I left my job four months ago because of family and mental health difficulties. Since then, I've sent out thousands of applications but haven't received an interview. I have about six months before I may need to move out of my parents' home, so I'm under a lot of pressure to find work soon. I have roughly two years of data engineering experience, and during college I worked on backend development with FastAPI and Microsoft SQL Server. I'm currently targeting backend developer roles that involve generative AI, and my personal projects include using the Gemini SDK, Pinecone, and retrieval-augmented generation. I'm based in India and would appreciate practical advice on improving my resume, targeting roles, and getting interviews.
4 Answers
Make sure your resume clearly shows production work, not just a list of technologies. For each role or project, explain what you built, the scale, and the result—for example, pipeline reliability, query performance, processing volume, or reduced manual work. Have someone experienced review the document, and compare it against a few real job descriptions to see whether your experience is being presented in the language recruiters are searching for.
The timing of leaving was difficult given the current market, but the personal and mental-health reasons behind it are valid. For now, widen the search if necessary: contract work, lower-paid roles, smaller companies, or adjacent data and backend positions can provide income and recent experience. Also use former colleagues, classmates, and local professional contacts for referrals instead of relying only on application portals.
I’d prioritize data engineering roles immediately instead of leading with backend jobs that require generative-AI experience. Your two years of direct experience should make those applications more credible. Keep the FastAPI and RAG projects as supporting evidence, but don’t let them make your profile look unfocused. You can always move toward backend or AI-focused work after getting back into a stable role.
If you’ve submitted thousands of applications without even a screening call, the main problem is probably positioning or resume filtering rather than the number of applications. Create a separate resume focused specifically on data engineering, since that matches your professional experience. Use the exact tools and responsibilities from each job description where they genuinely apply, make your project results concrete, and ask recruiters for feedback when possible. Applying to around ten carefully selected roles per day is likely more effective than mass-applying.
I left because of family problems, a personal mental-health crisis, and a work environment that was not sustainable for me. I’m trying to focus on finding a realistic next step rather than pretending those circumstances didn’t happen.