Clojurians Log v2

Hi there, folks - My name is Scott Starkey. I'm a recently RIFed junior Clojurian developer with about 2 years experience that is having problems finding that next career. I came to programming somewhat late in life. I took the slow path of "take part-time classes while working full time" and got a Computer Technology degree from a favorably viewed tech/engineering university (Purdue). Later, at about age 50, I sort of fell into a multi-faceted developer position. Half-time I was working on a team that used Clojure & ClojureScript (among a few other lesser-used languages). The other half-time I was doing SQL dev work. So, really my two strengths are back-end developer work and SQL, however I did never really combined the two. It was a great job, and I loved learning Clojure, as the next logical step from learning Java at the university. Unfortunately, that project was cancelled and I was recently RIFed. ("Reduction in force") However, my ex-bosses and co-workers really love me, and I get get their testimonials on that. 😇 Now, I'm looking for a junior developer position, but finding myself short of the kind of experience that companies are wanting. Many are asking for 5+ years of experience, and many list technologies that I have not had a chance to learn about on the job. While I'm waiting for work, I've been working on a personal projects to get a deeper dive into Clojure & ClojureScript. • Is there such a thing as a "Junior Clojurian" job out there? • Thoughts on how to improve me as a Clojurian and make me more appealing to hiring managers and dev teams? • How can I beef up my Clojure "cred" on GitHub? • While I'm looking for work, can you think of a good open source project that I could jump into? Do you think that is that a viable step to getting experience and a job?

One small unsolicited advice that doesn't answer any of the listed questions - if you see a job that you think is appropriate for you but that still lists some things that you don't know or have, including years of experience, still apply to it, and with a proper custom cover letter. You not meeting the specified criteria of a particular position does not reduce the probability of you getting hired there to 0. Especially years of experience, it's a rather poor metric.

@p-himik Thanks! I got my previous job by applying to jobs just at the edge of my reach. I've been trying a similar strategy here, but I will try tweaking the cover letter and resume a little more carefully to target what I can do. Maybe I'll try going to a skill-based resume rather than work-based, since my Clojure skills and prowess seem to be extending past my work.