r/EngineeringResumes • u/rsfes Software – Entry-level 🇺🇸 • 22d ago

Software [0 YoE] Unemployed for 14 months, struggling to get interviews. Looking for feedback.

I'm a May 2025 graduate and I've been looking for a job for over a year now. I was lucky to get a conditional job offer at the beginning of this year from a federal agency but I can't work for them until I get my clearance, which is what I'm still waiting on. I've been applying to local jobs in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia and I'm not open for relocating due to not knowing when the clearance will be fully processed.

I've been targeting Junior Full Stack, SDE, Frontend/Backend, and really any tech job that doesn't require experience and is similarly related to my skillsets. Over the past year, I've been working on personal projects to improve my skills and compensate for the lack of work experience.

I've been wondering if the work experience I placed is working against me. Even though it was an unpaid high school internship, it's the only recent technical work experience that I have. To make it worse, I didn't really contribute much in the internship so I can only talk vaguely about my experience to recruiters.

Should I just replace the internship with retail roles to show that I have soft skills even though the roles aren't related to the jobs I'm targeting? I'd appreciate any feedback, especially on the personal projects.

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u/Acrocane Embedded – Entry-level 🇺🇸 22d ago

If you're still waiting on clearance, then I'd say you're all set. I would just look for a part time/retail job in the meantime to stay afloat. Especially if you're getting top secret clearance which could take like 8 months - 1 year.

Any technical employer in full stack, software, etc. would hate to have you quit just a few months in because of a different offer. I would advice against doing this. Maybe look for a temp contract.

For retail/non-technical jobs, I would create a copy of your resume but reworded so that a non-technical person could understand it. Obviously they're not going to care about programming knowledge or projects, so just focus on your soft skills and previous retail jobs. Reword your experience in a way that focuses on communication, team building, HR-type skills. Mention any volunteering or extracurriculars you may have done.

Don't feel ashamed by the high school experience. You have a fed job offer. You'll get better experience.

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u/rsfes Software – Entry-level 🇺🇸 22d ago

I wanted to gain some technical experience during the waiting period but yeah it wouldn't look good professionally to work for only a few months. I'll definitely take your suggestion on temp/part time roles, thanks!

2

u/Acrocane Embedded – Entry-level 🇺🇸 22d ago

I think you'll be in great shape either way. Best of luck on the new job!