Another day, another rejection letter . . . 👎

Seriously, there needs to be a job application punch card for developers. I would've earned at least a dozen free interviews by now.

Aim abit lower, but not yer feet

Nope, keep doing, my first senior engineer role offer was made after probably 20 other rejections.

Some companies even rejected me at the phone stage.

Just keep going.

Lol, I have rejected like a lot. The important thing keep in mind is dont loose self esteem and self confidence. Means dont hesitate ask good salary just because you got rejected from somewhere else . Keep in mind you are going to work for someone else. So go through every rules and regulations and only choose if you li ke it and not because you dont have other choices. You do have other choices. This is the advice for myself. If you can make use of it, just use it

I've been stuck in sysops for too many years to count after loosing my dev job to a bankrupcy, but been devving on the side on and off the clock to keep somewhat up to date. Due to personal stuff i stayed for a decade before trying to getbintona real dev job again. Took me 3 years to find someone who assessed my theoretical skills of modern devving, as well as my rusty hands-on skills, as enough to allow me to get up to speed on the job. Didn't get the word senior in the title, but did get the paygrade.

As a curveball I'll be learning a totally new stack though.

Just goes to show that you just keep trying, and you'll get there.