✨BONUS POST✨ The Relentless March of Days: A Job Seeker's Odyssey
The absurd ballet of courting love, crafting digital Golems to defy obsolescence, and foraging for economic morsels in a desert. A raw testament to human resilience in the face of cosmic irrelevance.
👋 Hey, it’s 📣 Coach Erika! Welcome to a surprise ✨ FREE BONUS POST ✨ of The Career Whispers. Each week, I tackle reader questions about tech careers: how to get one, how to navigate them, and how to grow and thrive in your role.
Welcome the first-ever SHADOW JOB SEARCH DIARY (NIHILISM EDITION), where we keep it real and raw while following someone’s tech job search for an entire week. Inspect our brave job seeker’s inner monologue for a fresh, raw take on job searching in tech during the current job downturn, weak capital environment, and possible impending destruction of knowledge work as we know it (by our AI overlords).
What is this? The diarist for Job Search Diaries No.7 (Senior PM) asked Claude.ai to write his diary with a nihilistic voice, and it was so funny (in the dark comedy sense) that I had to share it with you all. Job searching in tech right now may feel near-hopeless, and I hope this will give you a chuckle as you head into your own corporate job this week (or your search for one).
If you’ve found your way over by some miracle but are not yet subscribed, here, let me help you with that:
Now, onto the (shadow) diary!
Warning: this is intended to be humorous but is definitely quite nihilistic. Take care when reading if you are prone to feeling depressed about the future of tech.
In the grand cosmic dance of chaos and creation, we find a resilient soul—a senior product manager—pirouetting through the void of professional uncertainty. Twice cast adrift in the ephemeral span of a year, he now twirls on the precipice of reinvention, a living testament to the absurd persistence of the human spirit.
With a wry smile at fate's fickle hand, this intrepid wanderer courts the chimera of "Founding PM roles," weaving digital dreams with Gemini APIs and Figma mocks. His product concept, a fleeting spark in the infinite darkness, dares to challenge the meaninglessness of innovation.
As he navigates the labyrinth of job searching—a cosmic joke of its own making—he simultaneously embarks on the tragicomic quest for connection through dating. In this dual pursuit of purpose and companionship, he embraces the beautiful futility of human existence, finding poetry in the very act of striving against the indifferent universe.
Perhaps, in this momentary flicker of consciousness that we call life, his audacious dance with destiny will inspire a chuckle from the cosmos—a brief, meaningful ripple in the vast ocean of nothingness.
About me: I’m a Senior PM with experience in SaaS, Cloud solutions, social networks, e-commerce, and marketplaces.
My location: Austin, Texas 🤠
When I started my job search: March 2024
What drove my job search: I was laid off. For the second time in less than 12 months. “Get an expensive tech degree and a job in tech with financial security” they said. It’s working out great 👍
Total applications: 9
HR or recruiter screens: 1
First-round interviews: 0
Final-round interviews: 0
Day 1
6:30 am
I awaken to the artificial chirping of an alarm, a cruel mockery of nature's rhythms. The sun has not yet breached the horizon, and yet I must rise, a puppet dancing to the strings of societal expectations. I groom myself, a futile attempt to impose order on the chaos of unemployment. The coffee machine gurgles and spits, producing a bitter elixir that promises clarity but delivers only jitters and anxiety.
My canine companion and I embark on our daily pilgrimage along the Colorado River. The water flows ceaselessly, indifferent to our plight. Squirrels dart about, their frantic energy a stark contrast to the lethargic pace of the job seeker.
9:00 am
The modern world demands constant self-improvement, a Sisyphean task if ever there was one. I delve into the realm of artificial intelligence, hoping to glean some wisdom from these silicon oracles. The irony is not lost on me – seeking employment in a field that may one day render human workers obsolete.
11:00 am
A board meeting for a non-profit organization pulls me into the absurd theater of bureaucracy. We discuss budgets and leadership changes, as if these constructs hold any meaning in the face of human suffering. The plight of LGBTQI+ refugees in Islamic countries weighs heavily on my mind – their struggle for survival makes my job search seem trivial in comparison.
2:00 pm
I begin the Kafkaesque process of updating my resume. I summon ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence trapped in the digital ether, to assist me in crafting a narrative of my professional life. What madness is this, that we must reduce our existence to bullet points and buzzwords?
2:30 pm
Oh look, a data PM position at a beer company🍻
5:00 pm
The day wanes, and I find myself organizing information in Notion, a digital labyrinth of my own making. My feline companion, wise in his indifference, sprawls across my keyboard – a silent protest against the futility of my efforts. My dog tries to end the life of a sweet nutria minding its business on the banks of the listless river.
8:00 pm
In the gathering darkness, I sketch out product ideas – ephemeral dreams of digital creations that may never see the light of day. The blank page stares back at me, a void as vast and indifferent as the universe itself.
Total time job searching today: Oh, yes. Job searching. Let’s say…2 hours.
Day 2
8:00 am
Sleep, that fickle mistress, has abandoned me. I don my armor of presentable clothes, a costume for a role I no longer play. The coffee is bitter, much like the taste of unemployment that lingers on my tongue.
9:00 am
I subject myself to a webinar on creating presentations – as if the ability to craft colorful slides could somehow imbue meaning into the void of joblessness.
10:30 am
Email.
11:30 am
The machine that ferries me through this concrete jungle has fallen ill. I entrust it to mechanics, modern-day shamans who speak in cryptic terms of engine lights and diagnostics.
2:30 pm
The crushing weight of interview preparation proves too much to bear. I seek refuge in physical exertion, guided by the disembodied voice of Chris Hemsworth – a digital deity of fitness. The irony of following the instructions of a man famous for portraying a Norse god is not lost on me.
6:00 pm
I break bread with a friend passing through Austin's purgatory. We drink, we laugh, and we pretend for a moment that the specter of unemployment does not loom over us. But as the night wears on, the laughter rings hollow, echoing in the vast emptiness of an uncertain future.
Total time job searching today: Sure…2 hours
Day 3
8:00 am
I awake, my head pounding from last night's revelry. Even my loyal hound refuses to rise, perhaps sensing the futility of another day in this limbo of joblessness. I plunge myself into icy waters, a shock to the system that serves as a reminder – I am alive, despite the numbing routine of unemployment.
11:00 am
I lose myself in a labyrinth of academic papers and Substack publications, searching for enlightenment in the realm of artificial intelligence. The more I read, the more I realize how little I truly understand. Is this the curse of knowledge, or merely the ramblings of a mind desperate for purpose?
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2:00 pm
A glimmer of hope appears in my inbox – a recruiter, that modern-day Charon, offers passage to a potential opportunity. I craft my response with care, knowing that each word could be the difference between continued purgatory and the promise of employment.
5:00 pm
As the sun begins its descent, I prepare for a social ritual – the "date." Two souls, adrift in the sea of modernity, seeking connection amidst the chaos. We speak of technology, of life, of dreams. But in the end, we are ships passing in the night, destined for different shores.
Total time job searching today: 3 hours
Day 4
7:00 am
The sun rises, indifferent to my plight. I sip coffee on my balcony, a spectator to the bustling life below. The world moves on, heedless of my stagnation.
9:30 am
I confront the Lovecraftian horror that is the American tax system. Numbers swirl before my eyes, a maddening dance of debits and credits. The government, that faceless leviathan, demands its pound of flesh even from the unemployed.
1:00 pm
A ghost from interviews past emerges, offering a tantalizing opportunity. I craft a missive, imbuing it with the essence of my professional self. Will it be enough to pierce the veil of digital anonymity and reach a human heart?
6:00 pm
As twilight descends, I create a digital altar to my automobile, hoping to appease the gods of the sharing economy. Turo, a modern-day marketplace, may yet provide a trickle of income to stem the bleeding of my finances.
10:00 pm
I subject myself to the flickering images of "Halo," a pale imitation of the grand space operas that once captured my imagination. Disillusioned, I retreat to the written word, finding more truth in fiction than in the hollow spectacles of modern entertainment.
Total time job searching today: 2 hours. More or less.
Day 5
6:00 am
My feline overlord demands attention, his cries piercing the veil of sleep. I rise, an automation responding to stimuli. The caffeinated waters I imbibe are a poor substitute for the robust coffee of days past, much like how my current existence is but a shadow of my former professional life.
9:00 am
I delve into the digital realm, grappling with APIs and the enigmatic Google Gemini. These tools promise to bend reality to our will, yet I cannot help but wonder – are we creating marvels of technology, or merely forging the chains of our own obsolescence?
1:30 pm
In a twist of irony, I find myself applying to train the very artificial intelligence that may one day render human labor obsolete. For a paltry sum, I will teach these digital minds to think, to reason, to create. What Faustian bargain have we struck in our pursuit of progress?
3:30 pm
The universe extends a hand to help: a first PM role at a company that doesn’t appear, on the surface, to be evil or corrupt (yet).
4:30 pm
The act of creating a website, once a laborious task spanning days, has been reduced to mere hours thanks to the artificial muses of our digital age. I watch in awe and terror as my vision takes shape with inhuman speed. Is this progress, or are we witnessing the twilight of human creativity?
9:30 pm
As night envelops the city, I retreat to the rooftop, beer in hand. The twinkling lights of Austin spread before me, each a testament to the indomitable human spirit. In this moment of solitude, I find a strange comfort. For in this vast, indifferent universe, we are all united in our struggle against the absurdity of existence.
The week draws to a close, and I am left to ponder the lessons learned in this crucible of unemployment. The search for work is but a microcosm of the human condition – a relentless march forward, fueled by hope and desperation in equal measure. And so I steel myself for the days to come, for in this quest, as in life itself, every man is truly for himself, adrift in a sea of indifference, clinging to the fragile raft of ambition.
Total time job searching today: 1 hour, maybe, if you round up. With front-end rounding.
I invite you to use the comments to share your misery, offer meaningless words of comfort, scream into the abyss unresponded, or probe the depths of this job seeker’s futile quest with soon-to-be antiquated inquiry regarding the tribulations of “knowledge workers” on the eve of the arrival of true superintelligence 😉
Well, that was fun! In a driving-the-boat-off-the-end-of-the-world kind of way, right?
For some lighter (and certainly more optimistic and probably more useful) reading, you may want to read this job seeker’s actual Job Search Diary—here.
Diarist No.7 has some cool updates to share post-diary week regarding his side hustle income, job search, and product prototype. Stay tuned, and I’ll share updates on his situation as they solidify 🧞♀️
Want to nominate a noteworthy job seeker (including yourself)? It’s anonymous!
Fill out our JOB SEARCH DIARIES form.
Check out coacherika.co for free resources, resume help, and coaching options, including my popular Job Search Workshop. Follow me on Substack, YouTube, and LinkedIn to stay in touch. 💛