It’s been a minute since I’ve written a post about my job search. I have been really enjoying writing the technical blog posts so much that it’s been hard to take a break from them. This week, however, I am taking a break from them because I finally received my first job offer!

It has definitely been a crazy few months of making the job search my full time job. Thankfully I have been recording everything very diligently, so I have some stats about my job search that I’d love to share with y’all. Before I jump into those though, I’d love to share some lessons I’ve learned along my 133 day journey.

The Lessons

• I’m very aware of how exhausting, time consuming, and frustrating the job search can be, so I think it’s really important to celebrate the small victories along the way to help keep you motivated and your spirits high. Pat yourself on the back for landing your first interview, then do the same the first time you are advanced to a second round interview. In general, just be proud of yourself for making progress.

• You are going to get a lot of rejections. It’s just part of the process and you can’t take them personally. When I first started my job search every rejection email stung. I had many people give me the same advice that I just gave you, but my body and mind still reacted the way it did. For those of you like me, please know that this feeling does go away eventually. You’ll get so many that it just becomes par for the course and they’ll bother you less and less.

• Keep track of your job search that way you can be aware of what is working for you and what is not. About 2 months into my search I decided to reevaluate things based on what job listing sites I seemed to get more responses from. It made a pretty big difference for me when I implemented the changes I needed.

• The final lesson I’m going to mention is to just be patient. Some weeks I had nothing on the line. No interviews. No coding challenges. Nothing. I’d start to feel a tad discouraged and then all of a sudden the next week or so I’d end up with so much going on I could hardly manage it and wondered why I ever worried in the first place. So, be patient with yourself and the process. Keeping a positive mindset through this emotionally exhausting time is not easy, but it is doable!

I would like to point out at this time that these lessons and tips that I’ve learned over the course of my job search won’t always work for everyone. You need to be self aware and learn what best works for you!

The Numbers

Alright, so now for the numbers. It took, as I stated earlier, 133 days of grinding to receive my first offer. As a side note, this obviously isn’t the same for everyone so please don’t expect that once you hit this point you should have an offer. With that being said, here are my job search numbers:

I understand that there are techniques you can use to search for a job. Before anyone tries to tell me that the amount of applications I put out is absurd, please keep in mind that this is an average of 2.3 applications a day. I was able to manage putting out quality applications day after day, so I did.

The purpose of this post is to remind all of you searching for a job that this process takes time and patience. Do not get discouraged. Do not give up. You will eventually get that first offer and it is going to feel like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Always keep in mind that you don’t have to accept that first offer if it doesn’t feel right to you. Yes, it’s been a long time searching, but now that you’ve got one, you can get another. Stay positive. Keep your head held high. You can do this.

Note: The image this week comes from Lake Mildred, CA. This 11 mile hike starts at Convict Lake in Mammoth Lakes, CA.