[3 YoE] Looking to switch industries. Radio silence. Is my narrow experience doing me a disservice?
I kicked off my first ever job search in earnest this month. Hours of AI suggestions, studying this subreddit, tweaking formatting and phrasing, and trying to build up some confidence. I'm eyeing an industry switch from defense to autonomous vehicles, robotics, embedded programming, or your standard big-tech cloud and data full stack roles. Relocation is an option. I'm only around 30 applications in, but I haven't gotten any bites yet.
Before I wear out the apply button, I think an early intervention would be useful. The nature of my work has left me underexposed to common "civilian" frameworks and subjects like cloud and AI, and it leaves me uneager to write anything too specific on my resume. Is this an immovable obstacle in the current market? I'm pursuing an AWS SAA cert. and building a more substantive project that I can link on my resume. Will this do me any favors?
Posted Feb 19, 2026, 3:26 AM UTC