“The dumbest thing ever”: A Meta engineer’s honest take on job hunting

Job hunting has been everywhere on social media lately. Fresh graduates, mid-level professionals, and even experienced workers are talking about how tough it has become to land a job or even get noticed.

In the middle of all this, a post shared by a Meta engineer has gone viral. It stood out because it made people stop and rethink how careers really work today.The post did not promise shortcuts or instant success. Instead, it shared a real experience that many job seekers quietly relate to. That honesty is what has made the story travel so far.

When the usual route did not work

Marmik Patel, a software engineer at Meta who lives in San Francisco, spoke about his struggle with job applications.

After applying to hundreds of roles and reaching out to a very large number of recruiters, he reached a breaking point. He described the process as “the dumbest thing”.Patel said he had sent 670 job applications and messaged over 1,000 recruiters, but none of it worked. His words reflected the frustration many professionals feel after putting in effort with no clear outcome.

Instead of continuing the same approach, Patel decided to do something different.

He moved away from applying endlessly and focused on working on himself. He started building products, creating content, and meeting people directly. He also spent time networking in tech focused cities like San Francisco and New York City.This change helped him get visibility. Sharing the result, Patel wrote, “Between January and May, 83 recruiters messaged me.” He also said he heard from major AI labs, Y Combinator startups, and unicorn companies.

His view on the reality of hiring today

According to Patel, the current job market works very differently from before. He believes it strongly benefits a small group of people who manage to stand out through visible work and consistent effort.Summing up his thinking, he wrote, “It's a winner-takes-all world. You have no choice but to become the winner.”

Strong response from online users

The post has crossed over 2 lakh views and received many responses from job seekers and entrepreneurs.

Several users said they related closely to Patel’s experience.One user wrote, “It's right, help yourself first before applying to help others,” pointing towards the importance of self growth.Another comment compared job searching with product building. “You can cold email 1000 users or build something people actually talk about. One takes forever, the other compounds.”

Simple advice that found support

Some users shared practical thoughts on how to move forward in such a competitive space. One comment listed a clear four step path. “1. Acquire skill, 2. Stack your skills, 3. Teach what you learn in public, 4. You made it.”Many agreed that sharing your work openly and building a personal presence can help more than relying only on job portals.Thumb image: Canva (for representative purposes only)