Day 40: Solving My Own Problem First

Today marks day 40 of our journey towards finding a new job.

So we have received the offer letter and our joining date is on Monday, which is obviously a really good thing. And because of that, there isn't really a lot to update today in terms of the job search itself.

But I wanted to use today's video to talk about something slightly different.

Over these last 40 days, apart from preparing for interviews and applying for jobs, I was also trying to solve one particular problem that I personally faced while looking for a job.

And that was managing the entire job-search process.

Where the Project Actually Started

If you have been following the previous videos, you might remember that in the initial days I started building a project for myself. The basic idea was very simple — instead of maintaining everything manually in Excel or trying to remember everything myself, I wanted to have one place where I could track the entire process.

So I started tracking all my applications.

Then I started tracking the contacts I had reached out to.

Then the referrals that I had requested.

Then the people who had referred me.

Then the HRs I had connected with.

Then the interviews that were scheduled.

And eventually, all of these things started becoming connected with each other.

The problem earlier was that I would apply to a lot of jobs, but after applying, I wasn't necessarily able to remember everything.

I wouldn't always remember which company I had applied to, who I had contacted, whether somebody had replied, whether I needed to follow up, whether an interview had been scheduled or where exactly I was in the process.

And when you're applying to multiple companies at the same time, this becomes a problem.

So instead of trying to solve this problem manually every single time, I thought why not build something for myself that can actually solve it.

That's how the project started.

Initially, it was only meant for me.

I wasn't thinking about making a startup out of it.

I wasn't thinking about users.

I wasn't thinking about investors.

I was just trying to solve a problem that I personally had.

And that is something I have found quite interesting throughout this journey.

Sometimes when you are trying to solve your own problem, you don't necessarily start with a big idea.

You just start with something that is irritating you enough that you want to fix it.

And that's exactly what happened here.

From Personal Tracker to Something Bigger

The project itself became like a memory map for my entire job search.

I could see which application was connected to which company, which contact was connected to which company, which interview was scheduled and what was still pending.

That made things much easier for me because I didn't have to keep everything in my head.

And once I started using it, I realized that there was actually a lot more that could be done with it.

So I extended it further.

Now the idea is not just to track applications that I have already applied to.

It is also to discover open applications across different places, find jobs that are relevant, directly reach out and apply through the available links and even find people from the same company whom you could potentially reach out to for referrals.

So the project has slowly moved from being just a personal tracker into something which could potentially become useful for other people as well.

There is still a lot of work left.

Right now, it is built around my own workflow, so it is not optimized enough for other people to simply come in and start using it.

But that's something I want to work on.

Once I make it a little more stable, I want to create a website for it and open a waitlist.

Then I'll give some of the initial users access to it and let them actually use it.

The important part for me at that stage won't be just whether people sign up.

I want to see whether people actually find it useful.

Because ultimately, building something and assuming that people need it are two completely different things.

I have used it myself throughout this job search, so I know that it solves my particular problem.

But that doesn't automatically mean that it solves the same problem in the same way for everybody else.

So the next step would be to get it in front of a few people, let them use it, get their feedback and then improve it based on what actually happens.

And that's where I think the next journey is going to start becoming interesting.

The Beginning of Something Parallel

Today's video is also kind of the beginning of a new series.

I'm still figuring out exactly what I want that series to look like, but the direction is somewhere around building this product and understanding how you take a problem that you are facing yourself and try to solve it for other people who might be facing the same problem.

I think that's something I would really like to explore.

Not just building something because I have an idea, but actually going through the process of identifying a problem, building a solution, putting it in front of people, getting feedback and then figuring out whether there is something worth building further.

So yeah, the job-search journey is almost coming to an end now.

We started this with the simple goal of finding a new job, and after 40 days we have an offer letter, we have a joining date and we are about to start a completely new chapter.

But at the same time, something else has started in parallel.

The project that initially helped me find a job is now becoming something that I might be able to build for other people as well.

And I think that's a pretty interesting way for this journey to move forward.

We still have a few days left in this particular series.

Monday will be the last day of this journey, and after that we'll start something new and fresh.

So yeah, today marks day 40.

The job search is almost complete, and a new journey is already starting in parallel.

I'll keep working on the project, we'll get some people to try it, we'll collect feedback and we'll see where it goes from there.

That's all from my end today.

Wish you all the best on your journey, whatever you are working towards.

And see you again tomorrow on day 41.