Job Hunting Sucks

I wrote this because I needed to get the frustration out.

I’ve been looking for work for a while, even though I’m busy every day working on my own ideas. Code, sketches, 3D design, AI work, I do it because I like building things and it gives me purpose. Still, money keeps the lights on and I miss being around a real team, so I fired up a few job websites to see what was out there. Five minutes in, I remembered why I stopped looking.

I looked at local listings first and no lie 100% of the jobs were posted by recruitment agencies. That’s a huge red flag. Agencies sit between you and the company, skimming cash the whole time. Let’s say a firm is happy to pay £50 an hour for solid industrial design. The recruiter slaps the job online, collects a pile of CVs, forwards them, and pockets £20 of every hour you work, forever. Their big contribution is gatekeeping the job, copy-pasting the listing and forwarding applications. It’s fucking criminal.

Linkedin made my skin crawl. I used to think most of the listings were just for show, a way for companies to look like they’re growing to impress potential investors. Now I’m certain a lot are bait to harvest your personal data. You hand over your phone number, work history, maybe even a scan of your ID, and it disappears into the void. Weeks later you realise you never heard a yes or a no. Not even an auto-reply.

Because of that, my rule is simple: if I haven’t heard of the company, I pass. I’d rather spend those hours improving a project that’s already mine. Right now I’m building a new digital-sculpting portfolio aimed at Apple’s in-house team. If they reject me, I’ll start working on a new one and try again until I finally land something. Same plan for Meta, Microsoft, or any outfit I actually respect.

So that’s where I’m at. The public job market looks like a swamp, and I’m tired of wading through shit to find the rare real job listing. I’ll keep doing my own work, put it where people can see it, and wait for companies to contact me. At least I’m building something real instead of applying for fake jobs that don’t actually exist.