sticker shock syndrome (known as SSSSS to the savvy).

My greatest weakness has always been a reluctance to network properly. My social skills are completely fine -- actually quite high level soft skills in a work environment. But I reserve a lot of my headspace for music, art, writing, my passions that have no financial benefit, and thus I'm loathe to think about work outside work hours. Before you say "follow your dreams!", note that I've made some money from all three, and I know they're not sustainable careers for 99.999% of creatives.

I'm trying to reverse this by participating more, such as in Levels, but networking doesn't function at the same time frame as my late rent payment.

All this to say: where could I be tripping up? The networking? Ageism? Poor interviewing skills? ATS? Sending out too few resumes (i.e. less than 2000)?

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give context to my questions. Thanks for reading this far.