Well you clearly have talents, because this article is very entertaining! I would say you already know how to stand out from the crowd :D
Jokes aside - the only thing I can say (and it's not very original, but still) is that, as a developer, you should have your 'basics' covered - have a good grasp of the fundamentals, because those won't quickly become obsolete ...
And yeah, developers who have a good grasp of when (and how) to use AI in the SDLC (software development lifecycle), and in organizations in general, will have an edge - but, how to acquire those skills ... ?
Thanks for the advice! I can agree it's still important to learn fundamentals and knowing your roots!
And yeah, developers who have a good grasp of when (and how) to use AI in the SDLC (software development lifecycle), and in organizations in general, will have an edge - but, how to acquire those skills ... ?
This is tricky because one, you need a team and two, you need feedback. I would say join a community that cares for your development and seek out to see if someone can work with you, following the SDLC, and provide feedback on it. Mentors are really useful for this case. Overall, a lot of researching, which is expected since I am not expecting everyone to cut corners (which I don't recommend regardless of the small win).
Well you clearly have talents, because this article is very entertaining! I would say you already know how to stand out from the crowd :D
Point is, the "fundamentals" are sort of an immutable/unchanging body of knowledge and skills, and provide a steady foundation - it's something you can always fall back on ...
But knowing how to use AI effectively? Those skills are highly sought after by companies, and are what can potentially make you stand out as a developer - the problem though is that in this area (AI) everything is still fluid and in motion, and definitive answers are hard to come by - and boot camps etc don't really teach it ...
Everyone is still looking for answers and partially reinventing the wheel when it comes to AI - that's why it's hard to become "good" at it (and how do you even gauge that, how good you are at it) ...
Indeed. I saw companies are falling back with AI because of the cost usage and how developers are spending tokens more than a developer's salary, which is insane!
Though, I guess a good skill is using those tokens effectively and how you are using AI.
Spending tokens more than a developer's salary, yeah that's insane - unless with those tokens they manage to produce the output which 2 or 3 "unaided" developers would produce - then it might make sense! ;-)
Blue-Eyes White Dragon 🐉 was always one of my favorites, and I loved thinking about different combinations and combos around the cards I had.
But over time, power creep changes the game. A card that once felt incredibly strong can eventually lose its place in the meta.
Sometimes, if you want to keep getting stronger, you do have to let go of things that worked in the past.
But I don’t think that means the time spent learning them was wasted.
The fundamentals you built along the way become the foundation for whatever comes next, and some old cards can still find a place in a new deck.
At the same time, if everyone only built the strongest meta deck, I don’t think Yu-Gi-Oh would have become nearly as interesting.
Part of the fun was watching characters like Yugi or Joey build around their own style, enjoy the game, and sometimes win precisely because their decks felt like theirs.
I’m not sure this analogy applies perfectly to everyone in tech 😹, but maybe standing out is some combination of fundamentals, adaptation, and individuality.
We need enough fundamentals to understand the game, enough flexibility to adapt when the meta changes, and enough personality to avoid becoming just another copy of the same deck. 😸
Hey Nyao! Indeed, having the combination of fundementals, adaptation and individuality is a great combo! I gave you a gem not only because of the analogy expansion, but what led up to the standing out in the first place.
In order to be good at Yu-Gi-Oh, you need to know how to play. For me, I started playing Duel links using a Six Samurai Deck. Then, went over to Master Duel to play that deck there lol. It's still my favorite deck, though recently I bought myself a Blue Eyes Structure deck (which I heard can be played in locals). It's at least a good starting point for me to play in the TCG xD
Adaptation is critical because it shows if a person can adapt to a fast pace environment. I feel like the notion "I can work in a fast-paced environment" is taken literally in tech space. Action speaks louder than works, so if you can do it, you can do it lol.
Individuality makes one unique, which makes sense since you mention Yugi and Joey. They have their own style and their own ace card like Yugi's dark magician and Joey's Red Eyes Black dragon.
It’s a good question whether it’s worth standing out from the crowd. I’m trying too, even after more than 40 years in IT. What worked for me was entering competitions. I started more than two years ago with this program: dev.to/pengeszikra/a-l-i-e-n-s-o-l...
Of course, I didn’t win, and practically nobody saw it, but I’m persistent. After a while, I started making increasingly useful things. Along the way, I also got over how few people look at what I make. So I keep going. Right now, I’m putting together my entry for this competition: https://start-developer-competition-26.devpost.com/?ref_feature=challenge&ref_medium=discover
And if you’re just starting out, go for it and try to find your own way of expressing yourself. In a way, development is an art form too, perhaps just a little more modern than the classics.
By being yourself! Everyone can copy the same projects, the same resume templates, and even the same AI prompts now, but nobody can copy you. Your story, your interests, and the way you think are the one thing that can’t be vibe coded. I also love your point about self-reflection, because you can’t really be yourself until you know who you are. Yugi didn’t win by copying the meta deck, he won with his own. Great post, Francis!
Exactly, ignore the part that Yugi "allegedly" cheated in the anime lol, he is himself! You are you and what makes you unique is you! That part is no longer that if you start copying others. What IS okay is learning from others and getting that aspect and figuring out how it will fit you. Thanks Maame and thanks for the Gem!
Standing out is less about volume than a portfolio of evidence: a system you shipped, a decision you can explain, and a failure you can diagnose. In an AI-assisted market, being able to show the constraints and trade-offs behind the result is more durable than simply producing a polished demo.
Exactly—the strongest portfolio stories make the constraint visible, not just the outcome. Showing how you narrowed a trade-off or recovered from a mistake gives people a much clearer signal of judgment than a polished result alone.
The Yu-Gi-Oh meta analogy works so well. Chasing the meta deck means we start over every season, and when we build a deck we understand card by card, we adapt to any ban-list. In tech, the closest thing to that deck might be writing and talking about what we learn: a blog post or a small meetup talk shows how we think, and every hiring team can read that.
The third step, use the environment to your advantage, is the one I found most practical. The vibe-coding example makes the point well: if everyone is building the same full-stack restaurant app, building the rarer thing is not just contrarian, it is where the open space is. I also liked the five-year question in the self-reflection section. Asking whether I would be satisfied bringing my current knowledge forward five years is a much sharper test than asking whether I am keeping up, because keeping up has no finish line. The advice-as-a-grain-of-salt point pairs with that nicely: a method that worked for someone else is data, not a prescription.
The meta deck analogy works well, especially the cost of switching when the ban list changes: chasing whatever stack is popular this month means rebuilding from scratch every time. The players who last tend to understand why a deck wins, not just which deck wins, and that carries over when the meta shifts. In tech terms that might be knowing how systems fail rather than which framework is hot. Which of your three points do you think newcomers skip most often?
I would say that self-reflection is the most skipped thing. We tend to be so busy on chasing trends in order to "fit in" or to show off, but we fail to realize that all your doing is chasing a mask, not the actual value your getting from it.
At the end of the day, your still you in the current state. Nothing changed. Having that self-reflection allows you to understand your strengths and weaknesses and knowing what you actually need. You already stand out, you just need to embrace that.
This looks really beautiful! Your friend must have spent quite a lot of time making it. By the way, I honestly couldn't recognize you at first with your new profile picture lol
JavaScript enthusiast with a growing passion for Python. I love exploring the world of programming, experimenting with code, and discovering new ways to turn ideas into reality.
JavaScript enthusiast with a growing passion for Python. I love exploring the world of programming, experimenting with code, and discovering new ways to turn ideas into reality.
Developer, maker, and perpetual project starter. I build web apps and dev tools mostly, things that I think are really useful and should exist and be simple to use. I also like to experiment with AI.
Really great post, and I think this is something a lot of people need to hear right now.
One thing I'd add is that it's not just people who are new to tech who are struggling. Even people with years of experience are having an incredibly hard time finding work. My husband has around 20 years of experience in IT, and he spent over a year trying to find a job. He was applying for everything, including basic help desk positions he was honestly way overqualified for, and still wasn't getting anywhere.
Nearly every job posting seemed to have 100, 200, or even more applicants. Just a few years ago, we weren't seeing anything like that. It's been pretty shocking to watch how much things have changed in such a short time.
I don't know how much of this is directly related to AI versus layoffs, the economy, or other factors, but something has definitely shifted. And I think it's important for people, especially those just starting out, to understand that struggling to get hired doesn't necessarily mean they're doing something wrong or that they aren't good enough. There are experienced people struggling right alongside them.
I really like your point about finding what works for you instead of just following everyone else's advice. I think that's especially important now. Keep learning, keep building, and keep putting yourself out there, but also don't measure your worth or abilities entirely by whether someone hires you. Sometimes the market itself is just really tough.
Hey Jessica! Yes, seeing 100+ applicants has been a norm for sometime, even before AI. When I was finding internships during my undergraduate, I have seen stats like these, so I thought it was normal. Finding jobs from unexpected places really helps. For example, developer jobs at Target or a thrift store.
The market is tough for sure, but if you keep researching, you will find gold eventually xD
Technical writer covering Python, AI, and the craft of learning in public. 30 articles on Python fundamentals, projects, and developer education. FreeCodeCamp Author
The line that hit me: "If you think about it, you're not really standing out if everyone else is doing it."
The Yu-Gi-Oh "meta" analogy is painfully accurate. I see so many beginners jumping from learning Python to JavaScript to Rust just because a blog post said it was "the future." They end up with a mile-wide, inch-deep skill set and a GitHub full of half-finished tutorial projects.
But I think the part about your own journey (realizing cold applying wasn't working and starting to blog) is the actual secret sauce.
AI can generate a 10,000-line full-stack app in seconds. It can write a "perfect" resume. But it can't build a genuine relationship. It can't write a blog post about the specific bug you spent 3 hours fixing, or the emotional rollercoaster of learning something new.
Standing out now isn't about having the most impressive project; it's about having the most human presence. People hire people they trust, and trust comes from seeing your actual thought process. Great post!
Chasing every trending framework just to keep up leads straight to burnout.
What really stands out right now is looking at the gaps in the ecosystem. While everyone else is vibe-coding standard full-stack clones, the real leverage is building the actual infrastructure and tools that developers and AI agents rely on—like utility libraries (think Lenis for smooth scrolling), security scanners, or developer tooling.
Building things that power other projects gives you a much stronger portfolio than just another cookie-cutter app. Great read!
Thank you for the article. I am currently in similar boat. I keep thinking "What can I offer? How do I stand out?"
But what I am seeing is that everyone is struggling. Don't try to tie your self-worth to the job market. It is often not personal.
I think we just have to keep trying. I wish I had a better advice though 😅
Programming in plain words — Python guides, free tools, and honest learning paths for beginners. Building AheadKit: programming books and practical digital tools.
The decorated-resume-getting-rejected-by-ATS bit stung a little, because I did exactly that — spent an evening making a resume pretty, then wondered why nobody replied. Ran a test a few days ago with two resumes, 30 applications, and the plain one won by a mile. Your Yu-Gi-Oh analogy holds up better than most career advice I've read, honestly. The meta changes, the ban-list hits, and you're rebuilding the deck from scratch again.
I love this advice! I think building connections is one of the best ways to go about finding a job, but probably not in the way most people think. For me, tech has so many different roles within it that you might not have come across the role you'd be perfect for! That's where building connections and focusing on expanding your network can be invaluable as you can see the careers others are building and the roles that got them there!
Yea but in order to GET to the interview, you would have to have connections for that to happen. Then you would stand out in the interview. At least that's how I think of it. I can't imagine you walk into the interview and some luck the interviewer knows you.
😭bro I was being sarcastic in my reply but okh jokes apart in order to truly Standout in Tech is (my personal opions btw)
Have genuine Interest I was reading a book called ikegai and I was so surprised to find that certain group of people in okinawa (dk if the place is correct) they dont believe in the concept of retirement they choose a work they love and they will keep doing it until their body is healthy
I have read other comments and most people just say that be authentic which I respectfully disagree because i think its very very rare to come up with an absolute new fresh idea (its same like imagining a new color you will think of combinations of color but not a new color) so keep getting explore to new tech, trends maybe you might get a new derived idea
Taking regular break or having a hobby outside of tech might be music , gym, skating etc most of the senior enginners I have met so far they havent resolved their life around tech
It is quite scary, through once you start doing the work it becomes less scary to think about as you become more familiar with your skills. What are you goals after graduation?
Data Center Network Technician | Technical Program Manager Trainee | CCNA · CompTIA A+ — I write field notes from real break-fix work: fiber, optics, and the tickets in between.
From the data center floor, standing out has never been about chasing the newest stack or the loudest opinion. The techs people remember are the ones who document the fix properly, label what they touched, and leave a ticket note the next shift can actually follow. That kind of reliability is quiet, but it's what keeps a team trusting you when something breaks at 2 a.m., and no resume trick replaces it.
The branch nobody in this thread takes: the work doesn't decide whether it stands out. The person who repeats it does.
I've spent a month measuring this on my own writing. One piece: 26 readers, 4 likes, 0 replies. The next: 55 readers, 12 likes, 0 replies. Good stats, empty room. Every time a stranger actually reached me it came from a comment I left in their own thread, not from my post. Eight for eight.
So the meta deck isn't the project. It's one sentence about your work that a stranger can repeat when you're not in the room. Anyone can copy a project. A sentence is the only thing that leaves with them.
Before you ship the next thing, say it in one line. If the line needs the artifact to make sense, keep working.
Great post and plenty of useful suggestions!
I’d love to add a few insights I’ve gathered throughout my career:
1) Prioritize real-world experience over a fast graduation. As a student, I fought for an internship at IBM. It was expensive and delayed my graduation by a year, but it taught me how the professional development world actually works. It also taught me how office dynamics work: the most brilliant developer sat quietly in a small corner, while others constantly took advantage of his deep knowledge!
Don't just rush to get a degree; seek to understand the world you are about to enter.
2) Master the fundamentals, not just the languages. In tech, tools and languages change constantly. Today, anyone can "vibe-code" an application, but very few can actually prove it is production-ready. And trust me, simply typing "make it production-ready" into an AI prompt won't make it so.
3) Commit to continuous learning. You need to study every single day. Understanding how to build a sustainable, stable product that handles thousands or millions of users is a skill you have to actively discover. While AI is a great tool for accelerated learning, the best way to stand out is to build personal projects on GitHub that actively demonstrate your commitment to production-grade quality.
4) Never overlook security. Security is an infinite, high-value field. If you start implementing solid security practices into your personal projects now, your next employer will absolutely notice.
5) Have fun in every single activity you do... this is magic and make you stand out!
Seeing people building cool stuff, being appreciated and earning thousands on social platforms, made me believe that to stand out in tech, I need to build something big too. I tried, but what worked for others will not necessarily work for me. So, to really stand out, to become great, I just keep exploring different things and sharpen my skills.
As someone who's been in the industry for 10 years now, I can say it has always been harsh and unforgiving in one way or another. Layoffs are bad, of course, but AI is also creating new opportunities.
AI is a strange thing. In a way it's an equalizer, but it's also an amplifier, and which one it is for you depends on where you position yourself. Being creative and interesting matters more than ever, I can't stress this enough. Because now literally anyone can build a classic to-do app... but can you build something that's actually appealing and interesting? That's a different story.
So here's a high-level strategy for anyone feeling a bit down about the recent changes: use AI as an equalizer to keep up with the market, then use it as an amplifier to push your skills and creativity beyond what the market offers. It's easier said than done, and it's a continuous process. You never stop doing the reps.
Been with computers for over 40 years. Initially integrated computers & servers into our University. Also mitigated the Y2K bug at a Bank. A bit late to AI's party but not too old too learn. hey all.
That hit home. I myself have been in the tech industry when the "commodore 64" was all the rage.. yeah, I'm that old! Tech has really evolved since.. slowly at a normal walk, then a run, then it just took off.. now with AI, just waiting for my flying car.. oh wait! that's already here!
For me, its blink and you missed it. That was great article.. Good interspection of one's self and where they are heading. Keep moving forward!
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
Well you clearly have talents, because this article is very entertaining! I would say you already know how to stand out from the crowd :D
Jokes aside - the only thing I can say (and it's not very original, but still) is that, as a developer, you should have your 'basics' covered - have a good grasp of the fundamentals, because those won't quickly become obsolete ...
And yeah, developers who have a good grasp of when (and how) to use AI in the SDLC (software development lifecycle), and in organizations in general, will have an edge - but, how to acquire those skills ... ?
Hey Leob!
Thanks for the advice! I can agree it's still important to learn fundamentals and knowing your roots!
This is tricky because one, you need a team and two, you need feedback. I would say join a community that cares for your development and seek out to see if someone can work with you, following the SDLC, and provide feedback on it. Mentors are really useful for this case. Overall, a lot of researching, which is expected since I am not expecting everyone to cut corners (which I don't recommend regardless of the small win).
lol appreciate it xD
Thanks again :D
Point is, the "fundamentals" are sort of an immutable/unchanging body of knowledge and skills, and provide a steady foundation - it's something you can always fall back on ...
But knowing how to use AI effectively? Those skills are highly sought after by companies, and are what can potentially make you stand out as a developer - the problem though is that in this area (AI) everything is still fluid and in motion, and definitive answers are hard to come by - and boot camps etc don't really teach it ...
Everyone is still looking for answers and partially reinventing the wheel when it comes to AI - that's why it's hard to become "good" at it (and how do you even gauge that, how good you are at it) ...
Indeed. I saw companies are falling back with AI because of the cost usage and how developers are spending tokens more than a developer's salary, which is insane!
Though, I guess a good skill is using those tokens effectively and how you are using AI.
Spending tokens more than a developer's salary, yeah that's insane - unless with those tokens they manage to produce the output which 2 or 3 "unaided" developers would produce - then it might make sense! ;-)
I used to play Yu-Gi-Oh a lot too! 😸
Blue-Eyes White Dragon 🐉 was always one of my favorites, and I loved thinking about different combinations and combos around the cards I had.
But over time, power creep changes the game. A card that once felt incredibly strong can eventually lose its place in the meta.
Sometimes, if you want to keep getting stronger, you do have to let go of things that worked in the past.
But I don’t think that means the time spent learning them was wasted.
The fundamentals you built along the way become the foundation for whatever comes next, and some old cards can still find a place in a new deck.
At the same time, if everyone only built the strongest meta deck, I don’t think Yu-Gi-Oh would have become nearly as interesting.
Part of the fun was watching characters like Yugi or Joey build around their own style, enjoy the game, and sometimes win precisely because their decks felt like theirs.
I’m not sure this analogy applies perfectly to everyone in tech 😹, but maybe standing out is some combination of fundamentals, adaptation, and individuality.
We need enough fundamentals to understand the game, enough flexibility to adapt when the meta changes, and enough personality to avoid becoming just another copy of the same deck. 😸
Hey Nyao! Indeed, having the combination of fundementals, adaptation and individuality is a great combo! I gave you a gem not only because of the analogy expansion, but what led up to the standing out in the first place.
In order to be good at Yu-Gi-Oh, you need to know how to play. For me, I started playing Duel links using a Six Samurai Deck. Then, went over to Master Duel to play that deck there lol. It's still my favorite deck, though recently I bought myself a Blue Eyes Structure deck (which I heard can be played in locals). It's at least a good starting point for me to play in the TCG xD
Adaptation is critical because it shows if a person can adapt to a fast pace environment. I feel like the notion "I can work in a fast-paced environment" is taken literally in tech space. Action speaks louder than works, so if you can do it, you can do it lol.
Individuality makes one unique, which makes sense since you mention Yugi and Joey. They have their own style and their own ace card like Yugi's dark magician and Joey's Red Eyes Black dragon.
Thanks for sharing Nyao!
It’s a good question whether it’s worth standing out from the crowd. I’m trying too, even after more than 40 years in IT. What worked for me was entering competitions. I started more than two years ago with this program:
dev.to/pengeszikra/a-l-i-e-n-s-o-l...
Of course, I didn’t win, and practically nobody saw it, but I’m persistent. After a while, I started making increasingly useful things. Along the way, I also got over how few people look at what I make. So I keep going. Right now, I’m putting together my entry for this competition:
https://start-developer-competition-26.devpost.com/?ref_feature=challenge&ref_medium=discover
I also wrote two articles about CVs. Again, what works for me won’t necessarily work for someone else: dev.to/pengeszikra/single-line-cv-...
But at least the app that came out of it is useful to me:
dev.to/pengeszikra/devto-articles-...
And if you’re just starting out, go for it and try to find your own way of expressing yourself. In a way, development is an art form too, perhaps just a little more modern than the classics.
Thanks for the advice Peter! It's always good to know yourself than to just simply copying others!
By being yourself! Everyone can copy the same projects, the same resume templates, and even the same AI prompts now, but nobody can copy you. Your story, your interests, and the way you think are the one thing that can’t be vibe coded. I also love your point about self-reflection, because you can’t really be yourself until you know who you are. Yugi didn’t win by copying the meta deck, he won with his own. Great post, Francis!
Exactly, ignore the part that Yugi "allegedly" cheated in the anime lol, he is himself! You are you and what makes you unique is you! That part is no longer that if you start copying others. What IS okay is learning from others and getting that aspect and figuring out how it will fit you. Thanks Maame and thanks for the Gem!
No p :)
Standing out is less about volume than a portfolio of evidence: a system you shipped, a decision you can explain, and a failure you can diagnose. In an AI-assisted market, being able to show the constraints and trade-offs behind the result is more durable than simply producing a polished demo.
Right. It's all about ensuring you can show what challenges you face and why you built it the way you did! Thanks Alex :)
Exactly—the strongest portfolio stories make the constraint visible, not just the outcome. Showing how you narrowed a trade-off or recovered from a mistake gives people a much clearer signal of judgment than a polished result alone.
The Yu-Gi-Oh meta analogy works so well. Chasing the meta deck means we start over every season, and when we build a deck we understand card by card, we adapt to any ban-list. In tech, the closest thing to that deck might be writing and talking about what we learn: a blog post or a small meetup talk shows how we think, and every hiring team can read that.
Indeed! Thanks Kate!
The third step, use the environment to your advantage, is the one I found most practical. The vibe-coding example makes the point well: if everyone is building the same full-stack restaurant app, building the rarer thing is not just contrarian, it is where the open space is. I also liked the five-year question in the self-reflection section. Asking whether I would be satisfied bringing my current knowledge forward five years is a much sharper test than asking whether I am keeping up, because keeping up has no finish line. The advice-as-a-grain-of-salt point pairs with that nicely: a method that worked for someone else is data, not a prescription.
Thanks for sharing!
The meta deck analogy works well, especially the cost of switching when the ban list changes: chasing whatever stack is popular this month means rebuilding from scratch every time. The players who last tend to understand why a deck wins, not just which deck wins, and that carries over when the meta shifts. In tech terms that might be knowing how systems fail rather than which framework is hot. Which of your three points do you think newcomers skip most often?
Hey Gautam!
I would say that self-reflection is the most skipped thing. We tend to be so busy on chasing trends in order to "fit in" or to show off, but we fail to realize that all your doing is chasing a mask, not the actual value your getting from it.
At the end of the day, your still you in the current state. Nothing changed. Having that self-reflection allows you to understand your strengths and weaknesses and knowing what you actually need. You already stand out, you just need to embrace that.
Thanks Gautam!
Cool profile pic!!
Thanks! My friend made it for me specifically! A mix of MHA and Super Mario Galaxy theme lol
This looks really beautiful! Your friend must have spent quite a lot of time making it. By the way, I honestly couldn't recognize you at first with your new profile picture lol
Fair enough! It's not really you expected lol. Though, much appreciated and letting him know that too!
A lot of gifts! :)
Indeed there is! Having Gifs in articles makes it look nice :)
Thanks for stopping by Star!
Your writing style is very nice, I want to be like you! :D
Thanks Star! Glad I am a great role model :D
Really great post, and I think this is something a lot of people need to hear right now.
One thing I'd add is that it's not just people who are new to tech who are struggling. Even people with years of experience are having an incredibly hard time finding work. My husband has around 20 years of experience in IT, and he spent over a year trying to find a job. He was applying for everything, including basic help desk positions he was honestly way overqualified for, and still wasn't getting anywhere.
Nearly every job posting seemed to have 100, 200, or even more applicants. Just a few years ago, we weren't seeing anything like that. It's been pretty shocking to watch how much things have changed in such a short time.
I don't know how much of this is directly related to AI versus layoffs, the economy, or other factors, but something has definitely shifted. And I think it's important for people, especially those just starting out, to understand that struggling to get hired doesn't necessarily mean they're doing something wrong or that they aren't good enough. There are experienced people struggling right alongside them.
I really like your point about finding what works for you instead of just following everyone else's advice. I think that's especially important now. Keep learning, keep building, and keep putting yourself out there, but also don't measure your worth or abilities entirely by whether someone hires you. Sometimes the market itself is just really tough.
Hey Jessica! Yes, seeing 100+ applicants has been a norm for sometime, even before AI. When I was finding internships during my undergraduate, I have seen stats like these, so I thought it was normal. Finding jobs from unexpected places really helps. For example, developer jobs at Target or a thrift store.
The market is tough for sure, but if you keep researching, you will find gold eventually xD
The line that hit me: "If you think about it, you're not really standing out if everyone else is doing it."
The Yu-Gi-Oh "meta" analogy is painfully accurate. I see so many beginners jumping from learning Python to JavaScript to Rust just because a blog post said it was "the future." They end up with a mile-wide, inch-deep skill set and a GitHub full of half-finished tutorial projects.
But I think the part about your own journey (realizing cold applying wasn't working and starting to blog) is the actual secret sauce.
AI can generate a 10,000-line full-stack app in seconds. It can write a "perfect" resume. But it can't build a genuine relationship. It can't write a blog post about the specific bug you spent 3 hours fixing, or the emotional rollercoaster of learning something new.
Standing out now isn't about having the most impressive project; it's about having the most human presence. People hire people they trust, and trust comes from seeing your actual thought process. Great post!
Building What Matters in the AI Era
Chasing every trending framework just to keep up leads straight to burnout.
What really stands out right now is looking at the gaps in the ecosystem. While everyone else is vibe-coding standard full-stack clones, the real leverage is building the actual infrastructure and tools that developers and AI agents rely on—like utility libraries (think Lenis for smooth scrolling), security scanners, or developer tooling.
Building things that power other projects gives you a much stronger portfolio than just another cookie-cutter app. Great read!
Thank you for the article. I am currently in similar boat. I keep thinking "What can I offer? How do I stand out?"
But what I am seeing is that everyone is struggling. Don't try to tie your self-worth to the job market. It is often not personal.
I think we just have to keep trying. I wish I had a better advice though 😅
Hey Lucia. Yes, having consistency and discipline is key to anything! Everyone is smart, but having that discipline is always the hardest part.
The decorated-resume-getting-rejected-by-ATS bit stung a little, because I did exactly that — spent an evening making a resume pretty, then wondered why nobody replied. Ran a test a few days ago with two resumes, 30 applications, and the plain one won by a mile. Your Yu-Gi-Oh analogy holds up better than most career advice I've read, honestly. The meta changes, the ban-list hits, and you're rebuilding the deck from scratch again.
I love this advice! I think building connections is one of the best ways to go about finding a job, but probably not in the way most people think. For me, tech has so many different roles within it that you might not have come across the role you'd be perfect for! That's where building connections and focusing on expanding your network can be invaluable as you can see the careers others are building and the roles that got them there!
It seems like you and many people this days, trying to find meaning where it not suppose to be.
Hey Arseniy! Can you clarify?
dk about standing out in Tech but in order to stand out in interview you just have to be the relative of HR or CEO
Yea but in order to GET to the interview, you would have to have connections for that to happen. Then you would stand out in the interview. At least that's how I think of it. I can't imagine you walk into the interview and some luck the interviewer knows you.
Regardless, thanks for sharing Aarish :)
😭bro I was being sarcastic in my reply but okh jokes apart in order to truly Standout in Tech is (my personal opions btw)
Have genuine Interest I was reading a book called ikegai and I was so surprised to find that certain group of people in okinawa (dk if the place is correct) they dont believe in the concept of retirement they choose a work they love and they will keep doing it until their body is healthy
I have read other comments and most people just say that be authentic which I respectfully disagree because i think its very very rare to come up with an absolute new fresh idea (its same like imagining a new color you will think of combinations of color but not a new color) so keep getting explore to new tech, trends maybe you might get a new derived idea
Taking regular break or having a hobby outside of tech might be music , gym, skating etc most of the senior enginners I have met so far they havent resolved their life around tech
Ohhhh I didn't read as that lmao mb. Thanks for the suggestions though xD
A timely writing. Genuinely scared of graduating next year because of all this.
It is quite scary, through once you start doing the work it becomes less scary to think about as you become more familiar with your skills. What are you goals after graduation?
From the data center floor, standing out has never been about chasing the newest stack or the loudest opinion. The techs people remember are the ones who document the fix properly, label what they touched, and leave a ticket note the next shift can actually follow. That kind of reliability is quiet, but it's what keeps a team trusting you when something breaks at 2 a.m., and no resume trick replaces it.
The branch nobody in this thread takes: the work doesn't decide whether it stands out. The person who repeats it does.
I've spent a month measuring this on my own writing. One piece: 26 readers, 4 likes, 0 replies. The next: 55 readers, 12 likes, 0 replies. Good stats, empty room. Every time a stranger actually reached me it came from a comment I left in their own thread, not from my post. Eight for eight.
So the meta deck isn't the project. It's one sentence about your work that a stranger can repeat when you're not in the room. Anyone can copy a project. A sentence is the only thing that leaves with them.
Before you ship the next thing, say it in one line. If the line needs the artifact to make sense, keep working.
Great post and plenty of useful suggestions!
I’d love to add a few insights I’ve gathered throughout my career:
1) Prioritize real-world experience over a fast graduation. As a student, I fought for an internship at IBM. It was expensive and delayed my graduation by a year, but it taught me how the professional development world actually works. It also taught me how office dynamics work: the most brilliant developer sat quietly in a small corner, while others constantly took advantage of his deep knowledge!
Don't just rush to get a degree; seek to understand the world you are about to enter.
2) Master the fundamentals, not just the languages. In tech, tools and languages change constantly. Today, anyone can "vibe-code" an application, but very few can actually prove it is production-ready. And trust me, simply typing "make it production-ready" into an AI prompt won't make it so.
3) Commit to continuous learning. You need to study every single day. Understanding how to build a sustainable, stable product that handles thousands or millions of users is a skill you have to actively discover. While AI is a great tool for accelerated learning, the best way to stand out is to build personal projects on GitHub that actively demonstrate your commitment to production-grade quality.
4) Never overlook security. Security is an infinite, high-value field. If you start implementing solid security practices into your personal projects now, your next employer will absolutely notice.
5) Have fun in every single activity you do... this is magic and make you stand out!
Seeing people building cool stuff, being appreciated and earning thousands on social platforms, made me believe that to stand out in tech, I need to build something big too. I tried, but what worked for others will not necessarily work for me. So, to really stand out, to become great, I just keep exploring different things and sharpen my skills.
That's great to hear Manan! Always good to explore new things that interests you! What are some things you found recently?
As someone who's been in the industry for 10 years now, I can say it has always been harsh and unforgiving in one way or another. Layoffs are bad, of course, but AI is also creating new opportunities.
AI is a strange thing. In a way it's an equalizer, but it's also an amplifier, and which one it is for you depends on where you position yourself. Being creative and interesting matters more than ever, I can't stress this enough. Because now literally anyone can build a classic to-do app... but can you build something that's actually appealing and interesting? That's a different story.
So here's a high-level strategy for anyone feeling a bit down about the recent changes: use AI as an equalizer to keep up with the market, then use it as an amplifier to push your skills and creativity beyond what the market offers. It's easier said than done, and it's a continuous process. You never stop doing the reps.
That hit home. I myself have been in the tech industry when the "commodore 64" was all the rage.. yeah, I'm that old! Tech has really evolved since.. slowly at a normal walk, then a run, then it just took off.. now with AI, just waiting for my flying car.. oh wait! that's already here!
For me, its blink and you missed it. That was great article.. Good interspection of one's self and where they are heading. Keep moving forward!