u/Boring-Application92

I graduated almost 3 years ago with basically zero real experience besides a 6‑month internship I did in college. Since then, I’ve been unemployed the entire time. I’ve applied to what feels like every entry-level tech job on the internet. software, data engineering, QA, support, literally anything that isn’t senior-level. At this point I’ve easily crossed 100,000 applications. I wish that was an exaggeration.

Most of the time I get auto rejected. Other times I get ghosted after a recruiter screens me. I’ve reached out to recruiters on LinkedIn, tried networking, joined Discord groups, attended virtual events… nothing. Half the time they don’t even open the message. The other half, they say “we’ll keep your resume on file” and disappear forever.

It’s honestly embarrassing watching classmates move on with their careers while I’m stuck refreshing job boards every day. I’ve redone my resume a hundred times, tailored it, untailored it, made it ATS-friendly, made it human friendly, tried different formats nothing seems to matter.

I’m not expecting a dream job. I just want a chance. One entry-level role. One hiring manager willing to take a risk on someone who’s been trying nonstop.

If anyone else has been through a long unemployment gap in tech and somehow made it out, how did you do it? What actually worked? At this point I’m open to any real advice because I’m exhausted.