‘Founder’ became ‘unemployed’: Techie claims AI hiring systems rejected him despite 25 years’ experience

An X user named “Andrew the Coder” has sparked discussion online after sharing his struggle to find a job despite having 25 years of software development experience. The post has garnered over 202,000 views on the platform.

In the viral post, Andrew said he had applied to more than 2,000 jobs but was still unable to secure employment or receive meaningful responses from hiring managers. He added that even after sending dozens of emails seeking feedback, he received “zero response”.

Raises concerns over ATS hiring systems

The software developer claimed he had reverse-engineered several Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and observed trends that may negatively impact candidates with entrepreneurial backgrounds.


According to the post, terms such as “founder” and “freelancer” were allegedly being interpreted by some systems as “unemployed”, which he said may have affected his applications despite running businesses successfully for over a decade.

Says prolonged job search affecting livelihood

Andrew wrote that the prolonged inability to find work was beginning to affect his standard of living and the people dependent on him financially. He also expressed uncertainty about changing careers, saying software development had been his only professional field since college.

The user clarified that the post was intended as a form of venting rather than an attempt to seek sympathy or blame others. He added that many professionals appeared to be facing similar challenges in the current job market.

Users react with advice and suggestions

The post triggered reactions from several users, many of whom offered career suggestions and shared their views on the current hiring landscape.

One user suggested that Andrew should build projects using AI tools and highlight them on his resume to demonstrate adaptability and productivity gains. “A real coder with modern AI tool experience should be very popular,” the user wrote.

Another advised him to focus on building his own SaaS products and mobile applications instead of taking freelance work from third parties.

A separate user criticised ATS-based recruitment systems, claiming they were poorly designed because the current market heavily favours employers. The user suggested that Andrew could potentially build a better ATS platform himself, adding that demand for such solutions may increase when market conditions improve.