I lost a position over a year ago and found myself scrambling for a new role as an older person in tech. I thought of a few things that might help.

In my case I was trying to move into medical tech software infra role in NYC. I needed to find ways of talking to people in the target field in a low pressure way - I got an invite to https://lunchclub.com/ and started having chats with people who worked in tech with a medical focus. I met someone who worked for the CDC and another person who was a nurse who developed a new kind of injection needle, etc

I could ask them lots of questions about their work and get comfort in talking about related topics. It helped in my case as it helped me relax - I am not extroverted and I needed to develop fluidity in this way. I am not recommending lunchclub over any other such service - it is the one I used. I would guess there are more option in this space... In my case I found a job in a nonmedical field but the company is a pretty amazing fit and I feel lucky. I feel like the ability to relax in the interview process really helped.

Another thing I thought about with your post is - consider not applying for junior positions - the ugly language in the response letter you got is telling you that I think. It requires bravery and squelching the 'impostor syndrome' feelings but you are not a junior employee. You have life experience. Look for employers that seem to signal that they will hire based upon your aptitude rather than "x years in such a position".

Another question - are you contacting companies directly? YMMV but I get much better interactions with internal recruiters than head hunters. Try targetting companies even if they don't list exactly the job you are looking for.

Very best of luck

Anyone have experience with contact sports and such devices?

I really like the correspondence between the respect for the ingenuity of this technology and the "handcrafted" WebGL.

Last line:

"With creative use of miniature gears, levers, and springs, a mechanical watch rises from its dormant components to become truly alive."

This is a cool tape to make handles and such - it sticks to itself but you can peel it off easily:

https://countycomm.com/products/self-vulcanizing-grip-silico...

Also for a different application - this Coban medical tape is very useful: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v000095067/

It has a stiffness that holds its position without being tacky or sticky. doesnt slip like an ace bandage might. great for covering bandages or wrapping ankles, etc

And "Kinaesthetic tape" (KT) also nice when recouping from twists and sprains...

There is something called gaffer's tape which I feel like might be more similar to the original duck tape.

Fascinating how words drift over time

https://www.chicagotribune.com/redeye/redeye-is-it-duck-or-d...

I am not particularly skilled in chess but the LiChess puzzles are a daily practice on the subway... I think it is my favorite. I really like the puzzle scenarios where you are down material but the correct series of moves leads ot a win. This insight is a confluence with BJJ where sometimes you can be in a bad position and reverse out of it...

"We are at takeoff" is what the pilot said and a native English speaker would have said something more like "We are taking off". A subtle difference - I grok what he was saying after the fact but in the moment the other's understanding was something like 'the KLM plane is currently at the starting point for takeoff'.

All these are just guesses on my part - I think of this incident often, particularly in terms of clarity and 'closed loop' comms under stress.

https://tailstrike.com/database/27-march-1977-klm-4805/

I learned about a number of air disasters and PanAm/KLM crash[1] in Tenerife 1977 really stuck with me. In the transcript a Dutch pilot says something like "We are now at take off" when he was indicating that the plane was in the process of taking off. (an idiomatic way of expression)

There was already much stress on the situation as an incident at another airport caused massive traffic rearrangement across Europe. Under stress we revert to native ways of expression. I tried to keep this incident in the back of my mind throughout the project, and since...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster

edit - include the transcrpt: https://tailstrike.com/database/27-march-1977-klm-4805/

I remember from EMT school the informal advice that spontaneous pneumo is a predisposition for certain body types and something as trivial as a burp or hiccups can cause. Tall and thin body type. But this is anecdotal- is there an underlying cause in your case?

Great point. I interviewed at Bridgewater and they gave a good post mortem on why I didnt get the job. It is something that I now ask for after every interview process that matters to me.

Doesn't always work but has changed my approach in a positive way. For me it takes 12 - 15 attempts to get a job. I am an (old)Infra/Cloud Engineer coming from a sysadmin background and need to constantly improve programming skills.

Asking for post-rejection feedback with humility and in the spirit of self improvement has led to me making connections and leaving interviews with the feeling of an open door for future attempts.