Its true too of jobs. Everyone sees when someone gets a job but its much harder to know if someone effortlessly switched or spent years failing interviews every week. My last job hunt took 6 months and had dozens of failures. I'm still not sure if its normal or I'm below average quality.
This may sound dumb, but how does one find so many opportunities to get rejected from? I'd love to be able to get myself in front of more people to be rejected more, but the real problem is getting the funnel in the first place. This is true both for business development and for job applications in anything but a very junior or well defined position. Getting rejected is relatively easy to take once you're in a groove (and usually it's possible to get a high conversion rate anyway). It's getting into the conversation in the first place that I find very challenging
Perseverance.<p>For some reason, we do not talk much about perseverance and grit. May be some of it is getting lost in the (what I perceive to be) increasingly cynical views on meritocracy (not that questioning the status quo on this topic is a bad idea, just that many seem to outright dismiss the idea of hard work and merit).<p>Barely half way through the interview with Apple for an internship position - which itself felt like a huge win after getting rejected by all the companies I had applied for - I was sweating profusely, couldn't say any coherent line, and was internally just praying for the embarrassment to end. After spending weeks in preparation for the interview, it was a huge blow. Also, since I didn't go to a top-100 (US) school, I didn't know if I could ever even get to the second round of interview with another H1-B sponsoring (~big) company ever again.
Long story short, rejections continued but I eventually found a break in a small local company - which did wonders to boost my confidence after being able to write "real" code for money. Later, went on to do Masters in a public university where I could work as a TA - which meant so I didn't need to pay the (almost impossible out-of-state) tuition. And yes, found a job a H1B sponsoring company where I am quite happy now:).<p>Its not that my story is any special or anywhere close to the success of like the one mentioned in the post. I guess my point is we can only play the cards in front of us. Being able to find a joy in doing so well (which I think is a secret to persevere) goes a long way not just for success in career but in other aspects of life also.
This article reminds me a lot of the situation I'm currently in, albeit at a much smaller scale. After studying game-design and game-development for five years I wanted to to go to my local university for a bachelor.<p>Denied<p>While looking for options I started worked for a friend of the family in his lawfirm to save up a bit of money. During that time I applied to the university of Cologne, hoping that I have better chances there.<p>Denied in the second round (still stings)<p>Now a year into working for the lawfirm I met by chance the CEO of a small startup on an IT job fair who wasnt even presenting there. He saw potential in me that at that time I didnt even saw in myself and offered me a job as a Junior Frontend Developer, where I work now for a bit more than 3 months. Its an absolute dream job, and if any of the previous rejections didnt happen I wouldnt be now in this amazing situation I am in now.<p>"One door closing opens another" is now one of my favourite sayings.
>The Road to Success Is Paved with Rejection Letters<p>The same can be said with many things in life we strive for. On the path to those things there will be a lot of rejection and failure, but you need to pick yourself up and try again.
> The people I met at Yale seemed to understand the world and its opportunities in a way that other people didn't. They had a confidence in their ability to shape that world like I'd never seen. My Yale education went far beyond the academic.<p>I'd love to hear more about this.
"Well suppose" — Pemulis can just make out Lyle — "Suppose I were to give you a key ring with ten keys. With, no, with a hundred keys, and I were to tell you that one of these keys will unlock it, this door we're imagining opening in onto all you want to be, as a player. How many of the keys would you be willing to try?"<p>....<p>"Well I'd try every darn one," Rader tells Lyle.<p>....<p>Lyle never whispers, but it's just about the same. "Then you are willing to make mistakes, you see. You are saying you will accept 99% error. The paralyzed perfectionist you say you are would stand there before that door. Jingling the keys. Afraid to try the first key."
Sending a rejection letter (email) out is a nice gesture. Too often companies just ghost you, even if you've spent time with them in their office during interviews and lunch.
I hate that an inspirational story like this has to start with an inb4 "Im white. Im straight. Im privileged". Its 2022 and I thought we'd be colorblind by now, but its never been a bigger issue. At least for some very loud people.
Very encouraging post! Like many others, I've been dreaming to work in the USA for quite some time now.<p>I've always imagined that my CV would stand out and that it would be easy to send out a few applications and get an internship abroad. Well... turns out it's not. At least for me.<p>Posts like these remind me, that we should speak about our rejections more open and regularly. They are also part of the process, a source of motivation, and usually an opportunity to learn.
I'm bad at defining success, so I define it as the opposite of failure. In the last few years I've dodged some bullets because I was honest about my expectations. My advice is that you challenge recruiters about the culture and working conditions at your potential new job, and do your best at getting rejected if it sounds crappy. You will find a Good One eventually.
Rejection (the ability to learn and grow from it) is a core competency in business and life. There was a guy who even made rejection into a game: <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/an-invisibilia-favorite-rejection-therapy_2/" rel="nofollow">https://www.wnyc.org/story/an-invisibilia-favorite-rejection...</a>
When I was starting out, the ratio I would get for callbacks was on the order of 20:1, and the conversion to offer was on the order of 50-60:1, and those are extremely generous numbers.<p>I think a lot of people have seen the million jobs that I've had (and the fact that I have not been unemployed for more than a month in almost a decade) and just assume that I'm some expert interviewer, and yeah I've gotten better, but in reality I still get rejected far more often than getting an offer. My ratio now is probably closer to 20:1. Obviously I'm not the pinnacle of success or anything, but I think I've done pretty well as an engineer (particularly since the first decade of me doing this I didn't even have a degree).<p>I think a lot of things in life boil down to a numbers game. Million-to-one odds aren't so bad if you plan on doing something a million times.
In 2009, my application to the Stanford graduate program was rejected.
In 2011, I was selling my tech to Stanford because it was better than theirs.
I'm still bitter, though.
Some rejection letters I've received (scroll down to Game Publisher Rejection Letters):<p><a href="https://classicempire.com/" rel="nofollow">https://classicempire.com/</a>
You inspired me to make a list of my failures and share it publicly in an article.<p>And compare it to my list of successes to see how each and every failure led to a success.
Wait -- you're planning to make meth with AI?<p>Is there actually a college course for that?<p>/s<p>Sadly, the hero image for this site doesn't appear to have anything to do with the subject for this post.