I keep hearing that networking is the key to finding tech jobs but I genuinely don’t know how people do it naturally without feeling fake. Are people mostly meeting through online communities now or are in person tech events still worth attending?

Four rounds of interviews over two weeks with nothing but excellent post-interview feedback and got rejected out of nowhere with no actual feedback. This is the farthest I've gotten in 6 months of looking to get out of my current dead end only to be shot down just because reasons after being told everything went great. What a kick in the junk.

No one talks about the depression that comes with being a tech creative with so much to offer, so much intelligence and skillset, and still yet cannot find the right platform or establishment that will believe in you enough to employ you to grow with the firm and be the best you can be. You see a lot of people get by with far less. Its disheartening! The few times people or firms reach out to you, they only want to use you for something or tap your intelligence for a minute. Its never enough!

I know this Market is insane, but two weeks ago, when I first reentered the job market, I was able to secure 4 interviews, these past 2 weeks I have zero. I'm grateful for the 4, even though none of them yielded a job, but it was nice to have some movement once I re-joined the job market. Has it been even slower for anyone else these past 2 weeks? Hoping the best for all of us.

Is unlimited PTO as a perk a red flag at this point while looking for a job ? I catch myself writing off any job that lists it because my last company used it as a cover to never approve real time off. Has anyone actually worked somewhere where it functions as advertised?