Week 41: My Job Applications: The Failure & The Fix

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Week: Oct 05 to Oct 10, 2026

I wrote about my next career progression towards becoming an AI Engineer. Since I wanted to be part of AI Engineering roles, I prepared my resume and started applying for suitable positions.

I almost spent a decade in my previous stint. So I know I cannot get the resume right the first time. Because, a lot has changed since then.

Thought I spent a lot of time in coding & development, I spent considerable amount of time in the other areas — architecture & technical decisions, collaborations & leadership and in strategy and planning.

After a week applying for 12 positions, I realized that companies choose to move forward with candidates whose experience align more closely than mine for the Product Manager roles.

So, applying for a Product Manager role needs more credibility in my case. This in no way means that I’m a bad product manager or I don’t have the skills. Or at least that’s how I choose to see.

So, what did I learn? Either I need more credibility or I need to look for engineering roles where I can add value with my existing full-stack experience. I chose to look for engineering positions that also demand AI skills.

In addition, I also learnt that instead of describing the value of projects in plain text, I can also list the technologies used in the projects. Companies relate to the technologies used. At least the ATS (Applications Tracking System) do.

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