Another Audacious Decision: Why I'm Pausing My Job Search
Published: October 23, 2025 • 5 min read
Woke up this morning about 30 minutes before my alarm went off. Started thinking about everything I had to do today, and the thought that stressed me the most, or seemed the most pointless, was submitting more job applications.
So I did it. I made the hard decision to stop applying for jobs this morning. Temporarily, of course.
The 40-Day Reality Check
It's been exactly 40 days since I started applying to jobs, from the day after my French TCF exam on September 12th up until today, October 23rd, 2025.
The process has been similar to what most people are facing: mass job applications along with mass silence or rejections. I'm getting notifications of recruiters viewing my profile, but not as many positive responses yet. There's a lot of work I'm trying to do on myself and on this portfolio especially by building real applications as well as improve my French skills. Unfortunately, submitting job applications every day is starting to seem like a distraction considering everything else I'm choosing to prioritize.
Yes, the job market is hard, really hard, I'd say. But realistically, people are still finding jobs. Recruiters are looking at my resume, companies are viewing my LinkedIn profile... I know this from the notifications I receive online. But there are no responses yet (except one interview I did last month with no callback).
That tells me one thing: there are definitely gaps I need to fill to stand out, and I'm going to focus on doing that over the next 50 days. That way, I'd have given myself 90 days total from the day I attempted my French TCF exam.
The Math Doesn't Lie, But Neither Does Growth
Now, is it likely that if I keep sending applications, maybe if I send up to 200, 400, 800, I'll eventually find a company willing to hire me right now? Probably yes.
However, I've been reflecting, and I don't think I want to look back to this period and tell the story that "despite being in a really tough job market, I was lucky enough to get a job." I think I want my story to show progress and development over the job hunting period. I want to know that I did all or most of the work required of myself before expecting to receive a job. And what that looks like for me right now is pausing my job search.
There are so many ways this could turn out:
- Perhaps one of the numerous applications I've already sent bears fruit
- Perhaps someone in my network connects me with a job opportunity
- Perhaps this remains a period of silent, silent hustle
I'm not sure. And honestly, this is particularly scary because the audacity of this decision does not match the amount of money in my bank account.
The Safety Net I'm Grateful For
However, I don't worry too much. I know I'm not being entirely delusional. I have a lot of handy skills that sustained me throughout university that I can go back to monetizing if things get really tight for me financially. The most notable skill being my hair braiding skills(I should probably write a blog post about that soon). But now, while I have a little bit of room, it's necessary that I fully commit to something.
Who knows, this might be one of the dumbest decisions I ever make in my entire life. If it is, I'll find out soon enough. But I find that it's better for me to decide than to let the constant whirlwind of thoughts of jobs I could be applying to take up mental space in my head.
The Story You Tell Depends on When You Tell It
Simply by reflecting on my past, I know that all decision paths can usually turn out well depending on when you choose to tell the story. If I'm still unemployed by December 13th and I tell the story of choosing to stop sending applications, of course that will seem like a bad ending, if we choose to ignore the growth that happens in that period.
However, if I choose to tell the story after getting a job, and the growth made within this period contributes to me landing that role, then it'd have worked out eventually.
This way, I'll keep working on projects, positioning myself as a better software developer, and also gain more clarity on the type of jobs I'd want to start reapplying to in the near future.
What I'm NOT Doing
One thing I wouldn't do is say no to good opportunities that come to me by chance or luck, as they say. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for those and I'll apply to jobs when directly contacted by recruiters on LinkedIn. But for now, I choose to commit to even more personal and professional growth, the type that can be recognized by others without just blog posts but real projects. I want to get to the point where this portfolio portrays my undeniable skills.
Publishing this post is really scary, by the way, because it really means I have to follow through. But it's also really liberating. It feels like a load just got taken off of my shoulders.
I guess this is the nice thing about making decisions... even seemingly stupid ones. It gets rid of the endless options and endless possibilities playing out in my mind constantly. It narrows my focus and allows me to make peace with whatever the consequences of this decision are.
I'll write to update you on December 13th, 2025. See you then!
Quick Technical Update
Anyways, quick technical update (because you know I can't help myself): I decided to explore Claude Code on the terminal for the first time while trying out a new prompt strategy (Metaprompting) and combining it with methods I've used multiple times in the past (Prompt Decomposition and Prompt Chaining).
I will publish a blog post on this either later today or tomorrow and maybe even make a case study. This sidetracks the work I'm doing on my Project of Projects, but I really want to write about and document this. When I do, I'll update this blog post with a link here to the case study.
Thanks for reading!